1. Sort out clothes/towels/bed linen
DONE - was tough to throw out clothes, even the ones I didn't wear anymore, but I had to be ruthless. As a result, the clothes in my (massive) suitcase I know I will wear again and I only have to ship one box over, which will be summer clothes. No danger of needing those in Scandinavia during the autumn months.
2. Find a shipping company
I have to admit that Philip, my fiancée, took care of this one. Luckily, he knew someone that knew someone who has been able to help us out. The company we have settled for is called Quebix and the lady that's handling our move is able to do everything in one day. Once we have moved and gotten the TV back intact I'll write a short review.
3. Call the 'officials'
This has been easier than I thought! I always fear that dealing with these sorts of companies would be headaches but not at all. A lot, if not all, of this will be obvious but when you're relocating abroad I've found that it's so easy to overthink things and forget that it's just a case of being organised rather than things being overwhelming.
- Bank - I'm keeping my UK account open even though there is no Danish branch. I'm allowed to do so as my mum's address will be the correspondence address. I'm pleased about that. Although whilst on the phone to HMRC, they warned me that any savings in my account would be cut by 20% automatically so that's another call to HSBC, I think ..
- HMRC - all I need to do is complete a P85 form and attach it to the P45 given to me by my former employer, which can be downloaded off the website. Then just give HMRC a forwarding address and ... done (apparently).
- Orange - they'll send me a PAYG SIM card which effectively ends my contract as soon as that's put in. EASY.
- Orange home broadband - just need to call them on the day where I don't need the internet anymore so an automatic disconnection. EASIER. Need to call them back about what I do with the router, though ..
- Energy companies - same old, same old. Contact them with meter readings, transfer the account to the estate agent as per their instructions. Done.
- Still to contact: DVLA, Pensions and the council. Will do that today though, since I'm off sick.
4. Sort out DVDs, books, CDs
See clothes
5. Serve notice to my landlord
Done. Always make sure you check your contract before agreeing to a move to ensure you're keeping in line with the agreement. Obvious, but when one is overwhelmed it might be easy to forget.
6. Sell and/or give away furniture
Fold away chairs sold, still have a coffee table, chest of drawers and shoe rack to clear. We've set a date with my parents who are helping us move everything to the tip on 14th October - so if we don't have it away by then, off to the tip it goes.
So there you go - that's where we are so far. The flat is looking relatively bare at the moment and will look even stranger once the furniture goes. I'm quite an emotional person anyway but it's getting slightly more difficult. Still, that's a whole other post. I'm sick right now and am in desperate need of some chicken soup.
