What Should I Pack for Moving Abroad With Baby

If I've learned anything from three long-distance moves, it's that we underestimate how much stuff we ain. And if yous're relocating abroad, it'southward not practical (or financially possible) to bring all your worldly possessions. Figuring out what to leave and what to pack is a daunting process without a moving abroad packing checklist.

And that's why I'chiliad sharing mine!

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Deciding what to take when moving overseas is a balancing act of space and coin. Sure, it'southward cheaper to movement with bear-on luggage only, merely you'll spend a fortune replacing all of your stuff.

And if yous bring too much without doing inquiry, you'll waste money shipping things you can't use, don't have room for, or could have cheaply replaced in your new abode.

Feeling overwhelmed notwithstanding?

Don't worry! I've been in that location and have the crazy spreadsheets to prove it.
I've washed the hard work of outlining a packing list for moving abroad. You simply need to follow along and fill in the blanks.

If you're looking for a printable version of this moving abroad packing checklist, join my Patreon! You'll get access to my complete travel + relocation resource library.

What to bring when moving to another country

Everything you pack when moving away falls into three categories: practical, legal, and sentimental.

Applied items are things you use in daily life. Converter plugs, wearable, medication, pet food, etc., should be packed and ready to utilize from 24-hour interval one. Depending on the country, y'all might besides want to bring some electronics.

Things like wills, insurance policies, and resident cards autumn into the legal category. This includes any documents you lot need to legally enter your new state. For united states, that meant our passports, a letter of entry, and fill-in copies of our visa paperwork.

Finally, you're certain to take a few sentimental items that you want to bring on your journey. Even if you're selling everything and starting over, you're certain to have a couple photos or books y'all'd like to keep. Although we left the majority of ours with family unit, nosotros brought over a few things to personalize our new infinite.

Simple enough, correct?

But here'due south the affair: international moves are expensive. Shipping by air is costly, and sea shipments can take months to attain your new place.

Rather than pay thousands of dollars to transport our baggage overseas, we downsized before moving abroad.

Downsizing immune usa to bring everything we needed on the plane. Information technology only cost a few hundred dollars in excess baggage fees, and saved time on customs paperwork as well.

I'll talk more than about how to pack for an international move at the end of this mail service.

RELATED: 9 Difficulties of Living in a Foreign State You Must Overcome

Moving abroad packing list

Practical Items

If your friends and family are looking to purchase you lot gifts for moving to a new land, these practical items are fantabulous options.

Adapter plugs

The very first affair nosotros did after arriving at our new flat was charge our speedily dying phones. And we couldn't take done that without travel adapter plugs.

Moving from the US to London, we needed a totally different blazon of plug to fit into the U.k.'s sockets. There are more than a dozen variations of plug and socket types, and many countries use more than one. So do your inquiry and buy the right blazon before yous leave!

Any travel adapter will practise, but I like this Ceptics adapter kit all-time because information technology doesn't hang out of the socket like some adapters do (particularly two-pronged ones). It also comes with all of the plug types, so we apply information technology when traveling effectually the globe.

Portable battery pack

If your first week away is anything like mine, you'll be spending a lot of time on your telephone. From calling utility companies to navigating with Google Maps, your phone volition be an essential part of daily life.

A expressionless telephone is a nightmare scenario, especially if you don't speak the local language or notice yourself in an unfamiliar area.

That'southward why I highly propose conveying a portable battery pack with you.

My Anker PowerCore fits in my pocket and can fully accuse my Google Pixel 2 three times. I as well pack information technology whenever I travel, so it comes in handy often.

Personal electronics

Tablets, digital cameras, video game consoles… almost of these items are expensive and pretty portable, so it makes sense to put them on your moving abroad packing checklist.

However, y'all'll need to practise a little research before you make up one's mind.

In addition to your new country's plugs and sockets, yous need to figure out the voltage.  You can find this information on the plug, or somewhere on the particular itself (usually well-nigh where the power cord goes into it). It will say something like "100-240V" or only a single value.

Many mod electronics have a range of voltages and hertz, so you can use them with an adapter.

