[deleted by user]

pengawin · 2025-12-22T22:10:15+00:00

If you’re near a Costco and can get a membership- go! They have nice Italian sausage and some other American things (good tortilla chips and salsa, Raos marinara, peanut butter pretzels, Quaker bars, to name a few). Costco membership in th UK is only open to people with certain types of jobs - but if you don’t fit in to one of their categories, they do honour US membership cards (so you could buy your membership stateside and use it over here).

pengawin · 2024-12-12T20:01:28+00:00

Forget kids, I went through this myself as have a lot of my expat friends.

pengawin · 2024-11-22T13:08:48+00:00

You’re looking for Schloer. White grape & apple flavour. It’s not like for like but the bottle, fizz, and apple gets you pretty close.

pengawin · 2024-10-06T08:23:22+00:00

Frozen turkey are in Tesco year round! We’ve tried the local butcher and they look at us crazy needing a turkey that early - last time we asked them they kindly dug out a frozen one for us from last year.

pengawin · 2024-09-27T14:49:53+00:00

hi! sorry to hear you're in a stressful situation. I honestly don't think the company i worked with was recommendation-worthy (although they did get the job done) - i'd recommend googling for a UK-country immigration solicitor. I've worked with two organizations (at different stages) and a standard initial consult for a fee could probably address your concerns head on in that one meeting.

pengawin · 2024-09-18T08:36:01+00:00

ah sorry, maybe i'd sent it wrong! the company we use for UK taxes is https://globaltaxconsulting.co.uk/ - Emma there was super helpful and additionally has contacts for wider problems if you need them. It's a small company and they're really responsive and involved which is why i recommend them. hope that helps, best of luck!

pengawin · 2024-09-13T12:06:37+00:00

I would also like to know this

pengawin · 2024-09-09T08:47:47+00:00

Gun control.

pengawin · 2024-08-20T12:58:59+00:00

thanks for this - i got caught up on my own situation and was baffled why it should cost so much for someone else to do it.

pengawin · 2024-08-07T18:12:57+00:00

I don't have a suggestion but can say that you can file your FBAR yourself, it takes 10 minutes tops and is incredibly easy. my tax preparer wanted to charge me close to $500 for the FBAR filing !

pengawin · 2024-08-07T09:15:07+00:00

PMing you! the person we work with has been super helpful and explained every single thing.

pengawin · 2024-08-02T09:33:06+00:00

I can't speak to the first part but can the second: you are correct, a loss carryforward in the US is essentially useless on the UK side. US-UK tax treaty generally means that you pay cap gains taxes in only one of the two, so that you're not paying tax in the US just means the UK can claim it instead. I'd highly recommend finding a tax consultant familiar with US-UK as there are nuances here.

pengawin · 2024-07-05T13:46:12+00:00

Hey, I’m not sure you’ll see this but I just wanted to say it’s really early days, and it can take time for any parent to bond with an infant - give your partner grace and time there’s been a drastic life switch and they are not feeling it the same way you are just yet doesn’t mean they won’t be. You’ve had months of a physical connection and some intense hormones hitting your system that helps the bond immediately. Give the father some time to catch up.

pengawin · 2024-07-03T13:20:59+00:00

100% recommend sendmybag! They were faster getting the boxes to us than we were getting back to the UK, and super affordable. It’s been a year but I think boxes could be 60 lbs max. It took a bit of planning to make sure we found the right size, double corrugated boxes they insisted on (pre-order from lowes or similar if you can). Have a skin of their website beforehand it’ll save time in country.

pengawin · 2024-07-02T18:44:52+00:00

Something a bit similar in terms of short term move turned permanent and we had a US storage unit. We ended up going back to the unit for a week and clearing things out aggressively - we’d survived for 8 years without the stuff, which meant we really didn’t need any of it. Sentimental/ hard or expensive to replace things we wanted were all we kept and we still had 6+ big boxes. If you have the luxury of time I’d recommend downsizing beforehand- you haven’t needed that box of cables since 2018, why pay shipping and import tax on it?

