What a week!
Last weekend, we did all the last-minute preparations for the movers. This is something we had been working on since the beginning of February, but of course, there were still some loose ends to wrap up. Some people have asked what we had to do before the movers came since, you know, they’re movers and all and it would seem that we wouldn’t need to do anything. I completely understand, but when you start thinking about taking on an international move, you start to realize all the little things that have to get done.
Just like with any move, we didn’t want to move with a bunch of junk. We spent a good amount of time cleaning out old clothes and other junk items that did not need to be moved with us. By the way, it’s amazing how much paperwork you can accumulate. I’m glad we have a filing cabinet!
We also had to consider what needed to be kept with us for the next two months while we’re still in Germany. We chose to send our household goods this early, because it takes 64 days to get everything moved from here to Texas, and we wanted our things first thing on the Texas side. Here, we had other options for loner furniture and kitchen items, so it’s easier to go without while we’re still here. We weeded through everything and kept our bed (sent out guest bed — we’ll be sending our bed with another shipment right before we leave); Béni’s kennel, food and water bowl, bed, and some of his toys; the couch Béni loves (which we’ll be trashing when we move); a dresser we bought on the cheap for the baby’s room (also to be discarded when we leave); a week’s worth of clothing for John and me; our toiletries and other miscellaneous things we use on a daily basis like chargers, our Kindles, etc.; and quite a bit of baby stuff. We are planning to get by with the baby’s swing, bouncy seat, pack ‘n play, changing pad, a couple of toys and 5-6 books, all his 0-3 month clothing, blankets, burp cloths, 2-3 sets of towels, Boppy, cloth diapers, bathing sponge thing (like a bathtub but not), pacifiers, 2 bottles, breast pump, diaper bag, Moby wrap and Ergo carrier with infant insert. I think – I hope – that we’re good to go.
We also kept out all our important documents, of course! We couldn’t ship things like our passports or else we would be hard pressed to find a way out of Germany!
We set aside two no-pack rooms in the house, which were the bathroom and laundry room. This worked well for us as the movers just knew they didn’t need to pack those rooms. We also had a couple of closets and cabinets that we labeled “do not pack,” which kept us from having to move perishable food, household cleaners, paper towels, toilet paper, and our clothes that we were keeping.
The one thing we have realized that we overlooked was kitchen ware. Friday morning, the day after the movers packed us up, I shuffled to the kitchen to get my morning bowl of Fiber One cereal only to realize that we had sent all our bowls and utensils. I knew that we had done that, but I didn’t think about the implications. We were picking up loaner dishes later in the day, and I just forgot to think about breakfast. I was dead set on having my cereal, though…
I may or may not have pulled out one of the old pots John had from before we got married, poured in my cereal and milk and eaten it with my hands.