BigIsleBound

Ceteris Paribus: Ok, HI might pay more than Indiana but the COST of living is WAAAAAAAAYYYYY higher than anything you will find in the midwest. Can't speak on FL. I met lots of folks from the midwest when I was on Oahu and oftentimes they had mental breakdowns over the cost of living. Folks who are used to a 3br home costing 200k could not concieve of a tiny condo with 1br1ba costing 250k. People who are used to a gallon of milk being $3.50 would literally flip out in the grocery store when they saw the prices. So yeah, the pay might be more but it will buy you a lot less. I don't know which specialties are hot in the islands right now... but so many nurses are past desperate, they are willing to work as CNAs for CNA pay. So I'm pretty sure that there is no golden ticket, no one area where you will make a living wage and not live in fear of the axe... or else the RNs who are already in the islands would have done anything necessary to get into that field.(Am I right, Lisa?) Have you tried looking at job postings in the local newspapers?

Oh, Lisa! Big hugs to you too! It's so tough right now... I read all the local HI papers online every day, and I have seen how terrible it's gotten out there. Things are bad here in NJ, but nowhere near that bad. Luckily, DH and I have zero credit card debt... even when we put my tuition on the credit card, it's paid off completely when the next bill comes. We are doing okay here. It's my plan to get that master's degree, get the experience and save tons of money. We are used to living cheaply, so that's not a problem for us. Luckily we also know how to grow our own food... in HI we'll have a climate better suited to doing that all year round. I know it sounds extreme to wish I'd lived in a container instead of here, but to me it's worth that sacrifice. I only pray that things get better for all of us who are suffering to make a dream come true.

Ok, now I see where all the money is going. My god, 2k a month of frivolous stuff... only a millionaire can live like that in HI. I'm not joking. So, in spite of your home being in poor condition and your car being old, you ARE spending lavishly, just not on your home or car. OK, when I was talking about the midwestern standard of living, THAT is exactly what I was talking about. Spending 2k a month of extras is something that is simply not possible without bringing down six figures per year in Hawaii, or in the other pricey states that I mentioned earlier. The fact that you didn't even mention this massive spending when I brought up the standard of living earlier tells me a lot. Plus you alluded to what sounded like some credit issues (late payments, debt). So this is the lifestyle that you and your family (sounds like you have kids?) are accustomed to... spending lavishly on extras when you are in debt. This is a recipe for disaster when you hit the islands. Even if YOU are happy living in a postage stamp sized house (smaller than anyone in the midwest could DREAM OF) with your neighbors so close they can literally look you in the eye when you use the john in your own home.... how do you think your family will like that? Going from spending like crazy to spending NOTHING but bare bones... and being cramped up in a tiny house, having to wait for the bus in the rain.... it's a big adjustment. You can expect lots of marital strain as you fight over money, as the kids whine and complain about living so frugally, as cultural differences cause discomfort... for most people this results in a hasty trip back to the mainland. I'm not telling you not to come to HI. Every single day I wish I was back there. EVERY SINGLE DAY I regret ever leaving. I wish I'd done like a friend I had who lived in an empty container on Sand Island... while his parents lived in a mansion in CA. I know how Hawaii can touch your soul. But there is a hefty price for paradise... and it's a lot harder to make that change when you have been accustomed to living lavishly while you owe money and have poor credit. I wish you nothing but the best. But salaries are lower in the islands than on the mainland PLUS the cost of living is much much higher. It's just not easy. Best of luck to you.

Glad I could make you chuckle, Lisa. I'm actually from the mainland. I moved out to Oahu in '04 to go to HPU. I came back to the mainland and it was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life. Now I am trying like mad to get back. If I can get into this PA program I'm hoping I'll have a chance to save serious cash and move to the Big Island.

I have no interest in social work because I'd like enough money to have more than cat food and dust bunnies on my pantry shelves. Besides, walking into strange folks homes to snatch thier kids away as an unarmed female just doesn't sound like a jolly time. Seriously, thanks for the suggestion. It's not for me, that's all. I understand that nursing involves many yucky and unpleasant aspects, and that making the patient (who is sick, scared, in pain etc) feel comfortable, safe, hopeful and cared for is the most important thing. I am just not cut out for it. Yes, I know poop happens when you have kids, as I have two myself. But the idea of even being NEAR someone else's poop makes me start to sweat, feel woozy, and have stomach machinations that precede the technicolor yawn. I am not cut out to be a nurse. I could deal with any other bodily fluid/solid, but poop makes me want to jump out of a window. Since it is so horrible for ME to deal with it, I'd have to be in dire straits to do it, and spending 4 years and a king's ransom to do it doesn't make sense for ME. Much love to all of you nurses who grimly soldier on in the presence of the chocolate dragon, my hat's off to you. It just couldn't be me.

