What to Take With You When You Move Out of the Country
If I've learned anything from three long-distance moves, information technology's that we underestimate how much stuff we own. And if you're relocating abroad, information technology's not practical (or financially possible) to bring all your worldly possessions. Figuring out what to leave and what to pack is a daunting procedure without a moving abroad packing checklist.
And that's why I'm sharing mine!
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Deciding what to accept when moving overseas is a balancing human activity of infinite and money. Certain, it'southward cheaper to move with comport-on luggage only, but you'll spend a fortune replacing all of your stuff.
And if you bring as well much without doing research, yous'll waste money shipping things you lot can't use, don't accept room for, or could have cheaply replaced in your new home.
Feeling overwhelmed yet?
Don't worry! I've been in that location and accept the crazy spreadsheets to bear witness it.
I've washed the difficult work of outlining a packing list for moving abroad. You simply demand to follow along and make full in the blanks.
If you're looking for a printable version of this moving abroad packing checklist, join my Patreon! You'll go access to my consummate travel + relocation resource library.
What to bring when moving to another country
Everything you lot pack when moving away falls into three categories: practical, legal, and sentimental.
Practical items are things you use in daily life. Converter plugs, wear, medication, pet food, etc., should exist packed and ready to use from day one. Depending on the land, you might also want to bring some electronics.
Things like wills, insurance policies, and resident cards fall into the legal category. This includes any documents you lot need to legally enter your new country. For us, that meant our passports, a letter of entry, and backup copies of our visa paperwork.
Finally, you lot're sure to accept a few sentimental items that yous want to bring on your journey. Even if you're selling everything and starting over, you're sure to take a couple photos or books y'all'd like to keep. Although nosotros left the majority of ours with family unit, we brought over a few things to personalize our new infinite.
Unproblematic plenty, right?
Only hither's the thing: international moves are expensive. Shipping past air is costly, and sea shipments can take months to reach your new place.
Rather than pay thousands of dollars to ship our baggage overseas, we downsized before moving abroad.
Downsizing allowed united states of america to bring everything nosotros needed on the aeroplane. Information technology only cost a few hundred dollars in excess baggage fees, and saved time on customs paperwork as well.
I'll talk more about how to pack for an international move at the end of this mail service.
RELATED: 9 Difficulties of Living in a Strange Country You Must Overcome
Moving abroad packing list
Applied Items
If your friends and family unit are looking to buy you lot gifts for moving to a new land, these practical items are excellent options.
Adapter plugs
The very offset thing we did after arriving at our new flat was charge our rapidly dying phones. And we couldn't have done that without travel adapter plugs.
Moving from the US to London, we needed a totally different type of plug to fit into the UK's sockets. At that place are more than than a dozen variations of plug and socket types, and many countries employ more than i. So do your research and buy the right blazon before you leave!
Whatsoever travel adapter will do, only I similar this Ceptics adapter kit best considering it doesn't hang out of the socket similar some adapters do (particularly two-pronged ones). Information technology also comes with all of the plug types, so we use it when traveling effectually the world.
Portable battery pack
If your first week abroad is anything like mine, you'll be spending a lot of fourth dimension on your telephone. From calling utility companies to navigating with Google Maps, your phone will exist an essential part of daily life.
A expressionless phone is a nightmare scenario, particularly if you don't speak the local linguistic communication or find yourself in an unfamiliar area.
That'south why I highly suggest carrying a portable battery pack with yous.
My Anker PowerCore fits in my pocket and tin can fully charge my Google Pixel two three times. I besides pack it whenever I travel, so it comes in handy often.
Personal electronics
Tablets, digital cameras, video game consoles… nearly of these items are expensive and pretty portable, so information technology makes sense to put them on your moving abroad packing checklist.
Nevertheless, you'll need to do a picayune research earlier you decide.
In add-on to your new country'southward plugs and sockets, you demand to figure out the voltage. You tin can find this information on the plug, or somewhere on the particular itself (unremarkably near where the ability cord goes into it). It will say something similar "100-240V" or merely a single value.
