Moving All Her Stuff

[Khal_Drogo 50]

So we have been talking about how to move all my wife's stuff from Bulgaria to Ohio, and we're sort of confuzzled.

I have been doing some snooping, and we're not sure if the military will be willing to help us pay for it or reimburse us, the question has been posed to my CoC, no response back yet.

But I'm wondering what the best option is. Do we try to find a moving company, or do we just use DHL/UPS/FedEx (which are enormously expensive), and will her stuff even get past customs? We're not moving anything big. Like obviously her bed isn't coming with, or any furniture. But clothes, books, cat stuff, trinkets, etc.

How did everyone else manage this without being financially crippled lol?

[B & G 200]

So we have been talking about how to move all my wife's stuff from Bulgaria to Ohio, and we're sort of confuzzled.

I have been doing some snooping, and we're not sure if the military will be willing to help us pay for it or reimburse us, the question has been posed to my CoC, no response back yet.

But I'm wondering what the best option is. Do we try to find a moving company, or do we just use DHL/UPS/FedEx (which are enormously expensive), and will her stuff even get past customs? We're not moving anything big. Like obviously her bed isn't coming with, or any furniture. But clothes, books, cat stuff, trinkets, etc.

How did everyone else manage this without being financially crippled lol?

I dont know if this will be of any help, but most airlines allow US military travelling on military orders additional baggage. Up to 3 or 4 bags extra without charge. Upto 60 pounds each. Just idea...

[Khal_Drogo 50]

We won't be on orders when she moves here. I've been stationed here since before we met, and she is a civilian. That's why they won't fund the move; she was never on my current orders.

[B & G 200]

We won't be on orders when she moves here. I've been stationed here since before we met, and she is a civilian. That's why they won't fund the move; she was never on my current orders.

That sucks..it would have been a good option to at least lower the moving costs. My advice is look at a shipping company, they usually take care of custom clearance as well. Freight company such as DHL etc are alot more expensive.

Have a look at this one.. http://allied.bg/international-moving/

[Pops Kohr 0]

Hello!

I know how difficult is to separate personal stuff and decide what to bring or what to leave behind.

Honestly, my in-laws and husband are in the military, so I doubt that they will pay for your wife moving expenses if you are not moving along with her.

When I moved to US I brought everything I could under the rules of shipment, which changes from country to another. In my case, my country allowed me two big luggage (70 lb maximum each) that will be shipped, a carry on (40 lb maximum) that I carried clothes, shoes and few books, a backpack and my purse. So, if the rules are the same for aircraft shipment in her country, that is what she can take with her without be charged.

Another way is a ship company that do containers shipment. Many companies accept personal belonging and they are cheapest that UPS/Fedx/Postal service, only inconvenience is that the time for delivery is much longer than UPS/Fedex.

Good Luck!

Edited February 5, 2013 by Pops Kohr

[Caryh 5,206]

My wife mainly brought clothing and personal irreplaceable mementos and such. The rest of her things she left behind. We tried to get her angel collection shipped, but no one was willing to accept those type of breakable items. Since she has gotten here, she has been shipping most of the clothing she bought back for her sister to wear. There's a lot less need for light tropical clothes in Minnesota, plus she likes to clothes shop. Electrical items wouldn't really work here without a power adapter, so why bring them when I pretty much had them here or could cheaply buy them. As it was we bought new for much of what she needed and it was cheaper than shipping more than she could carry with her. A mistake in thinking I had, was to tell her not to bother bringing things like shampoo, lotions, deodorant and soap. I was figuring we could easily buy those here. Turns out some things she likes to use can only be bought in her country, and many of the American products didn't work well for her. We have mainly found local replacements here now, but it took a good long time to find them. And there's a couple things I periodically order from out of the country for her. Those are items we'll stock up on next time we visit her home country.

Maybe you'll get lucky and find a reasonable shipping company. But when I started doing the numbers for my wife's stuff, it was cheaper to replace most items with new rather than pay to ship them. You may have better luck from Europe than I did from the Philippines.

