Help me think this through

[PajamaMama]

thanks!

[Tilia]

I would absolutely put the house on the market now and make the move to your hometown. But, I like the slower lifestyle that small-town living offers, and I live in Iowa, so take that with a grain of salt.

[honeybunmom]

I'd wait to take the buyout. You'd also get the benefit of the improvement in the market, even though you have a good amount of equity in your home now.

As for your eldest, why not send her to live with your extended family so that she could start high school there in the fall since it is the family's plan to move anyway. High school is just a tough time to transition, but it sounds like the size of the school and the support of her extended family would make this work for her. My cousin and I lobbied our parents for me to go to high school with him (which would have required me moving from New Jersey to Chicago), but, our mom's didn't go for it. My mom had no plans of moving to Chicago, , so, I see as an adult how that really didn't make sense in our situation.

[gothnurse3]

Sell the house, move, and get an ADN from the CC. Seriously, the pay is the same...you need experience before you can move into management or teach and you can get a BSN on-line once you are an ADN. Nursing has a high burn out rate so maximize you earning potential with a cheaper degree. If you still have the desire for a BSN you can always find a bridge program that will gap you and most of them already have it set up to extend to get an MSN.

Life is short...be where you want to be if you can afford it. Sounds like that is were you and your family's hearts are. Good luck!!

[sunflower.mama]

I'd support you in your lifestyle move. You only go around once and it sounds like you really want this change. However, since living off savings is part of your plan, and you have a possible buyout in the future, I'd hold off another year if possible. Your daughter would still have 2 years left in high school if you waited until next year, correct? You'd have savings from his salary in addition to the buyout, and that would serve you well. You could even try to live on less for the coming year.

[mnnice]

I guess I had a couple thinks I would thing through before making the move.

First, I think I would research if there was anywhere that was a semi-reasonable drive to get our BSN (Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Marshall, MN?)

Second, I would not expect moving your oldest child would be smooth. Rural Iowans are not real mobile creatures and high school kids are going to have their friendships pretty well established. Even if they are not outwardly mean they might not be super welcoming either.

Third, Are you sure your "forever" house will be that inexpensive? I would go and look firsthand at some places next time you visit. We are currently looking at places in the small town DH and I both work in and many are very reasonable, but the inventory is finite and lots of them have something glaringly unappealing about them even if they are mostly cute and solid little house.

Fourth, will your Dh be happy either SAHP or working very part-time?

[mumkimum]

I was leaning toward doing the buyout and finishing your degree plan, but I do think the pp was right - a nursing degree from their CC would probably be sufficient for you and really, moving to Iowa seems to feel like the happiest choice. (my family spent a lot of summers in nw Iowa growing up )

I'd sorta consider what you want to do in nursing because if you're in a large city now you'd be likely to get a lot richer experience while in school with larger hospitals around, etc. A BSN versus ADN doesn't make as much of a difference, yes - but being exposed to a lot more experiences does. Check out their school and hospital to see what it would offer you. Or consider switching to an ADN program where you are, if you like. You could also consider selling the house and renting something in the same location making it one less thing to deal with when you do move.