Sunshine7

Where in Perth would be a good place to buy cheap household goods such as mattresses, towels, bedding, cutlery, crockery etc?

We have a long term unfurnished rental sorted out for when we arrive, and the plan was to rent a 'furniture and household pack' to tide us over until our own stuff arrives. Our shipping will take up to 12 weeks, and the household pack will cost $2700 for the first month and $2100 for subsequent months. Okay, that includes everything we could need such as white goods, beds, kitchen wear, bedding, towels, dining furniture etc, but it seems such a lot of money.

If we need the stuff for three months it's going to cost nearly $7000 and I reckon I can buy everything we need to tide us over for that price. We will be buying a double mattress anyway because our one is ready for the bin, and I see I can buy cheap sprung single mattresses for the children from Ikea for $70 each - which we could just store for guests after our own stuff arrives. We also intend to buy a new suite when we arrive.

Where in Perth would we go to buy all the other basics to do us for 12 weeks? We just want stuff which is cheap as chips because obviously all our own stuff will be arriving. We will need to rent a washing machine and a fridge, but I'm hoping that is all.

Any ideas where to shop?

Bermudashorts

Sorry I cannot help but I just thought I would say I am in exactly the same boat. I priced up furniture rental with Living Edge yesterday and it would be about $1k a month (no kids for us so just basic, 1 bed, 1 sofa, 1 armchair plus couple of other things) plus $1k to deliver and pick up! And then not to mention the credit, employment and reference checking we would have to go through - even though I said we would pay up front. Absolute joke.

We decided we would rather spend our $3k on things we get to keep. So far I have picked out an airbed at Big W. That is as far as I got. I will let you know if i find any more bargains.

verystormy

We arrived here with only cloths so understand where you are comming from. Ikea do a great home starter kit that has all the kitchen stuff you could need and pretty good quality - everything from pans to a garlic press and all for a couple hundred.

The have a look at the packages fantastic funriture do - google them. The for towels and bedding have a look at K Mart and Big W.

Hope this helps

Family of 3

We'll be in a similar situation as we'll be moving into our own empty house but waiting for our shipment.

Last time I was in Perth, I looked at towels, kitchen stuff etc. Target and Kmart were reasonably priced, as well as IKEA. You can get nice basics there.

Since our place there is bigger than our place here, we'll buy a bed for the spare room (and inflatable mattresses until then). Also, bar stools for the kitchen counter until the table/chairs arrive. I thought I'd buy a garden bench/sofa from Bunnings or Big W (Jamie Durie range) and we can use that as a sofa till the sofa arrives. Last time we "camped out" in the house (2 weeks in Nov 2008 when it was newly built) we bought a bar fridge for $99 from Kmart and used a service wash place at Scarborough beach.

Can you get Australian "home" magazines (e.g. Home Beautiful, Australian House and Gardens) where you are? Can be very useful to get an idea of what shops there are here and you can look at websites.

HelenTD

Try www.radio-rentals.com.au for a whole lot of stuff - they do shorter rental periods than those on their website.

For smaller household items, same stores that others have suggested - Kmart, Big W, Ikea, Coles, etc. Plastic comes in very handy at times like this - plates/bowls/cups can be used later for outside/picnics, outdoor table and chairs can be inside table/chairs for a few weeks. You might find camping stuff useful too. Those fold-up director-style chairs can be bought for about $15 and are very handy for extra guests outside, for concerts, picnics and for qualifying as a football mum.

Australians are very fond of electric frying pans and I had to buy one when we first moved into our new house. I bought a Sunbeam Metro Banquet and the pan can be detached from the element part.

I didn't like the look of the stuff at Fantastic Furniture, didn't seem as sturdy or good as the Ikea stuff.

eddie007

Where abouts in perth are you arriving ?

