CORKER

If and when we get our VISA..we are a family of five and we will be taking all
our stuff in suitcases.....we just can't see the point of shipping all our old stuff to the otherside of the world...when we are supposed to be making a fresh start on a new continent..surley if you ship all your old stuff over there all you are doing is transfering your OLD lifestyle to a different place...this must alter your outlook on a new place when you've got the SAME old worldy stuff to go back to at the end of the days work......

Or is it just us.....

STEPHEN

artep

It's fine if you can afford to do it.

CORKER

We can't afford to do it really, but its surley all part of the adventure.....
making do and improvising...i.e. no telly, DVD, video games for a while...and after all you must be able to do something entertaining in a 4m x 4m rumpus room..
STEPHEN

Pollyana

PArt of it depends on what you need to make you feel secure - if you feel more at home with familiar stuff, it might help you to settle in quicker. Down to the individual I suppose, but having my own stuff arrive really made me feel like I lived here.

CORKER

Hi, as a matter of interest what sort of things did you take...
STEPHEN

hevs

If you can't afford it, don't do it. We were without furniture for 5 weeks waiting for our shipment, believe me, the novelty soon wears off. We replaced all our white goods cos our UK ones were knakered, that was bad enough, but to replace EVERYTHING, c'mon mate even dvd's?? time for a reality check
(not picking a fight or anything here!!)

BTW, our kids were stoked when their stuff arrived, the joy on there faces was almost worth the wait!!

Sandra

4 x 4 m rumpus room entertainment .......yes we put the pool table we shipped over from the UK it was lovely having all that space to use after having to keep it in the garage before.

It would be my worst nightmare trying to stay in a house with nothing and having all that shopping to do, imagine trying to replace the boring bits - beds, bedding, kitchen essentials, laundry baskets and the cost!

We brought the whole house and it was like Christmas when it arrived - as our house is bigger here as we buy new we put the old stuff in the extra rooms, eg spare beds for guests and sofas for the rumpus.

But agree it could be part of your adventure - enjoy

CORKER

With shipping costs of around £3,000 surley this will buy a fair bit of furniture.. and what about all this outdoor Australian way of life stuff.....I don't intend to spend too much of our time in the house anyway..
STEPHEN

Gjn200

I dont intend taking any big stuff ( except the telly), but will be taking personal stuff, books,ornaments,toys, tools, kitchen stuff, etc, becouse it is comparitivly cheap. 12 tea chests will only cost about £500 to send.

shecha

Hi Stephen,

We are not shipping anything over other than my sons toys, hubby's extensive collection of DVD's & his golf clubs and some of my personal stuff. These are being flown over in 2 large boxes along with the golf clubs. The rest will have to fit in 5 suitcases!!!

We intend buying everything new, as we want to make a complete new start, although it definitely works out a lot cheaper to ship your stuff over if it's in relatively good condition.

It all depnds on whether you want familiar things around you or not and whether you can afford to replace it all I guess.

Good luck anyway!!!!

Shell

jayr

Trust me its no adventure to spend the next few years replacing everything you once owned by got rid of for a 1/10th the price it costs to replace. Add up the replacement cost of what you need, if you buy the cheapest available thing of everything you will find it still comes to tens of $,000s of dollars.

Here's some approx prices of cheap stuff:

Double/queen bed $800
Sofa $500-1000
Fridge 400l - $700
WM $600-800
68cm TV - $300
Hoover - $100

Then there's iron, ironing board, manchester, mop, cutlery, pans, plates, mugs, kitchenware, laundry basket, pegs. computer desk, cd holders, tv cabinet, outdoor furniture, hose, bucket, set of knives, etc.etc.

Now I think I'd prefer to ship all that crap and keep the money I saved to have a real adventure frankly.

Elaine M

Hi Stephen,

I brought no furniture with me or white goods, just my kitchen stuff, books, ornaments and CDs (oh and my trusty stereo ).

I've spent around $12k on furniture and $7k on electrical items plus a grand on electrical work and loads on bits and pieces to set myself up in my new house. I've bought nice stuff but not top of the range by any means and I reckon I've spent around 10k pounds. I haven't furnished my spare bedrooms yet either as there's only me here, for now anyway.

It suited me to leave everything in the UK as my daughters are still there and I gave it all to them to start them off in their own homes, most of my stuff was old and/or cheap anyway. I really enjoyed shopping around for everything but not waiting for it to be made and delivered - 6 to 8 weeks from ordering!

It usually works out cheaper to bring your furniture over than to buy new here; you'll need stuff to sit on/eat off/sleep on while your stuff is in transit but it usually arrives quicker than new furniture will be delivered (at least in my experience - I've just got my sofas for my family room yesterday, ordered 18 October, but that's another story).

Many people prefer not to drag the kids round endless furniture and houseware stores on arrival.

It depends on how you look at the adventure - I can understand your view that a fresh start means just that. Just make sure you've weighed up the pros and cons for you and the family, you can't change your minds once it's all gone!

Good luck with the move,

Elaine M

Hels

I think you need to look at what it is you have to bring over. If your stuff is in really good nick and you like what you have, bring it!! Spend the money you would save on replacing it for exploring Australia.

If your things are old and you would, if staying in the UK, replace them anyway, then off to the boot sale for you!! I would still bring things like towels, sheets, kitchen ware (non breakable's), DVD's, CD's...A few boxes of things to ship dont cost loads. We sent over about 10 boxes and a few pictures and it only cost us about 300GBP. In my opinion well worth it. We didnt ship everything because we had loads of secondhand stuff. I am an Aussie and never planned to be in the UK permanently. I met my Hubby and after a while we moved in together. Knowing we were going to end up here in Oz, we begged, borrowed and stole whatever we could to survive with the intention of selling it before leaving.

Good luck to ya though.

Hels

Mercury Monkey

I would think again and bring more with you. The cost of replacing everything would be huge. Never mind the furniture but it's all the little things that add up, kitchenware, tools, Cds/DVDs etc., bedding, towels, etc. Also what about items with sentimental value, photos etc.?
Then you've got the physical time of all that shopping when there's so much more to sort out in your new country.
We brought a lot of boxes but not much furniture & we're still not fully furnished several years down the line!

You might want more of an outdoors lifestyle but get real, you still need a house. It does get cold here too, you need beds to sleep in and all the other bits & bobs for every day life.

It may seem a romantic option stepping off the plane with only your suitcases but listen to nearly everyone who has done it, not those still in blighty. Not saying bring your entire house contents but think long & hard before just bringing your cases!

MM

Shellfish

It’s unanimous, it seems. If you have stuff that is still in a reasonable state then I would ship it. Looking back, I have a few regrets. When we arrived, and starting buying everything that we needed, I was not working yet and we spent what seemed to be such a lot of money. It got to the point where, when we were buying things we would opt for the cheaper item, .i.e. bedroom suite or the stainless steel appliances, we got the cheaper one s which are all fine, but looking back, and because I am working now, I wish we had gone for what we really wanted but at the time all I could think was “there go our savings…�. Even if you want to replace things, if you bring your stuff with you then you can do it bits and pieces and it won’t feel as financially daunting.