Planning: Preparing to Sell Part 2 What to keep and Why

What to keep:

We kept
1) All kitchen utensils + Jars + tupperware
2) Electronics (TV, DVD player, Game consoles)
3) Selected kid toys
4) Clothes
5) Footwear
6) Selected furniture (Study shelfs, some ikea dressers)
7) Washer, Dryer and refrigerator (for the next lessee)

Kitchen Stuff (My wife is the authority)
We kept the following

1) All the spoons, spatulas, OXO brand stuff
2) We had a bunch of ikea bottles for storing stuff we kept them
3) Plates
4) Pots and pans, Cooking set (rachael ray)
5) Beer mugs, wine glasses, shot glasses etc etc
6) Baking pans etc

Reasoning it will help us settle quickly as well these things were collected over time after going through many iterations. Also it made sense from a financial perspective.

Electronics ( Will have a separate post. Near and dear to my heart)

Furniture: 

Debated this a lot. Always thought that furniture was cheap in India (key word being thought...). Since we had decided on the container and we needed to fill it up, we packed the ones that were in good shape and not too big.

1) Dressers
2) Bookshelfs
3) Shoe rack (open one)
4) Couch (we bought a new one in Dallas before we left an shipped it)
5) Bunk bed for kids
6) Over the door hangers for clothes, shower caddies etc

I feel i should have got everything from the US. Hindsight i would have got an entertainment center, dinning table (India size), study table and some more storage

Cost of furniture in India:
Furniture is EXPENSIVE in India, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I had a hint and confirmed this once i got there.

1) First of there are only so many places where you would want to shop (lifestlye, @home and maybe some custom shops)

2) Choices are less and prices expensive (the cheaper ones are usually particle board cheap crap)

3) Real wood furniture (teak etc) prices will make you want to go back

4) Most furniture now available comes from Malaysia (rubber wood) or Sri lanka (Damaro brand)

Advice: If you are a person with a reasonable sense of style, don't buy furniture in India unless you have oodles of cash to burn.

Clothes: (Jury is still out)

On the outset it looks like the quality of clothes is better in the US, but again there are so many cloth shops in India it is mind blowing (Wonder why people in India are not better dressed ... ? )

Advice: Get clothes from the US for men and kids. Clothes are reasonably priced and better.

1) For men all the dry fit clothes are cheaper in the US
2) Women if you are into ethnic clothes then India would be a a no-brainer