Moving abroad often means giving up so much. It’s expensive to ship a household full of belongings, and most of it wouldn’t fit into your new space anyway.
I posted a Note about this recently and received mixed reactions, but most people seemed to agree: don’t rent a storage unit and don’t bring everything.
That said, there are a few things I wouldn’t have moved to Spain without—things that earned their place after a year of living here.
The Must-Haves
Look around your house or apartment. What do you use every single day?
I started with electronics, most of which don’t present issues with voltage or carrying on the plane, and worked my way down from there.
MacBook Air. I’m a Xennial, and I need the larger keyboard for “big” internet projects like shopping for plane tickets.
iPhone. Paid off, of course, which made setting up a Spanish phone line much easier.
Apple TV. It’s old and not worth much, but it’s also small, portable, and I prefer it to Roku.
Kindle Paperwhite. I got rid of most of my physical library, and as a bookworm, having a way to read in English was non-negotiable.
U.S. measuring cups and spoons. I’m a mom in my 40s who’s been cooking for nearly three decades. As much as I want to learn the metric system, it’s a slow slog, and I still have a family to feed while I learn.
Government paperwork. You know what I mean: Social Security cards, birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, death certificates, passports, college transcripts, diplomas, and anything else that will be difficult to obtain once you’re living abroad.
The Have-Nots
You have way more items in your home that you can let go of than it feels like when you’re packing. My list was pretty long, but here’s a sample.
Fiesta dishes. I loved them, but they were way too heavy to pack and not really worth shipping.
Kitchen appliances. You’re just asking for trouble if you bring most of these. The voltage will be off, converters often don’t work, and they take up precious luggage space.
Household tools. Heavy, unwieldy, and, if you’re planning to rent, you won’t need most of it anyway–especially in an apartment. Many of the tools in our garage were related to yard maintenance.
Kids’ toys. I know, I know. This one is a punch to the gut, but if you’re bringing kids, they won’t miss nearly as much as you think. Let them pick a few toys they absolutely must have, and donate or sell the rest.
Artwork. If you have sentimental pieces, decide whether they’re worth keeping. Otherwise, donate or sell. Your tastes will change, the pieces won’t fit your new space in the same way, and they’ll take up that precious luggage space.
The “Wish We Hadn’ts”
We rented a storage unit for the items we couldn’t make a “right now” decision on. In hindsight, that was a bad call. But you can only work from the information you have at the moment, and at the time, ours said, “Store it … for now.”
Items I’m glad we kept include personalized Christmas stockings, my mom’s vintage Christmas ornaments, kids’ artwork and clothing, yearbooks, sentimental art, and printed photos. The rest?
It can all go.
I write here about building a life abroad—slowly, imperfectly, and with a lot of trial and error.
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If you’d like to reach out directly, you can find me at jen@jeninspain.com.
A couple related pieces, if you’d like to keep reading:
From Dollars to Euros
One of the most confusing parts of moving overseas was the financial piece. How does one use U.S. dollars in the European Union?
What We Gave Up to Move to Spain
A year ago today, we landed in Raleigh, North Carolina, ready to begin the second stage of our international move from the U.S. to Spain.
I’m with you on the U.S. measuring cups and spoons. We aren’t quite able to get rid of everything yet, so we’re keeping the 10x5 storage unit, yes, for now. We’re going to be slow travelers first, since we don’t yet know where we want to live. I’m also hedging our bets a little because of our ages (I’m 66 and my husband is 77). If one of us has a health issue that requires a return to the U.S., we want a few key starter items to furnish an apartment so we don’t have a huge outlay of cash to replace everything. That said, we’ll probably be in your shoes eventually.
Ha ha, enjoyed reading this, as I still have my small trastero in Spain after 3 years in Zambia. As it looks as though I’ll be moving to another country in March, I need to decide about keeping it or not.