Arrival in US -- what to expect, what to do

Are clothes (casual, winter, and everyday wear) for children expensive in the USA?

Clothes can be very expensive for kids, esp when you consider how fast they grow. Target is a good place to get clothes, esp if they are on sale.

Having said that...

My daughter is adopted from an asian country. She is smaller than most US kids - but by the standards from her country, quite "normal." This makes it hard to find clothing that fit her - anything that fits her waist is way too short. The more expensive stores offer options that allow the clothes to fit. (Lands' End, The Gap for Kids, etc.) While they cost much more, the quality is much better - but she grows so fast, quality is not really an issue since she wears things for 6 months or so.

Most communities have resale shops for kids clothing: the clothes have to be in new or nearly new condition and are very inexpensive. If you don't tell someone where you bought them, no one will know. Also, people have "garage sales" where they sell used items, less expensively than resale shops. But you don't know what will be there...

There is really no stigma attached to buying items from resale (in this country.) Most people will brag about the great deals they find at them.

hope this helps.

SJ

(snip)I was just wondering where to look out for help.

I am coming to St.petersburg Florida.

And would appreciate ideas on everything right from day care to rent to Making calls.

please help me.

:)

Hi there!

I used to work in St. Pete (husband still does) but live in neighboring Hillsborough.

This site is pertinent to St. Petersburg, which is in Pinellas County:

http://www.pinellascounty.org This has information on area beaches and parks, links to utility services, links to sex offender databases, etc.

A helpful site for all Floridians is http://www.myflorida.com Here you can find out where the nearest license plate "tag office" is, where to get your FL driver's license, etc. You can also find links at this site to the state licensing board here.

The local paper is found completely online here: http://www.sptimes.com and you can find rentals and jobs as well.

PM me if you need any further information about the area or FL in general.

Best regards,

Michelle

Hi Suzanne,

How about taxes in California? Especially in Sta Clara county?

Ray,

Depends on which part of NJ that you will be living in. You get so much that you can duduct for each child, etc. Don't focus on that right now.

Yes, there are Target stores all over...........I love them. :balloons:

California is higher than many of the other states, but you get more nice weather in return, etc. You have a few children, so you will get a deduction for them, as well as having spouse, etc. Your salary is going to be so much higher that what you are used to, that even if it were 50% in taxes, which of course it is not, you will have plenty to live on..............

Thank you.

Hi there!

I used to work in St. Pete (husband still does) but live in neighboring Hillsborough.

This site is pertinent to St. Petersburg, which is in Pinellas County:

http://www.pinellascounty.org This has information on area beaches and parks, links to utility services, links to sex offender databases, etc.

A helpful site for all Floridians is www.myflorida.com Here you can find out where the nearest license plate "tag office" is, where to get your FL driver's license, etc. You can also find links at this site to the state licensing board here.

The local paper is found completely online here: http://www.sptimes.com and you can find rentals and jobs as well.

PM me if you need any further information about the area or FL in general.

Best regards,

Michelle

Hi Michelle I guess I can take the liberty of calling you by your first name.

Thanx for the information.

Actually I wish to know about the daycare facilities in St.Pete.

I have a 3 and a half year old kid;so can you give me a fair idea of how much daycare for a month will cost me?I hope I am not being an inconvenience.

Thanx once again & God bless!:)

Hi Michelle I guess I can take the liberty of calling you by your first name.

Thanx for the information.

Actually I wish to know about the daycare facilities in St.Pete.

I have a 3 and a half year old kid;so can you give me a fair idea of how much daycare for a month will cost me?I hope I am not being an inconvenience.

Thanx once again & God bless!:)

Hello, you are not an inconvenience at all! Your daycare rate will range anywhere from approximately $100 to $150 a week, depending on whether your child is in a private care situation or in a preschool sort of facility. Of course, the latter may be more difficult for you with a nurse's working hours!

Do you already know where you are going to be working? The reason I ask is that St. Petersburg is a HUGE metropolitan area, and I strongly advise finding a home and daycare provider close to your employer if possible because traffic here in the Tampa/St. Pete area is really extraordinarily bad due to so few Interstate roads (the state itself is a peninsula and then Pinellas county is one itself!)

If your future employer does not have daycare referral (many here do) then you may want to check this out: http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/childcare. This is our state licensing board's site and tells you everything you need to know about daycare here. The provider search function is here:

http://199.250.30.131/childcare/provider/providersearch.aspx This search is neat because it allows to search for providers who work non-standard hours

When I was in real estate, I used to have these links on my website and people really loved them.

Again, feel free to PM if you have any other questions. Good luck with your move...most people really like it here.

Best regards,

Michelle

Hello, you are not an inconvenience at all! Your daycare rate will range anywhere from approximately $100 to $150 a week, depending on whether your child is in a private care situation or in a preschool sort of facility. Of course, the latter may be more difficult for you with a nurse's working hours!

Do you already know where you are going to be working? The reason I ask is that St. Petersburg is a HUGE metropolitan area, and I strongly advise finding a home and daycare provider close to your employer if possible because traffic here in the Tampa/St. Pete area is really extraordinarily bad due to so few Interstate roads (the state itself is a peninsula and then Pinellas county is one itself!)

If your future employer does not have daycare referral (many here do) then you may want to check this out: http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/childcare. This is our state licensing board's site and tells you everything you need to know about daycare here. The provider search function is here:

http://199.250.30.131/childcare/provider/providersearch.aspx This search is neat because it allows to search for providers who work non-standard hours

When I was in real estate, I used to have these links on my website and people really loved them.

Again, feel free to PM if you have any other questions. Good luck with your move...most people really like it here.

Thanx again Michelle.Daycare was a big problem for me.

I followed ur sites and they gave great input.

It has made things easy.

God bless!:)

wow suzanne, you really come up with great threads!! at least i could anticipate what to expect when i get to US hopefully someday soon. im keeping my fingers crossed... :chuckle

please make this a sticky!!! :yelclap: im sure many will really benefit from all the advices that they can get here.

thanks again for the materials...

God bless.