Welcome to Part 2 of the world’s most thorough packing blog. In last week’s post , I covered what I actually packed when we moved to Germany last year. Including some of the methods behind the (literal) madness. This time around, I thought I’d talk about what worked and which items might be staying Stateside next time.
As is my usual schtick, some background… Germany is a mild four season climate, which is similar to where we live in the States. So I didn’t have to purchase anything for just this trip (i.e. winter coats). Because we weren’t taking everything we owned, I was able to pack over a three week period. This allowed me to cross check clothing choices, color palettes, usefulness of items, and to edit things so I didn’t massively over pack.
WHAT WORKED
I mentioned in part one that I had pre-purchased some of our daily use toiletry items for my parents and in-laws to send us. While it certainly wasn’t necessary, this is something that was crazy useful because it allowed my son’s grandparents to send him a few smaller toys. We got one box a third of the way in and the second at the two-thirds mark. It gave the kiddo something to look forward to and helped alleviate boredom.
In terms of clothing, I did a pretty rad job. My husband’s wardrobe was super versatile and easy, as was the little guys. The color palettes worked well in that pieces were easy to mix and match but I also had worked in enough variety that we didn’t necessary look like Steve Jobs (not that there is anything wrong with that). I also tried to avoid as much white as possible. Because it wasn’t gonna stay that color. My denim jacket was worn almost daily and I had a pair of slip on sneakers that were bomb. Seriously, I wore right through them and loved them so much, I have already repurchased a pair.
Gear-wise, our electronics were clutch. Obviously having our computers and cells was important for my husband and I, but the kiddo got so much use out of his Kindle Fire. Our state’s library has a program for e-books, many of which are children’s favorites (Curious George, The Berenstain Bears, etc.) and this allowed us to supplement the few actual books we brought easily. He also loved his busy binder that I put together. In fact, it got used so much that we ruined the wipe off surfaces and I put together a new one.
Packing electronics for a foreign country means adapters and converters. I took several different kinds and each one performed well. And these were used pretty much daily for six months. Nothing shorted out. None of our electronics were damaged. None of them heated up or stopped working. And I am married to an engineer, so you know standards are high.
I had packed some IKEA hanging pockets (ours are ancient, but I think IKEA still sells something similar), some over the door hooks and Command hooks. Turned out every one of these was super useful. Our teeny tiny bathroom had literally zero storage, so I hung the IKEA pockets on the back of the door and they worked like a charm. The other hooks were used all over the apartment for various different tasks.
I had packed laundry detergent sheets and can I just say these things were life changing! Our laundry room was on the second floor and all the way across the building, so not having to lug a huge heavy detergent bottle was amazing. But I also packed these for our side trips (just in case) and I will now never be without these. I’m actually considering switching over for my regular laundry #lowwaste.
We took our Envirosax bags for groceries and ended up using them for just about everything. I also took a packable backpack. This was super handy to throw in my purse if I was going to be out and ended up buying something. In fact, we actually ruined the zipper on the one we packed and ended up replacing it. Our regular backpack also was used so heavily that it needed to be replaced. We replaced it with one that had external bottle pockets and an internal laptop sleeve and it was amazing.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK
Some of the items on this list are things that just didn’t get used. I tried my best not to over pack but when you are trying to anticipate six months of need (and with a toddler) well, it’s just the name of the game. Truthfully, I fared the worst with wardrobes. And when I say worst, we still wore 95% of our stuff which still puts me at an A. There were just some pieces I would edit down.
In my son’s case, I packed too many shorts. Germany summers are a bit cooler than we are used to. We still had hot stretches (two were the temps were pushing 100 Farenheit for several days), but on the whole, low 70s was the norm. In other words, temps that he could function equally well in lighter weight pants.
My husband never actually wore his suit. While the Europeans generally dress much nicer than we do in the States, Germany errs on the casual side (especially compared to Italy or France). I’d throw a sport coat in next time, but leave it at that. He also had too many pairs of pants. I could have eliminated one pair of jeans and at least one pair of dress pants easily. He also took short sleeved dress shirts, but stuck mostly with his polos, so I’d leave those next time, too.
My case was much the same as my husbands: I had a few too many pieces but only one or two that were never worn. I would also cut down on the number of pants I took. I don’t wear jeans often (and was going to be a full time mom) so I’m not sure what part of my brain thought 4 pairs was the right move. Two would have sufficed. I had some dressier things (a dress and skirt) that I didn’t wear, but the skirt was super versatile so I’d pack it again. I had two popover style shirts that I would switch for others in my closet because they didn’t mix and match as well as they could have. And in the same vein as the jeans, I took a bunch of jewelry. And I don’t wear much. I would cut this by at least half next time.
In terms of gear, there were a couple of pieces that didn’t get used. I had packed over the door shoe pockets that we ended up not needing. Yep, I had otherwise packed so efficiently that I brought too much storage to our 450 square foot apartment. #tinyhouse
I had also packed a set of three wooden cooking utensils. Yeah… The supplied list of what was in the kitchen was sketchy (and hard to translate) and I’m sure I panicked which is why they made it in there. Not only did we not need them (there was a communal kitchen in the building that had tons of stuff), but I could have purchased these just like in the States.
RFID blocking wallets were… a thing. My first had tons of pockets, but the pockets and dividers took up so much space that nothing actually fit in the wallet. The second was so big that it was a pain to get in and out of my day purse. Just like Goldilocks, the third time was the charm. Joe’s was useful for holding everything on our side trips, but it didn’t fit in his usual pocket properly, so unless we were traveling he preferred not to use it.
And lastly, my laptop bag. I had researched bags and picked one that checked all of the boxes and it looked great. This fell victim to the too much stuff to take care of craziness of the pre-trip: I never tested it out. Massive fail on my part because the bag was useless. It wasn’t able to accommodate anything but electronics (and barely those), the material was inflexible, it was awkward to carry in every conceivable way, and if more than my laptop itself was in there it was crazy heavy. I hated it so much after the first four uses, it just sat on a shelf and was actually donated to the Red Cross before we came back home.
So, friends, I hope you have enjoyed unpacking what we packed for Germany. Feel free to leave any comments or questions!
Until next time, be well!
