“Don’t touch my bags if you please…
…Mr. Customs Man!” (Good old Arlo - I just love that guy).
So, I’ve been wondering for several weeks now if it would be likely that I could get these two pumpkins through customs in a barrel. Anyone think that might be possible? Because it sure would save us a lot of plane fare.
We’ve had 3 huge barrels sitting in our living room for about a month now. One is packed. That was actually the first one one to arrive. Arp has to drive down into Jersey to pick them up. With some maneuvering, we figured out how to get two of them in the car. They are huge. It’s a tight squeeze. I’m not sure if the picture does it justice. The barrels are 3.5 feet tall and have a 2 foot diameter. When J stands inside of it. it completely swallows her up. M’s head just barely peeks out.
In case you were wondering what these barrels are for - we are packing some things up to eventually send down to Costa Rica. We’ve been packing up some of the things we can live without for a few months, especially heavy things! So far, we’ve packed mostly books and toys. One of my next projects will be to pack up a bin that is entirely baby-related stuff. Cloth diapers, baby clothes and toys for the first year. I will also most likely dedicate an entire bin to crafts supplies, art materials, and homeschool necessities (which isn’t much, in our case, but maybe reference books, and things like that). These bins will also eventually hold stereos, a small TV, and electric kitchen gadgets.
I have a feeling that the packing will kick into high gear once we get a contract on the house. But for now, we’re just beginning to understand what is like to pack for an international move. Part of it is really liberating - coming to terms with the fact that we own too much crap that we never use and don’t need. Shedding the weight of useless possessions feels great. But the dark side is that there are plenty of items that I have that I do like owning, but can’t justify the cost of shipping. Each barrel holds a lot, but each will cost somewhere between $250-$300 to ship. So I find myself wrestling with my own wishes a lot. I’ve heard of some people shipping their crap down in huge shipping containers for many many thousands of dollars. I’ve come to terms with the fact that we are not in that demographic. I guess I’m kind of glad about that. I would like to have a lot less clutter in my life, so using just a few (maybe 6 or 8 tops) of these barrels helps.
Think about this yourself - if you could only ship things in, let’s say, 5 barrels, what would you pack and what would you pass on?
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on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under costa rica, reflections, simple living.
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That picture is hilarious!
And wow, that’s a huge shipping charge. I mean, I know it’s going to be high. Buts till, the number is pretty steep. That would certainly be the way to cut back and weed out the stuff you own from the stuff that owns you.
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I don’t think it’s that high a charge - an airline will tack on $50-100 if a bag is overweight. The positive for the international shipping is that it’s volume vs weight, so we can stuff a barrel to the gills (and then figure out how the hell to get it out of the house).
I do like the throwing the crap out part. I’ve been a packrat for years and I can finally let go of a lot of stuff that had some sort of meaning back when I was rudderless. And the 80-20 rule helps out a lot - the you use roughly 20% of (something) 80% of the time.
Being one of the group that shipped the crap down, let me tell you the upside (economically speaking) and what our experience was.
We got the smaller container, we didn’t bring alot of wooden furniture, but did bring alot of ….well crap is a good a word as any. With the three kids, I have a constant sorting of the clothes for the next kid, however it also feels good to give things away here where there is definitely a need. Our shipping guy kept saying - “bring everything.” We kept thinking, of course he would say that - it is his business. So we weeded and weeded and weeded.
Then we got here and had to rebuy so much stuff (at somewhat expensive rates). Examples of DUMB and wasteful stuff we got rid of - clothing hangers, dish drains, garbage containers. Most of that stuff is PLASTIC! Most of it we sold for bargain basement prices at a garage sale, so at least it is not in the landfill, but ….duh! of course you are going to need that again.
We didn’t bring much wooden furniture (dressers, bookcases, side tables, etc.) and that has turned out okay (most houses have closets and wardrobes, we built some book shelfs out of wood and brackets, and empty cardboard boxes do for side tables until someday when we get something nice), but I would have hated to have to buy new mattresses, new sofa, etc. So if you plan to sleep on mats and sit on the floor, no problem - but if you want some upholstery, to have to rebuy what you already had, it hurts. We bought one double mattress here for about $200. No box spring, no frame, no headboard. Just the mattress, and nothing fancy. Also, we are renting a house and had to buy Refrigerator, Microwave, Oven, (we had brought washer and dryer). Again, more cost.
So I think it is a balancing act about what you get and what you leave behind. Different things work for different people, but just wanted to let you know a little of our hindsight.
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