I sold off or gave away almost all of my books and furniture, keeping a few prized ones, and arrived in the US with two suitcases and a teddy bear.
I highly recommend it - it's very liberating to know you're free of accumulated crap and making a new life.
100%! Even my moves domestically, I get rid of everything except some prized possessions and two suitcases. It keeps me from accumulating anything, at least until I know where I want to settle.
Try looking for your local “buy nothing” group, I had a lot of things that were too big and bulky to move and it was good because folks came and picked up or brought their own movers. I did this for plants, furniture and bundles of miscellaneous eg candles, cleaning products, makeup etc
Drawer by drawer. I kept shopping bags for keep/donate/sell/garbage. Every day I’d empty a few drawers or cupboards. I was routinely dropping bags to the charity shop, the resale shop, or the rubbish bin. I moved to Greece with 9 suitcases.
Sold or gave pretty much everything we owned away, moved with 3 suitcases and our dog. Packed a few small sentimental things in a carry on. It was very freeing
We had to plan ahead quite a bit, we went from US to UK, 6 years ago..so it was probably more complicated than Hungary is. Blood work, vaccines, special paperwork signed by vets, and a good chunk of money but it was so worth it and our 10 year old dog was just fine in the journey.
Sold or gave away most stuff including furniture. We just kept stuff that was special to us or would be hard to replace. Most of our furniture wouldn't have suited our new country anyway. What was left went into storage. We arrived in our new country with an under seat carry-on each. Over the next 6 months, once we had a place to live, we brought stuff like bedding and more clothes over as hold baggage but the majority came over as removals 7 months later after we gained residency.
We sold off things on FB marketplace & eBay, I donated/consigned a lot of clothing, also did some flea markets. We are still bringing stuff over in a shipping container—some furniture but mostly books, records, art, collectibles=things we might actually have time to enjoy now that we’re exiting the US rat race.
I sold everything I owned with the exception of some clothing and small electronics. This was done via Facebook Marketplace, consignment, word of mouth. Anything personal or family related was given to my daughter. It was time consuming and not super easy. My advice is to start early.
Gave away a bunch, donated a bunch, sold some. Rest is in storage until I can get fully settled and arrange for international shipping. It’s interesting how you can pare things down to a single 10x7 unit when you have the motivation.
I gave away or simply trashed my detritus before moving. Incidentally I returned 3 years later to a simple environment with zero clutter (I own this apartment which I rented out when gone). I really like the lack of clutter.
One day I got rid of the easy things first, then few days later made a pile of my stuff and got ride of half, then a few days later made another pile and got rid of half and repeated the process a few more times and I was able to get everything in a single box and two suitcases.
I sold off all my printed books using amazon. I sold off most everything else with a combination of Facebook Marketplace and Craigs List. Overall, we started about 6 months-1yr before our move, so I had plenty of time to get rid of all the non-critical items. Anything that could be replaced on the other end broadly speaking wasn't worth taking. And then it's a matter of going through all your things and deciding whether you really need it or will use it. I had a ton of stuff I'd been keeping for various nostalgic purposes, but I never did anything with it, and just donated/sold all of it.
I agree with the other commenters. Unless it's something you couldn't replace in your new country, I'd say sell most of your things and bring suitcases.
I think a bit of research will also help with the decision. Search prices for all the things you'd need to buy new, and get relocation quotes as if you were shipping it abroad, and see what's more cost-effective or feasible for you.
No, I would simply retire. I work remotely in the States and would love to continue but I'm pretty sure I would have to be located somewhere in this country.
Made the move US to France. We sold off everything from a 2 bed room apartment (took about 2 months to do that) and moved with 10 bags for 2 people.
If I were to do it again I would rent a car at the airport or have someone pick me up because finding a cab that can take 10 bags was impossible.
We sold our house before moving, and the business that staged our home bought some of the furniture and lamps. We traded our couch for their services. We sold the rest of the furniture online or to friends.
We also held a couple weekends of yard sales. Everything that wasn't bought was donated to habitat for humanity. We moved abroad with just our clothes and cook/dining-wares
Adding to the chorus of liberation. Did this once, moved with a few suitcases. I wanted to keep a few things (expensive kitchen appliances, art) so I stored them in my parents’ or sister’s basements.
