A big move... what to bring?

[lotus1]

We're considering a big move to Hawaii! DH has a potential job offer which he feels is the opportunity of a life time. If we go, it would be in about 6 mos.

What to take? How do we get ready?

We moved to our current city, which we love, 3 years ago. Major purge when we moved. Bought our house 2 years ago, and planned to stay here for a long time. Bought nice furniture, settled in. Don't really want to get rid of everything and start over again.

Expecting baby #2 at the end of the year. I have saved all the baby stuff that we used with DS. I know that we could get rid of a bunch of it- high chair, etc.

We have a lot of fancy kitchen stuff. We both like to cook and host large family dinners several times per year. Not sure how well fragile items would travel.

I'm thinking that we could put nicer furniture in storage... take stuff we would need... and what would be hard to replace there.

Overwhelming to say the least. Has any one btdt?

[AmyEco]

As a military spouse, I have moved may times and you are correct, it is overwhelming.  First Questions: Will the company pay for the move & is there a weight limit?  Second Question:  Will this be temporary or long term change.  

[Linda on the move]

The PP's questions are keys.

Moving companies will come out for free and give you an estimate of what it will cost to move your stuff. We've moved several times for DH's job, and have had good luck with the major moving companies. We've never had a dish break. Our piano did get scratched, but that's it for damage over about -- 8 moves. (I forget how many times we've moved).

IMHO, this isn't a DIY project.

I'd have 3 moving companies out and start asking questions.