Wishing I brought THIS and left behind THAT!

"What other products or items might be on a list of what you miss?".

If you miss all this then why leave home in the first place?

Well that's so helpful of you to ask!  I still want a new adventure.  I've never moved internationally and am trying to plan what makes most sense financially.  Just because I love to travel doesn't mean I don't get homesick.  I guess that's why there are things called moving companies. Do you have something you miss?

If you want a new adventure, try backpacking.  That way, if you get homesick you can always fly back home to all the stuff you love and left behind. If you decide to move permanently then hire a moving company to bring all the stuff you can't do without. And once it gets delivered, decide on what you want to keep and you can get rid of the rest.
Yes, I miss a few things like events, happenings, occasions etc. but I never miss the material stuff. If I miss the material stuff now, I will miss it even more when I leave this world. And as you know our souls will only take their memories with them, not the material stuff and no moving company can help with that.

Wow, you are such a deep and spiritual person and I'm just shallow and materialistic.  You probably went to Portugal naked and just sleep on the floor.  You couldn't wait a day to get all snarky when someone is just trying to find their way.  I will make my own choices.  I was asking how others handled their move.  Your views on the afterlife aren't helpful to me.  So your not materialistic, your just self centered.  You must have a lonely life.  Your soul is rough around the edges.  You may want to work on that.

Hi there, if I may interrupt... actually I'm in the middle of my moving and I could do with a little advice from some expat on what to leave behind and what must be on the packing list.  Thanks.

I personally only brought my sentimental stuff AFTER I established a stable life here. Until then they stayed with my family. Other than that in 5 years I pretty much arranged/bought everything local, never had any problems.

Bring everything you mentioned except the big screen TV which won't work over here.  I'm renting a furnished place but I still wish I brought some furniture but it's very expensive to ship . I wish I brought Less clothes and more personal mementos.  Also any beauty products moisturizer face cream etc. that you like you should definitely bring .

Thank you Liscany!  That's exactly the kind of info I was hoping to get!

If we do move eventually we will arrange for our furniture etc to be delivered as we don't want to sell them & buy again. What money we would save from having to rebuy will more than cover the cost of them being delivered to us. ☺

Have you gotten any estimates?  I'm still getting estimates but our first one was over 6k for approx 11 cubic meters.  Thats just a few small pieces like side tables and a few chairs.  Mostly boxes, no big stuff like couches, beds or dressers.  It doesn't help that we are far from any coast where it can be shipped.  I do think it's really helpful to have some well loved pieces around when you want to feel at home. Mine will just have to be small and functional as well 😊

We've not got quotes yet. We're going to put everything in storage for a few months while we rent in Portugal and will start looking at quotes once we've found a new home. Didn't think it would be that costly though so maybe we'll have to reconsider. ☺

Hi regarding cost of transporting your belongings I recently had a quote  door to door from Swansea to Portimao £2180+vat for 585 cubic feet. Hope this helps. Estimated transport time 7 to 10 business days

11 months after moving I can definitely say: don't bring much furniture.
a) Ikea may be closer than you think. 
B) 2nd hand furniture available thanks to garage sales, Sunday markets and shops

Do bring your personal mementos, books you can't replace and... be sure you have enough room to store yr boxes!

While we have not moved to Lisbon YET, I have been planning a lot.  As another said, DO NOT bring TVs.  They won't work at all.  Also, we are not planning on bringing any electrical appliances like toasters, crock pots, blenders, etc.  They will all require current conversion, and that will be a hassle.  So, we want to see what I can live WITHOUT, and then only buy those items in Lisbon that I absolutely need.  We are hoping that allows us to streamline our lives, and have less "stuff".   Also, we are not bringing any real "kitchen stuff' short of a new set of pots and pans and a few souvenir coffee mugs. 

I think people universally think they brought too many clothes, so we are going to really pare things down.  When you live in the US and you have huge closets, you just tend to collect clothing and never discard it.  I want to get rid of 1/2 my clothes at least, and then will probably get rid of more when I get over there.

Mementos are important I think....photos especially.  But, realize, you can always reprint photos there and buy new frames, so if you are tight on space, maybe you don't bring these.    That would apply if you are only shipping over a few boxes/suitcases.   If you are upgrading to a partial shipping container, then it starts to make sense to bring furniture that will last for a long, long time that has real value to you -- a hutch/china cabinet, antique dresser, etc.  But, things like couches, chairs, etc that will break down in a few years likely aren't financially worth it, in my opinion.

