If you’re planning to move abroad, congratulations! There are so many different benefits for those who move to a new country, including the chance to experience a new culture, establish new contacts, ensure that the kids learn a new language while they’re young (and their brains are like little sponges), and the chance to advance your career.
Whether you’re taking your business on the road with you and you can be completely location independent or you’re being transferred through a company, you’ll be doing something that so many other people would love to do, so you should do everything you can to get the most out of the experience.
While moving house can be tricky enough, moving to a brand new country has a whole host of other things to consider. You’ll either need to sell or rent out your house, get your mail forwarded on, get people to look after your pets, and much more.
Here are some ways to make sure your move abroad is a smooth process:
Be an early bird
We all know that the early bird gets the worm, so why do so many of us leave things until the last minute? If you want to make sure that the moving process goes easily and smoothly, you’ll need to be organised early. As soon as you know your dates, you can begin getting things sorted.
There’s no reason why you should need to do it all yourself either, and if you’re moving with your family, they can do their parts. Grab a calendar and count how many weekends you have before you leave. Each weekend should have a specific task like “Pack extra bedding”, “Get the cat sorted”, or “Organise the movers”, and this will mean that by the time you need to leave you will have all of the hard stuff already done.
Take only what you need
If you’re moving overseas, you’re probably not going to want to take all of your old junk. The whole family probably has clothes they never wear, and the kids are bound to have stuffed animals, toys, and more, just waiting to be given to someone who will actually use them.
A yard sale is a good way to get rid of this stuff, otherwise you can list your more expensive things online- either in your local neighbourhood Facebook group, or on eBay. If you know you’re going for a long time, you may want to get rid of your kitchenware, furniture and more, and anything that you can’t sell would be very welcome at homeless shelters and the Women’s Refuge.
Ship your stuff
Since airlines charge huge money for baggage, you’ll only want to take the bare basics with you on the plane. Before you leave, you’ll need to organise a shipping company that can safely get your things to your new country. Try Shiply, which has a reputation for being trustworthy and also giving customers great prices.
