Three Websites That Can Help You Find a Home After Relocating to the U.S.
If you’re Moving to the U.S. from Canada, you might decide to take your time finding the most suitable home for your family. Here are three websites that can simplify the process and shorten the duration of your temporary living situation.
Zillow.com
Zillow.com is an easy-to-use online real estate website that allows you to simply type in your city or zip code in order to find houses on the market. You can choose from options like homes for sale or rent, or you can simply learn more about topics like mortgage rates. This resource also has categories for professional advice, local information and blogs that can show you what has worked for others.
ApartmentFinder.com
If you’d rather play it safe and buy or rent an apartment before starting your new job in the U.S., ApartmentFinder.com is one of the most reliable ways to find a complex. Since many apartment managers require credit scores, you can use the website’s features to determine your financial rating before receiving a specific quote. When browsing through your city, you’ll even have access to a list of featured apartments, giving you the option to choose luxury over simplicity.
Loopnet.com
Many people simply prefer building their own house. If this is the case with you, Loopnet.com might be a useful tool. This website allows you to type in your city or zip code to find empty lots for sale across the U.S. You even have the option of browsing properties for a potential business venture, as you can choose by categories such as automotive, health care, hotels, churches and convenience store properties. In addition, you can get more specific by learning about zoning details and available acreage.
How to Organize Your New Home in 5 Easy Steps
Once you arrive at your new home after cross border moving, you’ll be surrounded by boxes, or if your moving company unpacked, things might be in random places. There needs to be some strategy to where each item in your household goes. It simplifies life and makes finding items easy. As you start to rearrange, follow these five easy steps for successful organizing.
1. Make a system in the garage. This is the last space people organize, but the place where everything seems to end up. Make sure there are shelves for items relating to the car and yard, and a place for tools. Hang bicycles from the ceiling with hooks, and organize storage items like holiday decorations in plastic bins with labels. Keep hazardous materials up high out of children’s reach, and sports equipment and outdoor toys where kids can find them.
2. Get your entryway organized. Have waterproof mats for shoes, a hook for everyone’s coat, and a place for kids’ backpacks. If each person can have a bin for the random things they bring in and out, like scarves and hats, it will organize a potential mess.
3. Work on the kitchen. Put everything away except what you use on a daily basis. Put things in logical places, like the cookie sheets near the stove and the glasses near the fridge where people will be finding drinks. Conquer the “junk drawer” with dividers for like items. Make a rule that the top of the fridge remains cleaned off; this is a tempting area to make a mess with underused items.
4. Get ready for important home office work by setting up a clean and organized work space. Find a spot in the house where your desk can remain undisturbed and uncluttered. Have a place for bills, mail, catalogs, and all the items you need at your fingertips such as a stapler, tape, etc. Make it known within the family that office items stay in the office, or things might walk away!
5. Tackle the closets. Make sure each person in the family has what they need to keep a tidy closet. Are there enough shelves and bins? Do they need a shoe rack or an over-the-door hook? Help children to separate seasonal clothing and provide under-the-bed zippered bags or boxes to keep out of season items.
Once you have a plan, you will be much more likely to keep your home organized. After the chaos of cross border moving, you will definitely need a plan! Make one and stick to it.
(Photo attributed to Flickr member @LizMarie_AK via the creative common license)
Living in Canada: Top Restaurants to Try This Spring
Cross border moving to Canada may leave you pining for the restaurants of your old neighborhood, but rest assured, there are wonderful restaurants waiting for you up north. Whether in Ontario, Victoria, Edmonton, or Montreal, you will be able to find a lovely place to sit and have highly recommended faire.
The Black Cat Cafe in Ottawa, Ontario
This is a small place with seats for only 30. The owner is the sommelier and can pair your meal with the perfect wine. Expect jazz music, and fresh, surprising ingredients. When was the last time you had lobster pudding served with chorizo sausage? Take a date and enjoy the hip atmosphere.