The thing I keep reminding myself is that space will be at a premium in Europe, compared to the US, so I am really trying to bring as little as possible so I can change my focus to enjoying Europe rather than enjoying my "stuff".  It will be a hard transition I am sure! 

Have fun!!

Decluttering! 
What better opportunity to declutter.  Before you fill up those boxes think twice, I did it and half my wardrobe disappeared.
And you what?  No regrets!
We need room to breath, think, enjoy life and live well.

It's so good to get all this feedback! I will be leaving for Lisbon in 3 months, when my furboy's veterinary paperwork is done. My husband has already been over there for almost a month. So, I'm here packing up my life and been trying to decide exactly that: what to keep and send over and what to get rid of.
Tough, tough, tough. I've moved many times before - my biggest being moving from the Kruger Park "bush" down to Cape Town 10 years ago. But I was younger and more energetic then, and I've never moved internationally, so this is a real biggie for me. Also, I would clear out every time I moved, but you still end up hanging onto stuff, "just in case.. "!
We're in South Africa, so our costing and experience is different in some ways. Our quote for a full container was R74k. Then for 6 cubic metres, it "dropped" to R32k?! So apart from the cost (flying our dog is going to cost about R30k and he's much more important!), we're really battling to find accommodation there so what would we do with all our stuff??
I became quite ruthless, and actually our entire household goes on auction tomorrow (8th Aug)... Including my beautiful antique gilt-framed mirror I've had for 25 years; my solid oak 10-seater dining room suite, my favourite dishes for entertaining...etc etc😓. You get the picture, right?
A friend gave me some really valuable advice about posting via surface mail. So, we've taken all of our paintings out of their frames; selected our shortlist of favourite glassware, dishes, odds and ends, rugs, photos and I'm busy boxing them and will start posting them to my husband as soon as the peak season is over and he's managed to settle somewhere for a couple of months while he waits for us.
Don't know what all of your different options are, but for me it certainly makes much more sense this way - and pleased to hear that it's easy to replace things at sales over there! ☺

For me, the biggest motivating factor has been: well, we might end up living like hobos for a while, with only a mattress on a floor or something, if we can't find a fully furnished place to begin with, but at least we'll be in a first-time world country that wants us, and we (and my kids) will have a future.
Good luck to all of you busy with, or having just done this! I have to admit that along with the pain of letting go, I've also found it incredibly liberating...a fresh start 😉

My husband and I are planning our move to the Lisbon area for retirement  from San Francisco area of CA. We've visited the Lisbon - Cascais - Sintra already 3 times, living in rental apartments for up to a month at a time, shopping around for a property to buy or rent... All real estate agents we dealt with, our lawyer and banker told us the same - pack as much as you can into the container! when we've heard it the first time, we were surprised and went on a search - furniture, lighting, rugs, etc. Did not find much! People said : you better drive to spain - there are more home goods! Does it mean, we need to buy a truck if we go shopping for house furnishings thru antique sales, etc. ?
Most of rental apartments are furnished with Ikea items - with all my respect to this business, i don't want to live with everything from Ikea all the time. These days, whenever we go in the world - we live in Ikea furnished apartments. Not exactly my dream of "home-sweet home". The best shopping is here, in the US (combination of price + quality + return policy) - especially with Amazon, Overstock and such. And i am going to bring all furniture, rugs, drapes,bedding and dining items that i carefully accumulated for years  - if it makes me a shallow person, so be it!
The quote for a 40f container is below $15K, and it's worth it. The piano can stay (it's shipping cost $500 in a special crate) b/c i am sure i can buy a better piano in Europe (and i need a new one anyway). Decent furniture in special PT stores is expensive! and styled in a different way!
Everybody knows about differences in electrical equipment, TVs and such. But I have a successful experience with gifting some table lamps from the US (110v) to the country with 220v - and they are working just fine with local bulbs... So i am packing my collection of lamps (floor, table, desk) b/c the finest items like Portmerion, Lalique and crystal is far more expensive in Europe (remember 20% VAT minimum?)
From my trips to the electronic stores around Lisbon, I learned that I should not plan on buying new  laptop/ notebook in PT - they have different keyboards! Also, with NO Amazon present, shopping for any accessory to anything is a pain! Buy extra chargers for any of your fitness trackers, tablets, etc. I tried to shop thru Amazon.co.uk and spain - it was a joke!
Those thoughts are just a tip of the iceberg of all things to consider for a "material girl" like me... I've been in a situation once when i had to make an international move with only two suitcases, and i did not like it. That's why now i plan thoroughly  to be comfortable in a new environment.