Section 8h. The Moving List & Calendar

-->

By Rajkamal Rao 

Go to The Move

The physical move is only part of the story.  You and your family have lived in the West for so many years.  You will now have to complete scores of tasks that will help you successfully unwind life in the west.

A good way is to create a simple checklist of things to do.  Use a cloud service (such as Google Spreadsheet in Google Docs) to maintain this list - and share the document with your family members.  Assign task items to your family members and have them update progress on the list.  Checklists work best when you have a completion date assigned to each item - and a comments column for remarks.

Here are some items that may go into your list - assuming you are a family migrating from the US to India.

1. Finalize shipping company;
2. Finalize airline tickets;
3. Make list of items to buy for India - and buy them;
4. Schedule dental appointments;
5. Schedule doctor appointments;
6. Obtain vision records;
7. Obtain prescriptions;
8. Set up and link global remit accounts with your US bank account to transfer money to India (e.g. State Bank of India/Bank of America);
9. Transfer seed money to India.  Figure on at least USD 5,000 for living expenses for the first 90 days. This does not include money for capital purchases, lease advance or your customs fees;
10. Get vaccination certificates, passport pictures;
11. Pay Indian school fees;
12. Inform US school that your child is not returning to school next fall.  Arrange to pick your school leaving certificate - even if it is only a letter from the school administrator - as this is required for school admissions in India;
13. Cancel fitness membership (3 months prior).  Fitness clubs in the US hate for you to cancel memberships and will have imposed stringent conditions to prevent you from doing so.  It is best to complete the cancellation process while you are still in the US;
14. Cancel mobile phone service and have your mobile phone unlocked by your service provider, if possible.  Most major US phone carriers will unlock your smartphone if you have had the phone for some time (Verizon Wireless’s policy is 90 days).  The carrier will send you a code that you will key into your cell phone after you insert the new SIM card in India.  There are literally hundreds of street vendors in India who can do this for you for a very small fee; 
15. For prepaid carriers such as Boost and MetroPCS, make sure you walk into a company store to have your services canceled and credit card numbers removed from your accounts; 
16. Cancel other utilities (cable, satellite, land line phone, electric, city water, city trash, Netflx, Hulu, etc);
17. Examine all of your credit cards and bank accounts for a list of automatic payments you have authorized - and review them;
18. Decide on whether you want to rent your US home or sell;
    
    If renting:
    
    
    • Consider renewing service providers (lawn care, pest control);
    • Consider signing up for appliances services protection such as American Home Shield;
    • Inform your homeowners association (HOA) - and set up autopay of HOA dues from your bank;
    • Consider autopay arrangement for your real estate taxes;
    • Consider repairs you have to perform before you leave;
    • Hire service to have your home professionally cleaned (floor, windows, carpets, etc);
    • Consult your realtor and finalize how to have your property managed in your absence;
    • Procure landlord insurance (your homeowners insurance is not valid if you rent your property).  Consider giving your existing provider a chance to quote but the market is competitive enough so that you will probably save money by switching;
    • In general, try not to rent to families with pets because landlord policies vary and sometimes limit coverage depending upon the pet.  The reasoning is that your future renter’s Rottweiler is a threat to neighbors.  Allow yourself at least three weeks to finalize this process.  Your insurance company will require photos of your home to assure itself of the home’s condition.
    
    If selling:
    
    
    • Consider repairs you have to perform;
    • Consult your realtor to place it on the market.
19. Buy Vonage/Ooma phone for use in India.  Not only will this continue to give your US contacts a US phone number to call while you are in India, this also gives you the ability to make calls to the US for free.  With the right calling package, you could use your Ooma/Vonage phone to make phone calls within India at rates that may be lower than domestic calling rates;
20. Port your number on Vonage/Ooma;
21. Get a Google Voice number so that you can use it to send and receive US SMS messages; 
22. Stop magazine subscriptions;
23. Segregate old clothes/toys for donations;
24. Have automobile Ezpass tags deactivated;
25. Sell cars/motorcycles/boats; Cancel car/motorcycle/boat insurance;
26. Recover items from bank lockers;
27. Rationalize/cancel US bank accounts;
28. Consider obtaining a Capital One credit card (no forex fees) and a Charles Shwab ATM card (no international ATM fees);
29. Consider opening a Discover Bank Savings account (minimum balance $500).  Discover does not charge for incoming international wire transfers so that you can easily move money from INR to USD without worrying about annoying fees.
30. Review US financial accounts - mutual funds, stock funds, 401 K, 529, IRAs;
31. Review life insurance policies;
32. Inform merchants about change of address;
33. Resign from community committees (HOA Board, temple committees, etc);
34. Book hotel to stay between shipment date & your US departure date;
35. Book rental car for use after your cars are sold;
36. Consider holding a moving/garage sale;
37. Buy moving boxes;
38. Complete shipping forms;
39. And, decide on shipping insurance