How Do You Move Overseas

This is one of the toughest questions we have faced. Typically when families move, many companies pay to ship your personal items to the new area or they allow a moving expenses budget. You may pack yourself and drive your belongings or may pay to have a company do the entire job. When moving overseas, the same process happens. A company pays to ship your personal items over. You arrive with the same items you owned but in a new location. 

As my husband’s company is newly formed and trying to be frugal, outside of plane tickets, we were on our own. Dennis came over earlier to find a house and register. He was able to order 5 beds (of which only 3 were delivered) and have them shipped to our new home so they were waiting on our arrival. As we were paying our moving costs ourselves, outside of tickets, we couldn’t bring many items. We knew that this would be a 3-5 year term. Many of the items we had we didn’t want to or couldn’t store for that long. 

So what did we do?  We sold 90% of what we owned. Everything from appliances, camping gear, clothes, furniture, kitchen gadgets, tools, toys, decor, vehicles, motorcycle, seasonal, etc. It’s crazy how much stuff we had!  We stored our food storage and a few personal items.

I read once that every item you own takes something from you. It’s true. Time, energy, or money.  Americans own too much. I’m hooked on the simplistic idea now. 

We looked at each item and decided if we wanted it when we got back or would be heartbroken if we never saw it again. Then we had to decide if it was something we were willing to store or haul with us. Remember that we weren’t shipping anything over. All items needed to fit in a suitcase. 

While this was honestly liberating, it was tough on the kids. At first it was fun to sell your items and get money, but they soon realized that they owned nothing. Emma has some coloring items and a ukulele, Liam has legos, Ben has a soccer ball and magic cards, and Nick has a Kendama. 

We had planned to shop for items upon arrival to stock our house. Then COVID hit!  Two weeks of quarantine. That meant shopping could only be done online. Yes they have amazon India, but it’s different. We have been here a month and still have only 4 mattresses on the floor as far as furniture. We just got our pillows this week. 

Everything here takes time. 3 weeks to hook up our internet. 2-3 weeks waiting time for a car before you can pick it up. Furniture and curtains made from scratch. We live outside town so Ubers don’t know how to get to our house. Each day brings excitement as a new package is delivered and we open it to see what we have now. Today it was hair cutting scissors. 

What did we bring? Clothes, a set of dishes for each of us, 2 pans, silverware for 6, 2 knives, measuring cups and spoons, 4 king sized sheet sets, 7 towels, homeschool supplies, jackets, scriptures, batteries, sewing kit, hair clippers, flashlights, wash rag and towel set, can opener, scissors, plastic bags, spice packets, personal care items, toilet paper, card games, and personal documents. 

We were grateful that a business associate of Dennis purchased us a weeks worth of food, basic cleaning supplies, a pressure cooker, and 4 blankets. 

As you can guess, there have been some good and bad days through quarantine. Stay tuned to see how we survived.