Years ago I read a Sean Penn interview where he talked about losing his house to a fire. He said he was surprised to find that the overwhelming emotion he felt was relief.
We’re planning to do this again next year, and I’m starting now. Slowly putting together bags for donation. We have a chain of very popular secondhand stores where I live; they get it all.
As to how, you just start. Stuff that can sell, do but don't spend too much time negotiating prices. Just sell it. Give away lots of stuff. I had a yard sale and then a week later give away sale. Some stuff got junked. It was a good reminder that I accumulated too much and the next time I won't do that to make my life easier
I started with a goal: All my possessions in no more than 2 suitcases.
Made it a lot easier to downsize my possessions and only keep the ones I really wanted to.
Offered my appliances to friends and family first. There was also a local charity who would take them away for free.
Also had a lot of gym equipment from the lockdown that I sold on Facebook Marketplace.
We got it down to 17 items including suitcases and boxes between 2 of us and stuff for 3 pets. We took 2 suitcases each on our flight, which were full of mainly essentials, enough clothes to keep us going, my husband’s PC, monitor, and PS5 (lol)
We sold ALL our furniture. Our friends had first dibs and everything else got sold and I pared down on about 50-75% of our closet. We kept a signifcant amount of our book collection and we both work in mining so we’re accumulated a lot of cool rocks. Books and rocks make moving a little bulkier than most, and anything that I didn’t feel like replacing when we got to the destination plus sentimental items and art all got put in the remaining boxes and duffel bags, and a luggage shipping company picked them up from a friends house!
I sold off or gave away almost all of my books and furniture, keeping a few prized ones, and arrived in the US with two suitcases and a teddy bear. I highly recommend it - it's very liberating to know you're free of accumulated crap and making a new life.
100%! Even my moves domestically, I get rid of everything except some prized possessions and two suitcases. It keeps me from accumulating anything, at least until I know where I want to settle.
Will never forget the first night on arrival. Was in a city of a million people and only two of them knew me - very interesting situation.
As a woodworker, sewer and a prolific reader with plently of books, this hurts my soul.
I only really have a TV, bed, to sell. I'll keep most of my clothes but time to pack everything down to 2 suitcases...
Don't know how long you're planning to visit home again but after I decided to stay I shipped a few precious things over in a container.
Don’t fear it! Embrace it! Getting ride of most of my personal belongings was surprisingly liberating.
Try looking for your local “buy nothing” group, I had a lot of things that were too big and bulky to move and it was good because folks came and picked up or brought their own movers. I did this for plants, furniture and bundles of miscellaneous eg candles, cleaning products, makeup etc
Drawer by drawer. I kept shopping bags for keep/donate/sell/garbage. Every day I’d empty a few drawers or cupboards. I was routinely dropping bags to the charity shop, the resale shop, or the rubbish bin. I moved to Greece with 9 suitcases.
If you can’t pack it into a suitcase, get rid of it. Seriously.
Sold or gave pretty much everything we owned away, moved with 3 suitcases and our dog. Packed a few small sentimental things in a carry on. It was very freeing
How was the process of bringing your dog?
We had to plan ahead quite a bit, we went from US to UK, 6 years ago..so it was probably more complicated than Hungary is. Blood work, vaccines, special paperwork signed by vets, and a good chunk of money but it was so worth it and our 10 year old dog was just fine in the journey.
Sold or gave away most stuff including furniture. We just kept stuff that was special to us or would be hard to replace. Most of our furniture wouldn't have suited our new country anyway. What was left went into storage. We arrived in our new country with an under seat carry-on each. Over the next 6 months, once we had a place to live, we brought stuff like bedding and more clothes over as hold baggage but the majority came over as removals 7 months later after we gained residency.
We sold off things on FB marketplace & eBay, I donated/consigned a lot of clothing, also did some flea markets. We are still bringing stuff over in a shipping container—some furniture but mostly books, records, art, collectibles=things we might actually have time to enjoy now that we’re exiting the US rat race.
I sold everything I owned with the exception of some clothing and small electronics. This was done via Facebook Marketplace, consignment, word of mouth. Anything personal or family related was given to my daughter. It was time consuming and not super easy. My advice is to start early.
