...to coming back to the US after 5 years in NZ:

Reading the Craigslist Free section feels like Christmas! Seriously, it's a treasure trove of furniture that you would pay big money for in NZ.

Gawd, my standards have fallen so, so much. On the other hand, my painfully honed Xtreme pennypinching skills will make it easier to replenish my savings.

Glad to see you home, Sweetpea!

The things they sell on Trademe here would be Freegan giveaways back home....

You'll need your "sharp-as" frugality skills in this recession...I'm sure your trust and human decency are still intact... :)

I remember the couple times I was foolish enough to spend the money to fly home for a visit while still living in New Zealand, thinking I "could afford it"...I felt like a Soviet bloc citizen, just walking in the stores. All the Stuff...and costing so little. And the fact that Americans took it all for granted! They had no clue.

Look forward to hearing more impressions from you.

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"If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking."-Buddhist Proverb

I can relate to the shop thing. My first visit to Marks & Spencer after arriving back home had me in ters - literally. my sister thought I was a raving looney ..... I've never been so over awed in my life.

The choice and the prices ..... just wonderful.

Sweetpea, so good to hear you're home. You and I were both in Palmerston North at the same time although never actually managed to meet up. Here's wishing you all the best for a very happy NX free future.

Seriously?! Have I missed something?? Have you actually managed to escape???????????? Are you reading Craigslist from NZ or from......... HOME?!

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Laugh and the world laughs with you, Weep and you're weeping alone, Prosper and give and they'll let you live But fail, and you're on your own

Ooops, I'm not home yet. I hope to be back permanently in the US by the end of the year.

I was doing some research to determine how much, at a bare minimum, I would need to put aside to get re-established in the States. I still can't get over how much good quality used stuff is available, and for insanely cheap prices.

Except for cars. The US seems to lack the market segment of cars the $1000-2000 range, which is common enough in NZ (Gotta love that 1989 model year. Snort). On the other hand, in the US, I can get a car that was made by a good manufacturer in the last decade for less than $5000, which I'm not sure is possible in NZ.

A friend of mine just sent me a photo of the new condo he bought in Chicago in my old neighborhood. Two blocks from Wrigley Field and very trendy upscale neighborhood, brand new unit with all the best appliances, granite kitchen counters, slate in bathroom, etc. Gorgeous place in a world-class city. I just know he is paying about half of what one would pay for a comparable unit/suburb in Auckland(neither really exist anyway). I don't wish to live there, but it just makes the fiefdom that is NZ painfully obvious.

A friend of mine who is a financial analyst has started house-shopping in rural New England, and he occasionally e-mails me things he is considering, just to get opinions. I have found that he will send me pictures of houses he calls "this one's a bargain but just a shack" (most recent one he sent was for $49,000 USD 10 miles from Dartmouth) and I become horrified and mail him back, "but that's not a shack!"

Renting for years in NZ, your standards do change.

I just wanted to provide a little update. I *am* in the US now, for real. It is amazing, I feel like I'm experiencing a rainbow of people, places and activities after inhabiting a monochromatic world.

New Zealand seems like a faraway dream. I was in Target the other day, just marveling at how easily people spent money here. Need something? Just buy it. No hemming and hawing, wondering if you'll break the budget this week. No layaway desk. No buying the cheapest item they have (knowing it will break sooner rather than later).

I was on the bus today, looking at everyone's clothes. Not the richest segment of US society by any means, but people had nice heavyweight cotton shirts, sturdy jeans, leather shoes or name brand sneakers. It wasn't the logos I was impressed with, but the quality of the fabrics, etc.

I've been walking around with a raincoat in my bag, just in case. I realized this morning that I don't need to do that, because it doesn't regularly rain here in the summer.

I have to go back to NZ for a few months, then I'm back in the US for good. I'm so happy.