suzanne7575

Seeings as it seems to cost around £3500 for shipping and looking at our stuff I'm wondering if it is worth bothering. We live in a 2 bed flat and literally have nothing of any worth. Our only decent furniture is our bedroom stuff but our sofa is from argos and all our other furniture is cheapo ikea stuff. personal valuable stuff could probably go in a couple tea chests. I know it can be easier to just get a container and fil it and have everything ready to start out with but for the cost I'm thinking we could probably buy everything new again, it just seems daft shipping over £20 ikea shelves

Vim Fuego

I came over with minimal spare clothes, 2 guitars and some PC equipment ... but I did have a house to live in when I landed so I had an advantage.

Personally I found the processing of clearing and converting stuff to cash very cleansing.

mum01753

Hi suzanne,

We are also not bothering with a container , i have just ordered 5 t chests and 5 book boxes from Freedom shipping the have a special offer on where you get the 5th box free

they have also quoted to package my paintings 5 althogether and a fishing rod tube holdall for the grand total of £ 370. as long as each box weights less than 40kg each.

This does not included quarratine which is $80 - $160 or insurance.

Most of our stuff is old and not really worth the bother, i did look in the kmart, big w, target cataloges and they regulary have specials on household stuff i worked out i could replace most of it for about £4000. as long as you not too fussy with expensive stuff to start out with. That is for a household of 4.

I am making a bit of money by selling stuff on ebay or friends and family have said what they would like.

Hope this helps you decided, see for yourself looked browes the shops on line.

Pauleen

Reedy

We've come over with just clothes etc!!!!

L x

Wendy

We came with a suitcase each, all I brought was photo's and clothes (the clothes all got thrown away within 2 months of being here )

We were the same, the whole house full of furniture we had was worth less than the cost of shipping would have been.

I agree with Matt, getting rid of everything was very theraputic. Buying new here was a great way for us to settle into our life, and all of our furniture would have been so out of place here.

breezeboylan

We brought no furniture with us. We sent a couple of tea chests with personal stuff like photos etc. Bought everything new on this side and don't regret a thing. It's really nice to start again with all new stuff
Tracie

verystormy

We are not planning on taking anything but cloths and photo albums. Our furnishings are worth less than the shipping costs (our sofa probably wouldnt even stand the journey). Instead we are marketing the house as perfect for a first time buyer and leaving it all behind.
You might want to look at Singapore Airline for your flight as they give a double allowance to people who are emigrating. So me and my partner will have 40kg each. Though with her shoes, we probably could do with a container, or several for that matter

Vin 'n Bin

I also came with just a suitcase and documents . I lived with friends and got a job within 2 days. I saved and within a few months I moved into a house and had enough money to buy all new furniture
But like Wendy, I threw all my clothes out before long and bought new, in keeping with the Australian climate

Nickie

We arent taking anything other than personal ornaments...like ones the kids have bought or me mum bought.
Photos...although they would probably fill a container on their own...photos are my drug im afraid..

Kids fave toys..this has been harrowing as anyone with kids knows that as soon as you pull that extremely dusty toy out from behind the wardrobe knowing its not seen the light of day for at least a year...its suddenly the favourite one thats played with all the time!!! so a lot of that sorting has to be done when im alone!!!

some clothes.

thats about it!!
my furniture is all old and crappy and just fit for the skip really.

Nickie

RedT

We're planning on using something like tea chests too. We do have some furniture that we like a lot but it wasn't expensive and I don't see the point in spending a fortune shipping stuff when you could just replace it for the same price or far less. We're lucky in that my brother lives in Oz and has a four bedroomed house so we can stay with him and won't need stuff straight away. But I still don't think we'd go down the shipping route anyway, easier just to get rid of anything but personal mementoes etc.

And apart from anything else, if you have the time and don't find shopping too stressful, how fun to have all lovely new things in your new place for your new life!! Great way to get rid of all the old crap too.

Therese

comet555

We didn't ship anything either. We only brought what would go as luggage (clothes, sports equipment, toys & dvd's). Our shipping was going to be $15,000 from Canada so we said forget it. We moved over with two little kids and have since furnished our 4 bedroom place from scratch.

It sounds like your furniture was a lot like ours, and you have even less of it. So it makes a lot of sense for you just to sell things off and ship some boxes.

What helped me was to make a complete list of EVERYTHING we needed, right down to cleaning supplies. I worked out how much it was going to cost to sell off and replace everything we had versus the cost of shipping. In our case it was close to the same only we could get nicer things in Oz. We also had a lot more to replace.

Aside from shipping some tea chests over you could look into a partial container.

Hutch

Came with a couple of PCs, bag or two of clothes and our son's toys.

Bought all new - regret not bringing more - in fact in hindsight I'd have gone the container route.

Scubaemma

I think we're going to go for a partial container (although haven't looked into it properly yet). We're in a 2 bedroom flat as well and pretty much all our furniture is crappy old stuff not worth taking (we'd be replacing it now if we weren't leaving).

But we do want to take a bit of stuff still - clothes, bikes, dive kit, photos, bedding, crockery etc. Just not sofas and beds and big stuff like that. So I reckon a partial container?

why

like many above first came here with two suitcases and a hairdryer.....second time...9 tea chests sold everything and bought when we got here...if i did it again (not planning to) i would bring even less...unless the stuff is dear to you....we used the money we made selling our crap car and furniture and bought crap car and furniture here.........it's good to change.......new life new stuff....good second hand is good..much cheaper and australians are always having garage sales and get rid of really good stuff (especially in posh areas)

RedT

This is very true re the garage sales! My bro and his wife practically furnished their house from a nearby garage sale...amazing 1940's style wood bed furniture esppecially which they got for practically nothing. And he also said people just leave stuff out on their front lawn with a sign on to take it for free!! haha! my parents were horrified (they're super consumers) but my bro is very much into his second hand stuff/recycling things so Oz is heaven for him.