Imagine 9 years...3 kids...and a wife who is sentimental. This equals one packed to the brim house. Preparing for an international move seems IMPOSSIBLE. What do you bring? What do you do with all the "stuff"?
We started out really well. We were going through our house and getting rid of 1 trash bag of junk a day. Then life happened and we got busy just taking care of the family. Some days it seemed impossible to do anything besides take care of the three kids.
Eventually we were able to throw together a garage sale. My goal was to get rid of things, so we priced everything super cheap. People were stoked to get such a good deal. I had a bit of anxiety letting go of things...but I knew it had to be done. It was a little stressful throwing it all together and figuring out what to do with the kids...in the end I was really happy with how it all turned out. One of my favorite parts of the sale was all the people I met. I felt I talked with some really neat people. I wish our paths had crossed earlier! When we closed up shop, we put the rest out for free. We had some people come by and take things, but still ended up with a load to take to Goodwill.
Next step, preparing for the shipping container. I have to say I am so thankful for family and friends. There is no way we would have survived without them! There was so much work to be done.
Late into the evening (the night before the shipping container), Chris started looking up rules on importing our things. He came across a list and on that list it said BOOKS and TOYS were not allowed to be imported!! I started to panic! Chris called New Zealand and thankfully we are allowed to bring those in. Looks like the list was more for things being commercially imported.
The night before the shipping container came, I did not go to sleep. I stayed up all night packing boxes....so...much...to....do. I felt terrible because it was our last night in our rooms...in our beds....but things had to be packed.
I watched the sun rise and started to panic again because there was still so much to pack! The shipping container showed up shortly after 10am and I packed the last of boxes...I hoped that I had everything I needed!
We had 2 hours to pack the shipping container. It was about the size of a half of a semi. It was a mad dash of people running and rushing to get it all in. Once again it was amazing to have the help of family. We are SO lucky to have them!!
We were skeptical that everything would fit, but it did! We had a little room to spare so we threw a few more things in. We probably are taking more than we need....and should probably purge some once it arrives in New Zealand. It's hard going through the process. We know things are more expensive in New Zealand so we wanted to bring the things we thought we would need....but who really knows what you need.....
Now that the shipping container took a lot of our stuff...it was time for a deep breath...but not for too long. We had three days to clean out the rest of our house.
Why was there still so much in it!?!? Eeekk!
Earlier we decided to get a storage unit to store some of our things that did not make sense to take and couldn't let go of. The night before we left, we loaded up a Uhual and drove it to my parents house, which is near where our storage unit will be. During this process we were taking care of some last minute sales...we had a mattress we needed to get rid of and a freezer. I threw it up online and within a couple hours they were gone. That was a relief because we didn't know what we were going to do with them otherwise.
We had a blessing show up late into the evening...Chris' brother. Such a big help as there was still so much to take care of. I eventually drove the kids up to my parent's house, while Chris stayed behind to clean out the house. It is absolutely crazy how much a little house can hold and how much there is to do! It is hard to enjoy your final days in your home...in your community when you are working like crazy to get things done!
Our final day in the US.....during our final day, we had to unload our Uhual into the storage container. Again we had some great help of family!! We then had to pack our bags for the plane and shop for some snacks.
On our way out, we said goodbye to some family and headed down to St. Joe for a final clean out and goodbyes. It was so sad for me. It was our first house. The house we brought 3 kids home to. The house filled with so many memories. The house we love. But I keep telling myself that it is okay to let go of something good because something better may be right around the corner.
Our parents drove us down to Chicago and we stayed in a hotel. Our flight the next morning was at 9am. We were still working on last minute things late into the night. It seems like there was always something to do! Tomorrow was a big day!
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