We Moved From California to Texas; We Make Quite a bit a lot much less nonetheless Love the Life-style

• Gerardo and Tomi Ruiz moved from San Bernardino, California, to San Antonio, Texas, in September.
• They moved with their two youthful sons after a close-by fireplace destroyed their rented dwelling.
• The couple loves Texas for its cheaper price of dwelling and the dad and mom nonetheless misses California’s meals.

This as-told-to essay is dependent upon a dialog with Gerardo Ruiz, 29, and Tomi Ruiz, 26, native Californians who moved from San Bernardino, California, to San Antonio in 2024. The next has been edited for dimension and readability.

Gerardo: My companion, Tomi, and I are from San Bernardino, California. We met at a celebration in 2019 and married final April.

San Bernardino should not be almost pretty much as good because of it was. Many factors, like homelessness and gang practice, appear to have gotten worse today.

Tomi: There have been factors we preferred about California. I had household solely about an hour away. I cherished being contained in the snow or on the seashore every time I wished.

We had been speaking about leaving California for some time due to the value of dwelling was dramatically rising. We had talked about Texas, Arizona, or presumably Utah, nonetheless we weren’t excessive about it.

A fireplace lastly pushed us to go away

Tomi: In September, the Line Hearth broke out in Highland, California, subsequent to my grandparents’ home.

We had been renting a home on the choice aspect of metropolis. The Line Hearth wasn’t straight threatening our home at first, nonetheless our neighbor’s dwelling caught fireplace. They talked about it began from an ember from the Line Hearth.

It was terrifying. We had been asleep, and immediately, my husband woke as rather a lot as what appeared like a limiteless explosion. I felt him pushing me and yelling.

After I sat up, I seen flames coming by our mattress room window, not even six toes away.

Gerardo: We now have bought two kids, Anthony, who’s 3, and Charlie, who’s 1. We grabbed them each and ran open air.

Tomi: We each ran out in our underwear due to we did not have time to get garments.

The hearth destroyed about half of our home, plus there was smoke damage in all places.

Gerardo: We misplaced nearly every little consider our mattress room and the consuming space.

Tomi: We had been merely in shock. We sat open air staring on the home for a extremely very very long time.

Gerardo: The Pink Cross gave us some cash for a resort.

We might have favored to restart our lives someplace

Tomi: Quite a lot of days later, our landlord instructed us they wished to terminate the lease due to they might not estimate how extended the repairs would take and could not put us in a single completely different place contained in the meantime. We had been homeless and realized that we wished to start out one different time.

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We talked about staying in California, nonetheless beginning a mannequin new lease contained in the state is expensive with a deposit, the primary month’s lease, and all the prices.

We figured if we wished to start out over completely, we could possibly be bigger off beginning in Texas.

Gerardo: My brother has lived in San Antonio for about 10 years. We purchased proper right here out to go to loads of years as soon as extra and simply fell in love with the town.

Tomi: We packed up what we had left, my husband took out his 401(okay), and we drove to Texas.

Texas is fairly rather a lot additional low cost

Gerardo: Our first impression of Texas was how low-cost the lease is. We paid about $2,350 in San Bernardino for a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom condominium. We’re now in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom place in San Antonio and pay $1,250.

Tomi: We first utilized for loads of homes, nonetheless the wait took endlessly. We determined to utilize for an condominium and purchased licensed the following day. We stayed in a resort for 3 weeks till we acquired licensed for the condominium.

Along with lease being cheaper, gasoline is cheap, which is nice for us due to we now have fairly large autos.

Gerardo: Automotive registration is, too.

Tomi: Groceries, nonetheless, appear like regarding the same.

Whereas the value of dwelling is additional low cost correct proper right here, the pay is decrease.

I am a licensed phlebotomist, and in California, I used to be making about $25 an hour. Correct proper right here in Texas, I acquired some affords starting from $16 to $20 an hour, and I accepted one. I am making lower than I used to be in California, nonetheless with the cash we’re saving, it is not too large a distinction.

Gerardo: I am a tow truck driver. I labored two driving jobs in California, making $21 an hour and $24 an hour.

I anticipated to have the flexibleness to discover a related job in Texas, nonetheless as shortly as I acquired correct proper right here, it was tougher than I assumed. The right-paying towing job I am going to uncover was for barely greater than $15 an hour.

For now, I have been holding off on getting a job to observe the youngsters since we do not know many individuals correct proper right here in Texas who might babysit.

The state has exceeded our expectations

Tomi: We merely fell in love with Texas. It is rather a lot greener than we anticipated. We thought it could be all desert and cowboys, nonetheless San Antonio has many good parks and playgrounds. It feels very family-oriented.

Gerardo: The setting out correct proper right here is nice. My companion has some PTSD from the fireplace, and it is good that it’s not as dry.

Tomi: You undoubtedly really actually really feel the Texas warmth, although. It was nonetheless so scorching on Halloween. We’re used to a breeze in October.

It furthermore snowed since we have now now been correct proper right here, which is unusual for San Antonio. We love the snow.

There have been some challenges, nonetheless we made the turning into alternative

Gerardo: The toughest adjustment has been the meals. Even the McDonald’s correct proper right here tastes totally completely completely different. Texas freeway tacos aren’t like California freeway tacos in the least.

There was unimaginable Hawaiian barbecue in California. Since we moved, I’ve certainly not been capable of finding related meals.

Tomi: Texas has been so good to us. I felt like I used to be dwelling instantly. I really actually really feel like I’ve related to the dad and mom. Everyone seems to be so kind.

Gerardo: Our purpose is to remain in Texas long-term, nonetheless we need to change to Amarillo, Texas, lastly. It snows there additional usually, and we love the chilly.

Tomi: I am so glad we moved. It was scary as quickly as we determined to do it, nonetheless we had nothing to lose and made it work.

Gerardo: The current fires in Los Angeles had been horrible, and we’re praying for everybody concerned.

The reassurance of not having to fret about wildfires correct proper right here like we did in California has been a limiteless plus already.