Many people are surprised to learn that the United States has a military presence in Djibouti and while we will not be part of the official Camp Lemonier community, I have found their website interesting --- to read about the projects they are working on in DJ and the surrounding countries.
Here is a link to the page on the website that includes a concise newsletter of the service activities the troops are involved in and some of the R & R.
Here is the story of Lemonier from Wikipedia.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Move Prep - How do you decide what to take?
We are only allowed to take about one third of our Household good weight with us to Djibouti.
When we move in the US, the military will move 16,000 pounds of our stuff to the location they are sending us, but abroad our allowance is coming in at around 7000 pounds and that includes the 1250 pounds of consumables and whatever is considered professional gear.
For those of you who don't move all of the time, there are various ways that you can estimate how much your household goods weigh and I haven't found one that is really good. For example, one way is to use the guide of assuming each room weighs 1000 pounds.
That has never worked for us, because we have so many items that are high in weight (like books). Below are pictures of three bookcases that are in our family room. I didn't tidy them before I took the picture, mind you. These bookcases are stacked three deep and were purged and books donated within the last year. This room weighs a lot more than 1000 pounds.
Most of the books on these shelves will go into storage. We are taking as many books as we think we can load into our shipment, but know that Amazon will be our friend when abroad.
One way that we are getting to take a bit more than we thought is that because of Darling Husband having a certain job title we are able to claim some of our items as Professional Gear. The military member always gets some professional gear, like reference books, one computer, etc., but this move we get to add his civilian clothing (suits,jackets,shiny tassled loafers) and our china, silver, stemware or anything we will need for entertaining - so.... all of the below will be in our professional gear pile.
When we move in the US, the military will move 16,000 pounds of our stuff to the location they are sending us, but abroad our allowance is coming in at around 7000 pounds and that includes the 1250 pounds of consumables and whatever is considered professional gear.
For those of you who don't move all of the time, there are various ways that you can estimate how much your household goods weigh and I haven't found one that is really good. For example, one way is to use the guide of assuming each room weighs 1000 pounds.
That has never worked for us, because we have so many items that are high in weight (like books). Below are pictures of three bookcases that are in our family room. I didn't tidy them before I took the picture, mind you. These bookcases are stacked three deep and were purged and books donated within the last year. This room weighs a lot more than 1000 pounds.
Most of the books on these shelves will go into storage. We are taking as many books as we think we can load into our shipment, but know that Amazon will be our friend when abroad.
One way that we are getting to take a bit more than we thought is that because of Darling Husband having a certain job title we are able to claim some of our items as Professional Gear. The military member always gets some professional gear, like reference books, one computer, etc., but this move we get to add his civilian clothing (suits,jackets,shiny tassled loafers) and our china, silver, stemware or anything we will need for entertaining - so.... all of the below will be in our professional gear pile.
It has been a long time since I last posted....
That is due to the fact that we are fully engaged in the move preparation. Our packout for Djibouti starts in seven days and that has become all consuming.
As I wrote in my previous post, I have been working on consumables. Some people go to the big warehouse shopping clubs and do their consumables in one sweep or you are able to go to the commissary and shop for your consumables and have them picked up at the commissary. I haven't ever done it that way (the whole two times I have shopped for consumables). I have been picking up things all along, since we had a hint that we would be moving - so when holiday paper goods went on sale after the holiday I picked them up for our move.
We have been inventoring what we have so far as we pack it. Due to our last experience with the rats, we have made a decision to pack our consumables in the utility style black foot lockers that the military guys use - here is what it looks like so far... and this is just a sampling, about one third of what we have packed.
The packing may seem a little random, but we are trying to fit as much as we can in to these sturdy containers.
I am doing one more run for consumables this week and then have decided that I will do one substantial net grocer order or pack my own boxes of our absolute favorite things right before we leave with the hope that it will be waiting for us when we get there.
