One not wanting to relocate/other wanting to

so when I read the OP I read that the proposal is to fix the families financial situation by weakening the career potential of the one person who is supporting the family. I must be missing something...

wow....

thanks mame for addressing the elephant in the room.

yeah, not saying linkat's husband isn't a great guy and all, but, yeah.

linkat, I don't know about you, but if I had read mame's above words about failing, my initial reaction would have been emotional, it would have been anger.

However, looking at it dispassionately, it IS a fact he has failed to bring in money. He can work from now until doomsday at a commission only job, but if he makes no commission, he is failing to bring home money.
Looking at it that way, it looks like he's searching for a geographical cure.

From what I can recall, he's had this commission only gig going on for quite some time. Why's he still doing it if it makes no money for the family?

Doing some quick figuring, in order to net that $2500 a month, he'd have to find a job there that pays about $17 an hour.
Even if he grabbed some $10 hour job, it would sure plug up the hole in the dike better than $0 an hour.
I know I don't know the particulars, but is it possible he could find work, maybe through a temp agency, that would bring in money, and afford him the freedom of looking for gainful employment?

Just looked at a cost of living calculator, and $17/hr in Boston translates to about $15/hr in both Austin and Dallas.
If I lost my job today, I wouldn't have a very hard time finding a temp job that paid around $15.
How hard is it in Boston to get $17?

So send HIM to TX and see what's up. I doubt if he'll find anything monumental.

You have listed a bunch of "postivies" about staying put, and just one negative: husband's income.

Husband needs to ramp up the sales. Perhaps he needs to return to school or training or change careers. Or get second job.

Obviously you've never been to Austin.

I was kind of thinking about that as well. Next time he brings up potentially moving - to discuss how I don't think I want to move and why. And not the job (although I am not good about keeping things from people).

At this point - in regard to the position - nothing is solidified yet as this happened so recently.

As far as the money situation - hubby is coming up with some solutions and things to work on both workwise and financial budgeting. This job he has can be good (and he has done it in the past several years ago) and financially rewarding - part of the problem is the economy and he has been a little worried about his mom's health. All these things kinda have accumulated a bit.

You see it that way - hubby sees it differently. He is not always a logical thinker. Sometimes he is more reactionary - I am the thinker. We balance each other.

Purposely keeping it from him seems like it could poison the well a bit (especially if you have a hard time keeping things from people, which is to your credit).

Right now you have a lot of good solid arguments for why it doesn't make sense to move to Texas. If it comes out that there was this job and you purposely didn't tell him, I think that could introduce a level of complication that would make the whole thing a lot harder for you.

I don't think you necessarily need to lead with that info -- you don't need to just announce it out of the blue. But don't hide it either, IMO.

Sorry you're in the position of having to confront someone either way -- your husband or your parents.

Well employment in general has been difficult in the area. But it has been picking up a bit.

I've also considered this as well and if we get close towards the 6 months, he will look elsewhere. The thing is if he does focus on this job and gets everything set and motivated, it can be very lucuritve (sp). He did do this sort of work several years ago when the economy was doing well and was making quite a bit of dough.

I think I have been a bit spoiled too in the fact that working from home makes thing easier for me at work. With the change in the economy, we had less people doing more work requiring me to work longer hours - him being home, I do not have the stress of trying to drop or pick kids up - he does it. Or when the kids get sick, he is home so one of us does not have to take the day off. Getting to their sporting events - no problem he either coaches them any way or can bring them. It does make it easier for me.

Yeah I agree - but until things are finalized on the job and the posting I'm not bringing it up.

I wouldn't feel right about any way.

I agree with the people here saying your husband's reasons for moving to Texas are not practical. It would be one thing if he had a juicy job waiting for him, but to leap into the unknown is crazy. He should be able to find something that net $2500 in a city like Boston. I know someone who walks dogs in Philadelphia and makes $45,000 a year, Boston wouldn't be less. Tell him to check out dog walking and he can still pick up the kids and dry cleaning.

that would be great if your family finances were sustainable, and he was helping you to continue to carry the full load long term. This is not the situation. I sense some rationalization on your part for you refusing to push him harder as the money runs out. Dont I recall that this man has already had one failed business venture, and that it has been about a year since that and he is still not bringing in any money? You are with-in six months of running out of sufficient funds to operate your family, his track record is not good, now is the proper time to panic. You either need to have confidence that he will be contributing soon, or you need to downsize and assume that it is all on you now so your family budget must be what you make.

I gotta tell ya linky, I'm hearing what GW's saying.

I'm not sure of the time frame, but it seems like it's been quite awhile since you wrote that he was going to do this commission only job. Am I wrong? How long has it been, I'm not at all sure.

I understand that it takes time to create a pipeline when you're working on commission, but if it's been more than, I don't know, 6 months and nothing is coming in...

You say it could be lucrative, but has enough time passed where this should have been paying off already?

Actually we are working on both. We are freezing our Y membership, making some cutbacks on other extra items.

He is getting involved with more companies (his work involves working with several companies and placing people in open positions) He has already in past few days acquired jobs with two companies. He needs me to push him. I knew that telling him we had about 6 months at worst case in cash would push him. And a few other items to get his momentuem started.

It has been about a year - unfortunately several months of this was dedicated to taking care/ensuring his grandparents were cared for appropriately - he was their trustee and needed to fly out of state and take care of some items for them (paid for by the trust). And then two funeral out of state as their health got worse and worse. All within a 6 month period.

Actually prior to his franchise, he was very successful in this business. And we lived well off it.

sorry, I must have confused you with someone else...I thought that he had a failed business that resulted in personal bankruptcy.

The franchise failed.

His work prior was successful - why we decided this may work for him and we had enough capital saved up to allow for time without income. He did acquire some small amount as a trustee while working for his grandparents so it wasn't completely no income.

I do agree at some point we will need to pull the plug and find alternative work. I know others in this field currently and things are very slow but starting to pick up. I recently talked to a woman who I've worked with before on hiring and she told me things are slowly picking up. As the job market increases so will opportunities in this field.