South Carolina Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Possible move to SC-Talk to me! : )
We currently live in Long Island, NY, but are ready to leave. The cost of living is ridiculous! My DH has job opportunities within his company in both Greenville and Charleston...obviously we would need to go and visit both places ourselves, but I was hoping if any of you ladies lived there, you could give me some info...I have no idea how to choose between the 2!
Do you like it where you live? Why? Is there anything you specifically don't like?
How's the cost of living/housing?
Is there a lot to do?
Is the general attitude a conservative or liberal one?
Please feel free to add anything else you think we might like to know... It would be much appreciated! We've got big decisions ahead of us, and I hardly know where to start!
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
Re: Possible move to SC-Talk to me! : )
I moved here from Pittsburgh, PA about 2 years ago. I live in Spartanburg which is 30 miles North of Greenville. DH and I love visiting Greenville. It's not a huge place but it has a good bit to do and hosts a lot of fun events. Also, there are some small cities outside of Greenville, like Simpsonville that has a lower cost of living bc it's not technically a city. The further north like Spartanburg, Boiling Springs, etc are lower costs of living.
The reason I love Spartanburg to live is bc it's 30 miles from Greenville, 65 miles from Charlotte, NC, and 45 miles from Asheville, NC (the mountains). Plus, we're only about 3 hours from the beach and an hour from a fun amusement park.
I live in Greenville, but have spent a good bit of time in Charleston (DH lived there for a year in college, and we have some friends there).
Greenville has a lower cost of living, but both are less than Long Island, I'm pretty sure. I love living here. We have a nice house (about 2000 square feet) and it didn't cost us a ton. I love the warm weather. People will tell you that we don't have winter here, but we do...you'll still need a heavy coat for several months.
There is a lot to do in both cities. Downtown Greenville has a lot of restaurants and shopping, the city sponsors a lot of events, you have the Peace Center for plays and other performing arts, the zoo, the Bi-Lo center for concerts, and a good mall. Charleston has King Street and vicinity for shopping and dining, the aquarium, historic district, the beach etc. I never get bored in Charleston! You'll also find a good selection of churches in both areas.
Greenville is definitely more conservative. Charleston County went Democrat for the last election. Not overwhelmingly liberal, but one of the more liberal areas in our state. I would say it's a good mix between liberal and conservative.
If you need any help or have any questions, please let us know! We'll be happy to help you out
Married 05.24.08
Missed m/c discovered 07.25.12 at 8w5d- Always loving our Peanut
BFP #2 EDD 06.08.13
"For this child we prayed..." (1 Samuel 27)
So excited to meet Amelia Catherine!
I left this out bc I am mixed on Greenville. Politically, Greenville is more conservative, but I think it's a more liberal city. It's much more diverse.
I love Charleston. We moved here from Boston.
The job market in Chas isn't quite as good as Greenville, from what I hear. I could be wrong though. SC job market isn't great overall right now.
Charleston is a more expensive part of the state- we pay the same in rent as we would in Boston, we just get a lot more space.
The school systems are not good.
There is plenty to do.
It's South Carolina. That alone should tell you what the political atmosphere is like.
Like any area, there are pros and cons, areas that need improvement. Charleston ACO needs some serious improvement, but, unlike Boston, my pit bull is welcome here and doesn't have to be muzzled while on a walk.
And yes, we had a damn cold winter this year. This coming from a Boston girl says a lot.
I forgot to mention the schools. Charleston County Schools overall don't have the best reputation. There are some great magnet schools within the system, and from what I understand, the West Ashley and Mt. Pleasant area schools are just fine. As far as Greenville County- it really depends on the area. The schools where we live are great, but parts of Greenville don't have great schools. But that's pretty much how it is wherever you go.
And, I have to agree, this is SC- liberal has a different meaning here than it does in other parts of the country! I have to say, though, we do a pretty good job in Greenville and Charleston with diverse cultures.
Married 05.24.08
Missed m/c discovered 07.25.12 at 8w5d- Always loving our Peanut
BFP #2 EDD 06.08.13
"For this child we prayed..." (1 Samuel 27)
So excited to meet Amelia Catherine!
We moved here just about 6months ago from NJ, originally from Mass. We live in Mt Pleasant which is just over the bridge from Charleston...a 12 mile ride in. The schools in Mt P are good, better then the schools in Charleston. We live 5 mins to the beach. The area can be expensive depending on the type of house your looking for but they are so pretty. You'll find the property taxes are less down here, car insurance is less but the home insurance is more. I don't know how people say the cost of living in the South is cheaper because its not in this area. There's decent shopping but you will see that its missing alot of great stores as well.
The Greenville area is pretty, we drove through it once but its farther from the ocean and typically colder in the winter.
Its the South so don't expect too many liberal people
- Most of those are transplants but there's alot of us!
We moved to Greenville from Charlotte almost 3 years ago and we LOVE IT!!! We live in Simpsonville, so it's still about a 20 minute drive from our house to "downtown" Greenville. DH makes the drive every day and according to him he'd rather take 45 minutes roundtrip than 45 min-1hr just to get TO work in Charlotte.
Cost of living is manageable. It really depends on the area you live in-age of the area, etc. It's definitely been more cost effective/affordable to live in SC than it was in the Charlotte area.
Simpsonville's starting to become a more active town, with shops and centers, and the seasonal festivals, but there's always a way to find something to do. Downtown Greenville's fun too though. During the summer...I think May to October there's a Saturday market- farmer's market/craft fair every Saturday.
If you enjoy performing arts, the Peace Center has a string of Broadway/off Broadway shows that come every year. Concerts and other events are there as well, along w/ the Bi-Lo Center and a few other places.
If you just feel like wandering around downtown, you'd be surprised how much you could find there.
For the most part I agree with the other ladies, the general attitude in SC is more conservative. BUT I was born in SC and lived in TN, NC, and SC (but have traveled outside those areas) and DH & I both tend to have a more liberal outlook,but still fit in just fine. Just like anywhere, you find your niche wherever you go
I would definitely suggest coming to visit Greenville and Charleston to see what you think / where you think you'd be happiest.
Good luck with your decision!!!
Sorry I was away last week and am just now getting caught up. Looks like everyone gave you great answers.
Where on Long Island are you from? I was in the Dix Hills/Huntington area.
Good luck with your move.
I miss my friends and oddly enough my job. As much as I complained about it, I was there for 9 years and when I gave my notice it felt strange.
Housing costs are crazy on LI! My sister lived in Miller Place in a one floor house, no garage, on a main rd, with an itty bitty driveway and her house (in '04) sold for somewhere in the $300,000 range! She was like "I wouldn't buy my house for that much $.
If you ever make it down here to Greenville or the surrounding area, we should get together and "tawk about Lawnguyland" LOL.
Your little boy is cute BTW.
Thanks, your little dude is a doll too! The housing is nuts here-we bought in 06 and now our house has depreciated 80k (!!!)...so that's the deciding factor on whether or not we can come down to SC-our house and how quickly we can get out of it, sigh. We are totally over NY at this point. My family has moved to either GA or Myrtle Beach, and my DH's parents live in CA and Japan, so we have no ties here anymore. I won't miss my job one bit! I will miss my friends, but i've been working the night shift in order to make ends meet, so I never see them anyway! We are ready for a radical change.
Thanks again for all the input ladies! We are leaning pretty heavily towards Greensville, and if it comes through for us, expect to see a lot more of me here!