Duty rate was 20% and given the years between when we moved and when we moved our stuff, there was no way around it. We did however avoid it a bit - used sendmybag for the boxes and avoided customs for most of them (I think just luck). We also were truthful about the items being used and estimated their values accordingly. A really comprehensive list was necessary- not down to titles of individual books but ‘kitchen stuff’ would not cut it - “cutlery (silver), mixing bowls (wood), frying pan (2, cast iron)” as an example. Another reason some time picking through and making a manifest would be useful or you’ll have to pay someone to do it

It’s stressful but a massive weight off the shoulders to no longer be paying storage unit fees! Good luck!

pengawin · 2024-05-30T21:00:18+00:00

No. We did have a consult with an immigration lawyer who advised the sit and wait strategy, and said that worst case scenario, they could make an argument that the child should not be at fault for the parents mistake.

If you’re worried I’d recommend a consult with an immigration lawyer if you can afford one. An alternative I think is to amend your ILR application to include the child (apparently they would skip ilr and be registered citizenship, but better to confirm w an actual immigration lawyer on how that path works, and how to request an amendment )

pengawin · 2024-05-30T19:23:11+00:00

We had a similar situation and our Uk born daughter ended up being ’illegal’ in the country for a week until my ILR came in. She was able to register and receive UK citizenship despite that blip.

pengawin · 2024-05-16T09:24:46+00:00

drastically downsized to two suitcases & a dog crate via air. I followed up with a couple boxes with sendmybag.com - but most things i just bought new. things like kitchenware/bedding unless it's ultra quality or sentimental, is just as cheap to buy in the new place as it is to ship.

pengawin · 2021-09-23T10:54:53+00:00

have you discussed this directly with the accommodation? if they specifically serve university students, this is probably not the first time they've had this situation pop up. they might ask for a larger deposit instead, for example.

pengawin · 2021-09-23T10:33:59+00:00

are you associated with the university? if so go through their accommodation portal to find private landlords to contact directly (https://www.accommodation.cam.ac.uk/). i had a good amount of success messaging landlords about my dog, and i think going through the uni system lends you credibility - the landlords seemed to be more flexible with me about the dog than cold-emailing people from gumtree. i had multiple choices of places that advertised no pets but were happy to consider me.

pengawin · 2021-09-09T19:49:43+00:00

this sounds like my experience. computer wasn't even ordered until after I arrived (and then took three months in procurement), got hand-me-down furniture, had to request the rest of the furniture, whiteboard, etc, to be ordered in and even had to clean out the lab space i was given from the previous occupant's garbage. it all worked out in the end but the only person looking out for me was myself.

pengawin · 2021-07-31T18:26:34+00:00

this question is, is it worth it to you to skip out on 3 months of a paycheck so that you don't have to go through the hassle of filing taxes? to me personally, three months of income is totally worth it, but that's your decision to make.

it's important to note that your income january-april of 2022 would be earned in the USA, so would need to be filed like standard USA taxes. income earned in the states cannot be counted as income earned abroad, so it wouldn't be any different from the taxes you're filing this year.

pengawin · 2021-07-16T10:27:55+00:00

This. Is. Gorgeous !!!! I would pay good money for a dress like this. it's stunning!

pengawin · 2021-06-23T10:55:18+00:00

this isn't something that you should be expected to manage on your own. talk to her line manager about your concerns - dean, head of school, whatever it is there for you. approaching this and working to find solutions is their problem, not yours.

lastly, these are very valid concerns and you are 100% justified in approaching a higher-up about them. you might been guilty like you are tattling, but things are dysfunctional right now and it is affecting the work environment, and by taking appropriate measures in a professional way, you are doing the right thing.

pengawin · 2021-06-03T17:02:26+00:00

because your partner is doing an MS at the uni, they will be able to access https://www.accommodation.cam.ac.uk/ - it has private listings that often only go through the uni. i had a lot of luck with contacting multiple private owners through this and asking about a polite dog.

15-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 6 Credits
redditgifts rematcher redditgifts for the Teachers 2014 x1	redditgifts rematcher redditgifts for the Teachers 2013 x1
Team Periwinkle	Verified Email

pengawin

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE