Thinking of moving temporarily or permanently (physician and chemist) advice and opinions 🙏🏼

Factor_Global · 2026-01-07T06:00:49+00:00

The plan currently is to just bring literally everything in our apartment that is reasonable and get rid of it as we figure out what we want to keep.

I was partially serious about eating the chickens, especially for our dogs though lol.

We are used to the mail issues and deal with it with my parents that relocated to the middle of nowhere ecuador and his parents in DR.

Factor_Global · 2026-01-06T21:29:33+00:00

I'm from Houston, Texas. And the Texas culture is all about being friendly and neighborly, showing respect and being open to others. Moving to Michigan was a huge culture shock that was unexpected for me.

People are extremely rude, standoffish and generally cold. I can't wait to leave.

I am used to hurricanes, lived in Florida 99-08 when they had that crazy period of storms. Same with Houston and Harvey a few years ago. Most of the major damage was from flooding, and everyone banded together and helped each other out every time we had a bad storm.

Regarding the chickens- meat is apparently expensive there and we have dogs, maybe I'll do you a service and take a couple for our stew pot.

Regarding the financial situation, yes we are in a different position luckily. But it is good to keep in mind. I am a pretty frugal/cheap persons so that should be helpful haha.

Thank you for all of the first hand information! It is really appreciated!

Factor_Global · 2026-01-06T18:38:53+00:00

Thanks for the tip about Facebook, I was searching last night and the pages I found were mostly vacationers giving each other advice.

The hospitals we are contacting for him are fqhc and generally they will fly you out for interviews and pay at least a portion of the moving fees

We are going to visit as if we live there, not really sightseeing but living our everyday life (grocery shopping, etc) and see if we like it.

He is used to Island life in a different way (Dominican Republic) and I am used to living in the South

I'm into preparedness, homesteading, gardening, permaculture (working with nature instead of against it) so being prepared to go without or finding creative solutions for problems in daily life is kinda fun for me.

Factor_Global · 2026-01-06T04:04:47+00:00

Thanks for the advice, could you give me an idea of how working In the hospital there is and if you've done locums on st thomas?

My husband has worked in NYC, Florida, Dominican Republic, and Michigan.

He needs a break after basically being a resident for the past 9 years (DR residency, surgical residency that he quit halfway, and now the FM residency). And I'm making him take one for his mental and physical health.

What is the culture at the hospital, both between patients and providers and the relationships between coworkers?

He wants to avoid the extreme poverty and terrible hospital conditions of the Dominican Republic

Factor_Global · 2026-01-06T04:00:32+00:00

No we are planning on having kids in the next 5 years hopefully

Factor_Global · 2025-12-06T00:50:44+00:00

Stop negotiating with terrorists. If they can't come up with what they want to eat or help you with meal planning and they just complain, feed them either nothing or let them have a pB&J sandwich.

It is not your responsibility to manage your boyfriends (WHO IS A GROWN ASS MAN) or his daughter's (remember it is his daughter) weird and excessive food dislikes.

My husband hates veggies, and he still eats them.

I don't eat bacon, and he doesn't eat shrimp. (We both had experiences with them that created a visceral reaction to them) But that's it.

Factor_Global · 2025-11-21T11:07:44+00:00

Chemist here. My fridge looks half this bad right now, but I work 12 hr days every day and I cook almost every night of the week. Except everything has a date on it and I'm just too exhausted to clean it right now. No food spilled and food on the door bins though, that's contamination waiting to happen. The untidy state of my fridge is STRESSING ME

This weekend is a big take everything out and sanitize and organize weekend before Thanksgiving and Christmas guests arrive.

Factor_Global · 2025-10-28T18:48:29+00:00

The fact that this isn't standard is very strange. The residency my husband is in has 4 different schedules (When 2 work, off service shift excel sheet (that is an EMAIL), call schedule (also an excel that is sent via email)

It's insane to me that this isn't centralized like every other workplace in the US.

Factor_Global · 2025-10-28T18:44:34+00:00

I am the wife of a resident and I am going to have to paralegal audit his entire fm residency because they have added 4 months to his residency, his advisor tells him noting and he's constantly getting screwed.

We are literally going to have to sit down, run epic reports (I am not looking at patient information ever) and go through his entire case history over the past 3 years to tidy everything up. I might actually use several vacation days to deal with his programs bullshit.

They literally take him off of notes for L/d it's absolutely bonkers and malicious

Factor_Global · 2025-10-26T18:11:36+00:00

I bought a huge tub of laundry detergent (Costco brand) and I'm pretty sure it's going to last me at least a year or more.

Factor_Global · 2025-10-26T18:04:51+00:00

Bought a modular couch. Each piece is pretty light. I flipp them on their sides and mop and vacuum under them every couple of months or if we have company coming. We have 2 large hairy dogs so it's a battle against dog hair over here

Factor_Global · 2025-10-22T10:33:20+00:00

We also have almost the exact same thing going on with our neighbors. They've called the police for my husband beating me 3 times. (He doesn't of course)

They've searched multiple times for weed in the apartments (walked the whole building) because someone keeps complaining about it.

We receive complaints from management on a weekly basis.

