If you are planning a move to Portugal, you will have likely considered whether or not to get everything across in one go, or whether to graduate your move.
Graduating your move to Portugal makes a lot of sense because it enables you to maintain some level of backup back home should you change your mind. It also gives you more flexibility with settling in and preparing your new home, and completing any work or sales on your old home. As you get started planning this huge lifestyle change, consider using a specialist service such as https://packandgo.co.uk. And we have some simple and easy tips to help you graduate your move to beautiful Portugal successfully:
Become Comfortable With Understanding Logistics
With any long-distance move you have to become comfortable with understanding logistics. Whilst one person is at location A and another travels to location B, how will item 1 get there in the meantime - the kind of thinking you thought you left behind at GCSE isn't it?
Graduating your move will involve a lot of thinking about the logistics and where different things, people and vehicles are, and are going, and how to coordinate the entire thing effectively. You may find project management apps are helpful with the logistics of your move. You can find some of the best PM apps currently available in this handy article.
Minimise What You Do Have
Minimising the items you do have will help you tremendously because it will be less stuff to move. Could you sell as much as possible back home and then buy new things in Portugal? If you can minimise your belongings you will see an easier transition that is likely to cost you a lot less.
Consider Only One Of You Moving Back And Forth
A lot of people who relocate as a family agree to temporarily be physically separated in order to graduate the move. So one person may catch a flight with the children to the new house in Portugal whilst the other person stays home, completes the property at home and then drives to Portugal with a vanload of belongings.
Consider Letting A Specialist Company Help You
There are specialist companies who help families move their belongings successfully. This could be a great way to help you graduate your move perhaps by having your belongings at your new property when you get there, or having them sent to you when you have settled in. Companies such as Pack and Go that specialise in long-distance will also have a lot of insider knowledge and suggestions to help your move run as smoothly as possible.
Prioritise
Prioritising can be difficult in a long-distance move because suddenly everything seems important, ranging from getting a new job to finding translation services for legal documents to packing a mug so it doesn't break in transit. Do work hard to maintain perspective and to prioritise well. Knowing what you would like to achieve during your first few months in Portugal should help you understand what matters the most and which jobs can be bumped down the list.
Give Yourself Time
Graduating your move is a way to allow more flexibility with physical aspects of the move, but it also enables you to have some emotional flexibility. You have time to truly throw yourself into settling in whilst knowing you can still change your mind if it really isn't working out for you. Having one foot still in your UK life can be helpful in taking the pressure off this huge life change.
Moving to Portugal will be a challenge, as any long-distance move is. Even short-distance moves can be stressful for many of us. Graduating your relocation is a really good idea for practical reasons and to allow an easier process of transition for the whole family.
