My husband and I have moved every 2 to 3 years for the last 17 years. We have moved from Japan where we got married to Austin, Texas in the U.S. My husband is from Texas. After spending 2 and a half years in Austin, we moved to the D.C. metropolitan area in Virginia, where we spent about 10 months. Then we embarked on our journey of relocating overseas for my husband’s career starting with Dakar, Senegal followed by Okinawa, Japan, Jakarta, Indonesia, Mumbai, India, and Manila, Philippines. We’ve never looked back.
Every time we moved, I learned and improved how to better organize my new home within the short amount of time. Packing and unpacking is exhausting. I wanted to minimize the time we live in unorganized mess of clutter due to unpacking boxes. Here is the post dedicated to fellow expats who hassle through setting up a new life and home overseas. I find those items helpful to ship when we move abroad. Hopefully you will find them helpful as well.
KITCHEN ORGANIZATION
In different countries, kitchens are designed differently. You may have lots of space for storage, but may not have shelves to utilize the space efficiently. Many rental homes don’t come with practical storage solutions. Therefore, you have to be creative or bring your own solutions when you move. What I learned throughout my experiences is that everything is workable without drilling holes on the wall.
Shelf Inserts For Low Cabinets
If you live in certain countries, cabinet shelves may not be available for utensils. When we lived in Dakar, Senegal, we didn’t have any shelves inside the lower cabinets. Our current house in Manila again has the same design in the lower cabinets. Since I learned from living in Senegal that I need extra shelves for storage, I was able to utilize the space well thanks to the shelf inserts.
These shelves are actually shoe rack shelves. They are perfect shelves for my pots and pans.
Shelve Inserts For Dinnerware
I bought these shelves in Manila after I saw these cabinets with no shelves. They can be found at Japan Home Center all over Manila.
Our kitchen cabinets are too high for my children or my helper for a daily use. Therefore, I use book cases in the kitchen in the current house in Manila to supplement the dinnerware storage. The shelves in a bookcase are too high for efficient use of space. Thus, using shelf inserts really helps.
KITCHEN BEFORE
KITCHEN AFTER
More Before & After
Tour Of My Home In Manila
PANTRY ORGANIZATION
Plastic Storage Boxes
Our kitchen in the house in Manila does not have any drawers to store knives or kitchen utensils. Therefore, I brought in a plastic drawer and placed two plastic boxes on top to store some knives and other tools for cooking.
Plastic Drawers
These plastic drawers were in my kids’ bedroom in Jakarta. Then it was in the master bedroom to be used as a medicine cabinet in Mumbai (Click HERE for the post). It was used in my daughter’s closet in Virginia, U.S. Now it is in our pantry! It is super versatile.
Wire Baskets
I find wire baskets great for organizing in the kitchen especially inside the pantry.
I put my kids lunch bags inside a wire basket.
Tight Seal Plastic Boxes
I have lived in cities with warm climate such as Singapore, Senegal, Indonesia and India. Now we are in the Philippines. One thing in common among all these countries is ants wherever food can be found in the house. The tight seal plastic boxes come in handy for food storage if the country you live is very humid. They are great to keep the moisture out as well. I can’t live without them.
ORGANIZATION IN ROOMS
Clear Plastic Tubs
I use clear plastic tubs for storage of clothes. When my kids grow out of clothes, I use to pull out the small clothes and put them in plastic tubs. Now my oldest organizes her own closet and brings me the small clothes which I keep some for my second child.
This one below is thin and useful as an under the bed storage. If you don’t have much closet or wardrobe space, you can keep thin tubs under the bed. When my girls were younger, I used to keep all the Barbie Dolls and their clothes inside this thin tub and stored it under my daughter’s bed. It was a great and useful way to keep the small dolls and my girls were able to clean up on their own.
Kids Toy Storage
I recommend that you ship your kids furniture from where you are to your overseas assignment. In general, looking for new kid furniture is hard in a brand new city overseas. If you have an IKEA nearby, then you don’t need to.
