I Really Miss The Following Things:

Costco for hotdogs! 

Seriously, do you have a Costco nearby?  It’s worth it even if you have to drive for a couple of hours.

Costco for hotdogs! 

Seriously, do you have a Costco nearby?  It’s worth it even if you have to drive for a couple of hours.

Do you know if civil servants qualify for membership?  Maybe we can get one... I didn't have a membership in the US, so I have nothing to transfer over here.  I'll look up civil servants...

I think my nearest Costco is in Derby which is a 40 minute drive/impossible bus trip LOL. I'm going to convince the hubs to go this weekend, I think.

 We just bought a house in April and spent 3 months making it livable (it had no central heating or gas and was last decorated in 1965 and just had patchwork applied for various things since) and then moved in and stopped doing stuff to finish things off. A shopping trip for DIY crap etc is coming soon and I'm going to just throw Costco into the mix as well. 

House DIY stuff here is...WAY different. I missed drywall like nobody's business when we were gutting our house.

Do you know if civil servants qualify for membership?  Maybe we can get one... I didn't have a membership in the US, so I have nothing to transfer over here.  I'll look up civil servants...

Probably.  Just call them.  It’s American customer service and everything!

I think my nearest Costco is in Derby which is a 40 minute drive/impossible bus trip LOL. I'm going to convince the hubs to go this weekend, I think.

 We just bought a house in April and spent 3 months making it livable (it had no central heating or gas and was last decorated in 1965 and just had patchwork applied for various things since) and then moved in and stopped doing stuff to finish things off. A shopping trip for DIY crap etc is coming soon and I'm going to just throw Costco into the mix as well. 

House DIY stuff here is...WAY different. I missed drywall like nobody's business when we were gutting our house.

We've been living in this house with no central heating or gas or stove/fireplace or kitchen (I have utilikitchen, though!)... We bought the house in 2016, and I've been living in it full time since November 2016, my husband was part-time until March when he finally started a job close to home.  We're approaching our third winter without heat soon.  Yay?

We've been living in this house with no central heating or gas or stove/fireplace or kitchen (I have utilikitchen, though!)... We bought the house in 2016, and I've been living in it full time since November 2016, my husband was part-time until March when he finally started a job close to home.  We're approaching our third winter without heat soon.  Yay?

oh god, yuck. I would freeze to death. Are you doing wood heat or space heaters or??

oh god, yuck. I would freeze to death. Are you doing wood heat or space heaters or??

We were originally thinking we'd put in underfloor heating (electric, not water-filled), but lately, we've been rethinking that.  Now we're trialing a far-infrared panel to see how well it heats... If it's enough heat, we might go that route instead, just because it's easier to install and if maintenance needs to happen, we'd be able to access it without ripping up the floor.

And we'll have a wood stove in the lounge.


Edit:  Oh, you mean NOW!  Hahaha!  Um... we have three small electric space heaters (two fan ones, and one radiant heater in the bedroom) and we recently picked up a far infrared panel that we'll be trialing this year.

We were originally thinking we'd put in underfloor heating (electric, not water-filled), but lately, we've been rethinking that.  Now we're trialing a far-infrared panel to see how well it heats... If it's enough heat, we might go that route instead, just because it's easier to install and if maintenance needs to happen, we'd be able to access it without ripping up the floor.

And we'll have a wood stove in the lounge.


Edit:  Oh, you mean NOW!  Hahaha!  Um... we have three small electric space heaters (two fan ones, and one radiant heater in the bedroom) and we recently picked up a far infrared panel that we'll be trialing this year.

You know, electric heating is catching on here. Our electrician tried REALLY hard to talk us into it.

 I still have no heating in my kitchen and downstairs bath (which was the only bathroom in the house and is currently the only downstairs toilet...im gonna make it into a toilet/laundry room next year).
Ive considered plinth heaters in the kitchen just because they're cheap at Screwfix and could be installed for very little £££. They fit on the baseboards underneath the cabinets and you just kick them on when you go in the room or whatever. better than having to pay for underfloor heat or have a giant radiator taking up space.

You know, electric heating is catching on here. Our electrician tried REALLY hard to talk us into it.

 I still have no heating in my kitchen and downstairs bath (which was the only bathroom in the house and is currently the only downstairs toilet...im gonna make it into a toilet/laundry room next year).
Ive considered plinth heaters in the kitchen just because they're cheap at Screwfix and could be installed for very little £££. They fit on the baseboards underneath the cabinets and you just kick them on when you go in the room or whatever. better than having to pay for underfloor heat or have a giant radiator taking up space.

