3-6 Months Before Departure Date
1. Plan your departure date. Obviously, the ideal thing is for your lease to expire on the same month you're leaving to avoid the hassle of looking for a temporary place to stay, looking for someone to take over your lease, or paying a couple of extra months' rent when you're no longer in town.
2. Make arrangements with your landlord. If you gave a deposit when you originally got the apartment, make sure you get it back.
3. Check if other Filipinos are going home at the same time as you. You might be able to share the cost a container so you can bring large things home cost-efficiently.
4. Book your flight home.
1. Plan your departure date. Obviously, the ideal thing is for your lease to expire on the same month you're leaving to avoid the hassle of looking for a temporary place to stay, looking for someone to take over your lease, or paying a couple of extra months' rent when you're no longer in town.
2. Make arrangements with your landlord. If you gave a deposit when you originally got the apartment, make sure you get it back.
3. Check if other Filipinos are going home at the same time as you. You might be able to share the cost a container so you can bring large things home cost-efficiently.
4. Book your flight home.
2 Months Before Departure Date
5. Consider retaining one credit card and bank account. You might have difficulty getting a Philippine credit card in the first few months of your arrival, as you will need to show a Philippine income tax return for the previous year, about three months' worth of pay slips from a current local employer, and/or recent local credit card statements. If you do plan to keep your credit card, make sure that you'll be able to access your accounts through the Internet, pay through the Internet, and that you have a phone number to call (collect, ideally) if anything goes wrong. Also make sure you change your mailing address to the Philippine address.
Otherwise, there's always cash or a supplementary credit card from your parents.
6. Settle accounts with all the institutions that bill you and arrange to have the service cut off at the latest possible time. For example: your ISP, cable provider, electric and phone companies, newspapers, clubs and magazines to which you have a subscription, etc. In some cases, you might be able to get back a rebate for any unused portion of what you have prepaid. Remember that unpaid bills will ruin your credit record in that country, just in case you ever live in there again in the future.
If you have a brokerage account, see if you can access it via the Internet from the Philippines, so you can continue to buy and sell investments.
7. If you're working, resign from work! (Who needs to be reminded to do this?) Give yourself at least two weeks—although one month of more, of course, is so much better—without work before you leave to run all your errands and do everything you've always dreamed of doing before leaving.
8. Contact the Office for Foreign Students in your university, in case there's paperwork that needs to be filled out or exit procedures that need to be done.
1 Month Before Departure
9. Assess your belongings. Unless you've decided to pack all your stuff into a large container during your last week there, you'll have to figure out what you want to do with them. It's easy enough to get rid of stuff, but what can you do with the things you want to keep?
You can ship items home in pre-sized boxes with no weight limit—perfect for heavy books, coats, comforters, and other things you won't really look for until you get to Manila. It'll take about 60 days for these boxes to reach their destination from date of pick-up, so don't put in anything that you'll need before then. In the US, they'll deliver the pre-sized boxes to you. You pack in the items, call them, and they'll pick up the boxes again. The earlier you ship them, the less time you'll have to wait for them in Manila. Also remember that the boxes might be inspected by Philippine customs.
For less stress and also to empty out your apartment slowly, contact the shipping company early on, about a month before your departure, and start packing. Friends have sworn by making an inventory of items so you know exactly where everything is.
You'll have to pack the rest of your stuff in two balikbayan boxes or suitcases that you'll check into the plane. Remember that each airline has a weight limit, so be careful that you don't pack in anything too heavy for the flight.
10. If this service is available in the country, and if you have relatives or friends who live there, you might want to stop by the post office and fill in a "change-of-address" form so that all your future mail will be received by someone you know and you'll be notified if you've receive anything that looks important.
11. Do everything you've always wanted to do but were never able to. Buy those stupid little things you love but you know you'll never find in Manila.
2-3 Weeks Before Departure
12. Your landlord will probably inspect your apartment before you vacate it, so ask about how he'd like you to leave it. You might need to cover up the holes made by paintings, for example, and get rid of all personal furniture.
13. Pack! Again do an inventory of items so you don't leave anything important behind. If you're shipping everything home in a container, have everything boxed, catalogued, and ready to go when the shipper arrives.
