Mortgage Free - so good they'll do it twice! Wynnvegas aiming for the big house

wynnvegas

Evening All,

Thanks new girly, Gally and jodles. Appreciate the comments and good wishes.

We've been in a bit of a blitz with job applications and such this last month. No fewer than 26 jobs have come up in the Maricopa County area that are either Middle School Science or High School Biology. We've put in an application of all of them (one school came back and refused to play ball with hiring dirty foreigners so that lost us a couple). Through various digital interviews, telphone interviews and now Skype interviews, Moyra has been ploughing her way through impressively. Her favourite school of those available held their Skype interview tonight and she's incredibly keen on this one. There doesn't seem to be a second interview necessary in person despite us being in Phoenix in a few weeks so we're hoping against hope that there's no equivalent American who has applied as the School has a legal duty to hire Americans first in such cases.

My Learning System arrived last week and seems to be fairly straightforward. I only scored 61% on the "take this before you look at anything" test but I get what they're looking for now - since re-sat it and got 97% but that's a fudge as it's the same questions over again. Multiple choice questions for social sciences are notoriously difficult to write without a correct answer jumping out at the reader and it turns out that they're just as hard to answer. I failed miserably on the American Labor Laws section which is no surprise as I don't have a clue about it yet (it's chapter 8). I'll spend the next few weeks getting into that and hope to do the exam in the first fortnight in May - needs a trip to Manchester as that's the only place that does it in the UK.

All in all, everything coming together very nicely. Looking forward to the Vegas and Phoenix trip later this month...even the dollar has started moving in the right direction!

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Afternoon All,

More progress happily. The job Moyra was really keen on has been offered and accepted so she has a start date of 9 August. Been on with the lawyer and should hopefully get the sponsorship and visa pieces addressed in the next 4-6 weeks. Studying the HR side is going well so we'll set for the examination window opening in May. From mid-May to July, the focus will switch heavily to me finding a job. Away next week for a good reccy of the place. Only need to find accommodation, transportation, furniture and electronics to kick off a new life in the sun.

Cheers,

Billy

jodles16

Amazing!! :beer::j

wynnvegas

Morning All,

One last post to wrap up this diary.

The last few weeks have been a flurry of activity. We got through all the paperwork, the sponsorship and the visa processes fine. We have a leaving date of 14 July and, as luck would have it, the best flights available were Glasgow - Vegas direct that day!

Moyra blew through her Chemistry exam with 89% and, on the way down to the US Embassy in London, we stopped off at Manchester where I did my Senior Certified HR Professional exam and hit 98%.

We've more or less packed the house up with just a couple of rooms to clear through before we go. We're adding this house to the others and all the rental pieces are in place for 14 July. The only remaining jobs are to sell the cars here and pack the couple of bags we're taking with us. We will ship 4 boxes of clothes and toiletries ahead of us as that proved cheaper than trying to convince the airline to give us extra luggage allowance - moneysavers to the end!

We're renting out in Phoenix for at least three months to give ourselves time to find a nice house to buy. The properties are beautiful and outlandishly priced compared to the UK. Yesterday, we found a 3,900 square foot, 6-bedroom, 4-bathroom detached house with a nice pool for $260,000! It is a further half hour down the hill from where we'd ideally be but certainly worth investigating.

Selling our cars will hopefully finance the cars we get in America. We're hoping to realise $33,000 or thereabouts for our two cars and Moyra has picked her favorites in the SUV category (the Ford Escape SE and Nissan Rogue) which are both coming in around the $15,000 mark.

One bit I can't wait to get into Stateside is the extreme couponing. I've got the general idea of it down but it will be fascinating to have a good crack at it in practice.

Cheers,

Billy

elegant_elephant

Well done on the splendidly high exam results:dance:

I'm looking forward to hearing your extreme coupons get tales, it'd be great if you could keep us updated!

Good luck with the move, it all sounds fantastic!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Good luck for the future. You both deserve it!

velocity_girl

Hi wynnvegas have just come across your diary and will be subscribing! Your story sounds very exciting at the moment! Particularly as a fellow Scot who would LOVE to move to the U.S... Sadly my job is nowhere near as transferable so will have to live vicariously through you!

gallygirl

Fantastic Billy :T:T:T.

Don't go too far - I'm off to Las Vegas in October and will need your advice :rotfl:.

black_taxi_2

w/d billy an family