Living in America 2014

[rootypig]

Shiny new thread. After an epic visa fuck up we are starting out (again!) in LA in a few weeks. I am English, DH is American (from southern California), DD is 21mo. I am going back to work after several unintentional years out and terrified. No clue what I want to do, which doesn't help.

Come chat about all things American!

Dharma Welcome to NJ! The GSP is not far behind the Pulaski Skyway in terms of scary driving. My closest moment with death was when I was newly pregnant with DD driving down to Edison on the GSP and got sudden morning sickness. I was in the fast lane and managed to pull over on the hard shoulder just in time.

First rule of driving in NJ is rent a car for the first week and get maximum insurance. If you crash it isn't your problem! 2nd - get good car and term insurance because reality is you will be in a crash at some point. If fatal you want your family taken care of. 3rd - Get a GPS and keep it in the car. You can use your iphone but I found the screen too small. 4th - Everyone has to be silent in the car. If the kids start screaming I pull over as I need 100% attention on the road at all times.

Momagain1 They have everbearing strawberry plants - OMG!!!! This is brilliant news.

Dharma NJ is a crazy place to drive but you'll get there! The GSP is like being in a computer game (but I prefer it to the Pulaski skyway!). I second everything Want2 said and I would add get an EZ pass.

Thanks Momagain for the help! the plot looks like scorched earth so definitely planting now, I have no choice . Going to dig in some compost and apparently a knowledgeable man sells seedlings at a local farmer's market. I will investigate the magic strawberries!

get good car and term insurance because reality is you will be in a crash at some point

Excellent news - we are closing on our new home tomorrow. I can't wait to get out of the 4th floor walkup. We will be moving everything out of the temporary place tomorrow afternoon with everything being delivered from storage on Monday. I can't wait to get settled. This has been a very long month.

I swear that days in temp accommodation are at least twice as long as normal days. Good luck with your move and welcome to your new home!

rooty if you go to Mar Vista farmer's market on Sunday there's a brillaint plant guy there who is amazing and knowledgeable and sells all sorts - of course this might be the guy you're already visiting!

Driving isn't too bad depending on where you are. A couple of things that help:

• Sometimes (area dependent I think) the position of the exit number on the exit sign tells you what side the exit will be on (as someone else said above but deserves mentioning again). Here: lifehacker.com/5953223/quickly-tell-whether-the-highway-exit-will-be-on-the-left-or-the-right

• I have a Garmin GPS with "lane assist" so it tells me what lane I'm eventually going to need to be in (including those exits with 2 lanes and you aren't sure which one you'll need once you're at the end of the exit). LOVE IT. The one I have is a LMT model (after the numbers) which means it's "lifetime maps and traffic" so I get free map updates and free access to the "traffic" stuff (road closed/busy warnings etc)
• Some states (like Iowa) have white AND yellow lines. The yellow line separates on-coming traffic and the white divides the lanes for each side. So the line should be on your left side or you're on the wrong side of the road!

Mostly though, practice. Whether it's driving yourself or being in the car with a local so you get the layout and can get used to the side of the road. I was a passenger for about a year and that really helped my brain BUT didn't prepare me for turning corners (straight lines were fine), round-abouts, U-turns and pulling over in an emergency (pull to the RIGHT!).

As for what someone said about accidents, yes, get good insurance. I've had about 3 incidents in 5 years, all just because of the damn snow (ditches). I've managed to avoid injuring other people or other vehicles but my poor truck has been pulled out of 1 ditch, I drove out of another, and drove away from another with some front end damage. I've also been stuck on a hill for an hour or so because I had no traction and got stuck halfway...

I haven't been yet ATB but I think that's who has been recommended! I am a plant killer novice so will definitely give him a visit.

Sykadelic totally agree about practice. I've driven in Europe (round the arc de triomphe in a smart car many times), Central Asia, Middle East and Far East. Singapore was terrifying and the driving was very very aggressive. I constantly remind myself that in Texas drivers might be armed and I avoid cars with NRA bumper stickers like the plague. I'm a much more courteous driver in the USA

butterflies I was told NEVER to use my horn in Texas. My husband also wouldn't let me out of his line of sight when putting the shopping cart back because he'd heard stories of women being dragged into vans as they drove past...

Yep, never use my horn, not even a friendly peep to let the driver in front know that the light has turned green.... Would rather sit there like a lemon!

Scary about the trolley / cart stories, never heard those before, doubt that would happen in my neck of the woods but good to be aware.

Driving lanes -- featuring pretty much every configuration you are likely to encounter on roads.
Highways generally have the yellow line(s) at the left which is the centre/dividing line but can have any number of lanes to the right of the yellow line, all separated by white lines, usually broken but sometimes solid.

