Packing and preparing for this move has been time consuming, but pretty simple. Here was our thought process.
With a 6-year contract for the Assistant Professor position, we know we're planning to be out of the States for a while. Add on the fact that there are reviews and applications for Associate Professor, then Full Professor (along with application for Tenure... this really aren't opportunities for tenure-track positions in the States for people in our age bracket anymore), and we're in a position to be gone reeeally long-term if we find we love it over there. More on my thoughts about preparing for this possible reality later.
We've broken our household strategy into five segments:
- Pack and ship. Rob's academic materials, books, winter clothes and coats, Rob's elecronic music mixer and soundboard, a family heirloom cedar chest, cases filled with our dvd discs, little mementos, extra toothpaste, deodorant, vitamins, and contacts, fitted sheets (fitted sheets aren't a "thing" over there, so we've been advised to take some, rather than count on keeping a flat sheet tucked neatly around our mattress), baseball gloves, a few favorite games sans box, a few special pieces of art, and a Grumpy doll from Disney, which will be held and nice things said to the other person if we get cranky (a Burnham Family tradition for vacations- a reminder to be sweet to one another and punishment if you're a jerk). These 12 boxes, cedar chest (and Rob's enormous bicycle, if it will fit) will get sent via slow boat and show up a few weeks after we arrive.
- Pack and stash in an attic. Household stuff we couldn't bear to part with, like our nice set of dishes, pots and pans (good, heavy stuff), knives, special casserole dishes, our carefully curated collection of artwork, groovy floor lamps, silverware, a strange nightside table which originally came off of a yacht, so it's kind of a rhombus. It's only about 10 boxes or so, but I just can't say goodbye to everything we own.
- Pack check-in bags. Most of our culled down clothing collection (nothing will be stored with family- it's either going, or it's getting Goodwilled), good walking shoes, toiletries, etc. This also factors in clothing that we've set aside for our cruise next week, icky hot-weather summer clothes, wedding/shower/festivities clothing for my sister's big day, and casual but cute visiting outfits. Setting aside just the right things and stashing the rest into enormous duffel bags has been a little tricky.
- Carry-on items. Computers, heavy items, books, entertainment for 15 hours on an airplane. This is carefully planned to include toiletries and makeup to be suitable for wedding season. Oh, yeah, and my last two weeks of work.
- Adios, extra stuff! Unloved clothing, almost all of our furniture (bookshelves, dining table and chairs, dresser, bed, sofa, side tables), household nicknacks, spare dishes, spatulas, dvd player, coffee pot, toaster, glasses, extra boardgames, mixing bowls, and all the other stuff we just don't need to keep.
And it feels great! We started really early and sorted, purged, and sold everything we could ahead of time. We've made arrangements to sell the last few big pieces on the 27th of the month (and we're planning to leave on the 30th), have already started repainting our apartment white, so we'll have relatively little to do the week before we leave with our last few possessions in a Uhaul trailer. We won't talk about the dog/cat fight that will probably happen during the drive back to Ohio in the Jeep, but I think we've got some ducks in a row as far as physical possessions go. And we're a whole heckuva lot more condensed. It's kind of nice to know we now own very little and what we own we have because it's used often and we love it.
P.S.- Ship Smart is our likely winner for our puny 12 boxes. $1000 for a Will Call Shipment (we'll find a mover from the Shanghai port to Suzhou 2 hours inland), vs. $3200 quotes, and one quote for $5400! ?!?!?! Were they planning to wrap my box of vitamins in gold leaf?!?
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