[LinaMD 8]

I left most of my belonging behind because it was not worth the hassle. I paid for an extra bag and my husband paid for an extra bag so I had 4 bags with stuff total. We also used my husbands duffel bags although they are not the most fasionable choice. If you don`t mind waiting a few months before you get the packages you can check out the Bulgarian postal services. Everything else is just too expensive. The military wont reimburse you so I wouldn`t count on that.

Edited February 5, 2013 by LinaMD

[Khal_Drogo 50]

You can forget the Bulgarian post office lol.

She sent me a package for Valentine's Day in 2010; it arrived in late March and was so torn up and bashed around it looked like they had taken a bat to it, then simply shot it out of a cannon to deliver it to me lol.

My Mom sent my wife the family Christmas letter; to quote her, "It barely survived." The Christmas letter was a folded piece of paper in an envelope. If they can't handle that, no freaking way we're trusting them with anything more valuable lol.

And she is not going to leave most of her stuff behind. To quote her once more:

"so many people advice immigrants to leave their stuff behind and just buy new ones

but arent we giving up enough already

our home, our country, our family and friends

and then we have to give up even our underwear"

She's got no problem leaving stuff like furniture or appliances; I already have all that stuff. We're already bringing our cat, so if we're gonna go through that trouble, then dang it, we're going all out lol. We're a passionate couple when it comes to this subject lol.

geena, I've saved that Allied link and mentioned it to my wife. Allied's a good service, I have lots of friends who have used it, albeit only domestically, but they are always really good with every detail, so we'll be looking into it.

CaryH, I'm from Minnesota myself; born in Minneapolis, raised in New Brighton, Columbia Heights, and Medina, so trust me I know what you're talking about lol. Luckily most of her electronic things are either USB based or have a universal plug type (one of my laptop chargers for example with the North American plug works with her laptops, for example). Heck, her netbook was a gift from me which I bought in the U.S., so she's already rocking American electronics lol.

[Caryh 5,206]

CaryH, I'm from Minnesota myself; born in Minneapolis, raised in New Brighton, Columbia Heights, and Medina, so trust me I know what you're talking about lol. Luckily most of her electronic things are either USB based or have a universal plug type (one of my laptop chargers for example with the North American plug works with her laptops, for example). Heck, her netbook was a gift from me which I bought in the U.S., so she's already rocking American electronics lol.

I was born in ST Paul, and raised in Woodbury back before most people knew is was there. When people asked where it was back then, I'd say its a suburb of 3M I technically live in Blaine now, but its on a cut off part next to Lexington and Circle Pines, with a Circle Pines zip code.

My wife had her family hoping to snatch up all the electronics I had bought her over the years. I had bought most of it there, so it was more suited for their power, and the dual power items were prized gifts to family in any case. Her phone would have worked fine here, a Galaxy 3, but it was cheap enough to get her an iPhone here, so we'd be using the same system. As to computers, I've got 4 and a tablet around the house, so there's never a lack of having a computer around. The desktop computers her family has there, were actually ones I sent them.

I hope you can find a trustworthy shipper at a reasonable price. My wife searched all over her city int he Philippines, with no luck. Shipping things there is pretty easy, but shipping from there to the USA is tough.

[erynaught 43]

I helped facilitate the shipment of a colleagues belongings back to Europe when she left after a 3yr stint ... half a container cost $500 and she stuffed it to the gills. Of course, it took 2 months to arrive in Rotterdam, but it was much cheaper than any other option. She moved furniture, clothing, electronics, books, etc.

I travel light, so when my wife came we brought 4 large suitcases of her stuff and that was covered with the airfare. After a few months, she realized that she didn't neet to bring half of it.

[The Mean Lady 604]

If the items are small enough to fit in an extra suitcase or two, then you're better off to pay the fees to check the luggage as additional baggage. Keep in mind, it doesn't have to be a suitcase, you can check actual boxes as well.

Fedex is extremely expensive.

I return shipped (2) 56x26x11" Cases at 100lbs each from Dubai to the US and the cost was over 2 grand

You might consider checking into other companies like AIT, YRC or the fedex great rates hotline will get you a better rate as well, but you have to be willing to do it shortly before the shipment is being made.

I ship for a living.