Real Estate in Barrington & The Northwest Suburbs: International Relocating to Chicago Illinois and Living Without Your Stuff

When my husband first told me we could relocate to Chicago Illinois in the USA it sounded intriguing but I was not sure. Move ahead a few weeks and we had decided that relocating to Chicago Illinois was on the calendar. The funny thing was we weren't actually relocating to Chicago, that's just the place I knew how to find on a map. My husband was going to be working for Motorola in Schaumburg. Were we relocating to Schaumburg? Read on you'll find out.

Shortly after Christmas in the UK, all our belongings were packed into a container, we were packed into two limos and headed to the airport, complete with suitcases full of clothes and our Irish Setter and two cats. That's all there was, the rest was headed for the Atlantic Ocean. The relocation to Chicago had started!

That doesn't sound too bad until you realize with two young kids and nowhere to live, you're essentially homeless, so how to cope. Well the first thing we had to do was find a home to rent. We were lucky as Motorola provided both our accommodation cost, or at least a monthly contribution, and an agent to help us find a house. For the short term they found a corporate rental condo for us in Schaumburg. We settled on a home in Arlington Heights, having searched many of the cities around Schaumburg. We ended up just over budget and our personal cost was $50 a month, the housing situation was taken care of.

Empty house! We did have to rent beds and basic furniture until ours arrived but that was not really a big deal. In Chicagoland there are a number of furniture rental stores to choose what you need in the short term.

But Mom, what can we do! The pets were taken care of, after all they just need love, food, somewhere to sleep and some outside exercise for the dog, not difficult, especially as they'll sleep anywhere. The kids, well that's another matter. At age 4 and 6 the TV, newly bought because the electric supply is different here, can only last so long. Kids need toys and they were floating on a container ship. So we had to go shopping.

If you know the expression "kids in a candy store" you can just imagine what it was like. Christmas all over again! The toys too, all different, what to pick? They finally settled within the budget we allowed and all was calm again until our belongings arrived, 6 weeks later. Our relocation to Chicago Illinois, was pretty smooth and uneventful, but I am an organized person and take most things in my stride.

How did we cope when we relocated to Florida? National relocation has different challenges especially as now we are Green Card holders and not moving across the pond. You can read about that in my next post. For now if a relocation to Chicago Illinois or the suburbs is in your near future, our relocation website is provided to help you. You can find homes to buy or homes to rent.