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For millennials that are looking to settle down and not spend all of their income on rent and food, Milwaukee is becoming a haven, and Milwaukee movers have been moving a lot of millennials into the city. In cities like Manhattan and Los Angeles, rent is so high that young people have little to no money to do anything besides live. That’s where places like Milwaukee come into play.

Places like Milwaukee that have a strong working class population, oftentimes have lower costs of living than cities like Chicago and Miami. In places where the cost of living is sky high, and wages aren’t keeping up, people work two or three jobs, having to work seven days a week just to live.

Recently, we’ve seen a number of demonstrations and even policy changes to raise the minimum wage. In places where it isn’t getting raised, people are working three jobs and living at or below the poverty line. For those that can escape it, Milwaukee can be a breath of fresh air. And while it might be a haven for young, educated individuals in their mid-twenties, there is still a large population that is just barely getting by.

Cities around the country are beginning to raise their minimum wages, which will hopefully alleviate the struggle that the people who are working three jobs a week have to face. In the meantime, a lot of millennials are moving to Milwaukee and cities of the like, to experience a life that is more about living and less about constant working.

Milwaukee is most well-known for beer and baseball. That’s why it is no surprise that Milwaukee is the home of the Wisconsin Craft Beer Festival. Held every year in October, the WCBF consists of beer tasting sessions, classes to learn how to brew beer, and an overall good time. The Wisconsin Craft Beer Festival is being held at the Harley-Davidson Museum.

The festival is dedicated to being brewer-centric, and a genuine taproom experience for all who attend. Every brewer present will bring a “taproom only” beer, or a limited release beer. The festival will feature brewers from all over the country, with samples of more than 150 craft beers and ciders.

The festival is one weekend long and there is a seminar on how to brew beer almost every hour, on Friday until 4 p.m. There are two seminars Saturday morning, and the rest of the time is reserved for mingling and beer tastings. There are all sorts of events and sessions that you can attend, and there will be food.

All access VIP tickets for each type of event are available and there is even an All Access VIP pass for the entire weekend. Whether you are looking to go to a few events or attend everything possible, there is a ticket for you. People from all across the country are expected to attend, with the best of the best in craft beer moving to Milwaukee for the weekend.

If you are moving to Milwaukee in the coming months, don’t miss the 2015 Beer Festival!

Winters in Milwaukee mean lots of time inside. Cold temperatures, rain, snow and ice storms are not ideal outdoor weather conditions, so most of the winter is spent inside. If your home is not cozy, sometimes it can leave you wondering what you can do to make those winter months just a little bit easier and a little less dreary. Here are some tips from last year’s winter, for making your Milwaukee home as cozy as possible for the 2015 winter.

Milwaukee movers know that some things you either have or you don’t, and you can’t necessarily change them at the drop of a hat. Fireplaces make spaces instantly cozier, but if you don’t already have one, you are kind of out of luck in that arena. A fireplace can take a room from cold to cozy in a matter of minutes.

One way to make your home feel warmer during those cold months is to buy pine furniture. The color and texture make your home seem more like a cabin and add a rustic feel.

The easiest way to make any space feel cozy, is to add curtains. Closing the curtains and curling up to watch a movie when it is storming outside, is one of the best ways to pass the time. It almost feels like you are in your own little cocoon, and what could be cozier than that?

Finally, dark colors make rooms feel warm, inviting, and relaxing. Bright colors are better for the warmer months, and the earthier, darker hues are best for the cold months.

Now that summer is here, it is time for students to take a break. Especially high school students that just graduated; a handful are going to head to college in the fall, and going to college is one crazy ride. It’s a whole new experience. From being on your own for the first time to making new friends, it can be kind of scary.

If you are going away to college in Milwaukee this fall, keep the following things in mind:

First of all, it will be cold during the winter, so remember to plan accordingly. If your mom keeps reminding you to pack your winter coat, and you think she’s being annoying, take the coat. With winters as cold as they are in Milwaukee, you’ll thank her later. In this situation, it is better to have too much, than to stress about the next time you can go home to get your coat.

