Pulaski

By "up and down the entire east coast", I assume you mean "as far south as DC, then literally a handful in Wilmington, NC and a similar number in Miami." There also seem to be three TD Bank ATMs in the greater Charlotte area. Woo hoo!

Unless they have merged their operations "TD Bank North" in Maine used to be run as an entirely separate operation.

Jerseygirl

It is overpriced...although the villages/towns to the west and south/west are even more expensive.

No freezer shops as such...just a freezer dept in the supermarkets. Yes you can get frozen lasagne, spag bol...you can probably get them fresh at the deli counter.

Bob

You can get that crap, but it's usually crap or expensive and still, well crap.

Also much cheaper if you bought fresh or did the crock pot thing.

Bob

They were merged donkeys back and have opened loads of branches.

I guess the Walgreens thing hasn't rolled out through out then.

Suz16

Morristown now has a Wholefoods which recently opened. They have a great fresh deli counter, including hot food, it's expensive though compared to other supermarkets around here.

Jerseygirl

Oh of course...they were beginning to clear the old A&P supermarket site when we left 18 mths ago.

Rusty Chainsaw

You've got a Wegmans not too far away in Bridgewater (just head south on 287 for about 20 minutes) and they do prepared meals and have a great hot food deli section with Indian and Chinese food. They also have a decent British section. They're more expensive than the likes of A&P and Stop & Shop, but cheaper than Whole Foods.

retzie

Trader Joe's have frozen/packaged meals - I haven't tried them, but a Brit friend claims the packaged curries are decent. Also, World Market have some packaged/canned curry-type things - not sure if there's one near you.

If you can find an 'ethnic' grocery store, you can probably stock up on a bunch of packaged stuff. The hermetically sealed curries last for a disturbingly long time and may even be better than what you'll find a typical Indian restaurant over here...

doconthemove

thanks for the above i hope i wont starve! am so used to finding a meal for around £2 in the UK that u can bung in the microwave and tastes pretty damn good!

thought the US would catch on for that? guess not!

also the apt. comes unfurnished (why the US does this?!) is Ikea the best place to go in NJ generally to get it furnished fast and cheap?

Also this not a big deal but haircuts where best place to go? the clip joints in that area all want $25!! in UK i paid £7 max am I missing somewhere again or is this normal?

Bob

Most of their frozen offerings aren't that bad. Some are better priced than others, but not to bad quality. Fresh meats are rather expensive though and fruit/veg is very seasonal/regional for price but the cheese is fab and very well priced.

Bob

You can find furnished, but you pay a premium for it....they usually include oven/fridge/dishwasher and either washer/dryer or a hook up. Some include AC, microwave.

As for haircuts, if you're going for short back and sides, there are a few chain places that usually do a round of coupons every now and again, so can be $10-15 or so.

Anyway, then there's that whole tipping to get used too

Rusty Chainsaw

Yep, best bet would probably be Ikea. The closest one is in Elizabeth, near Newark Airport, just off the NJ Turnpike.

Olly_

I moved to NJ from the UK about 4 weeks ago so have been dealing with all these sorts of things very recently...

Easy, just go to a social security office with the form and your passport + I-94. I'm on an L-2 and was asked for our marriage certificate which luckily I had with me - they didn't mention this anywhere on the website!

I did get some quotes from IA before we arrived but they had very limited choice. I think we're going to buy a car but have been hiring since arrival. Rentals are expensive around here but the best rate I found was about £20 a day for a Focus from Avis in the Newport Centre Mall via Avis and British Airways.

I've opened accounts with TD Bank and Chase. Chase have recently tightened up their rules around proof of address so they needed to see a NJ drivers licence, a utility bill or a lease before they'd open an account and being in a corporate let made that difficult. TD Bank were happy accepting our social security card mailer as proof of address but their systems are very old fashioned so I think we'll just use Chase going forward.

There are coupons floating around for Chase too - I used one which will give $300 for opening a checking account and having a paycheck direct deposited within 60 days which is good (and another $200 if you put $15,000 in one of their savings accounts for 90 days). The coupons are on eBay if you aren't lucky enough to have one sent to you in the daily junk mail.

I've done a couple of transfers using Transferwise and am very impressed - the money arrives quickly and they send via ACH so no fees to receive the payment on the US end.

doconthemove

thanks for that!



have given IA a call lets see. tried that avis thing its not showing any availability for June end

think its peak season just my luck! that newport area is expensive probably even more than mine!

any ideas for car insurance? got a quote from the place jersey girl recommended came to around $1700 a yr!! am guessing this is normal for new drivers???

any other companies people suggest geico etc??



i guess thing attracted me to td was that its very close by but I guess being able to open one easily is the main thing! are the banks quick to give you account numbers and debit/credit cards etc?



yes and there is another one called azimo excellent only charge £1 a transfer with rates incredibly close to the interbank one quoted on the stock market etc think xe has had its day!!

i guess main thing is the visa only gives 10 days leighway to enter and to get all this done in time is daunting!

you had any luck with food hunting and getting anything close to an m&s or tesco ready meal??

doconthemove

also just to add main thing attracted me to td bank is that it opens on sunday although granted the people on here say most done online but i guess for me i still prefer having a branch handy to speak to a human!

also re: cars there is a deal nearby for new 4WD grand cherokee its $199 a month for a 3 yr lease 12k a yr mileage with around 2.5k$ initial payment at signing

is this a good deal? am struggling to know what is a good deal with these type of things!