The Ball & Chain is of the opinion that we should take nothing and buy everything once we get to the UK. This is not rocking my boat for a number of well thought-out reasons.
1. It means we'll have to go shopping as soon as we arrive and be "camping" in our rental house for a while. A friend has just ordered a sofa and it's apparently going to take 16 weeks to come!
2. It also means that, as well as trying to sell our house, I'll have to sell, donate or throw out most of our possessions.
3. The cost of shipping, while expensive, is not quite what it would cost to furnish and equip a four bedroom house.
So I think we'll be shipping some stuff, despite what His Nibbs says. The problem arises because we have only just put our house on the market and we have quite a few "showings" scheduled. In general, estate agents would prefer not to show an empty house, so the furniture stays for now. Besides, we need something to sit on and sleep in until we leave.
I could ship a few bits and pieces about 8 weeks before we are due in the UK so that we're not completely stranded when we get there. I know I won't thank myself on the day we arrive if there are dozens of boxes to unpack to find the corkscrew though. Wink.
Last time we moved, it took a day to load and unload between one house and the other. Everything came with us and the things we knew we would need on the first night, I took in the car. Given that it will take 6-10 weeks to ship things from the US to the UK, and an overnight flight for us, the logistics are slightly different. Even if we sell the house next week, the arrangement will be that we won't hand over possession till mid-July when we move. Typically in the US you "close" on the sale, the buyer takes possession of the house that day and you have to be out immediately. Most people who do this have another house to go to that same day, and all their stuff is already there. Not the case for us. I have a feeling we're going to have to find a dog-friendly hotel for the last few days which will be a bit weird.
My head is about to explode.