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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4 comments:
I can't wait to hear the details of the move. We live in Fort Worth and are planning to move to Playa Del Carmen too. We bought a house there in July. We're not sure when we're leaving. We need to sell our house in Fort Worth first. We haven't applied for FM-3 yet. We knew there was a period within the menaje de casa had to be requested. Your blog said 90 days. After you received the menaje de casa, is there a period it must be completed? Is it 90 days too? Initially we were thinking we'd leave within 1 year, but we're getting antsy and worry about the US economy and housing market falling further before we go. We're planning to drive too and bring our household goods. I think we're planning to bring more than you are bringing. Purchasing a trailer is a good idea. We've also thought about using a shipping company. We're planning to bring about 1/3 of the items we have now. I've read a few stories about others being delayed a day at the border with the menaje de casa and going through customs. Good luck with everything and please post more details later!
Hi Susan. Thanks for your comments/email! It’s definitely been an experience but an experience that I would do over and over again.
What are you going to be doing in Playa for work?
Once you get your FM3, you have 90 days to apply for the menaje de casa. Once you get the menaje de casa, you have 90 days to get your stuff across the border. We have until Sept 24th to get ours to Mexico so we are leaving in two, may three, weeks to take it. We are thinking about taking it down to Monterrey to store it until Oct so we can come back up to Dallas and finish up work for another 6 or 8 weeks.
We looked into a shipping company; on average, it was going to cost about $10K. The good thing about a shipping company was that price included as much of a load as you wanted to take because the company would have to make a dedicated trip since Playa is so far. IF you have a lot to take, that might be the way to go. We went ahead and opted to buy a cargo trailer and just packed what we could and buy the rest when we get down there.
I’m going to try to post more this weekend if I can find some time but I will definitely post the trip report for taking our stuff there. Should be very interesting!
Good luck with your adventure and if you need any advice, resources or just need to bounce things off of with someone that is also experiencing what you are, let me know. I’ll be more than happy to lend an ear.
Best,
Kami
We're planning to take some time off work. I am hoping to continue work for my current employer as an employee or contract, but I haven't asked about that yet and don't really want to until we decide when to move and the date gets closer. It would be nice to work for them on a few projects here and there if it works out. I know the only jobs that foreigners can get in Mexico seem to be real estate, tourism, and time share. I know we will want to do something later and that will give us time to learn Spanish. My husband may be able to do something with websites and Internet. He deals with that now. It just depends on if he can get Mexican clients or work with US clients from a distance.
Would you consider driving to Playa/Puerto Adventuras with your stuff and then fly back to DFW or is there somewhere closer to the border to store your stuff? Is Monterrey about a 10 hour drive? I think we will probably go with the cargo trailer too. I've been told that you can furnish a whole home/condo for 10k. We're moving from 3,000 sq feet to 980 sq feet so we need to purge. We're considering a queen size bed instead of king too. I totally relate to your comments about stuff. When you look at getting rid of stuff, you realize what a waste of money it was and that they are just things. Our house in Playa has nothing. We need to add everything including kitchen countertops and a/c. We're thinking about building onto it so we can have a master bedroom. The house has 2 bedrooms now that are the same size. We really don’t need more space, but thought it might be better for resale later too if we ever decide to leave or move somewhere else.
We will get a retirement visa. We were faced with the choice of a corporation or trust with our house and went with the trust for now. On your FM-3, did you have to get a notarized letter from your doctor and police dept? I think you had an attorney assist and I know you have a work visa and corporation so it might be a little different for us. Are you renting or did you buy? Have you figured out who you will use for phone and cable? I need to find out if Cablemas is available in our neighborhood. We will be 3 miles north of Playa. I've read and been told that the mail is not reliable. I think we will change our address to my sister's address and have her send things we need via FEDEX or DHL. We were able to get a bank account when we were there in July, but it is just a basic savings account. I was shocked that we got it because I had read that you needed an FM-3 to get one. We went through Bancomer who has services that cater to foreigners. You can pay some phone and other services online through them. I saw your link on the electricity company and it looks like they have an option to pay online too. I registered with them today and we'll see if I put it the correct account and they allow me to register. The response said I would know by Tuesday. I thought you had to pay at OXXO so that would be nice. I will email you with my email address and I look forward to your next post.
I was curious how the import of the trailer worked for you. Did you have to register it as a temporary import like the vehicle? Or were you able to just bring it in and thus able to sell it on the Mexican side of the border?
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