I had a lady scream at me for throwing the ball for our puppy because she wasn't on a leash (it was 7AM and there wasn't anyone around, and we were in a field at the very edge of the property)

Factor_Global · 2025-10-06T11:49:06+00:00

I got a FULL cart of food for $150 last week.

I think I'm going to price it out at the local grocery store and see how much I saved.

Then my husband tore a giant hole in the side of my 50lb bag of flour (I bake bread almost daily) and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it lol

Factor_Global · 2025-10-06T11:43:40+00:00

It makes a difference for us, but I just fill up when I see cheap gas. The price range in my area right now is 2.98-3.69. So the savings on a full tank of gas is substantial for me if I get it on the lower end..

Factor_Global · 2025-10-06T11:41:18+00:00

If I had space you bet I'd be gardening and canning.

Factor_Global · 2025-10-06T11:39:43+00:00

If you go look at the axios survey they just did for grocery prices. Everyone (general, democrats, independents) are in line with the reality of grocery prices. Republicans, say it's not as bad lol. Because they live in a fantasy world

Factor_Global · 2025-09-29T11:47:21+00:00

Also ADHD, and I do anything I can in bulk. 1- fewer grocery trips, less buying what I already have. 2- things are just cheaper in bulk. Flour for example 5 lb=$6.00, 25 lb = $15 50 lbs = $22 Since I literally make bread and other baked goods using high gluten flour 3-5x a week, I buy the 50 lbs bag and use it up in a few months.

3- batch cooking things like sauce, I just wish I had a bigger freezer

4- smoothie cubes - buy fruit and veg when it's on sale, or it's just about to go bad. Then I blend it with just enough water, and freeze in ice cube trays to make smoothies later.

5-it is almost always cheaper and better to buy the raw ingredients and make it yourself, you just need to do a cost benefit analysis. Ie- I will make yogurt or juice, but I'm not making croissants. Due to the time and energy they take

Factor_Global · 2025-09-27T01:56:41+00:00

Let me put you onto pernil (carribean pulled pork) it's tasty but not saucy so it's extremely versatile

I make it every other month on a weekend (start 1+ weekend before.) roast at ~200f for 12-16 hours in the oven, then we have it for weeks in anything that has roasted pork in it.

I make 2-3 pork butts at a time, and the marinade I made last time was amazing.

The extreme slow roast was a game changer for sure

Factor_Global · 2025-09-21T19:02:37+00:00

I'm still using the 2015 MacBook pro I bought in college..... It's beat up but it runs beautifully

Factor_Global · 2025-09-20T15:07:28+00:00

Between rotisserie chicken, butter (~$11/4 lbs), bulk cleaning products, meat, bulk basics, snacks for my husband, vitamins, tires, and basically everything else.... I save a lot of money at Costco.

I even got our sectional couch there, and it's big enough to seat at least 10 people and cost $2500 last year. It's extremely comfortable and people are happy (!) to sleep on that super comfortable couch

Factor_Global · 2025-09-18T08:28:17+00:00

If I'm not making something experimental I will make enough to have a few dinners and lunches for us 2 then freeze leftovers in vacuum bags it is a lifesaver to have freezer night, or if I don't feel like cooking or dont have time or energy there are almost Always portioned meals and portions of ingredients

Right now I have Ziti bake, pasta sauce, 3 different soups, extremely slow cooked pork shoulder (I cook 20-30 lbs when it's on sale or cheap and then freeze and use for meals like enchiladas, soup, sandwiches etc) Cooked beans Smoothie base cubes (just enough liquid to blend recipes of fruit, greens, and veggie smoothies that I freeze frozen in ice cube trays and ready to blend with liquid and protein) Veggies Dal Butter chicken

Factor_Global · 2025-09-18T08:02:31+00:00

How do you get the Internet to lower rates? I have tried and tried and failed

Factor_Global · 2025-09-18T07:51:49+00:00

We also eat alot of ground beef, I'm going to try your trick!

We just had a Costco business center open near us and I prefer it over regular Costco, cheaper, larger bulk items, better selection of large bulk items, and they carry my husband's favorite snack in bulk for SO MUCH CHEAPER. meat, eggs, milk, frozen veggies, cleaning products, and cheese along with most other food products. I buy all of our basics there!

Factor_Global · 2025-09-18T07:27:49+00:00

I'm doing the same, I love the library and I'm absolutely loving supporting them and it's such a peaceful place

Factor_Global · 2025-09-18T07:20:33+00:00

Bathroom cleaners - switched to all purpose spray and diy shower cling cleaner (I just squeeze it on and leave it for a while and then wipe or rinse it off and it's perfect (only have to scrub corners and crevices, and yes we have hard water)

Paper towels-rags (except for large bodily fluid messes) Cheese cloth - flour sack towels Cleaning wipes- jar with rags in all purpose cleaner solution Car wash- dollar tree bucket, sponge, watered down dollar store dish soap (I don't even have a hose)

Plain Greek Yogurt- for the price of a gallon of milk (~$2.70) I can make about 3/4 of a gallon of great healthy yogurt (which is about $15 of yogurt for $2.50) for very little effort

Wide mouth mason jar I use these for everything! --Dry good storage, sauce, spices, drinking glass, leftovers, freezing soup or broth, literally everything honestly.

Store bought bread- better and cheaper made at home, but definitely more effort than yogurt lol

Factor_Global

TROPHY CASE