Tips & Tricks Learnt Since Moving to the USA

Since moving to America 2 years ago, I’ve had to learn new ways to do things from banking to grocery shopping and want to share my tips and tricks that helped me along the way.

Banking

First thing I learnt is you need to establish a credit rating to help you apply for rental homes, credit cards and even setting up accounts with utilities. When we first moved here we were taken to Bank Of America to setup a checking account and apply for a secure credit card. The secure credit card is where you deposit a certain amount from you account onto a credit card and then after 12 months or less depending on spending habits, you are then moved onto a normal credit card and your depsoit is refunded back into your account.  The one thing we learnt afterwards is the bank doesn’t tell you if you apply in person for the credit cards rather then online you will not receive any of the sign up bonuses unless you mention it to them during the application, so makesure to do you research and if your not confident applying online make sure you to mention the sign up bonuses when you apply in person to get them. Also if you are applying for joint credit cards with your partner be aware that only one of you will get the credit rating score if it is a joint credit card.

Renting

After now having moved 3 times over the past 2 years to 3 different states, I can look back and share some things we experienced.

1. Our first move into a condo was quite easy . The agent who showed the house knew the owner which worked to our advantage, as could explain our situation that we didn’t have credit or rental history due to being new to the country. The owner was understanding and we just needed to show our employment contract to show our wage and that we could afford the rent.
2. Second move was to a brand new apartment building that was in the final stages of being built. I wouldn’t do this again unless I wasn’t under a time crunch to move from one rental to another or at least had family to stay with whilst you can wait for the building to be completed. After being told it will be ready possible by the end of the month, we put down a security deposit. Unfortunately  we then find out after numerous phone calls and emails once the deadline had passed they were waiting for fire and residential permits. We were in unfortunate position but lucky as we had moved out of our last rental and were able to use this to an advantage by getting a rent discount due the delay on the building, it was pretty stressful not having anywhere to live for a month and all of our belonings being stored in a Uhaul truck on a friends driveway but we got there in the end and moved in 3 days before Christmas.Lucky enough the snow held off until Christmas day.
3. Our third move was across the country to California into a apartment community complex. After viewing many apartment communities all which seemed to be built in the 1970s, we found the most newest building which was built about 5 years ago.  Now we have found through many conversations there is unfortunately no negotiation with rent in these communities but each community usually have some type of sign on deal going on, which is good but be aware as they will always advise you the rent price is only valid for the current day your visiting and to check the website for upto date availability and pricing.  You will be asked to pay an application fee and fill out the paperwork for the application. Once this is done they will do a background and credit check. Once you have passed these stages you will then need to bring in a cheque for first/last month rent plus security deposit. You will get your security deposit back when you eventually move out.

Also what is nice they don’t do rent inspections every 3 months like Australia, the apartment is yours to do with as you please as long as it is returned back to the way it was when you move out. Each apartment generally will be repainted and re carpeted after each tenant depending on the conditions. Another term you may come across is rehab apartments, this means they have fully renovated the apartment and it includes all white goods, compared to non rehab which have only been repainted and re carpted, no white goods included.

Grocery Shopping

When I first moved to USA from Australia the idea of going grocery shopping was exciting but daunting at the same time. Having to find new product brands you like as well as learning different names for produce that you may be use to from your home country took time and research but now after living over here for 2 years its become a lot easier.

1. First thing I learnt was to do with bread, you will notice if you go into your local store and buy any loaf of bread it will taste sweet which is something I definitely was not expecting or enjoyed. After talking to some locals ive learnt that most breads have high fructose corn syrup in it, so makesure to look at the labels of breads and for it to say no high fructose corn syrup on it then you wont have the weird sweetness taste.
2. Second thing was to join the rewards program of the grocery store you shop at as you can and will save money through coupons, but you will need to login to your rewards account to add the coupons you like to your rewards number to save the additional money on particular products.
3. Third big thing was I halved my grocery bill by doing my grocery shopping at ALDI. They are cheapest supermarket ive come across since moving here and I didn’t discover them until 6 months in. The bulk of the products come from Europe which helps them keep the prices down, the fresh produce and meat are great quality and a lot cheap then the main supermarket chains. Also one small thing I’ve found if you are shopping for any type of card ie birthday to wedding you can find really good quality ones for cheap at stores like TJ MAX and Home Goods they range from $2 to $4.

Finally one thing I’ve just learnt recently is I can earn free cash back with an app called Ebates, if I had know about this one a lot earlier would of been fantastic. Since downloading and signing up to this account I’ve been earning cashback on any online purchases from amazon to hotels.com. Also you can do instore cashback at certain stores you just link your credit card and it will sync when you shop in those stores. Then you will get a check in the mail every three months if you earn over $5 cash back and to be honest who doesn’t like free money!!!