Moving need suggestions

If it's a furnished apartment, then I would assume only pack the bare essentials (isn't that why you're getting a furnished apartment?). No need to duplicate items you will already have available. Shipping items overseas is very expensive unless an employer covers it, and moving certain types of furniture is impractical (too heavy, too expensive to move).

Anything electrical that would require a converter (as opposed to an adapter). Things like small kitchen appliances, etc.

Off the top, expect to replace all electronic appliances - like blenders or curling irons do to different voltages and plug shapes.
I would be sure you have several plug adapters for those things that come dual voltage (computer, camera, phones). Anything that plugs in needs to be reviewed before boxing up.

You also might not want to bring your car, motor vehicles of any kind due to difficulty registering them there - they might have different emissions requirements, for example.
Know that condiments or other food products may have the same name there, but may not taste the same. Ketchup and 'coke' come to mind. Bring whatever is going to cause withdrawl symptoms for the first few months.
A friend took a kitchen calculator - because they use different measurements for cooking, distance, etc, and it seems this kitchen calculator can help with that. https://www.leevalley.com/en-gb/shop/kitchen/measurement/guides/58726-lee-valley-kitchen-calculator?item=EV160 or similar. If you do a lot of baking and want to use your own recipes, than take your measuring cups and spoons.

Since you are going to a furnished apartment, is this a long-term move or a temporary move? That makes a big difference.

I did make the mistake once of not bringing a cookbook, but that was before the internet.
Photograph the family favorite recipes to take in a file.
Meat will be cut differently, so you'll have to adapt recipes. I can speak for France: it's cut along one muscle, whereas in the US it's cut across several muscles. I don't know about Germany, but there are certainly charts.
Bring measuring cups and spoons if a long term move.
Small appliances don't travel well; I just buy new ones. Electronics should be okay; the voltage is written on them.
Do you have favorite pillows that you need for sleep until you get used to what is sold in Germany?
The only thing I ever miss is Mexican food, so I bring spice packets, but for some others, it's peanut butter they miss.

For a long-term move I'd want to take my herbs and spices with me (preferably not in heavy glass containers), but I don't know that it would be OK to do that.

OTC medications (unlike prescription meds) are often quite a bit more expensive in Europe, so I'd take a good supply with me. Be careful about the weight if you use a lot if daily supplements. Calcium is especially heavy.

Anything electrical that would require a converter (as opposed to an
adapter). Things like small kitchen appliances, etc.

I'd say don't bring anything like that. Buy new stuff made for 230V instead.

You also might not want to bring your car, motor vehicles of any kind
due to difficulty registering them there - they might have different
emissions requirements, for example.

Apart from the cost of shipping it across the ocean, converting a car to European standards can be expensive. So I agree, you probably don't want to do that.

OTC medications (unlike prescription meds) are often quite a bit more
expensive in Europe, so I'd take a good supply with me. Be careful
about the weight if you use a lot if daily supplements. Calcium is
especially heavy.

Just make sure they are OTC in Germany as well. Things that can be bought by anyone in one country can require a prescription in another country.

Thank you for the reply’s. We aren’t bringing our car. Appreciate the advice of condiments and spices. Hot sauce, salsa are the 2 that come to mind.
We don’t know how long we might stay. At least a year.
Getting excited, big changes for us.

Agree about the OTC meds. They don’t come in those big bulk sizes and can be expensive.

Lessons learned: just about anything you forget can be found there, and after a few months you might start buying clothes in the local shops and begin to blend in.

It depends on where in Germany. If you are in a big, multi-cultural city like Berlin or Frankfurt, you will probably find most things you need. Food items seem to be the things most missed, that are hard to find or non-existent here. Mexican stuff used to be difficult to find as was peanut butter but are now found in regular grocery stores. Ranch is a favorite for many expats, so bring packets so you can make your own. American baking powder is a must if you bake a lot, as the German stuff is different. Favorite cold pills are good to bring.
If you are on FB, see if there is an expat group for your city. Frankfurt has several groups like this and they can be really helpful for finding dentists, doctors, markets, food items, restaurants, etc.
I live here, so message me if you want more info.

You need to read up on taxation here and in Germany. Estate taxation can be very different. In the US you don’t pay on an inheritance that’s less than 11 million, but if your declared residence is in Germany, the German government may tax you on the US inheritance . Our second country, France, does tax inheritance from the US.

You have lots of great posts with information already.

We lived in Augsburg, Germany for about four years, while working for the US Army.

