Help! I don't know how/what to pack!

[Miffster]

DH has job on small Caribbean island. He, I and DS aged 3 months are moving out on 22nd March.
I am trying to pack and have never packed to move internationally before - have lived abroad but 20 years ago and I travelled lighter then.

We are taking
clothes
soft furnishings
art prints
beloved pots and pans and cooking knives
baby stuff (bumbo, playmat, toys given at birth etc)
books - favourites plus cookbooks and baby books
cosmetics and toiletries

We are not taking furniture as rental apartments all furnished out there. Our flat will be rented furnished to tenants while we are away - planning on 2-5 years

We have a relocation allowance of about 2000 US dollars and are planning on using a mix of sea freight ( Transpackship) and air freight (excess baggage).

I am trying to pack everything: will sturdy cardboard boxes be enough for things like books going by sea?

Do I need to try to make the boxes water resistant? How do I do that? Is there a site with advice? Or should I pack stuff and then get the freight companies to repack it for me?

I also have to inventorise everything, don't I, for customs clearance the other end? I don't have to write huge descriptions though, I think just 'Box 12 - 9 cookbooks' 'Box 14 - women's cotton clothes, 5 blouses, 3 trousers' should be enough, shouldn;t it?

HELP! I am feeling very stressed and out of my depth! It doesn't help that the baby sucks up time, and I am on 4 hours sleep a night.

:-(

We lived in the Caribbean for three years.

Please be careful with your books and art prints. Humidity can be very high. We eventually shipped our photograph albums home...yes I am old enough to have pictures in albums.

Things can smell damp, especially if you leave the house for any length of time.

We took all toys, children's books but very little else. I suppose it depends on how long you expect to be there.

FWIW the removal company took care of the inventory for us.

Thanks for the reply. This is going to sound hopelessly naive but I've always done my own packing and moving...
Did the removal company come to the house and pack for you? Should I roughly pack stuff in boxes and get them to repack it? I don't want them to pack everything in the flat that we live in - only certain stuff that we are taking and I am clueless about how to manage the 'take those books but not that mirror' type of scenario.

For small items, you can sort them into different rooms, eg if you can tell the packers - take all the books in this room, leave all the books in the other room. For other things, you can tag them with ship/stay/store tags - in previous moves I've either done my own (colour coded), or some international movers provide them.

You'll need to supervise on the day, and be prepared for some things to get mixed up - one shelf of my favourite art/photography books that were meant to be shipped got put into storage, so I didn't see them again for 12 years....

There's no point in trying to pack things in a waterproof way for shipping, IMO, unless it is individual boxes sent by airfreight that could conceivably get rained on - I've lined those with bin bags before now. Anything the shippers are handling you need to get insurance for.

That is a very good point about humidity- thank you. Right, most of the books, and the prints, photos and DVDs are going into storage I think...

What about handbags and clothes, should I assume that they will ultimately get trashed living out there and pack accordingly?

On the removal front, I assume that the shipping company sends out people to my flat who pack stuff under my supervision and inventorise it, is that right? I can speed it up a bit by getting everything out and putting it in boxes for them so they know to re-pack the stuff in boxes for shipping and not touch the rest/ Does that sound about right.

I know, I am flapping, and sound like a numpty. I just don't want to do it all wrong and this is all new to me. And I am so so tired.

Oh - I'm assuming that the shippers will pack for you, because I've always been told they won't do international shipments of things you have packed yourself. You'd need to check with the firm you are using, though (and get several quotes because they can vary a lot).

Thanks again. Does anyone have a recommended insurance firm for this sort of thing? And can I arrange it over the phone?

Sorry loads of qs

Insurance is usually arranged through the movers - I think I was offered a choice of a flat rate percentage of the removal cost, or drawing up a full inventory with valuation and getting a precise quote on that. But it may be possible to use a third-party insurer if you are not happy with the quote.

Fantastic. Thank you. So the quotes I've been getting include packing then, I assume. I've said 'about a transit vans worth of stuff' and been quoted 2500 GBP from one firm and a bout 1000 GBP by another firm which has much more frequent sailings to where we are going.

I know, I should have got them to email me exactly what they meant. I am ridiculously sleep deprived and not thinking right at the moment. Ooh, but the thought of someone packing for me is enough to make me skip with joy.

Best not to assume anything - get a detailed quote in writing if poss, otherwise you could end up with an expensive surprise at some stage. Check if the quoted price includes packing, packing materials, insurance, customs paperwork, customs clearance the other end, delivery actually to your new house rather than just to the airport/port etc etc.

