Stressed out about clothes and trying to pack..HELP!!!

[bluebutterfly29]

I am moving from London to New York next week and have started packing my clothes today and am now completely stressed! I did a massive cull of my wardrobe and have donated/sold over half of my clothing. I thought I had gotten it down to a manageable level of just the essentials, but now that I am packing, I have realised that I still have loads of clothes. My clothing has almost taken up an entire 36'' duffle bag. I will be staying with my boyfriend for the first few weeks whilst I look for my own place, and am worried about having too much stuff at his house/arriving with a bunch of giant suitcases. I still have about 10 books, my (massive) collection of skincare products, makeup and about 15 pairs of shoes to pack.

Does anyone have advice for how to further cull my clothing? If you were moving abroad how many suitcases would you have with you?

I don't think another suitcase is too bad considering you are emigrating! I would have a real cull of your products though, be honest with yourself about any duplicate items, chuck anything less than half full etc. Although I'm too jealous to give you much advice

thank you - I will have another cull tomorrow. Its getting difficult because I have already gotten rid of all of the things that I don't really wear/aren't things that I love and now I am just done to the things I really love and parting with them is difficult haha

Im a total product junkie, and have been to New York three times and each time I bought tons of beauty and skin stuff!

Wagon: I am a massive french beauty product junkie, and have stocked up on all of my french skincare products (hoarding bottles of bioderma...although Im sure I can find this somewhere in new york)...I have reached the stage where I am chucking clothes out of my suitcase to make room for more Avene!

All the bioderma you need at the New London Pharmacy

Thanks Emily: Looks like I didn't need to buy five bottles before leaving!

I bet you anything you won't love a lot of your current clothes once you settle in over there. Despite our best efforts at indivuality, we all want to fit in and NY style will have differences you will want to copy.

To contradict that slightly, in terms brands, there isn't much you can't buy or get shipped over there so even if you do miss something you get rid of, you will probably be able to rebuy.

Thanks Lou - this is a good point. I did another big cull last night and was able to take out about 15 pieces. Will do again today and see how much I can it down by.

How about thinking about 7 days worth of outfits for the life you are going to lead out there, rather than just cull down to the individual items you love the most? Perhaps stick to a few colours which go together, just in the short term so you can combine as many things together as possible. Also, I know the weather is gorgeous at the moment but NY winters are bitter, so make sure you have room for your warmest coat, boots and some thermals (although you can get them there).

And...why are you allowing room for 10 books? I'm a great lover of a real book, but in your situation, sure a kindle with 1000 books on it would make more sense space wise??

I also don't see a need for loads of skincare and beauty products, they are easily replaceable over there, unless you have real need to stick with a european brand.

Thanks Loulou - very good ideas, I will certainly be making sure that I am thinking about clothes in terms of outfits instead of individual items now!

For the books - I am a researcher and they are research books which are out of print and very hard to find, so I must hold on to them (all other books have been sold/donated).

Skincare, yes I have very sensitive skin that does not react well with most products so I want to stick to my normal routine for as long as possible.

I think I will now manage to get everything into two large bags.

We've just emigrated.
DH came over with 3 big suitcases. I then followed with 6 suitcases between me and the 2 kids. We are shipping:
2 kids bikes
2 carseats (car safety standards much lower over here)
2 boxes of winter clothes
A box of bedding (kids sheets, mainly)
A box of kitchen stuff
3 boxes of kids toys
2 boxes of kids books
A box of home ed stuff as we don't have schools sorted
3 boxes of DHs precious computer
3 boxes of DHs work files and notes

It cost under £100 per box, and they provided all boxes and packaging, packed it all, and dealt with customs. They then unpacked all boxes I wanted them to at this end and took away the rubbish. I wasn't expecting this, but I'd only dismantled one bike before they arrived, and the packers dismantled the second. One bike was also put together at this end without me even asking.

On the other hand, next door arrived a few days after us. They brought one suitcase and one bike each. Nothing else.

Seriously consider shipping some stuff if you want to, or at least get a quote. Ours was done on volume, so books etc are quite cheep.

I was also going to suggest shipping items. Although am impressed that you can emigrate with two big bags where many on here seem to need that for a week's holiday!

Suspect there will be an expensive trip to IKEA for next door soon! Or they just eat sandwiches and one pot meals!
But its HOT ATM, so a suitcase of sandals, summer dresses, shorts, trousers and tee-shirts doesn't take much space! I was when I realised quite how little they had brought. Good excuse for new clothes the!