A big part of moving abroad involves selling off your worldly possessions. If you are unfamiliar with Ambergris Caye, the island in Belize we are moving to in 38 days, the primary mode of transportation is via golf cart. The vast majority of non-cart vehicles are going to be construction or delivery trucks, or taxis, which inexplicably are predominantly Toyota Previa minivans, circa 2002. Th ...

Under 40 days to go now..! Today, I narrowed down to 7 short-term rental homes. Our parameters were pretty basic; we wanted to be closer to the airport (6AM international flight, 3 cats to wrangle), have at least 2 bedrooms/2 baths, and not be $5,000 for 16 days. While our home is scheduled to close 14 days before we fly out, we budgeted to "move in" 3 days before closing, as our goods should ...

Yesterday (day 41) was a day I had been dreading: The day I had to lug 3 cats across town for a Vet appointment. They all needed rabies vaccines in order to get an import permit from BAHA. While I love our normal Vet, who is right around the corner, she doesn't carry PureVax, which is less likely to cause cancer at the injection site. My very first cat, Amber, developed cancer from her rabi ...

BIG news to share today! Our existing home in Phoenix is now UNDER CONTRACT....!  We were on the market for 33 days, when the average in our area is closer to 50. Very pleased with the offer, and now we can really kick things into gear! We'd move August 5th regardless of whether the home was sold or not; but now that it is, that triggers other tasks, like:-Scheduling pickup of the stuff ...

Yesterday, I took a free class on ICF Construction, sponsored by Fox Blocks. ICF stands for, "Insulated Concrete Forms" - essentially, making your home a giant Yeti cooler.  The above photo is an ICF panel - it is 16" tall (it's on its side in the photo), 48" wide, and this particular one has an 8" hollow center, where strapping, rebar, and concrete will go. It replaces 6(!) cinder blocks ...

No doubt, any parents' concerns about moving abroad will have, "Are the kids alright?" at the top of their list. Our eldest, Ethan, is 23, graduated from ASU in 2023, and has been with his girlfriend, Lilly, for over 6 years now. They currently reside in a home his mother bought as an investment property near ASU; their lease is up July 31, as Ethan's younger brother, Zachary, will be movin ...

We are now at 48 days until the move. Circling back on a previous blog about Guilt Trips Escalating, a few months ago my mom and her boyfriend asked us to do a trip "Up North" with them before we move. In the summer, they will take a three-day weekend once a month to go to Pinetop-Lakeside Arizona, about 3.5 hours northeast of us in Phoenix. If you haven't been to Arizona, you probably pres ...

We are now 60 days until liftoff! Eeek! The majority of information we have about an international move has been gleaned from Facebook Groups, so sometimes, the information we anticipated turns out to be...inaccurate. All along, our plan has been:-Buy a One-Trip, 20' container;-Fill it with the things we have to take with us. Essentially no furniture, but tools, bikes, garden equipment, fis ...

Before we leave the U.S., we have a laundry list of affairs to handle, many of which are: A. Not exciting; B. Have been put off for years. One that we certainly should have completed a long time ago was to create a Revocable Trust for our assets. We did start the process maybe 18 months ago; we had a referral to an estate planner who, for the low-low price of $4,500, would send us a packe ...

Today, we have 63 days until we move from Phoenix, Arizona to San Pedro, Belize. Our home is for sale, and I am conversations with a few different container shippers, trying to get a better feel on the steps, process, timelines...most want to hop on a call, which I loathe - I would much rather communicate via e-mail, so I have a "paper trail" and it makes it easier to relay information to Na ...