For ten years, I swear I have moved the same boxes from one place to another. But, since we need to pare down our stuff to move internationally, we finally opened up some of those boxes. After a few of “Oh, so that’s where that was!” or “Oh, we kept that?” — it was time to make the hard decision of what to part with and what to keep.
The Company hired movers to come to our house to pack-up everything and load it onto a container. But, before we got to that point, we spent several days going through items making the decision of what to keep that is going to Germany, what to keep that is going to Amanda’s parents, what to sell on eBay and Craigslist, what to donate, and what goes to trash. After at least 10 car trips to Goodwill, 20 items sold on eBay, 4 things sold on Craigslist, a 10-foot U-Haul truck packed and sent to her parents, it was time for the movers to arrive.
Our sea container being loaded
They spent three days from 12/3/12 thru 12/5/12 packing up the remaining things into boxes. Our clothes, books, electronics, furniture, dishes, etc….all packed up into their own boxes. Then, the morning of 12/6/12, a driver arrived with a container in which they filled up in 3 hours. The container left our house, bound for the port in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where it set sail on an ocean cargo vessel, scheduled to arrive in Europe Christmas week and through customs and our apartment the week of January 10th.
But, that wasn’t the last of the movers. This week, on 12/19/12, the moving company came back to pack up the stuff that we are sending over via air freight. These are things like computers, some dishes, clothes, etc….those things that we need sooner than the ocean freight stuff. Our only limit was that we could only ship over 220lbs. But, we made that limit, and now everything is headed over to Germany, except some clothes we are taking in our suit cases, barney, and his kennel.
This week, we are at Amanda’s parents for Christmas, but we are headed back to the house for 12/27/12 thru when we leave on the 30th. We’ll be sleeping on an air mattress and eating off paper plates. But, we will be in the house a few more last days to get it prepped for the property management company to take over to rent it out.
The week of January 10th, when our stuff arrives, the movers will unpack everything and put the stuff in their place. The mountain of empty boxes will be amazing, and I’ll be sure to take some pictures of that. One thing is for sure, that sound of tape being wrapped around boxes has gotten on my last nerve, as that sound has been heard way too many times!! 🙂
I’ll close with this…a house is not a home, a home is where the heart is!
WorldThruOurEyes 