In the far distant future, when we need a new roof, we want to put in the solar tiles that Elon Musk is developing (https://news.energysage.com/tesla-solar-panel-roof-the-next-solar-shingles/), so we're making decisions now that lend themselves to an efficient, all-electric house (with the wood burner for backup and for ambiance).

Yeah, our house has all the radiators still in from the old system (the boiler's been broken since before we bought the place... the old owner tried to have it repaired, but instead gave us a bit of a discount toward buying alternative heating because the boiler could not be repaired and will need to be replaced, or just removed entirely since we want to go a different direction).  We look forward to removing them (and all the exposed plumbing!) to tidy up the place and free up wall space.  We've drained them, as far as we can tell, so it's just a question of getting them and the old boiler out.  We'll do that once we've figured out how we'll dispose of them.

In the far distant future, when we need a new roof, we want to put in the solar tiles that Elon Musk is developing (https://news.energysage.com/tesla-solar-panel-roof-the-next-solar-shingles/), so we're making decisions now that lend themselves to an efficient, all-electric house (with the wood burner for backup and for ambiance).

Yeah, our house has all the radiators still in from the old system (the boiler's been broken since before we bought the place... the old owner tried to have it repaired, but instead gave us a bit of a discount toward buying alternative heating because the boiler could not be repaired and will need to be replaced, or just removed entirely since we want to go a different direction).  We look forward to removing them (and all the exposed plumbing!) to tidy up the place and free up wall space.  We've drained them, as far as we can tell, so it's just a question of getting them and the old boiler out.  We'll do that once we've figured out how we'll dispose of them.

if they're old fancyish ones, you could sell them to a reclaims yard. Otherwise, I think your local tip should have somewhere to recycle them.

I miss antique stores....but reclaim yards have become a favourite thing of mine!

In the far distant future, when we need a new roof, we want to put in the solar tiles that Elon Musk is developing (https://news.energysage.com/tesla-solar-panel-roof-the-next-solar-shingles/), so we're making decisions now that lend themselves to an efficient, all-electric house (with the wood burner for backup and for ambiance).

I love that idea!

They fit on the baseboards underneath the cabinets and you just kick them on when you go in the room or whatever. better than having to pay for underfloor heat or have a giant radiator taking up space.

That sounds great too!

I know I'm going to have to drive here eventually, it's just terrifying to think about even over a year later. I can drive a manual nbd...for a left-hand driven car. My husband's tried to teach me about some of the road rules but it's ridiculous to me. I don't understand any of the signage.

I gave away or donated almost everything I owned before moving. I kept 1 suitcase of clothing, and all of my photography stuff and books. I have 3 rather large solid oak bookshelves in US storage...and I miss them because they were my grandmother's. I probably won't ever ship them over here though. It's just too much money.

You sound like me! I moved over with two checked bags and a carry on. I have 3 boxes of books I want to bring over but haven't had a chance to get them here yet and it's been 4 years.

We're in south Derbyshire and I just got my license in May. It is a bit nerve wracking. I used an awesome app that cost £4.99 to learn my theory, it's all the questions they can ask so it's mostly just learning by rote and it covers signs, speed, and road rules. You also have to do a hazard and perception section,which is watching videos and clicking when you see hazards. The official app is good too.

And I definitely second finding a driving instructure for lessons. You already know how to drive, but you need to get over your US muscle memory and be comfortable in the car. And a driving instructor's car has an extra set of breaks so if you make a silly mistake they can keep you all safe. 😊 And you won't get into shouting matches with an instructor. Haha.

My Tesco Extra has an Asian section and it has real ramen noodles in it. I get chicken flavour, but they have 4 or 6 different ones. They're 50p a packet but it's so worth it.

Souper noodles are gross.

One of my local friends puts in orders from sumawholefoods for a group of her friends so it hits the minimum order (£250 I think) and I am getting frozen amy's free from mac n cheese and I am praying it's like the one I got in the states. That was like my supreme comfort food post-gluten free/dairy free diet. And I'm getting a full litre of maple syrup. For allll the homemade pancakes. I've gotten over the trauma of suddenly having to make *everything* from scratch and having no pre-made options, but I do really miss a lot of things from the states. My first stop when I'm home next will be Wegmans for some sushi and mochi!

They have Amy's Kitchen Gluten Free Mac and cheese at my Sainsbury's. Is it not the same?

This one:
https://www.amyskitchen.co.uk/products/product-detail/ready-meals/000371

Ah, you also need dairy free... So that's not helpful.