Lisa from Maui is giving it to you straight, no chaser, lol! Debt is the monkey on your back... I couldn't figure out why you were living so broke with two nursing incomes... OK, you gotta pay off the debt. Put in the hours and pay it off ASAP... I'd start saving cash, too. Dave Ramsey is definately a good source for financial advice, so is David Bach. I followed his Automatic Millionair Homeowner book and have since gone from being a renter to a homeowner AND a landlord! The thing is, and I say this with aloha, if you are having financial trouble in Indiana, ****, wait till you hit Hawaii. You will financially ruin yourself and end up coming back to the mainland with a broken heart and tail between your legs. Trust me, I know. Good luck, you can do it if you buckle down and work as a team.

^ Wow... sounds like you are living bare bones as it is. My recollection of the midwest was that the standard of living was excellent... especially compared to the pricier states (aka CA, NY, NJ, HI). I wish I could tell you what specialty areas to focus on in order to have a better chance. Heck, I even emailed a nursing program at UHH to ask that very same question: which areas of nursing have the greatest need in HI? They never even responded to my email. SMDH. Sorry to say that I haven't found many folks willing to help a mainlander get out to HI. I wish I could be more helpful. All I can tell you is to get an advanced practice degree and as much experience as you can... and pray a lot. I know I am.

Uh... I never said the patients themselves were horrible and disgusting. POOP is horrible and disgusting. That's one reason that the water treatment plant pays so well... it stinks in there and you have to deal with poop. I want to help people... I am a very intelligent person with the grades and standardized test scores to back it up. I could easily have chosen to go into a field that is soley about cash money. Instead I plan to make my career about helping people. We all have our bottom lines, our breaking points. For some people they simply cannot sit in a cubicle, it's soul deadening. Some people hate math and would be miserable dealing with it. I hate poop and I just can't see handling feces on a daily basis unless it were a life or death situatio nwhere there were no other options. I don't think the patients are disgusting and bad, I think POO-POO is disgusting and bad. I don't understand why folks find that so hard to understand.

Honestly, though I am a bit ticked off by being percieved as some heartless person ( I am constantly doing things for charity and am far from heartless) I am actually glad that the truth came out in this thread. I had actually believed it when I was told that the nurse-as-butt-wiper thing was a misperception... which is why I considered a career in nursing. Now I find out that it really is the truth... nurses wipe butts and clean up poop. I wish all of you folks well, but frankly cleaning up poop is not on my list of things I am willing to do for money. Well, maybe lotto jackpot money, but nothing less. That doesn't make me some terrible heartless dictator or something. There are people in this very thread who would just not be willing to... say... work in a senator's office and deal with the crookedness and lies involved. That doesn't mean you are terrible people. I would not be willing to wipe butts, that doesn't make me evil. I am glad to have been disabused of the myth NOW before I spent any more money on pursuing a career that would make me miserable and probably make me puke daily.

I have great news for all of you who made sure to let me know I'm a heartless coldhearted person because I don't savor the idea of handling people's feces. I have decided to go into an allied health career instead of nursing. I change my children's diapers and while I don't relish it, I do it because 1) it needs to be done and 2) I love them more than life itself. Random drug addicts don't meet the second qualification... nor does anyone but my kids. From this point on in my life whenever anyone talks about nursing, I'll be sure to tell them that Poop Is Everwhere In Nursing, and if you don't want to wipe up poop then you'd be better served doing ANYTHING but nursing. Congrats on driving an intelligent and hardworking person out of the profession. Cheers.

Good luck, hon. I fear your post may not get you the info you so desperately need. Many folks who are already living in the islands can't find jobs in nursing... things are super duper tight right now. My advice (and I'm on the mainland right now but trying like crazy to get back) is to stack your cash like crazy. SAVE SAVE SAVE. You probably have an awesome standard of living in Indiana (I was born in Cincy) and that will not be possible on Oahu without winning the lotto. Start cutting your lifestyle back to something simpler NOW, so it won't be an unpleasant shock (esp. for your wife) when you do get out here.

Well lucky for me I'll only have to suffer through the poop patrol during clinicals, because once I get my RN I'll do flu shot clinics or anything else humanly possible to avoid feces. Meanwhile I will go on immediately to get my Masters so I can practice as an FNP... where poop will not be on the program. I guess that makes me a horrible heartless person (insert eye roll) but I find cleaning up feces to be a horrible and disgusting experience. Geez, I can't understand all the hubbub this has caused.

Oh, man! That school sounds just impossible. In my experience with online education, you do at least double the work of B&M schools, and yet people still think you are doing fluff and bobo work. Sigh.

I'm not currently in that position, but I fear I may be, depending on how long this recession lasts. If the job market doesn't loosen up by the time I get my RN, I'll take whatever I can get while I keep pushing on to my FNP or PA masters. That is my ultimate goal, so this recession can only slow me down or make me take some detours but it cannot stop me from getting there!

Hmmm... for ages I never considered a career in nursing because I heard that a key part of a nurse's job is to wipe people's butts. On this very forum I've seen many many RNs complain about the "stereotype" that nurses wipe butts and how it keeps talented and intelligent people away from the profession. So now I'm some kind of obnoxious person because I don't want to spend 4 years of grueling study and tens of thousands of dollars to wipe people's butts? Uh.... oooookaaaayyyy. Alrighty then.