Packing and Moving

When it was time to prepare for the packing of our home and belongings, Jeff's company hired a 3rd party firm to handle everything. We were truly blessed and thankful for this assistance, because I honestly can't imagine how much more difficult and stressful it would've been having to manage this on our own.

About a month before the move, the packing/shipping company Paramount arrived to conduct a survey. Our move allowance gave us a 40-foot shipping container so they needed to make sure our belongings would fit, as well as to prepare us for the process and explain any restrictions. Prior to this visit, I had spent MONTHS cleaning out our home -- closets, cabinets, shelves, etc. were all thoroughly cleaned and I had donated or sold so many things. I estimate that I ended up giving away about 2/3 of my closet, no joke! That work really paid off when it came time to pack, because it was a much smoother process overall.

Probably the most difficult part of the process for me was in the beginning when the moving company asked for a detailed, itemized inventory list of our belongings. As in, every single thing we owned had to be documented, captured, and given a value/cost for replacement. I did the best I could but likely fell quite short. If we end up having broken or missing items, it'll be interesting to see how that piece of the process works.

Once we realized that our home was selling sooner than expected (cash offer = quick close!), we scheduled the movers to come. And that is literally all I had to do. We moved into a nearby hotel, the packers showed up, and everything was done so quickly and efficiently over the course of 3 full days. Luckily I had already prepared somewhat and set aside certain things we didn't want packed. But for the things I forgot to reserve, it was TOO LATE! The crew was so fast that most rooms and even our pantry was packed before I took a glance around. Poor Jeff, no utensils or bowl to eat his Blue Bell ice cream! Lol!

 

On the first day when the kids came home from school, they couldn't believe the progress that had been made. Most everything downstairs had already been packed and wrapped.

On the second day of packing, most of the upstairs was finished. Kaitlynn ran up there after school to see her room and she didn't come back down for a while. I later realized she had been up there sobbing, feeling so sad that her room (and her life) was forever changed. :-(

On the morning of the 3rd day of packing, I looked out to discover our shipping container had arrived. It was such a crazy feeling that all of our worldly belongings would be loaded into this box to be shipped by sea to the UAE. We had a little fun checking it out while it was still empty, but it didn't stay that way for long.

The packing crew members were truly experts at loading this container. It was incredible to watch them fill it up. It was like a real-world game of Tetris; they loaded big items and then searched to find the exact size box or other item to fit in the spaces remaining, so that VERY little empty space (if any) was left as they worked their way from the inside out. When they were finished, they hammered wooden boards to the end of the freight which secured everything tightly.

And would you look at that, we still had plenty of space left! Maybe I did TOO good of a job cleaning out my house?? Ha!

Another part of our moving allowance was 500 pounds of air freight. Jeff and I had no clue what this was. We just assumed we needed to pack our suitcases and we would be reimbursed for the luggage fees charged by the airline. But as it turns out, air freight is a separate process just like sea freight. It has to be inventoried, packed, wrapped, and shipped, only by air instead of sea. The air freight arrives much sooner, within 1-2 weeks. This was the stuff that I had set aside that we might need in our first two months of living in Dubai. It was mostly clothes and shoes but also certain medications, toiletries, and other items I thought we couldn't live without for two months and that couldn't be purchased in UAE.

And that was it! Our entire life of material possessions were all packed and sealed, ready to make their way to our new country across the world.

By the time we left Katy, we had sold our home, sold both cars, and we only had 1 suitcase and 2 backpacks of belongings left between us. It was the strangest feeling that my personal key ring was completely empty. No keys at all! For our remaining time in the States, the kids joked that we were homeless as we prepared ourselves for the adventures ahead.