How did you wind down living in the US before you moved?

I just sent them via the post office. They were not that big but heavy. I think each one probably weighed about 20 lbs. I don't really have the time or inclination to chase around prices for shipping things. Overall I've mailed 5 or 6 boxes and it's probably cost me about $400.

I'm in the UK! woot!

Here's a wrap-up from my last post. June/July was just a horrid time. Previous biz buyers scrambled to buy the biz but after jerking us around for a month, I walked away. Hired an auction house to take care of getting rid of all the biz stuff, official last day for my company was July 20. Road trip (w/ my BFF) to take a dozen boxes to my mom's house for storage in Texas was next. Then back to IL for my estate sale and more packing (ended up w/ 5 more boxes to ship to Texas via UPS Ground). Eventually we'll freight those boxes to the UK.

I had consulted with a professional estate sale person earlier in July when my mom was visiting and she told me that I didn't really have enough valuable stuff to make a good sale. So my mom craigslisted a bunch of stuff and then I held my own estate sale on Aug 4 (got a LOT of friends to help man the garage sale part & guard the doors in the house).

We realized that we couldn't sell our house for what we needed for it so we handed the keys back to the bank (actually, our lawyer took care of that for us). This means whatever was left in the house, we left there. If I had more time I would've boxed everything up for charity & then ordered a dumpster for the rest. But since my BFF & family (whom I thought I'd be staying with the week of Aug 11 thru 17th) were going out of town, I left a week early! So I ended up leaving furniture and a pool table (that hurt) in my house but managed to sell most everything of value at the estate sale or to my neighbors before I left.

I sold one car 4 days before departure (essentially returned it to the dealer as it was still financed through them and not worth more than what we owed) and sold the other car the day before I left (made $1600 on it! woot!).

I also took turns sleeping at my Aunt's house & then at my BFF's my last week (couldn't sleep at my house after I sold all/most of my furniture!). My DH booked me in biz class on BA for my final one-way flight. That allowed me to take more suitcases that weighed more than normal. Ended up with 5 suitcases with a weight limit of 70# (and a few were almost that heavy!).

All in all, it was a crazy & stressful end to my life in the USA. But I learned who my friends were (more of them than I thought!) and learned how to let go. Because I let go of a LOT of material stuff but gained the ability to purge and learn how NOT to collect so much crap! Which is going to come in SO handy now that I'm living in the land of small houses with no storage. 

Good luck to all of y'all still living through this kind of move. I know its hard, but just keep your eye on the prize and know that it will all be over someday!

Hugs,
Shelly

Congrats, Shelly!

As a certifiably insane person, I found many of these ideas helpful. Our move is still two years away, but as we are bringing the majority of our remaining belongings, two kids, our dog and our cat, I feel it's never too early to start planning.  I'm thinking of starting a binder since I can't seem to focus on anything else [my hubs is all excited as he's the Brit of this pair, but for me--as the runner of the house AND the person leaving her country--it's not so easy].