Many modern electronics accept a range of voltages and hertz, so you can use them with an adapter.
Or amend yet, if the power cord is removable, yous can swap information technology for a new power cord for your country. This is what we did with our PS4, Nintendo Switch, and camera charger.
Y'all can easily buy two pivot power cords on Amazon before you move, and have them fix to get as soon as you move into your new place.
Now, things with heating elements or motors, similar hair dryers or electric shavers, typically merely work with the voltage and hertz of your habitation country (110/120V and 60 hertz in the US).
Technically, you can bring electronics that use dissimilar voltages, but you'll need to apply a transformer or converter rather than an adapter. This will cause your stuff to habiliment out much faster, and yous run the take a chance of electrical shortages and fires. It's meliorate to leave those items behind and supplant them in your new country.
Small appliances
Like personal electronics, some small appliances are worth packing if the hertz and voltage volition work. I saved hundreds of dollars by taking my cordless vacuum to London!
However, it didn't make sense to bring my bulky printer, considering it was cheaper to buy a new i than give up the luggage space and weight.
Cookware
The kitchen was the trickiest area for my moving away packing list. As someone who loves to cook, I faced some hard decisions on what to bring and what to sell or give to family.
Ultimately, nosotros brought very picayune from our kitchen. Heavy or fragile items similar plates and casserole dishes didn't make sense to pack. And minor things like peelers and sauce bowls are easy to replace.
What did make the packing list were expensive and sentimental items, similar my Wustof knives and Michigan-shaped cheese lath. We too squeezed in a few small things afterwards everything else was packed.
Medication and prescriptionsIf you take any prescription medication, be certain to get a refill correct earlier you lot leave. Always keep your medication in your personal handbag with the original prescription.
Your pills must be kept in the original bottles, or they may be confiscated. Cheque your new country's government website and talk to your doctor to ensure you don't bring any illegal medication.
Save me for later!
Pet nutrient
Are you lot moving abroad with pets? Don't forget almost their needs!
Bring a few days' worth of nutrient in a storage container. This will tide you over until yous tin get to a pet supply store. And if their erstwhile food brand isn't available in your area, you can use this to transition them to a new brand.
Habiliment and shoes
Clothes are the near infinite-consuming item on this moving abroad packing checklist. To continue your bags from ballooning out of control, go through everything your closet and inquire these questions:
- When is the concluding time I wore this?
- Practise I love wearing this?
- Will this exist applied in my new country?
It sounds irksome, merely doing this in hostage will save you lot a lot of money in shipping/baggage fees. We donated almost one-half of our clothing before coming to London!
We used big duffel numberless to pack our remaining clothes.
Using duffel bags for clothes is far cheaper than suitcases, and they fold down to nothing one time you unpack. We're saving ours for the next international move.
Handbags and accessories
I've never been much of an accessories daughter, so this category was easy for me. But if you lot accept a pocketbook-buying addiction or a necktie collection, start thinking about how to skin dorsum.
Go creative with how you pack these items. Try putting minor numberless within larger ones, and rolling up scarves and ties to make full gaps in boxes.
Notebook and pen
This might seem like a random thing to include on a moving away packing checklist, especially in the age of smartphones. All the same, if you're the type of person who likes to brand checklists and notes, you'll desire a notebook and pen handy the minute yous arrive (and probably on the plane).
Between jet lag and mostly feeling overwhelmed, my notebook with daily tasks was a life-saver. I similar the bullet journal style, just a daily planner works well, too!
Legal Items
Entry documents
You won't make it very far without your passport and applicable visa. E'er keep your entry documents on your body or in your personal handbag.
Every country has their own ready of entry rules, so be certain to research them before the move. For example, you may demand to prove a letter proving yous have the legal right to bring your child to some other country.
Other legal items
It'south time to go through those (hopefully organized) file and lock boxes! Here are some of the legal documents yous should pack:
- Birth certificates
- Marriage license
- Insurance policies
- Wills
- Business firm sale documents / rental check out
- Final utility bills
- Tax documents and old filings
For maximum safe and easy transport, we kept our legal items in a minor lock box within our carry-on bag.