As much as possible, live off your suitcases and stop doing laundry the week before you depart so that you're not stressed about your belongings.
14. List down all the things you want and need to do when you get to Manila. Most people find it therapeutic and helpful in focusing on the next step. It's also good to refer to something concrete when you get home and feel jet-lagged, out-of-sorts, without a familiar routine to turn to.
15. Eat all the food in your pantry and refrigerator! Also don’t forget to give plants or pet fish away!
16. Arrange for transportation to the airport and confirm your flight. Prepare your passport and other documents.
17. Say goodbye.
5. Consider retaining one credit card and bank account. You might have difficulty getting a Philippine credit card in the first few months of your arrival, as you will need to show a Philippine income tax return for the previous year, about three months' worth of pay slips from a current local employer, and/or recent local credit card statements. If you do plan to keep your credit card, make sure that you'll be able to access your accounts through the Internet, pay through the Internet, and that you have a phone number to call (collect, ideally) if anything goes wrong. Also make sure you change your mailing address to the Philippine address.
Otherwise, there's always cash or a supplementary credit card from your parents.
6. Settle accounts with all the institutions that bill you and arrange to have the service cut off at the latest possible time. For example: your ISP, cable provider, electric and phone companies, newspapers, clubs and magazines to which you have a subscription, etc. In some cases, you might be able to get back a rebate for any unused portion of what you have prepaid. Remember that unpaid bills will ruin your credit record in that country, just in case you ever live in there again in the future.
If you have a brokerage account, see if you can access it via the Internet from the Philippines, so you can continue to buy and sell investments.
7. If you're working, resign from work! (Who needs to be reminded to do this?) Give yourself at least two weeks—although one month of more, of course, is so much better—without work before you leave to run all your errands and do everything you've always dreamed of doing before leaving.
8. Contact the Office for Foreign Students in your university, in case there's paperwork that needs to be filled out or exit procedures that need to be done.
1 Month Before Departure
9. Assess your belongings. Unless you've decided to pack all your stuff into a large container during your last week there, you'll have to figure out what you want to do with them. It's easy enough to get rid of stuff, but what can you do with the things you want to keep?
You can ship items home in pre-sized boxes with no weight limit—perfect for heavy books, coats, comforters, and other things you won't really look for until you get to Manila. It'll take about 60 days for these boxes to reach their destination from date of pick-up, so don't put in anything that you'll need before then. In the US, they'll deliver the pre-sized boxes to you. You pack in the items, call them, and they'll pick up the boxes again. The earlier you ship them, the less time you'll have to wait for them in Manila. Also remember that the boxes might be inspected by Philippine customs.
For less stress and also to empty out your apartment slowly, contact the shipping company early on, about a month before your departure, and start packing. Friends have sworn by making an inventory of items so you know exactly where everything is.
You'll have to pack the rest of your stuff in two balikbayan boxes or suitcases that you'll check into the plane. Remember that each airline has a weight limit, so be careful that you don't pack in anything too heavy for the flight.
10. If this service is available in the country, and if you have relatives or friends who live there, you might want to stop by the post office and fill in a "change-of-address" form so that all your future mail will be received by someone you know and you'll be notified if you've receive anything that looks important.
11. Do everything you've always wanted to do but were never able to. Buy those stupid little things you love but you know you'll never find in Manila.
2-3 Weeks Before Departure
12. Your landlord will probably inspect your apartment before you vacate it, so ask about how he'd like you to leave it. You might need to cover up the holes made by paintings, for example, and get rid of all personal furniture.
13. Pack! Again do an inventory of items so you don't leave anything important behind. If you're shipping everything home in a container, have everything boxed, catalogued, and ready to go when the shipper arrives.
As much as possible, live off your suitcases and stop doing laundry the week before you depart so that you're not stressed about your belongings.
14. List down all the things you want and need to do when you get to Manila. Most people find it therapeutic and helpful in focusing on the next step. It's also good to refer to something concrete when you get home and feel jet-lagged, out-of-sorts, without a familiar routine to turn to.
15. Eat all the food in your pantry and refrigerator! Also don’t forget to give plants or pet fish away!
16. Arrange for transportation to the airport and confirm your flight. Prepare your passport and other documents.
17. Say goodbye.
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