Mummy in the foothills

My MIL did something like this I won't say any more but it was pretty funny. She used Tupperware.

Mummy in the foothills

She does save you money in the food department, be sure to buy diamonds.

Mummy in the foothills

Theres a Social security admin office in the embassy too, that may be of more use to get the pension rolling.

ldyinlv

it says they may have electronic tax filing in 2011 from UK that would be great as I always do my own taxes (easy when you dont make any money) and file online...
Jackie

windsong

That could be helpful but I wonder why the SS/IRS is invading Britain like this. I have never heard of such a thing.

The USA doesn't have a UK tax and pension authority here.

windsong

If we have to file UK and US taxes returns for a few years, I wonder if it costs a fortune to hire a tax consultant to help. (More money!)

ldyinlv

I dont think it will be an issue unless you make more than $80 grand.

windsong

When I work in Britain? No, I won't be earning anywhere near that much. If I am lucky enough to back to teaching and find a job, I will probably have to start at the bottom of the scale because I have been gone so long. That's 24,000 pounds. If I can't get a teaching job, I will be a high level secretary/executive assistant. I think that's ab out 19,000 pounds but, again, not sure.

I won't be close to earning $80,000 over there. Maybe I will be able to say Bye Bye to US taxes.

ldyinlv

Well you have to file but it will show you paid Uk taxes, and so you wont get double dipped anyway. Its a pain in the butt, but if you want to collect SS, gotta do it I guess..

windsong

I am beginning to go through everything I own and sorting it out - what I will sell, what I will give or throw away, what I will take to Britain with me. What sorts of things are you all taking back?

I have a real Tiffany lamp (valuable) that my mother gave me. I know it won't work over there but I want to take it anyway. It's beautiful. Perhaps I can get it rewired.

This might sound ridiculous but I have some new sets of towels. I thought I would take them (I have tons of towels and can use the older ones until I leave here). I thought it might be wise to take as much as I can because it's less to buy over there especially when you are starting out.

Also taking my Bernina sewing machine and my Apple laptop - I can get power supplies for UK. I also have a Bernina serger - might take that, too.

I really don't have much I will miss. I have lots of computer/web/graphic design books. I will take some of those - my bibles of web and graphic design - because I am sure they are expensive over there as they are here.

I'd like to say jewelry but I have very little. I have had to sell most of it this year just to survive. It doesn't matter, though. It's not important.

What other things are you all taking/shipping?

When we came to the US we shipped over (literally shipped) two large trunks full of stuff. They took six weeks to get here. I wonder if I can do the same going back, although I plan to go on the QM2 with my four pets.

This process is part of my planning.

windsong

Will I have to file US taxes the rest of my life because I receive SS from the US?

ldyinlv

yep!!

sallysimmons

They're just there to help citizens with questions.

If you are a US citizen, you are a US citizen for life unless you renounce that. Just because you move to England, doesn't change anything in their eyes. But if it bothers you, you can renounce your citizenship formally once you get home. I plan to keep mine - you never know how life will work out or what it will throw at you. I like having all my options open.

As to where we're all going - I hope to move to Kendal in Cumbria. My husband and I went there in September and we both fell in love. Such a warm and friendly town - and thriving with a bustling marketplace, cobbled streets, tons of pubs, plus all the shops you could need. There's a buzzing arts center and the most incredible scenery all around - the Yorkshire Dales on one side, the Lake District on the other. Oh and 20 minutes from the coast with regular direct trains to Manchester and London. Can't ask for more than that!

ldyinlv

I dont have much since my divorce, mostly clothes and a few nick nacks..so its not really a huge issue for me. Anything I dont want to keep will probably take to the pawn shop, or garage sale, and then goodwill.
Just have a couple of suitcases for 34 years of life in the US..sad really....oh well. Its only stuff.
Jackie

windsong

I am seriously considering renouncing mine but it is a big step and even though I would like to do it as soon as I set foot in Britain, I must be wiser than that and think lots about it.

Cumbria sounds beautiful, Sally! I am really torn between Scotland and England but I must admit to being swayed more toward England. I grew up in the Edinburgh area and went to uni there but in 89 I visited my father in Wells in Somerset. Actually, he lived in a little village called Cheddar. I totally fell in love with it. As you mentioned, I loved the marketplace right through the main street of the town, the English pubs were delightful and I am SO looking forward to those again. I don't drink much at all - one or two a year - but it's the atmosphere that I love. It's a good place to meet people and make new friends, I think. I also prefer the architecture of the buildings in England. They are less austere than Scotland.

I am not looking for the high life or tons of shops or the finest universities any more (Scotland). I am looking for a small village I can call home, one that is not too far from a city that I can visit if I wish, and one that has a good bus service and a train station.

I adored the photos of Warwickshire that Karim posted. I love the English Elizabethan-style buildings.

The English villages appeal to me far more these days than the ones I remember around Edinburgh.