The worst part of learning to drive in the US is your brain operating as if you should be driving on the left. It takes a bit of retraining to make driving on the right come naturally and while you get used to it, driving is a very tense and exhausting experience because if you let up your guard your brain will go into autopilot and take you into lanes you do not want to be in. One of the worst experiences of my life was turning into what my brain was sure was the correct lane but of course I was heading straight into oncoming traffic. The second worst experience was stalling the car in rush hour traffic on my third time out because I couldn't manage the gear shift with the 'wrong' hand. exH taught me to drive on the right and it didn't end well... I have driven accident free since 1988 though

When in your lane you need to stay to the left of the imaginary centre line of the lane or you will mount the curb or sideswipe other cars. The bulk of your car will be to your right - leave room for it. Your eye needs to use the road marking to your left as its guide. Do a running commentary on your own driving as you drive, including instructions to yourself - to keep to the right when making turns, and that you are crossing traffic when making a left turn, to maintain lane position, cross traffic when making a left turn, do not cross traffic when making a right turn, etc. The fast lane in the leftmost lane, so stay in the right lane or somewhere in the middle on a highway.

If there's a marked lane for making right turns on your average suburban road, you still have to come to a complete stop for a count of 'three mississippi' before making your right turn on red, and make sure the intersection isn't a controlled intersection before making a right turn on red - don't assume this is always legal. If illegal it will be posted.

Try to do your practicing without children in the car.

Thanks all! I've given the driving a break for today... But I will need to get back on the horse so this advice is wonderful!
On a totally unrelated subject..all of my clothes and shoes are in the container so I'm just going to have to buy a few basics to get me by...any ideas/preferences for online stores (can't get to shops due to aforementioned driving issues!!)? I don't have any real clothing store preferences in the uk, except for maybe Zara...

Take a taxi to your nearest Target or mall? I find clothes sizing slightly different from Irish/British sizing.

I'm a fan of Kohl's myself because of the range. Depends on your "style" though. So many stores here are online.

You can also check out Amazon.

We have Zara and H&M here (LA). I also found quite a few things I loved in American Apparel the other day but it's so expensive.

And oof, J Crew

Does anyone know anything about US Tax, or can anyone point me in the right direction for advice?
We are trying to rent out our UK house (total nightmare) and may have finally found tenants. Put simply, do we have to declare the income here and will we be taxed on it? Does it make a difference if I take the rent in my name (I have my own bank account in UK?) as I don't work here?
We won't be making any money on it as the rental income is less than our mortgage payments.
Thank you wise ladies!

You need to submit your UK tax reurns to the USA, I absolutely recommend getting an accountant to do all your taxes, we effectively don't pay for ours as their fee comes out of the rebates. If you go to HMRC though you can apply for Non Resident Landlord which means you pay your tax/file your return for your property at the end of the year rather than your tenants having to take responsibility of taking 20% of your rental income off each month as sending it to the taxman. Much simpler. The form is something. Like NRL-1

MrsCRabbit One of the most irritating things about the US is the fact that a greencard holder and USC must declare worldwide income, regardless of where they're living when they earn it. The good news is that you have to earn a certain amount ($90K I believe) before you're taxed on it. So while you must declare it, you don't pay tax on it. Of course depending on how well your husband earns, it may be a better financial decision to file separate and have you claim the foreign income (so yes, rent in your name).

We used H&R Block the first couple of years but now I just do it myself using Turbotax (SO much cheaper). If we have a major life event (buying another house, having a child etc) then we'll use a pro, otherwise there's simply no point in spending the money. You're charged "per document" so joint is cheaper, but you may get a better return if you file separate (we file separate as it's the best option for us).

When I went to H&R block they were able to check which is the best way to file (separate or joint) so I'd definitely go there and ask some questions, including what documents you need to obtain to file here.

Americas At no point during my immigration process, or now that I'm a citizen, has it been required for me to submit my foreign returns when filing my taxes here. Of course I only had income and not property so maybe that's the difference?

Dunno sykadelic, maybe it was because when we first moved we crossed 2 year ends in each country but our accountant needed to submit our UK returns. We didn't pay any additional tax either way, but they needed the information and have said they will when we submit to HMRC again as we've just started renting our UK property.

Did you ever tell your accountant you had UK earnings?

MrsCRabbit - I called Inland Revenue and explained I was living out of the country. I filled out a form to that effect and declared income here in the US. If you are split between the UK and US during the year it gets more complicated. The IRS are incredibly helpful compared to inland revenue and I suggest you call them for assistance if you don't have tax advice included in your package. I didn't have tax advice and the IRS walked me through my first partial year return for both countries. Inland revenue were terrible until I asked to speak to a manager. She then helped me going forward and I was fine.

Turbotax is great and sykadelic you really don't need a pro for buying/selling a home or having a child. It is incredibly simple with turbotax. I am not a tax expert but I am a CPA and as a 1st year associate they had people like me doing returns. We had no clue as to what we were doing. Quite frankly my employer at the time should have been ashamed of themselves as they had interns that they were not paying completing returns and charging clients $1k. For that they can pay the intern something.

Americas foreign earnings yes, they only needed the income statement (forget what it's called now :S)

Want2be i've heard that sort of thing before, that it's all a scam. We only every see the same elderly guy each time (doesn't mean he knows his stuff but at least it was 3 years of experience - at least). But agreed, turbotax is awesome.

Thanks everyone! We do get tax returns included in our package but they f*ed up royally when we were in China to the extent that we had to repay almost £5000. Must have been the intern!