When we rented our apartment, we had to buy cabinets for the kitchen, fortunately the bathrooms already had cabinets.
The refrigeration that was furnished was a box size, about 1/4 the size of a regular US refrigeration. Fortunately, the Army provided us with a US sized refrigerator.

Your place is furnished, so fewer problems. What shocked us was when the electricity bill came at the end of the year. Not sure if they still do that. It was huge. If you place includes power, no problem.

You will find that Germany has a VAT tax which is substantial. As Americans, we were able to do paperwork to be reimbursed the VAT for large items. Not sure, but if your residence is permanent in nature, you probably don't qualify for that exemption.

Taxes are high in Germany and as US citizens, you will probably still have to file US taxes with IRS, but you can claim a foreign tax credit on your US return what you pay in Germany.

Getting a driver's license in Germany is more difficult than the USA. You must take an expensive course in driving as well as a written exam that is harder than most in the USA.

As far as specific packing items, most of what I would have listed others have done.

If your apartment furnishes kitchen pots and pan, plates, cups, glasses and flatware, that is good, since that stuff is expensive in Germany compared to the USA. Not sure how you will ship stuff to your new home.

If you are not from a cold weather place, you will likely need more warm clothes than you had in North America.

Summers are nice there, but short. Have some good waterproof boots since it does rain and snow there.

Enjoy, Germany is great.

Note mary said her husband is a dual citizen. That likely changes the tax situation, doesnt it?

dual citizens still have to play with the IRS every year, regardless where they live anywhere in the world or the cosmos

Thank you everyone for your views. I was able to find an expat to Nürnberg Facebook group, which was helpful. Our apartment is fully furnished, so we won’t bring any furnishings and we already sold our car here. We will consult with tax issues after we arrive. Thankfully we are healthy and don’t need to worry about medications. I do know last year when my husband got Ill we tried to find Ibuprofen and it was expensive, have a large bottle to bring with us. We will bring a couple of our favorite seasonings with us. We have our marriage license with apostele stamp.

It was the weirdest stuff that I missed when I moved to England.

Mac-n-Cheese - my Mom used to ship boxes of it to me in care packages, it's lightweight.
Peanut Butter - it was harder to find back then. Sounds like it might be easier now.
Favorite snacks - for me it was popcorn, though I did eventually find a place to buy it.
Taco Bell - I found one and used to visit a girlfriend who lived near it to get my fix.

Bring your Thanksgiving recipes, or put them online. I eventually found a shop that carried cranberries. I ordered a turkey from a butcher - he wanted to know if I wanted it with or without feathers. Ummm, without please!

I shipped a lot of my small electronics (it was a company-paid move) so that I wouldn't have to buy everything right away. As they died, I bought local versions so that eventually I no longer needed the very bulky voltage converter that I had brought.

Although I had a local car, I was really glad to have a bicycle to go on adventures on the weekends! I'd advise buying one locally.

Yeah, things have changed a lot in Germany over the past 10 or even 20 years. You can buy turkeys as well as fresh cranberries in just about any grocery store. Canned pumpkin is harder to find, but stores like Rewe sell frozen Hokaido pumpkin and all you have to do is cook it a while. The alternative is to use the fresh Hokaido pumpkins which are easy to use as you do not have to peel them. They are widely available anywhere.
For that VAT tax, unless you are with the military or foreign service or a tourist leaving the EU on your way home, yes you have to pay this.

Ms Jo, unfortunately my husband is not a fan of pumpkin. Being from Germany he never grew up with peanut butter. Looking forward to the seasonal vegetables and fruits in the markets. Getting our belongings down to minimum. Any ideas on cheapest way to send several boxes from US to Nürnberg?

It was the weirdest stuff that I missed when I moved to England.

Mac-n-Cheese - my Mom used to ship boxes of it to me in care packages,
it's lightweight. Peanut Butter - it was harder to find back then.
Sounds like it might be easier now. Favorite snacks - for me it was
popcorn, though I did eventually find a place to buy it. Taco Bell - I
found one and used to visit a girlfriend who lived near it to get my
fix.

Bring your Thanksgiving recipes, or put them online. I eventually
found a shop that carried cranberries. I ordered a turkey from a
butcher - he wanted to know if I wanted it with or without feathers.
Ummm, without please!

Things are different here now. Most major supermarkets have frozen turkeys from Hallo'ween until well into the new year, fresh ones from mid-December for the Christmas table, most have frozen cranberries year round and fresh from mid-November, and canned and/or jarred cranberry sauce year round. All stores have peanut butter year round, and Jiffy is making a big advertising push this week. Popcorn everywhere. In bags pre popped, in bags pre popped with gourmet flavourings like salted caramel, cobs ready to pop at home, ready pop. Just different or generic brands. Mac-n-cheese a staple here (often a child's dish) and boxes are available in the American or Caribbean section of most Tescos and all Costcos.