When it comes to making new friends, there is one thing to remember: everyone is in the same boat. Everyone has just been uprooted and is coming to a new environment – just like you. People are looking to make friends – just like you are. College in Milwaukee is a completely different world from high school, and you’ll realize that when you start making friends. Just smile and talk to people.

Finally, being away from home for the first time can be intimidating. Thankfully, just like making new friends, everyone else is in the same boat. Reaching out to friends when you get homesick, can make you feel like you really are not as far from home as you think you are.

Unfortunately, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has announced job and program cuts that will be taken into effect within the next two years. In lieu of looming budget cuts throughout the state of Wisconsin, about 400 positions will be directly affected, along with several campus programs.

The drastic cuts will have a devastating effect on the multiple aspects of the school – in total, the number of class seats will drop by almost 9,000. In addition to that staggering number, about 320 classes in the curriculum offered and 92 staff positions in the College of Letters and Science will disappear from the school’s campus.

According to the university’s dean, Karl Scholz, “the strategy is to not replace existing vacancies, I’m trying to do everything I can to mitigate and ideally avoid layoffs.”

Some other schools within the college that will be affected include the information, technology, agriculture and the arts departments – they will most likely be facing potential closures or mergers. Unfortunately, this may mean that class sizes will become bigger, there will be less variety in the amount and types of courses offered, and a smaller amount of undergraduate advisors will be available to underclassmen.

However, Senator Alberta Darling eases the blow of the announcement that reassuring the Wisconsin community that a majority of the 400 positions that will be cut are already vacant.

Chancellor Rebecca Blank also remains hopeful, as evidenced by her most recent statement: “I recognize that this process will impact good people and limit our ability to serve students and the state. The university has weathered many challenges over the past two centuries,” Blank said. “The strength of our mission, and the quality of our students, faculty and staff, set us apart and will carry us through.”

If you are moving to Milwaukee in order to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison – you may want to double check the classes that you are enrolled for, to make sure that they are still available and get signed up for new classes before registration for summer fills up.

While the Milwaukee community has hopes of having a new arena built downtown, Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee reminds Milwaukee officials that no project can be started until the city and county finally commit to a greater financial contribution.

According to Mayor Tom Barrett’s chief of staff, Patrick Curley, “Mayor Barrett has said that people of good will, working in good faith, can and will find a way to get the arena project completed. The mayor continues to work on a fair and equitable local share that will be a part of the total state, local and private investment package.”

Although Barrett has stated that he has contributed the total amount of funds that Milwaukee is able to contribute, the finance committee has made it clear that the amount is not near enough. Not only that, but further efforts towards getting the arena built, continued to be stunted by city officials failing to put in the effort necessary to get the ball rolling. For example, Chris Abele, County Executive, has long been lamenting that he is relentlessly trying to find a way to contribute more funds towards the project, but has yet to actually make any tangible results happen.

While the city’s main source of revenue is currently property taxes and shared revenue from the state, Milwaukee movers want future residents to know that Mayor Barrett has reassured Milwaukee residents that the funds for the new arena will not come from raising property taxes. Instead, the city has turned its focus onto donating land or other infrastructures, as a way of satisfying the committee’s request for a greater contribution from the city.

In an effort to bring the Milwaukee community closer together, while simultaneously educating them on how to care for trees – so they have the ability to grow their own fruits and nuts – nonprofit organization Victory Garden Initiative, will begin planting fruit and nut orchards throughout multiple Milwaukee school yards and other designated locations.

The places that were selected to have the orchards planted in their yards, were chosen by a contest held by the organization. In fact, the first orchard was planted this past Saturday morning at Gerald L. Ignace Health Center. The members of the Victory Garden Initiative continued to plant orchards at other locations that had also been chosen as winners of the contest.

