3 Pack-Outs Complete!! Hooray!

We have an empty house!! Wow! So weird!

I'm going to try and sum up for your how our 3 different pack-outs went. I know you are all asking why 3?

1. Express Shipment: As I talked about 2 posts ago, you can have 1000 lbs that is due to arrive no more than 30 days after it is sent. Ours was picked up on October 6th, so it should arrive no later than Nov. 6th. However, they will not deliver it to you when you are staying in a hotel. We probably won't have an apt/house for at least 30 days. Once we have the lease signed, we can arrange for the movers to bring the shipment to us. Because it is the first things we will use, they are very important items. The basics and lots of clothes. We called the movers to get the actual weight. It was 440 lbs. That amazed me, because it seemed like a lot more. If you are going to send an express shipment, make sure you have the necessities first, then go ahead and add as many boxes of clothes as you can. I could have sent much more of my kitchen stuff too!

2. Long-Term Storage: Wow! We won't see the 2206 lbs we sent to long term storage for 3 YEARS. My husband says that I'll feel like it's Christmas when I get it all back. We also thought that we would say, "What is all this stuff?". There is a lot of items you don't need in Japan. I ended up storing a whole lot of Pics/Mirrors/Decor. I figured that I would want to have some local things to put up. I also wanted to be able to purchase a lot of items in Japan to bring back. I think the largest purchase I will make is a china cabinet, we'll see.... Putting all of this into storage was a little traumatic for me. I was sad to see some of the things go and know that I won't see them for so long. It was also nerve racking to wonder if they will get damaged or not. The packers were very considerate and efficient so I'm hoping not much will be damaged. We left 1 thing out that was supposed to go to storage. I found it as soon as the truck left. Even though I had most of my stuff grouped, I missed 1 small table. Make sure you put anything on the periphery of a room out in the middle so you don't forget!!

3. Regular HHG Shipment (HHG=HouseHold Goods): This is your bulk shipment. All the furniture/mattresses/and everything else that wasn't stored, expressed or carried in your suitcase goes in this shipment. They have to have it at your destination within 60 days. I scheduled this shipment last so that I would know that anything left in the house would be thrown/given out or go in our suitcase. We did very well with getting rid of any throwout/give aways long before they came to get our long term. I have an empty house after this shipment. We kept out the blow up mattresses and the sleeping bags. They will go to Mom's. We kept old sets of sheets to use for a couple of days, then they will be thrown out. I also kept the rattiest towels so we could throw them out. I kept out our most worn t shirts and shorts and stuff to use to paint and clean the house, and out they will go!! We are now living out of our suitcases for the next 45-60 days or so. That's a lot of fun, NOT!

We decided to hand carry all our important paperwork (That's one Large carry-on just for that), 3 laptop computers, 4 FULL cd/dvd cases, a router, a modem, plugs, cameras, ipod, 2 PSP's, 2 PS2's, XBox 360, and lots of clothes and personal items. Good thing we get TWO 70 lb. suitcases each, plus a carry-on, plus a personal item. To add to that, we also have two PETS!! I have no idea how we are to get around at the airports??? HA!

I have an empty house. Brian has already torn out the carpet that is getting replaced. It seems so HUGE. Now I have lots and lots of heavy cleaning to do starting with all the baseboards in the house. I'll be glad to get it all done!

11 Days left!!