Taco Bell? There was one in Bloomsbury I used to ride by on the bus pre-covid. Don't know if it is still there. You can keep it. There is much better Mexican here than that.

There is much better Mexican here than that.
There is much better Mexican everywhere than that. As I say, I missed the weirdest things. (I used to go to a Taco Bell near Earl's Court.)

Nigel,
I was born in Texas and have been eating Mexican food since I was a toddler. Food in Mexico is a bit different from what is called Tex-Mex. Mexican food in the USA is best in the SW USA, especially Texas, It varies a bit between the Mexican food in New Mexico and California. You can find some good Mexican food outside of the SW USA, but it is not common.

By the way, Taco Bell is awful. It is hardly representative of the Mexican food from the SW USA.

I lived in Germany for four years and really missed good Mexican food. Occasionally, we would be in a city that had a "Mexican Restaurant" but it was always a poor spinoff of the real thing. I have traveled a lot in the UK and love your country's dining, especially the fish and chips. Also, love the Indian and Italian restaurants. I can't say that I have even seen a Mexican Restaurant in Britain.

sorry about hijacking the thread.

My wife is from Fort Worth and went to Trinity in San Antonio for college, so we have a decent knowledge of real Tex-Mex - everything from Panchos to La Fonda.

Burrito bars and restaurants all over England, not tex-mex but good to very good, all of Thomasina Miers various chains, including Burrito Mama at One New Change in the City of London across from St Pauls,

We used to have TGI-Friday for a bit of Texas meat market. We even have a few smokehouses where some pretty decent 'que can be found - I just have to go to Cambridge.

I don't know if Texas Embassy is still ticking over...

First thing I want to say congratulations you picked the right place for retire!

Well speaking from experience make sure you do not carry a lot of clothes because that happened to me, turns out here there are a lot of quality clothes with less price. I would highly recommend that you brought all the medicine that you often use and some seasoning that they dont sell in Germany.

I dont even suggest you to bring any electronics...since I feel like you can just get it easily in Germany and the price are okay too. Maybe some beauty products that they dont sell here. That's all seriously....I used to brought a lot of stuffs from home turns out most of the time they also have it here with the same or similar pricing.

Even better if you decided to move to a furnished apartment. I was doing that too the first time I move to Germany. However, the regulations are a little bit confusing. My landlord wasnt the nicest person at the time and I didnt know about the rules so I just live with it. I hope you get yourself a little bit of rent regulations since at some case if you have any problems etc you can ask to have the loan decrease :D

Hope it helps!

Are you going to live in Nürnberg? Just curious because I lived there from 1982-1985 when I worked for the US Army. I visited briefly in 2009 and went by my old apartment at Schoppershofstraße 83, on the top (4th European) floor. By then it had become condos and I'm sure had been updated since I lived there.

Working for the Army, I had access to the Commissary and PX, but I also shopped at the little market around the corner from my apartment which was still there in 2009.

Within a couple of months of arrival, I started buying all my clothes and shoes "on the economy." It seemed like the clothes and shoes in the local stores were much better made and fit me better than anything in the PX.

I made my first IKEA purchase there -- a work bench to serve as a prep space for my tiny kitchen. That sucker was heavy. I carried it up to my apartment one step at a time, all 99 of them (no elevator). There were a few shelves in the kitchen that the previous renters had installed, but no cabinets.

I lived between Seattle and Tacoma for about 20 years. I found it colder in Germany with more snow, but wetter west of the Cascades. I definitely needed warmer clothes in Germany.

There were clothes lines off the little balcony outside my kitchen. I spent 3 summers in Nürnberg. Only one was warm, dry and sunny enough to dry my clothes using those lines. The other two were overcast and damp. I had a clothes washer that hooked up to the kitchen sink, but no dryer.

So, I rigged up a clothes line in my 2nd bedroom. I could dry a set of sheets on it in about 3 days.

My apartment was quite large, with high ceilings. It dated from about 1906 and was amazingly not destroyed in WW II. The toilet was up on a platform and separate from the bath. The bath had a sink and a tub, but no way to attach the hand held shower wand for a standing shower.

The previous renters had also installed framed closets in both bedrooms and the end of the long hall. They went almost to the ceiling, but there were no doors. I added some lace curtains, and bought a ladder.