Kmart, Big W, Ikea, .....Good Guys are excellent for white goods

And if you aren't prejudiced against recycling... Perth Gumtree has some excellent buys on it... we picked up a 3 month old frontloader for $250 and a 3 month old fridge freezer for $300 for our eldest daughter from some ping pong poms going home.... complete with receipts and guarentees...

brought a garden setting to use as a dining table/ chairs until we found a dining set we liked....

be creative!

Genevieve

The only thing about Gumtree, while it's a great site, is that it can be hard either finding the location or actually transporting the stuff. For example a fridge won't fit in your standard car, so a trailer or something similar is needed.

Big W is good for inexpensive linen, crockery, cutlery, and even furniture - not so much beds, but stuff like tables & chairs. Your local shop (Coles, Woolworths, IGA etc) will also sell stuff like a basic range of crockery, cutlery, tea towels, sometimes even bath towels and sheet sets depending on the store.

A good place to have a look at 'what shop sells what, where' is Lasoo, which has catalogues for major chains:
http://www.lasoo.com.au/catalogues.html

If you go up to the top right side and just put your mouse over the 'categories' section, a whole heap of options comes up, so you can go to the sections you're interested in (home and garden, appliances etc). This is useful for comparing prices between stores that sell similar items.

Good luck!!

Sunshine7

Thanks so much for all the replies - I think we will have a shopping spree when we arrive and then make-do as much as possible until our container comes. We will probably rent a washing machine and a fridge/freezer and just buy the rest as cheap as possible.

We bought a new hoover for our container though, so I grudge buying another one when we get there - I guess we will have to just not hoover for 12 weeks! We also bought new quilts and bedding, so I suppose we are going to end up with LOTS of spares.

krestsaf

www.gumtree.com.au

www.ebay.com.au you can look by state and postcode

they have freecycle/freegle in perth google that and join and ask!

also www.oo.com.au

gget the weekly paper or look online www.perthnow.com.au top right classifieds and when ur done put it back on there, or ebay or freegle?

hope that helps xx

Jan4kids

Buy a fridge, just not a fancy one, this will become your beer fridge. Buy a nice outdoor setting and use it as your lounge furniture. For kids beds you can either go down the cheap mattress route or in 'Clarke Rubber' they do a great little folding chair thing that unfurls as a really comfy single bed.....and is great looking for kids bedrooms and sleepovers after. Bring one favourite Duvet cover each for the kids in your luggage (it helps with the settling in process too) Extra sheets/pillows/doonas will come in handy later as will towels. A camping set of plates and cups will get used when you start camping (it's a great national obsession here), we used boxes as lamptables and bedside cabinets etc ..... Houses usually come with dishwashers and cookers. ......Oh and I used an old milk bottle cut down as a vase

Why not stay at a holiday Park for a few weeks to cut down on the hardship time.....although actually I quite enjoyed our minimalistic period, especially without all the kids toys to pick up

Best Wishes, Jan

P.S All prices(furniture and whitegoods) can be haggled here, especially with cash purchases

eddie007

Are you getting extra baggage allowance because you're immigrating? we did and managed to pack LOADS of 'useful' stuff ... the basics... knife fork spoon each... tin cup each .... tin opener...

the one favourite dooner cover set is an excellent idea... we did that too...

having said that... if I was doing it all again I'd have brought 40kg of cadburies chocolate buttons...

hoofie2002

I've said this one a few times - buy a metal outdoor furniture set, put it INSIDE the house and then use it to sit on/eat off until your furniture arrives. Then you STILL have a nice furniture set to use outside.

Sorry - Jan4Kids has got there first but it is very good advice

Sunshine7

Thanks for all the tips - good idea about the fridge! It makes sense about buying the garden furnutire, only we are planning to bring our new-ish set of wooden garden furniture with us. I can easily buy a camping table and chairs or something though.

I think we will go into furnished accommodation for a few days just to give us time to go shopping and get stuff delivered.

I was planning to take a duvet set for each of the children - if we have space. We will only have 30kg allowance each so it will be tight.

JPSUPERHOOPER

got some good cheap stuff at garage sales people who were going back home!

mark213

Try the Salvos even