Sotto Sotto in Toronto, Ontario
Meaning “Hush, Hush” in Italian, you can guess the mood of this restaurant: romance. The Italian cuisine is accompanied by the choice of over 5,000 bottles of wine. This menu is comforting and classic, and comes with a feeling of friendship.
Corso 32 in Edmonton
Corso 32 was the address of the chef and owner’s Campania childhood home. As the restaurant’s name harkens to the past, the food forges ahead to the future of Italian. The chef has been said to be a show-off, but who cares when the food is this good.
Ulla in Victoria
Named after the mother of the chef, Ulla is a young, urban hot-spot located in Chinatown. The menu is mostly organic, and ushers in the new generation of connoisseurs. The atmosphere is bright, with quirky decor, and a place for anyone. Try their version of the chickpea snack; pickled, deep fried and salted.
Van Horne in Montreal
Van Horne isn’t shy with its totem pole (nicknamed Bill) in the dining room and Lichtenstein silkscreened paper plates on the walls. The food tends to come by color, with the sense of style similar to the decor. With only four main courses, your decision will be easy, and your trip will have been worth it.
Cross border moving may bring you in close proximity to one of these gems. If so, take time to stop in and see what all the buzz is about.
(Photo attributed to Flickr member @stuart_spivack via the creative common license)
5 Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy This Summer
After cross border moving, you’ll be getting settled in your new home, and your kids will be adjusting to the new house and city. After they are out of school for the summer, the first thing they tend to complain about is boredom. Prevent this pre-emptively by planning for activities that will keep your kids occupied.
Set up a small garden for them to tend all summer. Look at www.kidsgardening.org. This National Gardening Association site provides multitudes of ideas for different garden types and layouts. A fun choice might be a butterfly garden. You need an area with six hours of sunlight, colorful flowering plants, and leafy plants that attract egg-laying butterflies and become food for the larvae.
Be an idea-generator for your kids. Set up a “boredom box” that they can choose 1-2 ideas from each day. Include ideas such as making sidewalk chalk art, creating a scavenger hunt, and playing dress-up. If they don’t like what is in the boredom box, they aren’t allowed to complain anymore about being bored.
Every kid needs to try a lemonade stand. Teach your kids how to have a really good one. Have it at the same time as your or a neighbor’s garage sale to increase traffic. Give each child a job; money-keeper, lemonade-mixer, sign-maker. Try to sneak in a little math as they add up their profits and subtract their expenses.
Help your kids out by setting up play dates. This is really a babysitting swap service with your friends, but will seem to the kids like a special day out. And do try to make it special. Make ice cream or go to the neighborhood pool. Choose something they can all do together despite any age differences.
You might want to invest in a museum membership. Do you have a history museum or children’s museum? Members often get special access to activities, and you can go anytime you want. Give the kids disposable cameras and make a game out of finding a list of items you create and photographing them.
With these ideas, your kids will forget their cross border moving experience, and will be excited about the summer ahead.
(Photo attributed to Flickr member @sfajane via the creative common license)
Three Educational Resources to Take Advantage of When Moving to the United States
Although it’s usually an incredibly rewarding experience, Moving to the U.S. can also be an arduous process. One thing you can do to get yourself adjusted to the cultural changes and perhaps speed up the citizenship process is research educational institutions that cater to working immigrants. Here are three educational resources that can point you in the right direction.
Literacy Information and Communication System
The Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) website can direct you to a useful tool known as America’s Literacy Directory, which allows you to type in your location and helps you determine where to sign up for necessary classes. The directory offers results that can help you read and write, study for the GED program, obtain citizenship education or learn English as a second language.
The University of Texas at Dallas
If your primary reason for moving to the U.S. is receiving a college degree, you should consider speeding up the process by applying to the University of Texas at Dallas. This school offers a wide variety of degrees, and it’s located in a city that has some lenient immigration policies. According to The Dallas Morning News, the state of Texas spent $33.6 million for in-state and institutional financial aid to immigrant students, legal or illegal, between 2004 and 2008.
