As part of our new house, I started diving more into smart home automation. In this post, I’ll cover some of the different tech we use, some of our automations, and some ideas for the future. Home Assistant Home Assistant is the central hub for our home automation. It’s a popular, open-source platform that allows almost anything to connect to it. It allows for integrations and automations from different vendors and technologies. In our house, we have a number of devices, using different technologies and from different vendors: Lutron Caseta light switches Aqara Zigbee light switches Aqara Zig ..read more

The folks over at Greenback Expat Tax Services have written a good guide on dealing with taxes for US expats. American citizens must file a US Federal Tax Return no matter where they live in the world. Bummer – I know. But it’s unavoidable. (well, unless you renounce your US citizenship, but that’s pretty extreme) These guys know their stuff, and their guide covers all the major things to know, including Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Foreign Tax Credit Foreign Housing Exclusion Child Tax Credit Automatic Tax Filing Extension FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report ) FATCA and more Great stuff ..read more

It was 5 years ago that we got our driver’s licenses in Puerto Morelos. Our post from then: Getting our Mexican Driver’s Licenses in Puerto Morelos It was time for renewal, so we went this week. The process is mostly the same, but there were a few documentation / copy things to be aware of. Location The location is the same – at the Police Station in Puerto Morelos. It’s on the highway, on the southbound side, just South of the Puerto Morelos rotary / glorieta. Paperwork and Requirements Here’s what we had and needed: Copy of our old Puerto Morelos driver’s license Copy of resident card, as w ..read more

We’ve had a bunch of folks ask us about what we did for internet and WiFi in our new house. To be honest, we probably went a bit overboard. I’m sure our builder thought we did! But, I’m super happy with our strategy and how everything turned out. Cat6 everywhere The first order of business was to run Cat6 everywhere we could. When your house is primarily concrete, it’s much harder to run cables later. Yes, you can have open conduits, and we do, but it’s still much easier to run cable up front. Almost every room (except for the bathrooms) has multiple Cat6 drops. In-ceiling drops for WiFi acces ..read more

After a long construction project – we’re finally in! And we’re thrilled with our new house! Things are still in a bit of disarray with unpacking, and we have a few post-construction items to finish up; but we’re now living here! I’ll have another post soon with more details, but for now, a bit of a pic dump. The nighttime lighting is super cool. Cumaru hardwood doorGary’s office terraceChukum and wood stairs2nd floor cafeMaster BathSo many remotes! (fans and ACs)3rd floor terraceView from the master bedroom3rd floor terraceI need to do some cable management in my server room! The post We’ve ..read more

In our last post, we mentioned that we hit a delay because of our windows. Well, the window guys showed up again this week, and started back to work. He hopes to be done in the next week or two. So, things are progressing again. In the meantime, there’s been a lot happening with woodwork and cabinetry, counters, plumbing, and electrical. The aluminum guys are mostly done; still a few more pieces to finish up. We now have electricity, water, internet, and we’re connected to the town sewer. We’re sooooo close to being finished. Soon! Front aluminum gates are in place Major bummer about all of th ..read more

We’re getting near the end. Lots of finishing details are happening. We have hit a delay though, with our windows. Our windows are all custom made, hurricane windows. The company that makes them had a problem with the assembly machine. They need a new part, which has to come to Spain, which, for some reason, will take a long time to get here. So, they’re sending the windows to Mexico City to be made, and then sending them back here. Ugh. We have about half of our windows in place already. But the large ones for the main living areas are the ones delayed. So, we can’t finish some of the interi ..read more

Elizabeth’s Done with Dieting podcast normally covers topics related to helping folks who are done with dieting, but still want to lose weight and feel good. This week, she’s gone with a more personal tale about our decision to expatriate from the US. She talks about why we moved to Mexico, how we got here, and what our experience has been. You can listed on her website, or on your favorite podcast player via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. Give it a listen! The post Why We Moved to Mexico: Elizabeth’s podcast episode appeared first on TexMexExpats ..read more

After 5 years of living in Mexico, I finally got a Mexican cell phone number. We’ve kept our US cell phone plan, as we still need and use our US numbers for business purposes. And porting them to a VOIP service was not an option, as it would not give us everything we would need (such as reliable SMS for 2FA (Two factor auth), which is super important). Our cellular data roaming in our neighborhood is terrible (word ’round the campfire is that AT&T lost their tower lease near us), so I wanted useable cellular data when I’m not on WiFi. In addition, some Mexican sites (including MX governmen ..read more

It’s been way too long since I posted an update; there’s been a lot of progress, and we’re actually nearing the finish line. The celosias (breeze blocks) are all in, and looking great. All of the concrete work is done; just needs final finishing Almost all of the tile is in, expect for a bit with the bathrooms Glass windows and doors have started going in, should be finished up in the next week or so Drywall ceilings are all in; ready for lighting, speakers, and WiFi access points The carpenters are ready with the cabinetry, just waiting for the window guys to finish up View from the kitchen ..read more