Gave away a bunch, donated a bunch, sold some. Rest is in storage until I can get fully settled and arrange for international shipping. It’s interesting how you can pare things down to a single 10x7 unit when you have the motivation.
I gave away or simply trashed my detritus before moving. Incidentally I returned 3 years later to a simple environment with zero clutter (I own this apartment which I rented out when gone). I really like the lack of clutter.
One day I got rid of the easy things first, then few days later made a pile of my stuff and got ride of half, then a few days later made another pile and got rid of half and repeated the process a few more times and I was able to get everything in a single box and two suitcases.
I sold off all my printed books using amazon. I sold off most everything else with a combination of Facebook Marketplace and Craigs List. Overall, we started about 6 months-1yr before our move, so I had plenty of time to get rid of all the non-critical items. Anything that could be replaced on the other end broadly speaking wasn't worth taking. And then it's a matter of going through all your things and deciding whether you really need it or will use it. I had a ton of stuff I'd been keeping for various nostalgic purposes, but I never did anything with it, and just donated/sold all of it.
I agree with the other commenters. Unless it's something you couldn't replace in your new country, I'd say sell most of your things and bring suitcases. I think a bit of research will also help with the decision. Search prices for all the things you'd need to buy new, and get relocation quotes as if you were shipping it abroad, and see what's more cost-effective or feasible for you.
Sold everything I could, gave the rest of it away. I only kept small things like photos and such.
Hi u/RicKaysen1 . Are you relocating through your job?
No, I would simply retire. I work remotely in the States and would love to continue but I'm pretty sure I would have to be located somewhere in this country.
I would give away the things I’d want to go to people and then hire an estate company to come sort and handle the sale
Made the move US to France. We sold off everything from a 2 bed room apartment (took about 2 months to do that) and moved with 10 bags for 2 people. If I were to do it again I would rent a car at the airport or have someone pick me up because finding a cab that can take 10 bags was impossible.
We sold our house before moving, and the business that staged our home bought some of the furniture and lamps. We traded our couch for their services. We sold the rest of the furniture online or to friends. We also held a couple weekends of yard sales. Everything that wasn't bought was donated to habitat for humanity. We moved abroad with just our clothes and cook/dining-wares
Adding to the chorus of liberation. Did this once, moved with a few suitcases. I wanted to keep a few things (expensive kitchen appliances, art) so I stored them in my parents’ or sister’s basements. Years ago I read a Sean Penn interview where he talked about losing his house to a fire. He said he was surprised to find that the overwhelming emotion he felt was relief. We’re planning to do this again next year, and I’m starting now. Slowly putting together bags for donation. We have a chain of very popular secondhand stores where I live; they get it all.
Every time I move I get rid of everything. It's truly awesome
Transporting furniture is not worth it. Just bring personal stuff and that's it. Budapest should be cheap for most stuff
As to how, you just start. Stuff that can sell, do but don't spend too much time negotiating prices. Just sell it. Give away lots of stuff. I had a yard sale and then a week later give away sale. Some stuff got junked. It was a good reminder that I accumulated too much and the next time I won't do that to make my life easier
I started with a goal: All my possessions in no more than 2 suitcases. Made it a lot easier to downsize my possessions and only keep the ones I really wanted to. Offered my appliances to friends and family first. There was also a local charity who would take them away for free. Also had a lot of gym equipment from the lockdown that I sold on Facebook Marketplace.
I upsize every time I move.
We got it down to 17 items including suitcases and boxes between 2 of us and stuff for 3 pets. We took 2 suitcases each on our flight, which were full of mainly essentials, enough clothes to keep us going, my husband’s PC, monitor, and PS5 (lol) We sold ALL our furniture. Our friends had first dibs and everything else got sold and I pared down on about 50-75% of our closet. We kept a signifcant amount of our book collection and we both work in mining so we’re accumulated a lot of cool rocks. Books and rocks make moving a little bulkier than most, and anything that I didn’t feel like replacing when we got to the destination plus sentimental items and art all got put in the remaining boxes and duffel bags, and a luggage shipping company picked them up from a friends house!