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Big Move- More March madness

Having the house under offer and a confirmed move out date took a lot of the pressure off but there was still a lot to do!

  • We booked my haircuts, annual physical appointments, eye tests and dentist appointments, and asked for copies of all our records so we could take them with us. 
  • We finished up tax collection information and sent them off to the tax  accountants so they could be completed for the April 16th tax deadline (for UK friends- the tax year is a calendar year). 
  • We had been talking to our financial advisors about transitioning our US investments for some time. We had deliberately chosen an international company with offices both in the US and UK to make the eventual transition easier five years ago. However, it turned out that the process to convert the accounts wasn't really used that often and therefore a mess . You can only have accounts in the US while you have a UK address (even though we are also US citizens) in certain companies. That meant moving the accounts to another US broker first. After, the US financial advisor had to transition to the UK one even though we hadn't actually moved yet. The main concern here was where to put the proceeds from the sale of the house in May until we actually need the money to buy another house. 
  • We had to open a new US bank account that allowed us to be resident in the UK but still receive funds in the US. Luckily, I found that the State Department has a credit union for all its overseas based employees, and they allowed you to join under certain conditions which we could fulfill. However, things never seem to be that easy. They turned us down to start with and we couldn't understand why as we have an excellent credit rating. There turned out to be an old account in California that had not been closed properly, and had accrued a negative balance due to a charge we had missed. It was an easy solve but it caused a headache that we could have done without! 
The main job was to set up the moving company. We had already had quotes from three US companies for comparison purposes but wanted to use the UK company that my sister in law worked for. This was definitely the best way as they were able to deal with everything once it arrived in the UK and they were also cheaper in the end. 

We made the final decision to only bring what would fit in a 20ft. container and no more. That way our costs would be consistent. The only other variable was the insurance costs. You have to estimate the value of your goods and the insurance cost is on top of the actual transportation 

In the mean time, life goes on! 
I went to a sourdough workshop at the local library. 



I was using up as many ingredients as possible from the cupboard and baking! This is my flapjack which is an English recipe and Dick loves. I also took some into my old office and took the chance to catch up with friends there and update them on our latest news. 


We met with our neighbors and celebrated birthdays, and just enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with each other while we could.












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