Driver’s Education
Even though you likely know how to operate a motor vehicle, you must become familiar with the local state traffic laws and basic traffic patterns because these are almost always different in every country. You can refer to the Driver’s Ed website to take all the coursework online and prepare yourself for the driving test at your nearest DMV facility. Once these steps are taken, it might be much easier for you to commute on your own time and find suitable employment.
Spring in Edmonton: 5 Ways to Stay Fit
Cross border moving can be stressful, and often exercise is the first thing to go out the window. When you arrive in Edmonton, you will find that there are many options for getting out and getting fit. Here are five great ways to start your fitness goals.
The North Saskatchewan River is a recreation spot for all the locals. In the spring, you can canoe and kayak, and while you are there get in a little fishing. Make a day of it with the family. Pack a picnic. Don’t forget to keep belongings in waterproof containers!
The river valley in Edmonton is lovely, and perfect for biking, walking, and jogging. Edmonton has over 100 miles of maintained multi-use trails. The parks department keeps them clean and debris-free, so that you can get along with ease.
If you are more of an indoor person, try the Kinsmen Sports Centre. Located in the river valley, minutes away from downtown, it’s Edmonton’s best multi-purpose sports facility. There are indoor and outdoor pools, two indoor tracks, two fitness centers, courts for squash, racquetball and walleyball, and a field house for badminton, tennis, volleyball, and more.
If you are more of the graceful type, sign up for dance classes at Foot Notes Dance Studio. They teach courses in American style ballroom, Latin dance for beginners, country and swing, and the argentine tango. If you want more cardio, they have a fitness dance program that includes belly dancing!
The best way to keep fit is to join a group. Try the Edmonton Hikers Meetup Group. They are dedicated to keeping active by hiking together. Go with them into the Rockies for a big adventure, or stay in Edmonton and experience the recreational areas around the city. Just sign up to participate.
After cross border moving, you will have plenty of options for keeping fit, and they will help you get out into your new city and meet your fellow Edmonton residents.
(Photo attributed to Flickr member @C.G.P. Grey via the creative common license)
5 Steps Towards Easy Spring Cleaning
Moving to the U.S. is a large undertaking, and organizing a new home is an equally large task. If you have been settled for several seasons, it may be time to think about spring cleaning. Here are five easy steps to get you started:
1. Start off with a thorough de-cluttering. Look at all the surfaces and make tough decisions about what really needs to be there. Go through the linen closet, the hall closet, and other places where junk hides. Think about donating items you no longer use.
2. Start at the top. Take a broom and stick a sock on the handle. Go room to room dusting corners and taking down cobwebs. Use the brush attachment of your vacuum cleaner to suck up dust on heating vents, draperies, and windowsills. Work your way down the walls, over the furniture, and to the floors and baseboards.
3. Now is the time to actually move the sofa, beds, and other heavy furniture. Pull items from their place and vacuum the floor. Wipe the baseboards behind beds and sofas.
4. You have two options, doing one room at a time, or doing the same task in all the rooms, task after task. The benefit to the latter is that you will have the tools out that you need. Also, you will be focused on washing rugs, dusting plants, etc., and things might go more quickly.
5. Engage the whole family. Assign someone to the garage, shed, and yard. Have them also start with de-cluttering and donating unused items. This person might also be willing to wash the outside of the windows.
After moving to the U.S., spring cleaning will seem like small potatoes. Make a plan and attack your dust bunnies with gusto.
(Photo attribute to Flickr member @nimbupan via the creative common license)
Living in the U.S.: Top Spring Traditions
When moving to the U.S. in the spring, you will see the flowers blooming and people starting to get outside and enjoy the weather. You’ll want to be aware of the springtime traditions most Americans have. Here is a brief list:
Easter is more than a religious holiday for most of the children who expect the Easter bunny to bring them a basket full of goodies. Participate by buying some plastic eggs, filling them with jelly beans, and hiding them in the grass for small children to find. Or make genuine colored eggs with dyes that can be found at any grocery store.