The windows had rolladen on them, even up that high. I don't think that's common. I loved how they worked and how they helped moderate the wind, cold, heat, bugs and noise.

I loved the adaptations I had to make when I lived in Nürnberg. I was 36 and up for just about any challenge.

I hope that wherever you live will be both challenging and delightful.

Ron in the Netherlands suggests making friends with people who have PX and commissary privileges who can keep you supplied.
Do NOT do this. They risk losing their ID and getting in deep trouble. I wish people would stop suggesting this.

Either learn how to make your own items (there are lots of recipes online that copy favorite dishes), learn where you can buy them on the economy, or simply do without. In Germany, you will be amazed at all the things you can buy in regular stores that did not use to be there 10 years ago. Any spices you need are widely available here. I would not use up precious space in my luggage to bring jars or spices.

Thank you everyone for replies. Lo I especially liked your recalling your time in Nūrnberg. We arrived over 3 weeks ago. The concerns of difficulties we imagined turned out to be no issue. Such as arrival, no questions at border control about why, how long, we will be here. My hint for anyone coming over is save your boarding passes. My husband does not have a arrival stamp in his German passport but saving the boarding passes helps.
My 2nd tip research the apt rental companies. We are not in the apt we contracted to have before leaving US, apparently the apt has water damage. So they had another vacancy not far away, it is filthy dirty, oven, microwave don’t work. Electrician was sent out, now the dishwasher doesn’t work. The worst part is there has been no further communication. The broker also can’t reach the landlord. So we are still living out of suitcases. Still unable to cook except stovetop, but don’t have leftovers because can’t reheat them.
I don’t want to go out and buy a broom,mop, cleaning solution and do the work of cleaning if we get to move into the apt we signed for.
Otherwise we love Nurnberg and Germany. We have been able to take a couple of drives and spend overnights in hotels that are clean.
Again thank you for responses.

Mary, I'm sorry to hear about your initial housing difficulties and I hope they get sorted out and you can move into the apartment you're supposed to have soon.

Thanks for sending me down memory lane. I did a little Googling and was able to see my old building well enough to determine that it was built in 1912, not 1906 as I thought.

The grocery store (REWE) has a website and the store appears to be at least 5 times the size it was when I shopped there. The Schoppershof U-Bahn stop is right at it. There was no U-Bahn when I lived there. I used the Straßenbahn or drove my VW Rabbit.

We all parked half-on, half-off the very wide sidewalks. Now there are car cutouts.

There seem to be many more shops, cafés and bars in the area. My beloved Greek restaurant just a block away was still there in 2009, but it is now replaced by a Cuban restaurant. Hmmm? Wonder if it's good?

There were 5 apartments in my building, one on each floor. Each of us in turn was responsible for interior cleaning of some public spaces. That was pretty easily managed for me, but we were also responsible in turn for keeping the sidewalk in front of the building cleared of snow and ice. That was almost impossible for me to keep up with because of my work schedule. I mention this in case y'all have similar requirements for where you live.

Now, here's a very short list of things to eat for me. I really miss them: Nürnberger Bratwurst, Schäufele mit Knödel and Lebkuchen.

A behind the scenes tour of the Nazi rally grounds building was offered shortly before I returned home, and I was the only person who took it. I saw lots of rubble, at least one safe that hadn't been removed, painted over Nazi decoration and much more. The grounds and buildings were returned to Germany by the U.S. Army after I left.

This is the Albert Speer building I'm talking about. The article is fairly recent. The most fascinating part of my tour was the graffiti left by American soldiers. All I saw was written in pencil. It usually included the soldier's name, where they were from and the date they were there. I hope that someday people will be able to see that, even if the building is not restored.

Lo, I enjoy your trips down memory lane! Vielen Dank!
Trust me I have eaten enough Nürnberg brats, they are so good!
Our current apartment is a four story building with one apartment per floor. The 2 flights of stairs leading to the rental apartments are very dirty with trash under the overhang of the stair above it. We are on 3 and the stairs continue on up to the 4th floor, I believe the older lady up there is a permanent person, her stairs you could eat off of. I haven’t seen her do this but it appears by the cloth that she wipes down the stairs as she is going out and then takes cloth upstairs when she returns.
The one thing so far we have missed is warmer clothes, since we were packing in midAugust and arrived first of September it was a heat wave both in Portland and here in Nürnberg. ‘The switch has been flipped,’ it gets chilly at night. Our son is sending a box of our clothes. We will pick up at FedEx facility as we don’t have knowledge of where we will be when it arrives.