Decluttering Before Moving to the US

[k.dlg 300]

How about PS3 games? If I just bought my console over then purchased some games in the US would it work?

I'm pretty sure my hubby bought Madden and NCAA PS3 games and took them back to the UK and they worked. My Region 1 DVDs and Blurays also play on his UK PS3.

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

Oh and Yorkshire tea. We have enough to last us through the apocalypse.

I apocalypse does come, we have extra at our house! Local supermarket sells it.

[urbangirluk 73]

The car. You should have brought it with you. Stopped paying the lease and see how for the finance company would go to get it back.

Lol!!!! I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did, as much as I love my little car!

[PBJ 60]

After unexpectedly being approved for my visa, I couldn't wait to get started on planning for the Big Move!

Regarding belongings, I broke this down into several tasks:

1. The Big Bin: I kept what is sentimental, and stored separate from anything else with any value. I binned the rest, including files of paperwork and non-official documents older than 4 years (bank statements from 2002 are not required!), and things with a benefit profile that expired soon after I decided to keep it (you know, that thing you kept because it could be useful one day). It is truly amazing how much I got rid of at this first stage.

2. The Big Sort: I boxed up sentimental belongings ready for storage here in UK, and ready for possible shipping to the States at a later date. I got this down to two medium-sized crates of photos, medals, sweet letters and nostalgic journals etc.

3. The Big Giveaway: There's other items that I cherish but deserve a new life with a careful and special owner. I have some large art pieces that i'm giving to very good friends, and the same with essential books or music or DVDs. I have an excellent collection of British television comedy on DVD which a very good friend has always coveted, for example. I also have lots of additional books going to charity shops as they are notoriously hard to sell.

4. The Big Sell: I determined anything else of value can be sold rather than affording to ship it. This includes some furniture and electrical items, and then random things like bicycle panniers, a wetsuit (used once for a triathlon), and a brand new juicer. I have all this boxed up and ready to shift, but interestingly it has already garnered a lot of attention from visiting friends and some of it has already been taken (tip: sell to your friends!). The rest I will put on Gumtree and/or a car boot sale.

4. The Small Ship: And so now i'm down to just a few belongings, a core of essential things propping up my physical existence. A bicycle, a kitchen knife, my laptop and a whole bunch of clothes are going in my checked luggage. My cameras constitute carry-on. I have one crate to ship containing computer and a few random work essentials, and i'm currently working out the best price to get it to California via courier.

From a household full of belongings i've managed to sift, sort and sell off, with a view to owning as little as possible. I've moved before and this cathartic process suits me very much.

The process continues...

Edited June 16, 2014 by PBJ

[Clair.S 5]

Our household items have now been shipped to the states and I just wanted to share a few thoughts especially for those who are living in their own house/flat. In our case our household items were shipped by the military and we have 4 weeks left in this house. In any case, you will likely be traveling with a few suitcases and will probably get rid of a lot of household items. After our shipping day, other than our luggage the only thing in the house was a single air mattress for my husband and I to share...I couldn't even make a cup of tea Now if you do plan on staying in your house up until you leave, you will probably want to get rid of your kitchen items etc unless you're shipping them, all I can say is either keep a few essential things or borrow a few things from family, along with pillows etc. Borrowing them is probably better as you won't have to worry about getting rid of the items the day before you travel :-)

[PhilLuv 43]

How much roughly would say six/seven boxes of (maybe #######) cost to freight to the east coast? I still have some of my stuffs in storage which I am hoping to sort out soon. Any idea!

[Sheri&Rich 25]

How much roughly would say six/seven boxes of (maybe #######) cost to freight to the east coast? I still have some of my stuffs in storage which I am hoping to sort out soon. Any idea!

I may have some space in my container for a few boxes etc etc. This is open to all the 'britts' on here lol. Obviously, it would have to be on my timescale and collection from Houston when the container arrives in the USA. I'm happy to help if it saves me a bit of money. My belongings are currently in Salisbury, Wiltshire and that is where they are being shipped from.

Best

Rich

[PhilLuv 43]

Salisbury, Wiltshire would have been ideal as would be coming from the South West, but Houston isn't. Houston to Salisbury, MD where I am isn't.

[cowboysgirlfriend 1]

I just spent half of the day up in the loft, going through boxes of stuff which I felt the need to cart around with me for the last ten years. It was a rather good feeling to decide that I don't need the vast majority of it, and consign a huge amount of junk to the "car boot sale" pile.

I have a large book collection that I want to bring with me to the US. Many of them were texts that I studied through my degree and I'm rather too attached to the dog-eared, annotated copies to just replace them with new copies in the future. I also want to bring a lot of my academic work - which might sound absurd, but I genuinely could make some really good use of it along the way.

I also have two Le Creuset saucepans that I scrimped and saved to be able to afford, and are too expensive to replace, so they will be coming with me. Those, and a serious pair of wellies.

Apart from that, I don't have any furniture, so it'll just be what's left of my clothes and shoes, which I culled recently too. I've been assigning a few of my better possessions to my good friends. The rest of it will hopefully make me some cash at the car boot sale. What doesn't make it through there will go in the bin...

[Big Papa Zone 93]

I brought my clothes, relevant paperwork, and my Dean Dimebag tribute guitar. That's it. Everything (except the guitar, obviously) fitted in a single checked bag and my carry-on. The day before I left, I flogged my TV, a tent, a small sofa, and various kitchen appliances to one of my lads (I was a security manager prior to departing) for a ton, and left everything else, despite promising my landlord (I rented) that I'd have everything else out of his house prior to my departure. And I totally didn't. I was like, "OK, here's your keys, bye!" which I didn't feel remotely bad about, because he was (and probably still is) an ar$ehole. As I left Birmingham behind on the National Express coach to Heathrow, I thought about him walking into his house, expecting it to be empty and pristine, and finding ####### strewn everywhere. I laughed then as I do to this day every time I think about it - heartily.

Ah, memories.............

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

It's amazing what you find when decluttering. I'm apparently the proud owner of not one but two fancy dress sombreros. Guess I should put one on and root for Mexico in the World Cup

[rjm_cmyk 75]

I spent a year decluttering my house and was still doing it the night before I flew here. I really do no recommend moving out of a house you're selling the night before the flight....

I brought over my CD /DVD collection , some of my books and car mags. A bit a of crockery and cutlery that was either personal or I knew we'd use and various private papers (no not bank account statements from 1995) and *stuff* that had some momento value. I did bring over some clothes but the one I needed in the UK don't really match up with what I need in California :-)

According to my wife I brought over a dubious amount of electronic gear - including my collection of old mobile phones. Most of my stuff is actually in my study and it *is* important to have this kind of junk around you.

I enjoyed the de-cluttering process but wasn't planning throwing my entire life away.

But the main thing I brought over ?

Edited July 14, 2014 by rjm_cmyk