Spring cleaning may not seem like a fun tradition, but it is certainly something most people do each spring. This is the time to actually move the furniture and vacuum under it, wash the baseboards, and wash the windows. You can assign children to clean out their own closets, and the man in your life to tackle the garage.
Opening day is special to baseball fans who have waited all winter for that first crack of the bat. Often you have to dress warmly for this day in the middle of April, but it is worth seeing the excitement on everyone’s faces. Get your first hot dog of the season, and buy a new t-shirt for your new favorite ball team.
The first barbeque is special because it signifies that warm weather is here and it’s time to get out the grill. Hopefully you cleaned it before the end of last season, but if not, be sure to scrub the grate before grilling. Invite some neighbors over when the day looks to be sunny and warm, and pass lemonades all around.
St. Patrick’s Day is a day of celebration for the Irish Americans as well as anyone who loves a beer and a parade. Most communities have a St. Patty’s Day Parade for the family, and most bars have specials, if you can even get a seat! Don’t forget to wear green that day, or you may get pinched.
These fun spring traditions get everyone smiling after a long winter. After moving to the U.S. hopefully you will feel like getting into the spirit and joining in.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adactio/43669173/
(Photo attributed to Flickr member @adactio via the creative common license)
Four Online Resources That Can Help You Search for Employment After a Move to the U.S.
If you’re planning on Moving to the U.S. in the near future, you might be searching for reliable ways to obtain employment. Here are four online resources that can help you research career opportunities before you pack up your things and cross the border.
National Employment Law Project
The National Employment Law Project, which is a non-profit organization that strives to boost the United States economy, has a website that can keep you up-to-date on the big picture and give you access to helpful resources and publications. In fact, you can click on the immigrant and work section to learn about recent developments that might affect your job search.
H1Base.com
If you’re hoping to receive a work visa or a H1B Visa, H1Base.com might be your most useful research tool. This website provides career specialist services, professional assistance and sponsorship in the United States. In addition, this resource can show you the step-by-step process of getting your hands on a green card.
Jobs.com
Jobs.com is a website that allows you to search for employment opportunities based on career categories and what part of the country you’re moving to. Although there are numerous sources that offer this type of assistance, this particular site provides useful advice that can show you how to find temporary work until you receive a green card – not to mention dozens of other articles about general career advice.
If you’re moving to the United States to eventually start your own business, it’s definitely a good idea to take the first step and network with community professionals. LinkedIn.com allows you to search for local networking events, learn business tactics and connect with people online by building a profile. You can even learn how to work from home with this website!
Four Lifestyle Resources That Can Help Your Family Adjust After Moving to Canada
If you’re planning on relocating your family to Canada, there are several things you’ll need to do before starting the process of Cross Border Moving. Here are four resources that can help your family members adjust during this transition phase.
Weather Office
For one thing, the weather will likely be different in Canada since every province shares a border with the Arctic. You can refer to weatheroffice.gc.ca to find valuable information such as air quality, average temperatures and rainfall totals, as well as current conditions. The homepage provides a map of the entire country, allowing you to get more specific by region.
CBC News
One way to formulate a decent understanding of a country’s culture is by keeping up with its news, and CBC News is one of the most prominent names north of the U.S. border. The CBC website offers a wide variety of categories, including community news, which can help you learn about your specific locale. You’ll even have the chance to choose your specific region.
Canada Only
Although Canadian cuisine is different in virtually every town, you can check out CanadaOnly.ca to get a feel for which food items are most available. This resource, which is a major online retailer that provides categorized links to various food products, can be particularly useful if you don’t know what to expect at local grocery stores.
Recreation Canada
It’s safe to say that outdoor recreation is one of Canada’s most renowned pastimes, as locals take their natural treasures very seriously. RecreationCanada.ca is an easy-to-use tool that allows you to select primary cities to obtain information about local clubs, organizations, parks and additional recreation resources. You can even scroll to the bottom of the homepage to choose from a list of specific activities and watch videos from particular regions.
