fin

I'm yet to book a removal company. Wanted to see how many boxes I had first so I can get a close to accurate quote. I really have NO idea who I'm going to use either

I got my boxes from removalsupply.co.uk I purchased moving kit 1 for £39.00 but the price has now gone up. With the larger boxes I'm worried they would be too heavy if I pack dvd's and cd's and what not, so I wanted a few smaller boxes. They forgot my marker pen though

ME TOO!!!

I can't believe you're going to go back through the boxes you've already packed. I would dread doing that! Although I understand your reasons. There are a few things my husband has handed me to keep and if I was left to pack on my own I would have surely thrown it out. He's more sentimental than me it seems!

homewardbound

If the skip wasnt so full it wouldnt be too bad but the black bin is full, the skip is full i have bin bags lining up and still filling them. I want the removalists to come in and take all the big stuff out my way then leave me for a week to sort out the rest... But sadly they arrive tomorrow, I have a migraine, the tablets arent working and my back is painful.

Feeling thoroughly fed up but by monday i should be almost ok and if anyone mentions getting a job i might just snap in half!

I had visions of going through the kids stuff again and throwing half but i dont think i will have time and think it will be proplus time come 6pm!, 8pm, 10pm, 12pm and probably 2am at this rate.

Cheetah7

Im getting ever so stressed about it all and can only do a few tasks a day without feeling ill and then I have to stop.

The headaches, dry skin, feelings of panic - all stress.

So I have given myself tasks to do each day and then 'permission' to have 'me time'.

We have loads to do but we will get there, the paperwork is bothering me most.

If you have a headache, you must stop and go into another room. Don't ignore those signs, take a couple of hours out because you will get far more done if you are kinder to yourself.

(said she with another 4 boxes to do)

Hope you feel better soon.

fin

I agree with PP, you need to take a break. Yes there is loads to do but you need to rest, have a cold drink or a cuppa whatever you normally drink put your feet up and don't think about what you have to do (easier said than done I realise) but seriously you need to chill for a bit or you'll only make yourself worse and wind yourself up!!

Cheetah7

Im a lover of lists - and yesterday it was with great satisfaction that I could tick off several things.

I find when I get home from work, I am shattered so I just have a bath and a nice soak, have my tea and then go straight into the bedroom to get stuck in with packing.

Im realising that the only way I will get sorted is if I stick to a timetable. Tonight I shall do my tax return (sweet Jesus I hate forms) and then I will take a short break and do an hour of sorting. The rest of the evening is mine.

If I dont prioritise then I panic and then come the headaches.

homewardbound

Well I'm sat with a cuppa coffee - the cocodamol are starting to work and I'm just trying to relax... My plan is to systematically work through room by room with a bin liner and pick anything up that needs binning.. whilst moving stuff and putting it where it needs to be... but not moving to next room til 1st room is done. Then tonight i am going to finish sealing all the fossils and wash and virkon s all the shoes, golf clubs and bike. Then i'm going to print off DO NOT PACK signs in red ink as the black is almost out. Then I'm going through the aquis forms again to make sure i havent missed anything. Mum is coming soon and she is taking suitcases and food boxes to hers.

Tomorrow morning i must remember to tell the packing guys to leave the computer til last as well as my bed and the beddding

Oh god i have bedding to wash too. Ok i'm not thinking about it now - listing stuff sets me in panic mode because its endless

TeresaG

Good luck with your packing. I am dreading doing ours when the time comes.

wiltsgurl

Wow, we havent even got the house on the market yet (planning to end of Feb) and I am already thinking about packing a few bits up.

My plan of action is, empty the garage, start boxing, labelling and storing it all in the garage, live with the bare minimum, so when the time DOES come to ship over, I've got no worries about last minute packing and deciding what I want and dont want as I am the sort of person to totally stress over the littlest of things.

ONe or two other questions, we are planning to take some electrical items with us ie tv, pc. laptop etc, and also I want to take my leather sofa with us. The problem is on the list of prohibited items into Australia I notice "skins" is on there. TEchnically, a leather sofa is skin sooooooo does this mean I cant take it? or any advice on where to look to ask if I CAN?

one more question - suggestions on a good shipping company would be most grateful

dainty

I don't know if people have looked at TNT magazine ( in London) or online but esp if you are only taking a few boxes like us there are lots of different companies that ship stuff tea chests etc. and the cost is very reasonable ,also you can do online quick quotes with lots of the companies if you just want a rough idea.

It sounds crazy but has anyone else compared the prices for sea vs air freight and/ or know of anyone cheap for air freight?

As we need to fly via north America to visit the OH's family on the way we might as well try and take advantage of the 46kg allowance which means we will only have a few things to ship and because it arrives so fast we won't have to buy anything as a stop gap, so it could be a good option £250 for 50 kg or so is the quote i have so far

Vuldon

Please be careful when calculating airfreight and seafreight, it's not all about just weight they have whats called volumetric weight.

Industry standards for :-
Airfreight : Width cm X Length cm X Height cm / 6000
Seafreight: Width cm X Length cm X Height cm / 8000

whilst these are standards not all companies divide by 6000 / 8000 make sure you check with whoever you use

example for a sofa 100kg
120 cm wide x 210 cm long x 110 cm high = 2,772,000 cubic cm's

airfreight 2,772,000/6000 = 462kgs
seafreight 2,772,000/8000 = 346.5kgs

you end up paying for the volumetric weight not the actual weight

dainty

Thanks for info on air vs sea freight .

I don't know if this will be helpful to anyone else but it may give an idea of comparative costs for anyone else sending small amounts

For 6 tea cartons door-door ,London- Sydney,no insurance

Sea freight 346 (8-12 wks)

Airfreight 579 (7-14 days)

I've just e-mail a bunch of companies and they have all come back with online quotes for the above ,for sea freight between 285-400 so that seems about right and i am guessing another 200 or so for insurance.

Some of the quotes say 10% GST for OZ is also included in quote but I think that must be a con as surely that would only be for new goods?

fin

How's everones packing going now then? I finished the day with only one tea chest size box done and two half small boxes packed, and about 3 garbage bags full of rubbish!!

Then I worked for 4 days (12 hour shifts) and I'm now on 4 days off so I'm ready to pack the rest! Got a busy 4 days ahead of me I think!

Poppydreams

Hi

Now we finally have the visa we can start packing process! I literally just logged on now to order the moving kit from website you suggested. We threw out a couple more rubbish bags on the weekend though!

Cheetah7

I have one more box to fill, the box of shoes to clean, the box of clothes to put in vacuum bags and suck the air out of, our documentation to sort out and put in our hand luggage, buy two more suitcases to see how much more either can fit in them or needs to be boxed.

We will be done by Sunday i should imagine.

Oz-bound

We used PSS Removals and shipped 6 boxes (after a bad estimate of 4)!!! Ask for plenty of boxes to be delivered as providing you give any unrequired ones back unmade you only pay for what you ship.

PSS were great and our stuff arrived in perfect condition, clean, fresh and no mould - clothes didn't even need washing or ironing which was a total shock as was in storage for 2 months before shipping!

Everything arrived 1.5 weeks after ship docked and quarantine/customes fee was $28.

Best tips I can give is;

* Keep the inventory simple (just list i.e. ladies clothes, books, CDs - not war an peace!)
* Wash all shoes and state that they're washed clearly on the inventory
* Don't pack anything in plastic bags as it encourages mould

We also didn't bother with insurance as basically when you look into it, it doesn't cover you for much at all!