Moving Day 1

After almost ten years in the USA it's finally moving day one for our repatriation! 

United is our chosen removalist and they have had 5 people here at the house today packing up our belongings so that they can be loaded into a shipping container which is scheduled for tomorrow.

2 of those people were specifically here to build crates around hubby's curved computer monitors:

The other 3 are packing the remaining small items/household contents.

Kitchen:

Living Room:

Sewing Room:

Master Bedroom (almost finished in there they just have to wrap the tubs in paper):

It's been an epic journey so far with 6 months of organization and decluttering. We did all sorts of things during the last six months like:

• Give away LOTS of excess furniture on FB Marketplace (harder than you'd think thanks to trolls and ghosting)
• Do weekly runs to ARC and Goodwill to give away excess small items
• Give away electrical items because Australia is 240 volts and USA is 110 (some dual voltage items can be moved such as computer monitors)
• Remove wall decor and repair walls ready to sell the house
• Replace 3 sets of bathroom taps to modernize bathrooms for house sale
• Replace all house light bulbs ready for home inspections during sale process
• Remove from the house items prohibited from entry to Australia (chemicals, spices, lumber, batteries, paint etc)
• Pre-clean house ready for sale; fridges, freezers, washer, dryer, stove, microwave, bathrooms, blinds, windows etc
• Packed precious items such as my antique Pyrex and some sewing machines etc to ensure they are well packaged as they are things I consider irreplaceable 
• Consolidated items - collect all empty tubs/bins/baskets etc from all over the house in one room for stacking and efficient packing
• Bought over a dozen used bins/tubs at Goodwill and Arc, cleaned them ready for use during shipping (they could break in transit so used ones are good enough!)
• Packed some items in tubs/bins for easy finding amongst all the boxes on delivery day in Australia (examples: tools, bedding, extra shoes & clothes)
• Planted plants in the garden and weeded etc to improve curb appeal as needed for the house sale
• Moved a minimal amount of sacrificial stuff to a temporary apartment here in Denver because we will rent here whilst our stuff takes months to get to Australia
• Cleaned items such as couches/dog beds/dog steps etc so they are clean and ready for use on arrival in Australia
• Washed all used linens such as couch cushions, table runners, bed sheets etc so they are clean, dust free and ready to use on arrival in Australia
• Apply for import permits for our two dogs (it might only be one dot point here but it's a complex, long and multifaceted process)
• Tenants in our Australian house offered a six month lease only so the house will be vacant on our arrival
• Move important documents to our temporary apartment to take to Australia in carry on luggage; birth certificates, passports, medical records, dog medical records, degrees and certifications etc. 
• Move necessary medications and devices to temporary apartment; my CPAP, Matt's hearing aids, various medications and my joint/body braces for hEDS issues
• Created mover no go zones for things to be temporarily or permanently left in the house. 

Examples:

Laundry

Cleaning supplies I'll need once house is empty!

Bathroom is also a useful no-pack zone, so we've placed all the remotes for the garage/ceiling fans etc in the medicine cabinet:

When we moved from our Melbourne house to Perth about 18 years ago the movers packed the trash can with trash in it into a box when I wasn't in that room and it shipped like that. Lucky there wasn't anything really gross in the trash and it only takes a week to get from Melbourne to Perth 🤣😂 So preparation is vital when you have professional movers doing the hard work. They work hard and do a fantastic job but need guidance if you have things you don't want packed!!

So after the container comes Thursday we'll still have to mow, vacuum, steam clean & mop. Then Monday the photographer comes and within 24hrs the house will be on the market.