scaria197

So..we are planning to make the move in about 7 months. Too far out but need to start planning now-what to take what not to take.

We have been together for about 2 yrs...so do not have a boxload of old stuff that we will like to carry. We have:

-regular IKEA furniture (futon, bed, dining table, computer desk etc)
-32" flat screen
-Home theater
-Kitchen Appliances
-Clothes (like 6 suitcases of these)
-2008 Toyota Rav4
-2008 Mustang
-2 Laptops

-So, any suggestions on what we should take and what not to take?

-Also, is there something that you really miss out there and wished you had taken with you/shipped with you?

-Anything that is a lot cheaper here and would have been worth getting with you in the big move?


-Heard clothes are expensive!! Do you guys shop online for GAP, OLDNAVy, Aeropostale etc? Is it worth getting clothes from the US?


Any adivse will be golden..I personally am having a tough time in deciding on where to start.

thanks guys!!

-scaria197

lonndongeek

Don't think you'll be able to bring the cars in if they're left hand drive. Unless the car is something special, it's probably not worth getting converted.

Cheers

Steve

caliburn

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.1; U; en-us) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413 es61)

Bring as much clothes as you can, carry the laptops as well. Rest..... not worth the trouble, cost, electrical conversion etc. Put them all on eBay.... perhaps.

scaria197

Hmm..so get as many clothes as possible? Are the trends like here in the US? Regular Gap, Aeropostale, B Rep, eddie bauer type?

Yes we are planning to sell the cars. We are concerend that both are relatively new and we will surely be upside-down on the loans. You can buy new Mustangs at 17K and rav4's for 19K these days...

Worst case consider a reposession-butt hat will mess our credit history for 7 yrs in the US.

Dorothy

Bring what you think you would miss if you didn't have it. Leave anything you would not miss.

Advice from a former North American resident.

scaria197

Thanks Dorothy!!

That was really informative.

I have heard a lot of people say stuff is more expensive that the US. With Australian Salaries do you ever feel you are cash strapped or does it redefine "consumption"?

We dont have a really lavish lifestyle (thanks to us paying for my college loan which should finish in a few months) but have you ever wondered "if it was the US I would have done this"

PS: We are moving for more personal reasons than anything else. We are here on on Work Visas and can solve a few problems with the Australia move:

-Finally not a non-immigrant worker
-Wife is not stuck on the Dependent visa status (here dependents on H4 cannot work)
-Mom and Pop can be close to us quite faster than the US

I have lived here for 13 years and feel more home than real-home. So please ignore if this may not seem a true comparison.

shorrock

Dorothy, I just want to point out that when you said that the TV and Home Theater system won't work thats not 100% correct.

When it comes to electrical devices check the ratings on the back,side of the devices. If the devices say 110v or 110volts then the devices won't work (without a transformer). If they read 110v-240v then they will work. you just need to swap the plug/use an adapter.

One other thing to remember with electrical gear is that if it uses a electric motor (vacumm cleaner, espresso machine, washer) you need to check the frequency. Most electric motors in the USA use 50MHz, however in AU they use 60MHz. Even if the device is 110v-240v if it has a 50MHz motor you could burn it out due to the differece. Even using a setup down transformer the frequency is the same.

I'm currently in the USA and I try to buy devices that are 110v-240v as I know these will work back in AUS.

I recommend you leave/sell/give anything with a electric motor in the USA. Check your other devices to see if they are 110v-240v.

Please note that I have seen 220volts and 260volts on devices. These should be ok in AUS.

I will also recommend buying a few power strip boards before leaving USA. The attach 1 adapter plug to the board and connect your devices to the board. Saves buying adapter plugs for each device.

Amazulu

In my field, engineerng we earn a lot more than guys in the US - probably double here in Perth. Then again everything costs more here than in the US and we pay more tax.

johnnyx0

If I'm correct, TV won't work as America uses NTSC broadcasting system and Australia uses PAL.

Dorothy

Exactly. Bring the TV but it will be just an expensive paper weight.

comet555

I'm pretty much going to echo what Dorothy said.

I wouldn't bother bringing the tv unless it happens to be 110-240V and 50-60Hz. Plus, there's not much point unless it can also handle PAL as the video input.

For the laptops it really depends on the electricity again. We brought out laptop over from Canada 2 years ago and it's still running fine. But it is 11-240V and 50-60Hz. All we needed was a cheap plastic plug adapter to be able to plug it in. Most small portable electronics these days are built for dual voltage so you might be able to bring some of it. We also brought our digital camera and mp3 player and they are still working too.

My main rule of thumb is don't bother bringing it unless the voltage (110-240V) AND frequency w(50-60Hz) will work here. The only other thing is the PAL video system for tv's.

As for the rest of your list don't bother bringing your vehicles. I'd probably bring the clothes, particularly if you like them. It is a bit difficult trying to replace your wardrobe when you don't have all your favourite shops. Online shopping (particularly for clothes) is not as big here. So if you like Old Navy or the Gap stock up before you leave. It's a good time to clean out the old stuff and update your closet!

Also before we left I checked all of our kitchen appliances, alarm clocks, etc, before we left and none of them had the correct voltage & Hz so they were left behind.

There's nothing I really miss here. Mostly it's food items that I would love to be able to get, like real Special K (not the Aussie version of it), Canadian bacon, coffee crisp, Red Rose tea, etc.

shorrock

True, But depending on the setup of the HT it may work.

I currently use Windows Media Center with 2 tuner cards connected to my TV. If I was to us it in Aus, I'd just replace the tuners (~AU$75 each tuner).

If you wanted to watch Free to Air TV in Aus without a Set Top Box, then unless your TV supported PAL it won't work.

shorrock

Off topic, but you like USA Special K? This has more sugar (corn syrup) than most of the other boxed cereal. Have you tried Frosties in Australia, these would be very close to USA Special K.

torcraw

Re:PAL TV.

If the television is an HDTV, and the connection from the set-top OTA box (or cable/satellite box) to the TV is via HDMI cable, then it should theoretically work, HDMI will usually accept and display almost any video resolution input, including PAL.

(and vice versa with Australian HDTVs being able to play Region 1 NTSC DVDs, if you have a region-free player or Region 1 encoded DVD drive on a PC connected to TV via HDMI).

The bigger problem is with the power source though. Chances are the U.S. TV only accepts 110v, and using a voltage converter would eventually burn it out or wouldn't work at all. I would just leave the TV.

comet555

I have tried Frosties, they are the same as what I'd call Frosted Flakes in Canada. Special K in Canada is more like Rice Bubbles (Rice Crispies in Canada), except they are a bit bigger and shaped slightly different than the rice bubble. They're a closer to the Rice Bubbles than the Special K that looks like a flake in Oz.

You can see what they look like at the top of this page:
http://www.specialk.ca/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special..._except_Canada

On another note, we my daughter loves Frosties. So we have to buy them at Woolworth's as Coles doesn't seem to carry them.