Things I am leaving out of the bags I'm packing for the Middle East move until the very last minute:

• Phone and charger
• Journal
• Kindle
• Computer, mouse, etc.
• Wear-on-plane outfit
• toothbrush

It's a very basic list, but writing this list down helped me decide what to pack first. I was feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start, so I sat down and created this short list before I could move on to the big list. The point here is that packing to go abroad for two years is a big job; to make it a little less daunting, divide it up into small parts and promise yourself a break after completing just one of those small parts.