Black Trunk #1
11 cans black beans
4 cans cranberry sauce
10 cans mandarin oranges
5 cans pumpkin
6 cans rotel with lime juice and cilantro
3 cans crushed pineapple
1 can dal mahkni
1 can saffron cream sauce
6 cans sliced jalapenos
4 cans tomato paste
2 boxes of proactive skin care
3 boxes of tampons
2 boxes of pantyliners
1 box of q-tips (750 count)
1 box of basmati rice
2 boxes of gallon size freezer bags (46 total)
2 popsicle mold trays
2 boxes of gallon size storage bags (12 total)
2 boxes of quart size storage bags (16 total)
4 rolls waxed paper
3 rolls reynolds wrap aluminum foil
2 tubes full size – aquafresh
2 travel tubes –aquafresh
2 travel tubes crest
1 full size tube crest
1 box (100 count) snack size zip lock bags
1 box (100 count) sandwich bags
1 tube prevident toothpaste
3 packages of bath puffs (2 each – 6 total)
Red Trunk
6 cans blueberries
9 cans refried beans
10 cans kidney beans
6 cans French onion soup
6 cans double noodle soup
2 cans cream of chicken soup
10 cans summer crisp corn
4 mosquito nets
Spare umbrella canopy
Mosquito netting for umbrella
2 packages of 16 mandarin orange cups
12 boxes annie’s mac and cheese
1 white twin sheet set
12 red, white and blue kitchen towels
6 scrubber dishcloths
8 black and white kitchen towels
2 individual size water coolers
Blue Tote A
4 packages of 14 patriotic paper plates
4 pkgs. of 20 patriotic cocktail napkins
3 pkgs. of 14 luau plates
3 pkgs. of 20 luau cocktail napkins
3 boxes of disposable cupcake carriers
1 package of individual popcorn servers
2 pkgs. of 20 9-inch Halloween plates
1 pkg. of 25 8-inch Halloween plates
2 pkgs. of 12 halloween dessert plates
3 pkgs. of 24 Halloween beverage napkins
4 packages of 8 birthday dessert plates (cupcake theme)
36 outside plastic beverage cups
1 package of bamboo skewers
1 pkg. of 48 plastic forks
2 pkgs. of 36 plastic forks
2 pkgs. of 10 snowman dessert plates
2 pkgs. of 12 snowman cups
2 pkgs. of 15 8-inch snowman plates
3 pkgs. of 20 snowman cocktail napkins
20 medium size Christmas gift bags
10 small Christmas gift bags
32 Christmas cards
2 small Christmas wreaths
1 package of Easter raffia
1 package of plastic Easter eggs
As I wrote in my previous post, I have been working on consumables. Some people go to the big warehouse shopping clubs and do their consumables in one sweep or you are able to go to the commissary and shop for your consumables and have them picked up at the commissary. I haven't ever done it that way (the whole two times I have shopped for consumables). I have been picking up things all along, since we had a hint that we would be moving - so when holiday paper goods went on sale after the holiday I picked them up for our move.
We have been inventoring what we have so far as we pack it. Due to our last experience with the rats, we have made a decision to pack our consumables in the utility style black foot lockers that the military guys use - here is what it looks like so far... and this is just a sampling, about one third of what we have packed.
The packing may seem a little random, but we are trying to fit as much as we can in to these sturdy containers.
I am doing one more run for consumables this week and then have decided that I will do one substantial net grocer order or pack my own boxes of our absolute favorite things right before we leave with the hope that it will be waiting for us when we get there.
Black Trunk #1
11 cans black beans
4 cans cranberry sauce
10 cans mandarin oranges
5 cans pumpkin
6 cans rotel with lime juice and cilantro
3 cans crushed pineapple
1 can dal mahkni
1 can saffron cream sauce
6 cans sliced jalapenos
4 cans tomato paste
2 boxes of proactive skin care
3 boxes of tampons
2 boxes of pantyliners
1 box of q-tips (750 count)
1 box of basmati rice
2 boxes of gallon size freezer bags (46 total)
2 popsicle mold trays
2 boxes of gallon size storage bags (12 total)
2 boxes of quart size storage bags (16 total)
4 rolls waxed paper
3 rolls reynolds wrap aluminum foil
2 tubes full size – aquafresh
2 travel tubes –aquafresh
2 travel tubes crest
1 full size tube crest
1 box (100 count) snack size zip lock bags
1 box (100 count) sandwich bags
1 tube prevident toothpaste
3 packages of bath puffs (2 each – 6 total)
Red Trunk
6 cans blueberries
9 cans refried beans
10 cans kidney beans
6 cans French onion soup
6 cans double noodle soup
2 cans cream of chicken soup
10 cans summer crisp corn
4 mosquito nets
Spare umbrella canopy
Mosquito netting for umbrella
2 packages of 16 mandarin orange cups
12 boxes annie’s mac and cheese
1 white twin sheet set
12 red, white and blue kitchen towels
6 scrubber dishcloths
8 black and white kitchen towels
2 individual size water coolers
Blue Tote A
4 packages of 14 patriotic paper plates
4 pkgs. of 20 patriotic cocktail napkins
3 pkgs. of 14 luau plates
3 pkgs. of 20 luau cocktail napkins
3 boxes of disposable cupcake carriers
1 package of individual popcorn servers
2 pkgs. of 20 9-inch Halloween plates
1 pkg. of 25 8-inch Halloween plates
2 pkgs. of 12 halloween dessert plates
3 pkgs. of 24 Halloween beverage napkins
4 packages of 8 birthday dessert plates (cupcake theme)
36 outside plastic beverage cups
1 package of bamboo skewers
1 pkg. of 48 plastic forks
2 pkgs. of 36 plastic forks
2 pkgs. of 10 snowman dessert plates
2 pkgs. of 12 snowman cups
2 pkgs. of 15 8-inch snowman plates
3 pkgs. of 20 snowman cocktail napkins
20 medium size Christmas gift bags
10 small Christmas gift bags
32 Christmas cards
2 small Christmas wreaths
1 package of Easter raffia
1 package of plastic Easter eggs
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