Between drome transfers and cab rides and wheeling stuff through an unfamiliar metropolis, I wasn't nigh to risk losing our most important documents.
Sentimental Items
Jewelry
It'due south small items like jewelry that tend to exist forgotten. Annihilation valuable should be kept in your personal bag or with your legal documents in the lock box.
Photos
Putting upwardly a few photos made us experience closer to the family we left behind. Y'all can ever remove photos from bulky frames and put them in an album (or between menu stock) for easier transport.
Vacation decor
I was rational and objective for 90% of our packing list. But I did devote an entire storage bin to Christmas decorations. Holidays are the hardest times for expats, so don't feel guilty if you lot want to bring a few things to remind you of sometime traditions.
Souvenirs
Whether you're a traveler who clustered souvenirs or you received parting gifts from your erstwhile home, be sure to make room for these special items. Nosotros brought a few things from our Nihon trip, as well as a couple Texas-themed items.
Books
I'g an avid reader and English caste-holder, and then leaving backside all my books was out of the question. Effort not to go overboard here, because even paperback books go heavy when you pack 50 of them in a bin.
Other
Practise you have an emotional connexion to a java mug? Or a music box that brings yous joy? Recollect to include these sentimental items on your packing checklist.
How to pack for an international move
When it comes to packing for an international motion, y'all have a few different options.
You could pay an international shipping company to box everything up and transport information technology to your new home by air or bounding main. However, hiring movers and paying for international shipping is incredibly expensive.
There's also the option of packing everything yourself and outsourcing the shipping. But over again, you're still looking at costly air or sea shipments, plus a lot of community paperwork.
Personally, I suggest the DIY road: pack your own stuff and bring information technology as checked luggage. If you downsize before the move, it's very doable and shockingly affordable.
You can use a mix of suitcases, duffel bags, and storage bins for packing. Here's exactly how we did it.
Duffel Bags
To salve our suitcases for frail items, we bought these durable, depression-toll duffel bags for packing our clothes and shoes. I also used a extra-large Shackle duffel, which has a padded shoulder strap to gratis up your easily.
Also, make certain you put luggage tags with your new accost on everything! We bought plastic luggage tags in identify of the cheap newspaper things you tin get from the airport.
Suitcases
Having one big, hard shell suitcase is a must. This is where you'll want to pack semi-fragile items similar your electronics and small appliances. And don't forget to apply a mix of bubble wrap and clothes to cushion everything!
You'll also want a deport-on bag that meets the airline size requirements. Information technology's incredibly important to check your bag size, considering your virtually valuable items will be in your carry-on. Having to check information technology due to it being over-sized would be a huge problem.
Storage bins
Did you lot know you can check plastic storage tubs as luggage? Equally long equally they fall inside the size requirements for excess baggage, you'll be good!
We used heavy duty storage bins to pack our cookware, books, holiday decor, and other miscellaneous things. To ensure they stayed closed during transit, nosotros secured them using these luggage straps.
Considering we couldn't use luggage tags on the bins, nosotros labeled them with duct tape and sharpies.
How to Easily Transfer Money Between International Bank Accounts
One big challenge we had when moving away was making payments in foreign currencies. You lot might need to pay a rental deposit via banking concern transfer, or motility money from your new country'south bank to your old depository financial institution to pay bills.
Luckily, in that location's an easy and cheap solution:
Sign up for a Wise account!
I get-go used Wise (formerly TransferWise) when we needed to pay our London apartment eolith, and it was SO much easier and toll-constructive than doing an international wire transfer from my bank. Today, I regularly use Wise to send money to my US accounts from the United kingdom.
If you lot get paid in multiple currencies (hello digital nomads!), the Wise Multi Currency Business relationship will allow you ship and receive money in over different xl currencies. It even comes with a multi-currency debit card.
Open a Wise account today to get real commutation rates, speedy transfers, and ultra-depression fees.
I hope this moving abroad packing checklist makes your relocation a bit easier!
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Source: https://theportablewife.com/living-abroad/moving-abroad-packing-checklist/
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