Other local Milwaukee places that anxiously await their new fruit and nut orchards include: Riverworks Development Corporation, Story Hill neighborhood, Tippecanoe Church and Saveland Park, COA Youth & Family Goldin Center, Peace Park & Garden, and Pete’s Fruit Stand. In total, 18 orchards will be planted throughout the city by the end of the program.

The contest was designed to make sure that the recipients of the orchards were going to use them for improving the Milwaukee community. The five winners and two runner ups were selected based off of their submitted plans for exactly how they would distribute the food provided by the orchard. They also had to explain what kind of positive changes having an orchard planted would make within their community. If you are moving to Milwaukee, be sure to check out the local orchards for organic food and plants.

Throughout 2015 and 2016, about $100 million in low-interest debt will be used to pay for the construction and equipment replacement projects for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. The money comes from Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. who bought the general obligation notes at an extremely rare, low interest rate of 2.938% – an interest rate that is so rare, it hasn’t been seen since 1982.

People who are looking to move to Milwaukee can get excited about the many updates the city will be undergoing. The money will be put towards improvements in the Milwaukee area; including: two sewage treatment plants, upgrades of regional sewers, local waterways and flood management projects. Planning each project and paying for the work to be done is also part of the budget. The projects are expected to be completed somewhere between the years of 2020 and 2050. The newly acquired debt (the $100 million) will only be used for projects that cost less than $2 million each.

While the money will help complete a wide variety of projects that have been dire, the district still has to pay back the debt, along with interest within the next 20 years. However, it is expected that other financial investors and insurance companies will purchase the notes. One of the future potential candidates is Bank of American Merrill Lynch, who initially offered the second lowest bid, which was still under 3% interest; hopefully they will still be interested in the upcoming years.

In recent news, home equity lines of credit are once again becoming popular in Wisconsin due to increasing home prices and home owner confidence – along with consistently low interest rates.

According to Doug Gordon, chief executive of WaterStone Bank, “the biggest factor has been home prices going up rather than going down.”

Offers from places such as Landmark Credit Union, have been offering home equity lines of credit at an introductory annual percentage rate that’s 1.99% and fixed for 18 months. Subsequently, the total amount of equity lines of credit in 2014 in Wisconsin rose 1.9%, to more than $3 billion. This indicates that the adverse effects of the recession and housing market crash from the previous year may be stopping.

Chief executive at Landmark Credit Union, Jay Magulski, added some other reasons to the recent influx of home equity lines of credit, “as an example, someone may say, ‘I have a kitchen I’ve been wanting to remodel and now I’m going to do this,’ it might not even be something as extensive as remodeling a kitchen or adding on to a home. It may be you need to go out and take care of a roof that needs to be replaced.”

Overall, the value of Wisconsin homes rose more than 12% from $132,000 in 2011. Gordon confers that “when (home) prices are going up, they are a little more confident in spending. And obviously, the home equity lines are a perfect way for people to do improvements or buy cars and such because of the deductibility of the interest.”

According to recent information released by the U.S. Census Bureau, about half of all Wisconsin counties declined in population from 2013 to 2014.

In total, about 35 counties dwindled in size – with Manitowoc County suffering the biggest population loss, coming into the New Year with 463 less people. Coming in second place was Wood County, declining by 336 people, with third place being awarded to Adams County with a 289 person loss in population.

However, at rate of losing 1.4% of its population, Adams County decreased in size at the fastest rate. On the other hand, Eau Claire County, with a population of 101,564, came in at the largest county in Wisconsin that lost the largest amount of people – 140 people.

Luckily, not all of the populations in Wisconsin declined – there were plenty of counties that actually grew in size. For instance, Menominee County grew at an accelerated rate of 3.2%, which resulted in an overall increase in population of 4,522 people.

On average, only about one third of the individual counties within the state saw people packing and moving into the county as opposed to out of it.

In total, the state of Wisconsin saw a .25% population increase, with an influx of 14,611 people flocking to the state. Subsequently, the state has had 68,296 people added to the total population since 2010, with the Milwaukee metropolitan area ranking at the 39^th highest amount of residents in 2014, with a total of 1,572,245 people.