We have never been posted to an overseas assignment with IKEA (IKEA opened its first store in Jakarta in the same year after we had left. What a luck!), so used IKEA furniture has always been a commodity in demand at posts.
Baskets or Bins With A Lid
These are great for toy storage. I purchased the basket in Jakarta almost 10 years ago. I think most people use it for a laundry hamper, but I have used it as a stuffed toy storage and I still love it.
IKEA Knodd bin is also my favorite to have. We store stuffed toy inside. My son uses its lid as a shield when he has a lightsaber fight, which I’m not a fan. It’s kind of nice to see how kids can use their imagination. My girls have never used the lid as a shield.
Baskets
In my opinion, you can’t have too many baskets in your house. They are so handy for organization!
HOME DECOR
Lamps
Do you know that you can use lamps anywhere in the world as long as you use the local light bulbs?
It was such a useful piece of information that I learned when my husband and I first started this journey of moving every 2 to 3 years. As long as you buy an adapter for the plug which are available very cheaply, you can plug your lamp. There is no need to change wire or anything. You have to make sure that you use local light bulbs. For Americans, you have to be very careful not to plug your lamp in the 220V socket with the U.S. 110V light bulb. It will explode. I’ve done that once and learned in a hard way.
I bought this beautiful lamp in Jakarta, Indonesia at Galeri Pot in 2013. It’s still my favorite lamp shade of all time! It has moved from Jakarta to Mumbai, India, to Virginia, U.S. to Manila, Philippines. It’s still going strong.
Fabric
Fabric can be a tapestry or fabric of your choice. I would pick something that has a bold dynamic design as opposed to those with small patterns, but whatever works.
A Little Makeover ☆ Bookcase Made into Shoe Case
I used tea towel to create a curtain in this bathroom.
I decorated my master bedroom in India with fabric.
Bedroom Makeover ☆ IKEA Fabric & Metal Trunks
Wednesday Wall2Wall ☆ Sprucing Up Master Bedroom with IKEA Fabric
Hiding a clutter behind a piece of fabric with a tension poll is an easy makeover.
If you have a big wall to decorate, but you don’t want to paint, you can use a tapestry.
Artificial Plants
Real plants are better. I know. Nevertheless, shipping artificial plants will give your home an instant boost of life. Then there is no need to rush into buying plants. It will also remove the hassle of finding new home for your plants when you leave.
Transform A Rental Home Into Your Own Home ☆ Before & After Photos
Before Without Plants
After With Plants
PRACTICAL ITEMS
Gift Storage Boxes
Since I lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, I have always kept a gift box filled with items for presents. When I find out my friend’s birthday at the last minute, or my kids get invited to a birthday party at the last minute, I can pull out a gift from my gift box so that I don’t have to make a last minute run for gift shopping. In Jakarta (Indonesia), Mumbai (India), and Manila (Philippines), finding gifts at the last minute can be tough because of traffic. This always helped me.
Filing Boxes
Each of us have a filing box. For my kids, I asked them to put their school art work and some paper they bring home inside the box. For my husband and myself, we use it as a filing box. We keep some old documents and letters inside.
Home Decoration Storage Tubs
I have 3 tubs for Christmas decorations, 1 tub for Halloween and fall decorations, and 1 tub for Easter and spring decorations. Having big tubs helps me control the amount of decorations for our home.
Ziplock Plastic Bags
Ziplock bags help with the move preparation before packers arrive. If you would like certain clothing items to be put together or if you would like to make unpacking a bit easier, these ziplock plastic bags are helpful. These storage bags are also great to store some clothes you don’t often use in your house abroad.
That’s it!
I created this post with my heart. Hopefully this will help others as they prepare for an exciting move.
Please feel free to leave a comment with some other ideas or items you bring to your new home overseas.
FOR YOUR PIN
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