A packing timeline that respects notice periods
Most packing lists ignore the fact that your resignation date and your German start date are not symmetric. This one does not.
If your German employer wants you in eight weeks and your current notice period is twelve, you are already living in two calendars. Packing has to serve the shorter one without stranding you in the longer one.
Week −6 to −5: decide what never ships
Before you price a container, list the items that make no sense in a furnished month-one flat: bulky sofas, duplicate kitchen gear, seasonal sports equipment. Sell or store them locally. The goal is fewer cubic meters, not a perfect inventory.
Week −4: book the slow lane
Sea or ground freight only earns its keep if it arrives after you have a longer lease — or a storage unit near your German city. Align pickup with the last week of your old lease, not with your flight day. Flights slip; truck slots are harder to move.
Week −2: build the carry-on employment kit
Passport, contract printouts, degree copies if your employer requested them, prescription meds, one interview-appropriate outfit, and a simple power setup for your laptop. Everything else is replaceable in a German electronics shop before week two.
Arrival week: leave space empty
Resist filling a temporary flat with impulse purchases. You will move again. Buy hangers, towels, and a kettle; postpone the bookshelf until the long-term lease is signed.
Inside our Germany Job Relocation Studio, this timeline becomes a shared spreadsheet with deposit dates overlaid — because cash flow, not cardboard, is usually the real constraint.