You should have someone from an international mover come to your house to do a survey and give you a proper quote.

Our 'small' shipment (no furniture - similar approach to you OP) ended up being nearly 100 boxes - I had piled things for packing in each room and genuinely thought we'd have 20-30 boxes.

And yes, we were told that if you pack it yourself, it is not insured whilst in transit. So while it was a huge amount of work to do the sifting through and deciding what to ship (some), store (barely anything) or throw (loads....), we were spared the agony of wrapping each saucer, wine glass and cereal bowl.

Our clothes, towels and bedding (family of 4) were nearly 20 boxes alone, plus eight suitcases that travelled with us. So I'd suggest getting a surveyor from one of the big international movers round to assess the size of your shipment, and that might help you shop around a bit for quotes.

And I may have misunderstood, but excess baggage (i.e. on the plane with you) is terribly, terribly expensive - we airfreighted things through air cargo and that took a week to arrive whereas sea freight took six weeks.

And when they pack they do the inventory for you - much in the terms you describe OP, with a declaration from you that there's nothing contraband or subject to duty in the shipment.

Do investigate having a couple of cubic metres of air freight, rather than excess baggage.

DVDs will survive the humidity, paper stuff won't. Don't ship/take anything which has huge sentimental value and is completely irreplaceable.

Pack your stored stuff with cedar and mothballs and spray the inside of the boxes

I wouldn't ship opened cosmetics and toiletries

Agree with alphabetty - you may end up with a lot more boxes than you think, so a transit-van's worth may be double that - things have to be packed and padded securely for international shipping, which adds to the bulk.

I ended up with a nearly-full 40-ft container coming back from Japan, even though I spent the last two months getting rid of stuff, including a lot of furniture and all our large electrical goods.

Thank you so much. I'm going to call Transpackship first thing and get someone round.

We are not taking any furniture at all.
It's basically now just clothes, CDs and some books plus baby stuff and a few pans.

We won't now be taking any art prints thanks to the humidity warnings on this thread and will put photos in storage. Will take a few favourite cookbooks which I don't mind replacing on return to UK and some novels that I don't mind replacing, not whole book collection. Will take baby reading books like Beatrix Potter given by relatives at birth although I think they won't last long out there.

No electrical goods: UK stuff won't work out there

Clothes: have vacuum packed them all, they are just summer cotton things, plus some in suitcases on plane for luggage allowance. Will have to pay excess baggage to take baby's Amby hammock but other things will be air freighted not checked in at airport because that is v v expensive. We will do a few boxes by air, mostly clothes for baby in next 10 weeks, he is growing so fast!

Cosmetics and toiletries: I was going to bring unopened but am worried about having to pay import duty of 20% on them, I suppose even so that's going to be cheaper than they cost on the island plus the selection out there is crap.

We fly on 22nd March! This is ridiculously tight!
panicked face

Speaking as someone who has moved internationally five times, my advice is this. Get the packing/shipping company round and get a firm quote. Our stuff has always been packed for us or the insurance wouldn't be valid. Get the company to do the import and export paperwork, we didn't when we moved to the ME and regretted it.

When we moved (to ME) I packed the boxes myself (for shipping) and was given a customs/inverntory form to fill in and sign which doubled as an insurance quote ( I was asked how much it was worth and charged IRRC 1% of the value.
It wasn't complicated at all (and all self packed stuff arrived intact (even the glass that dh shoved in at the last minute unwrapped )

You were lucky bling, when we moved to Oman, DH and I packed the stuff and thought we'd filled out the form properly. As he was the person named on our visa, he had to spend six hours at Muscat airport unpacking our boxes.

Ouch
Ours wern't opened by customs either they picked up the boxes and six weeks later dropped them off 3000 miles away..no bother

Mind you when we go back we'll be taking furniture (am dreading it)

Hi I live in Costa Rica (part of the country is on the caribbean coast) I have never used a shipping company but have sent out lots of boxes by sea and air - I had a very tough time getting them out of customs as they wanted to charge me tax on everything. I have now learned everything has to have the words "USED" or "PERSONAL ITEMS" on it in big letters.

Do bring these items which you wont be able to find out here:

"Click It" mosquito bite cure - it really works!! (dont bother bringing repellents, there are plenty of spray ones that are as good/better than UK ones)

Olbas oil for when you have a cold

Savlon for cuts and scrapes.

These are three items I always ask friends and relatives to bring over 'cos we miss them!

