vikingsail

Life in 2015

scrubbedexpat097

I guess we knew nothing really. The whole adventure from the get go was approached blindly.

What do I wish we had known?? Probably wished we had been a bit less trusting of certain people but in the long run the whole adventure made us stronger.

When you don't have the resources you find the way eventually. Sometimes that's more rewarding.

dj6372

That if you wish to pay cash at a gas station, you have to pay upfront before the pump is authorised! Would've prevented me standing at the pump looking like a dick waiting!

newadventure

That if you wish to pay cash at a gas station, you have to pay upfront before the pump is authorised! Would've prevented me standing at the pump looking like a dick waiting!
This. Also applies to paying by UK credit card. Especially annoying if you are heading to the airport to return a hire car so you don't know how much fuel you will need ("i just want to fill it up"). The message at the pump is something like "wait a moment" and you think it is trying to authorise your card, whereas it should be saying "go and talk to the person in the office"

newadventure

This. Also applies to paying by UK credit card. Especially annoying if you are heading to the airport to return a hire car so you don't know how much fuel you will need ("i just want to fill it up"). The message at the pump is something like "wait a moment" and you think it is trying to authorise your card, whereas it should be saying "go and talk to the person in the office"

Pulaski

Only crims and deadbeats pay cash for gas.

dj6372

Or recent immigrants without US credit card!

mrken30

I wish i could remember to take my coupons with me. So annoying getting to the store without the coupons. I am not sure if the model ever existed in the UK, if it did , probably before my time.

Also I wish that prices in grocery stores for some items did not vary by about 50% , especially pet food.

Pulaski

We have learned to (i) keep a stock of some things (those regularly discounted/ available with coupons) (ii) buy things discounted/with coupons even if we don't need them "today", and (iii) go grocery shopping prepared to buy whatever is a good price. We like steak and shrimp, and both are highly variable in price, so we generally buy them only when the price is down.

mrken30

Hence why we have a years supply of toilet roll and cat litter. We are prepared for the end times.

Thankfully the average American house is bigger than the average UK house

Pulaski

Keeping stock of our domestic inventory and ensuring we have an adequate supply on hand of all the essentials is a real headache. Luckily we have two 1,000 tablet bottles of ibu-profen which were discounted at BJ's.

dj6372

Our airing cupboard is full of loo roll, yup on a deal!

scrubbedexpat091

We bought 1,000 tablets at Costco for $5 something in 2014, they expire in March 2016, and I don't think we will come close to using them all, but hey when 24 tablets are 5-7 dollars at Wal-Mart or a drug store, still a savings in the end. Pharmacy will take the unused and dispose of them free.


We stock up on things like toilet paper when the stores put them on for a cheap price, they do it every 4 to 5 weeks, but now are limiting to X amount per savings card, so harder to stock up.

Things like tooth brushes, tooth paste, deodorant, soap, laundry stuff and cleaning stuff and so on I will not pay full price for, same with razors which are a rip off even on sale.

Pulaski

I spoke to a pharmacist at our church in England about drug strength after assaying aspirin tablets when I was studying chemistry at high school, and he explained that drugs were often made "overstrength" (aspirins by 10%) such that they were still effective on the expiry date, even when not stored in optimal conditions. So long as your ibuprofen has been stored in moderate temperatures it will likely be effective long after the nominal "expiry" date, and I would continue to use them for another 2-3 years, unless/until I was finding them to be ineffective. Unlike foods they certainly won't become potentially dangerous to use after the expiry date.

md95065

I wish that I had known that I could have continued to make National Insurance contributions in the UK.