Or better yet, if the ability string is removable, you can swap it for a new power cord for your country. This is what we did with our PS4, Nintendo Switch, and photographic camera charger.

You lot can easily buy 2 pin power cords on Amazon before you move, and have them ready to go as soon as yous move into your new place.

Now, things with heating elements or motors, like pilus dryers or electric shavers, typically simply work with the voltage and hertz of your home state (110/120V and 60 hertz in the US).

Technically, you can bring electronics that employ different voltages, just you'll need to apply a transformer or converter rather than an adapter. This will cause your stuff to wear out much faster, and y'all run the take a chance of electrical shortages and fires. It's better to go out those items behind and supersede them in your new country.

Small appliances

Like personal electronics, some modest appliances are worth packing if the hertz and voltage will piece of work. I saved hundreds of dollars past taking my cordless vacuum to London!

All the same, it didn't make sense to bring my bulky printer, considering information technology was cheaper to buy a new i than surrender the baggage space and weight.

Cookware

The kitchen was the trickiest surface area for my moving abroad packing listing. As someone who loves to melt, I faced some difficult decisions on what to bring and what to sell or give to family.

Ultimately, we brought very little from our kitchen. Heavy or fragile items similar plates and casserole dishes didn't make sense to pack. And small things similar peelers and sauce bowls are easy to supercede.

What did make the packing list were expensive and sentimental items, like my Wustof knives and Michigan-shaped cheese lath. We also squeezed in a few small-scale things after everything else was packed.

Medication and prescriptionsIf you take any prescription medication, be sure to get a refill correct before y'all leave. Always keep your medication in your personal bag with the original prescription.

Your pills must be kept in the original bottles, or they may be confiscated. Check your new land'southward regime website and talk to your md to ensure yous don't bring whatever illegal medication.

Salve me for afterward!

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Pet food

Are you lot moving abroad with pets? Don't forget virtually their needs!

Bring a few days' worth of nutrient in a storage container. This will tide you over until yous can get to a pet supply shop. And if their old nutrient brand isn't available in your area, you tin use this to transition them to a new make.

Article of clothing and shoes

Apparel are the nigh infinite-consuming item on this moving abroad packing checklist. To proceed your bags from ballooning out of control, go through everything your closet and enquire these questions:

• When is the last time I wore this?
• Do I love wearing this?
• Volition this be practical in my new country?

It sounds tedious, but doing this in earnest volition relieve you a lot of money in shipping/baggage fees. We donated nigh half of our vesture earlier coming to London!

We used large duffel bags to pack our remaining clothes.

Using duffel bags for clothes is far cheaper than suitcases, and they fold downwards to nothing in one case you unpack. We're saving ours for the next international move.

Handbags and accessories

I've never been much of an accessories girl, and so this category was easy for me. Only if yous take a purse-ownership habit or a tie collection, start thinking almost how to pare dorsum.

Get artistic with how yous pack these items. Try putting small bags inside larger ones, and rolling upward scarves and ties to fill gaps in boxes.

Notebook and pen

This might seem like a random thing to include on a moving away packing checklist, specially in the historic period of smartphones. However, if you're the type of person who likes to brand checklists and notes, yous'll desire a notebook and pen handy the minute yous arrive (and probably on the plane).

Between jet lag and generally feeling overwhelmed, my notebook with daily tasks was a life-saver. I similar the bullet journal style, but a daily planner works well, too!

Legal Items

Entry documents

Y'all won't go far very far without your passport and applicable visa. E'er continue your entry documents on your body or in your personal handbag.

Every country has their own prepare of entry rules, and so exist sure to research them before the move. For example, you may demand to show a letter proving yous have the legal right to bring your child to another country.

Other legal items

Information technology's time to go through those (hopefully organized) file and lock boxes! Here are some of the legal documents you should pack:

• Nascence certificates
• Marriage license
• Insurance policies
• Wills
• House sale documents / rental bank check out
• Last utility bills
• Tax documents and old filings

For maximum safety and easy transport, we kept our legal items in a small lock box inside our bear-on bag.