Also have a good look round MotherCare before you come over, its hard to get baby "gadgets" - things like, mosquito nets/sunshades for the pram/cot, bumbo seat, decent baby sling, inflatable rubber pool ring with harness for baby etc. Having said that Amazon.com is always a great option for specialist stuff like that. I pay a company that rents me a PO Box in Miami and I get Amazon stuff delivered to there, they then ship the item to costa rica and charge me based on weight. Its very handy.

I agree with what the others have said about humidity destroying things. Your clothes will be OK as long as you use them regularly. Anything that stays in the wardrobe for more than 2 months is in danger though.

Good luck - no wonder you are stressed it is a big job!!

i totally symapathise with you. i'm trying to pack up and move to turkey with DD who is 2.7yrs. DH has gone out first to start a job. we will rent our house UNfurnished as the estate agent said it's better, so we have to SELL most of our stuff, all quite new.

i've got some quotes for shipping and they really vary. it's good to shop around. i'm hoping we don't ship more then 100cubic ft, but i'm worried now that Snap...says don't ship/take anything that has huge sentimental value and is completely irreplaceable. that's about the only things we will take besides clothes, DD's fave toys and books. we can't afford to store for ages here and no where else to keep things...

Thank you so much everyone for your invaluable advice. We ended up with 50 square cubic feet of stuff and it was THE most stressful thing ever, because my DH went off for a 4 hour driving lesson (he had the test booked for the next day) so I was basically on my own, with the baby, trying to sort everything into an inventorised, packable pile. The baby was having one of the days where he screams if not being held, the cat was jumping on all the vacuum sealed clothes bags and scrabbling them with her claws, meaning they all got air inside, and the removal men kept calling to say they were on their way.

At one point it got so bad that I put the baby on the bed, went into the back garden and shrieked, then pretended I had stubbed my toes really hard for benefit of the neighbours. Then I found a 10 pack of Marlboro from before I was PG, and smoked 2.

Once the men arrived though, they were fab. Suddenly everything was neatly wrapped and packed, I filled in a form saying we had about 6 grands worth of stuff, paid 3% super-insurance and 750 quid for the stuff to go, and it was done.

I didn't write 'personal' or 'used' on everything, but it hopefully should be obvious to a nosing customs bod that it is our personal effects - clothing, books etc? They will see my DH's work permit and partwork...The baby's stuff is mostly new (for when he is a bigger baby) but I took all the tags out. there's also some brand new cheap makeup, unopened, still in its superdrug bag. And some new clothes for me - but again, tags removed.

We did take some pics in the end - but the ones which are repro prints in Homebase frames, not real art - so totally replaceable
This thread was invaluable. Thank you.

Glad to hear it all went OK in the end (if somewhat stressfully - I'll remember that 'I've stubbed my toe' trick for future use...). When do you actually leave?

We leave on 22nd, next Tuesday. Now I have odds and ends left to put in storage, and the flight and suitcasaes/ bags to think about packing. Our sea freighted stuff will arrive in about 6-8 weeks. We will be put up in temp accommodation - no idea how baby-friendly - and will be spending the first week in a hire car looking for somewhere to live, am emailing letting agents now. Also all our UK affairs to wind down, and trying to soprt tenancy paperwork so our tenants can move into our flat. No time to say bye properly to friends which is gutting but every moment is spent doing things. Am totally shattered. Not a great time but this Too Will Pass. Thankfully a friend is walking the baby now whilst I take 45 mins to do stuff like check this section of MN !

Everyone is saying 'how lovely, you'll be by the pool drinkign rum' but it's not as if I can take a 14 week old baby to the beach all day. In fact they have to stay out of the sun all the time, don't they? So I expect I will mostly be stuck indoors!

Ah well, we are doing it for the work life balance - DH would never see his son otherwise,his UK work hours are stupid.

Well done! What a challenge, I bet you are glad that bit is over.

My two year old has spent a lot of time at the beach and in the sun since he was a baby. Its fine if you always have a sunhat handy in your changing bag, and when they sleep in the pram use a sun shade that has insect protection and/or UV protection, like these:

insect net

UV Protection shade

a rubber ring that your baby can float in is also great. Here is a picture

but I prefer ones that have a sunshade attached too, sorry couldnt find a link for that kind.

Good luck with the rest of the packing!

Thank you! Have got insect nets for pram and cot/Amby, but not a shade for the Mclaren, couldn't find one in Mothercare, wrong time of year I suppose and it might be a bit late to prder online though Amazon might do it.... Got stick on car window protector UV thing.

I love the rubber ring!
I wonder if they will senbd it fast enough if I buy one tpday?