Lost in Florida

Personal Blog

Categories: Life Updates, Living in the USA

I moved in my own place!

For two and a half years, I was hosted, and even nurtured and pampered by my in-laws. Because of my professional situation, which was on hold for so long, my salary did not allow me to get an apartment. Fortunately, I finally got my promotion in August, and as I’m pregnant I was a little in a hurry to move, so it just left me two months to save and look for a “home”.

Easier said than done… It is not extremely different from France here, they ask the first month of rent and a deposit (around the price of the rent but not necessarily the exact same), proof of income and rental history. But they also look at your credit score and your criminal record! And most of the time, an application for a rental is charged (to cover the price for the criminal record precisely as well as agency fees – most owners use management agencies), from what I observed, between $40 and $100!!

As a foreigner, rental history and credit score can be a problem! Since I have not just arrived in the USA, I was able to “work” on my credit score and luckily mine is good enough (everything above 700 is good). For the rental history, my in-laws wrote a letter to justify where I lived so far and the conditions, and I also asked 3 people to write me letters of reference (my ex-boss and two friends). I had read that it could make a difference if you cannot provide a classic history (they normally contact the agency where you previously rented who must then fill out a form that basically says whether or not you have been a good tenant, that you always paid your rent on time, and that they would rent to you again).

In my case I was lucky, this apartment was on the market for 2 months so we can consider that I did not have a lot of competition, it was my first application and I got it!

It is an old apartment and there have been some upgrades/minor repairs needed, but it is a two-bedroom apartment in a very safe area. Not easy at all to find in my budget!

Here are the apps I used to find apartments for rent:
– Trulia
– Zillow
– Apartments
– Rent.com

I mostly used the first 2, and I have a small preference for Trulia that allows you to see the crimes statistics! Super important in a city like Jacksonville, especially when you do not know the neighborhoods very well.

You can also use a Realtor; if I understand correctly, they receive a commission by the rental agency if they find a tenant, so it does not cost you anything.

Categories: Living in the USA, This American Life

Receiving a package at your P.O. Box

I explained in a post that I took a P.O. Box, mostly to be able to receive my pen pals’ letters. I chose the minimum size, because beside a few letters, I didn’t expect to receive much there. I read that if we get a package that doesn’t fit the box (that is really small), they leave you a slip and you can get it back at the counter. But I was surprised to see this:


I don’t know if it’s like this in all the post offices, but I imagine it’s pretty common here. They leave you a key for one of the bigger boxes…

and your package awaits you inside:


Convenient for everyone! 🙂

Categories: Living in the USA

Walk-in Lab

I needed some blood tests a few weeks ago, and I was not too motivated to spend hundreds of dollars on an appointment with a primary care physician – since I still don’t have one. I discovered this website, walkinlab.com, where you can order your test online. You choose the lab you want to go to (or the corporation you prefer and you can go to any of their place) and you pay online and you receive, in your account and/or in your email, the doctor order to present to the laboratory. I placed my order late afternoon, I showed up to the lab the next morning, and I received the results in my account 24 hours later. I saw several websites like this but this one seems to have the best prices. I thought it might be a small practical tip to share 🙂

Categories: Living in the USA

Money, Money, Money

So last week was unfortunately not filled with cool stuff in the evenings, but more practical or necessary stuff. For example, filling my taxes lol.

As a first timer everyone was suggesting I should go somewhere have someone do it for/with me, but I ain’t paying $100 for that! F*** that, I can figure it out myself. And I could, I already had made my research before about how to fill regarding to my marriage and what was allowed and all. I knew all the money I spend on him is considered gifts and I can’t claim him or that money, so basically I knew I was filling married jointly, and there was only my W2 to put in. Well I figured out through a friend (she got a k1 visa to marry her “prison boyfriend” and now is married and live in the USA) that I also had to declare the money I earned in France. But still, my situation was quite simple, no children, no mortgages.

Anyway, I filled on one website (the one my friend used for free) and they wanted me to pay $25 at the end when I qualified for a free filling too (again, we are in the exact same situation, she worked a bit in France then here). It made no sense so I tried somewhere else and the refund was completely different (and much smaller). I don’t even know if they wanted me to pay, I was afraid to actually send it out if I was going further and it was free. So I just went to Turbo Tax like everyone seems to do, it gave me the same refund as the first site and it didn’t ask me for any money, so yeah! I got an email saying it was accepted by IRS so I think I’m officially done with this new milestone in my American life lol. If I get the refund, it will help a little bit to save faster for a car.

Because I’m still working on that. Coming to Jacksonville, I never thought I would be here 6 months without a car!

Last time I went to the bank to ask about it, the lady was almost ready to give me a loan right now, because my savings were good (considering the little few months I’ve been here but the amount is not awesome lol) and my pay stubs are good and so on but then she asked if I had a 2-year or a 10-year green card and since I only have 2 years, 2 years is the maximum time I would have to pay my loan (actually not even 2 years since I’ve been here 6 months now), so the monthly payments would be horrendous. So my options now are pretty much, save until I can buy a car cash (loooong time since I need a safe average car -with a couple of options I can’t live without lol- that’ll last until I’m perfectly settled here and that I can count on to go to and from work everyday + the weekly drive to the prison, even if he is eventually moved 3 hours away from me), or try to get a loan directly from the dealership, which everyone tells me shouldn’t be too hard since they only want to sell (and in the worst case, if I don’t pay, they get the car back) and only look at your ID and credit score.

BUT it leads me to the credit score issue, since I am trying to build one. It seems really slow to update so it looks like it might take a couple of months from today to look good (I have been added as an authorized user on my in-laws card and they have excellent credit so hopefully that’ll help). I am hoping at the end of March I’ll have money for a very good down-payment and that the credit score will look good so I can get an okay deal and buy a car sometime in April. It sounds very far away from here still, but it’s coming I guess…
I’ll make a post to try to explain the credit score system because it’s completely unheard of in France.

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