Between airport transfers and cab rides and wheeling stuff through an unfamiliar metropolis, I wasn't about to gamble losing our near important documents.

Sentimental Items

Jewelry

It'south minor items like jewelry that tend to exist forgotten. Anything valuable should be kept in your personal bag or with your legal documents in the lock box.

Photos

Putting upwardly a few photos made united states feel closer to the family nosotros left backside. You can always remove photos from beefy frames and put them in an album (or between carte stock) for easier transport.

Holiday decor

I was rational and objective for 90% of our packing list. But I did devote an entire storage bin to Christmas decorations. Holidays are the hardest times for expats, and then don't experience guilty if you want to bring a few things to remind you of onetime traditions.

Souvenirs

Whether y'all're a traveler who amassed souvenirs or you received parting gifts from your old dwelling, exist sure to make room for these special items. We brought a few things from our Japan trip, equally well as a couple Texas-themed items.

Books

I'm an avid reader and English degree-holder, so leaving behind all my books was out of the question. Endeavour not to go overboard hither, because even paperback books get heavy when you pack 50 of them in a bin.

Other

Do y'all have an emotional connection to a coffee mug? Or a music box that brings you lot joy? Recall to include these sentimental items on your packing checklist.

How to pack for an international move

When it comes to packing for an international move, you accept a few different options.

You could pay an international shipping visitor to box everything upwardly and transport it to your new habitation past air or bounding main. Still, hiring movers and paying for international shipping is incredibly expensive.

In that location's also the selection of packing everything yourself and outsourcing the shipping. But again, you're still looking at costly air or ocean shipments, plus a lot of customs paperwork.

Personally, I propose the DIY route: pack your own stuff and bring it every bit checked baggage. If you downsize earlier the motility, it'due south very doable and shockingly affordable.

You tin use a mix of suitcases, duffel bags, and storage bins for packing. Here's exactly how we did it.

Duffel Bags

To save our suitcases for frail items, we bought these durable, low-price duffel bags for packing our clothes and shoes. I also used a extra-big Shackle duffel, which has a padded shoulder strap to free up your hands.

Likewise, make sure you lot put baggage tags with your new address on everything! Nosotros bought plastic luggage tags in place of the cheap newspaper things yous can become from the drome.

Suitcases

Having ane large, difficult shell suitcase is a must. This is where you'll desire to pack semi-fragile items like your electronics and modest appliances. And don't forget to use a mix of chimera wrap and wearing apparel to cushion everything!

You'll also want a carry-on handbag that meets the airline size requirements. Information technology's incredibly important to cheque your bag size, because your nearly valuable items will be in your deport-on. Having to bank check information technology due to it existence over-sized would be a huge problem.

Storage bins

Did you know you lot can bank check plastic storage tubs equally luggage? As long equally they autumn within the size requirements for backlog luggage, yous'll exist practiced!

We used heavy duty storage bins to pack our cookware, books, vacation decor, and other miscellaneous things. To ensure they stayed airtight during transit, we secured them using these luggage straps.

Because nosotros couldn't use baggage tags on the bins, we labeled them with duct record and sharpies.

How to Easily Transfer Money Between International Banking concern Accounts

One big claiming nosotros had when moving abroad was making payments in strange currencies. You might demand to pay a rental deposit via banking company transfer, or move money from your new state's bank to your former bank to pay bills.

Luckily, in that location'due south an easy and cheap solution:

Sign up for a Wise account!

I kickoff used Wise (formerly TransferWise) when we needed to pay our London apartment deposit, and it was And so much easier and cost-effective than doing an international wire transfer from my bank. Today, I regularly utilize Wise to send money to my US accounts from the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland.

If you go paid in multiple currencies (hello digital nomads!), the Wise Multi Currency Account will let y'all send and receive money in over dissimilar 40 currencies. It even comes with a multi-currency debit card.

Open a Wise account today to get real exchange rates, speedy transfers, and ultra-depression fees.

I promise this moving abroad packing checklist makes your relocation a bit easier!

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Source: https://theportablewife.com/living-abroad/moving-abroad-packing-checklist/

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