Well we did it. Well, I say we did it. Our Menaje de Casa was approved by the Dallas Consulate on Friday. I cannot tell you what a relief this was as it's just one more major milestone for our move.
For those that do not know what a Menaje de Casa is, let me explain. IF you are planning on taking anything, other than just a car load of items, across the border and you have your FM3 visa, you must seek the approval from the Mexican government to do so. It's bascially a list of your household items, organized in a spreadsheet format, listed by box with the contents of each box and in Spanish. We were fortunate as the Consulate provided the format for us to use so there was really no guessing on what they wanted to see. We also had to list the value of each box or item that we are taking.
Dave and I toyed with the idea on whether or not we would even take anything as everything that we needed could be purchased in Playa or Cancun. However, once we saw that we wanted to take those things that are precious to us and things that we just could not part with, such as photos, certain Christmas decorations, our soft sheets and fluffy towels, we decided to move forward with the process of buying a 6x10 cargo trailer and taking whatever would fit into that. and obtaining approval from Mexico to bring these things into their country. Sounds easy enough, right? I'm not sure that I would have called it easy. It was very stressful. In hindsight, the only reason it was so stressful was because we were under a deadline to get approval for this. Once an FM3 visa is received, you have 90-days to get the approval from the Consulate for the Menaje de Casa. Now don't get me wrong, I can work under deadlines with the best of them but when it comes to my personal life, including deciding what I am going to take that will fit in such a small space, it wore on my emotions. 2500 sq foot, fully furnished house down to nothing. Very emotional. But...guess what. It's liberating to know that it's just stuff. Stuff that can be replaced. Stuff that holds you back from making many decisions in life. Stuff that collects dust and stuff that you don't need or use any longer. I've asked myself over the course of the last few days why in the world would I have bought so much stuff???? You know how much money I could have saved? Instead, I gave my stuff away with a smile knowing that someone else out there is collecting stuff and they might, even if for a very short moment, enjoy my stuff. FREEDOM and LIBERATION. I hope that I never collect that much stuff again.
Now, we are faced with getting our remaining stuff across the border by Sept 24th. We will either head to the border to begin our journey on Aug 16th or Sept 5th. Not sure just yet. I can guarentee you that I will have a bottle of champagne in hand though when it happens.
For those that do not know what a Menaje de Casa is, let me explain. IF you are planning on taking anything, other than just a car load of items, across the border and you have your FM3 visa, you must seek the approval from the Mexican government to do so. It's bascially a list of your household items, organized in a spreadsheet format, listed by box with the contents of each box and in Spanish. We were fortunate as the Consulate provided the format for us to use so there was really no guessing on what they wanted to see. We also had to list the value of each box or item that we are taking.
Dave and I toyed with the idea on whether or not we would even take anything as everything that we needed could be purchased in Playa or Cancun. However, once we saw that we wanted to take those things that are precious to us and things that we just could not part with, such as photos, certain Christmas decorations, our soft sheets and fluffy towels, we decided to move forward with the process of buying a 6x10 cargo trailer and taking whatever would fit into that. and obtaining approval from Mexico to bring these things into their country. Sounds easy enough, right? I'm not sure that I would have called it easy. It was very stressful. In hindsight, the only reason it was so stressful was because we were under a deadline to get approval for this. Once an FM3 visa is received, you have 90-days to get the approval from the Consulate for the Menaje de Casa. Now don't get me wrong, I can work under deadlines with the best of them but when it comes to my personal life, including deciding what I am going to take that will fit in such a small space, it wore on my emotions. 2500 sq foot, fully furnished house down to nothing. Very emotional. But...guess what. It's liberating to know that it's just stuff. Stuff that can be replaced. Stuff that holds you back from making many decisions in life. Stuff that collects dust and stuff that you don't need or use any longer. I've asked myself over the course of the last few days why in the world would I have bought so much stuff???? You know how much money I could have saved? Instead, I gave my stuff away with a smile knowing that someone else out there is collecting stuff and they might, even if for a very short moment, enjoy my stuff. FREEDOM and LIBERATION. I hope that I never collect that much stuff again.
Now, we are faced with getting our remaining stuff across the border by Sept 24th. We will either head to the border to begin our journey on Aug 16th or Sept 5th. Not sure just yet. I can guarentee you that I will have a bottle of champagne in hand though when it happens.
Here's a copy of a sample menaje de casa; just click to see larger view.
Stay tuned...
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