alipally

Hi,
I would really like to hear from people who did/didn't take their house contents with them when they emigrated to Australia....

I get a flavour of it but it's usually from those who have yet to move rather than those who have reached their destination....

so the questions are:
1. What did you take with you when you made the move?

2. In hindsight would you have done anything differently and why?

All replies gratefully received!

Wendy

1 - nothing

2 - nothing


I love not having any of my old stuff here and it was great (but tiring) buying all new things. Wouldn't change anything

Nu-Shooz

1. We brought everything with us.

2. Glad we brought it all.

northernbird

I brought everything with me down to my M&S potato peeler which I have had 17 years! Wouldn't have done it any differently, familiar things to us all which we have replaced some and added to in the 2 years we have been here.

the plumber

We just brought over what we could fit in 7 suit cases.......

I think if you have a lot of good stuff and you can fill a container it would be worth considering.......everything we had was on its last legs anyway ....so was'nt worth it...


all the best plumb....

moneypenny20

We bought 90% of our stuff and wish we'd bought 100% We hate shopping.

redlion

Always seems a strange question to me personaly, why would you chuck/sell/give away all your stuff only to have to go out and spend money buying it all over again unless you particularly want to renew something. If you use it now in the UK then bring it with you because you will use it here, its no different here than there, you still need to cook food or mend things or sit on things or sleep on things, of course this is only my humble opinion and we are all different. Good luck with the move

Nev

carmele

We didn't intend to ship at all, we are so glad we did!

Carmel

STEVE&TERRI

We did not bring any of our furniture with us when we emigrated, just shipped over 6 boxes of personal things eg,photos childrens certificates and a few personal items ect,if we could do it all again would have brought the kitchen sink,we so regreted having to buy everything again,and it takes a big chunk out of your savings ,which you need when you are here. Terri

soulrebel

So in general was it cheaper to ship your stuff over than having to buy everything new all over again?

suzimc

We'd always intended to bring just a few boxes of personal effects with us, as our furniture had been quite cheap to start with, was a few years old, and not worth carting around the world, plus it was perfect furniture when it came to renting out the flat we left behind!

As it turned out we ended up living in the States for 18 months before we could move to Australia, and rather than chucking a shed load of money at rental furniture we bought our own over there.

We sold a few things before we moved here, our king size bed, dining room table and one of our sofas were the main items, just because we were concerned that they wouldn't fit into an Aussie home, plus electrical goods due to the low voltage they have in the US. I am sorry we left the bed behind now because it would fit in our room and I was so sad to see it go! It was nice to get the few new things we did other than that though.

Have a think about how much it would cost you to buy all the stuff that you would want and hadn't taken - it does mount up, believe me! If you're hankering after a load of new things and you can afford to then this is the ideal opportunity to make some purchases, but if you're quite happy with what you've already got or you're counting the pennies then you will probably be better off shipping.

cartel

Unless you can afford to leave it all behind and have no emotional attachment to it, BRING EVERYTHING!! Seriously, we thought we covered all area's but we have still had to shell out $10,000 + to get all the summer kit plus, and don't forget the cars you will buy, and uniforms and PHI and LC and ......

Just bring it all and replace it as you find necessary.

Good luck


Carol

Starcatcher

1. 2 suitcases, photos and all of kid's toys.
2. Would have brought everything. We gave away/sold for a song some lovely stuff in the UK. Even replacing bed stuff, linen and towels etc mount up to a small fortune. 2nd hand stuff in WA is over priced and no boot sale bargains like in UK. Plus shopping is such a drag when you have so much to do and you just don't know where the bargains are! So pleased we shipped over toys - little one was delighted when toys arrived and they were a big help in settling in.

Wendy

I'll answer that if I may (and if I may not I'm going to anyway )

All our stuff, except a wardrobe was over 5 years old. It was all pretty knackered and really not worth bringing.

We would have probably replaced it all had we stayed in the UK, but when we started the emmigration process we thought why buy stuff here just to ship half way around the world and either do without for weeks on that side or do without for weeks on this side.

So we sold what we could, gave away some stuff and skipped the rest.

When we got here we bought everything brand new, from furniture right down to cutlery. We have spent approx $25k on everything for a 3 bed house. All of it was in our house the day we moved in, no worrying about customs, no borrowing stuff from anyone and no buying garden furniture to eat off until our stuff came (I did buy an outdoor set, table, 6 chairs, lounger and a 4 ring BBQ with side burner for $950 and it was from Myers, so not cheap crap either.)

So it really is an individual choice, and really depends on whether your stuff is worth shipping or not. For us, our stuff would have been worth less that the shipping cost

Hutch

We brought very little for similar reasons to Wendy - it being mainly old and knackered - cheapo MDF crap for the most part. We do regret not bringing more though - little things like kitchen utensils - I have no idea why I didn't bring them...