kiwi_janet

Hi Everyone!

We have a tiny flat so we hardly have any furniture and what we do have is cheap stuff from IKEA. The white goods are all built in so will be sold with the flat.

Do you think it would be worthwhile buying some stuff to take with us?

Janet

happynz

Hi Janet,

I think you need to weigh the cost of replacement against the cost of shipping.

Good luck.

garryhg

hi jacky g here
it depends on the quality of furniture you want....were in auckland and looking at some of the junk male that comes in your mail box daily,
there is a lot of cheap furniture here...

going to some of the bigger furniture stores can be expensive,but it is possible to buy furniture on a budgetwhen are you planning on coming out....sorry if you have already said this,but not read all the posts on here....

if you wanted to pm me your address i can post out some of the brochures with prices ,that would at least give you an idea of costs,then you would be able to decide if you should buy back home and ship out...jacky

sarahlou2411

We arrived with no furniture at all. Hubby used trade me for a fridge/freezer. Trade me is like e-bay, and he drove round collecting the stuff locally so could check everything out before handing over cash.
sofa and other bits were bought from 'why pay more-furniture'.
Transporting stuff is expensive and as far as I am aware the insurance only covers you if the ship sinks!!!

good luck

teambwr47

The insurance covers your stuff for damage on route to your house in NZ....

In our case everything was checked by the packers for condition and documented as such so that if some our expensive wood furniture or the new piano arrives bashed and scratched we claim.......

Your crate is insured for its total loss whether thats by it falling or being dumped off the ship or indeed the ships loss but the insurnace is not for just this scenario.

sarahlou2411

Well hubby did go with the cheapest being the tight git he is...

lardyl

as you say it can be cheaper to buy it all here but it can also be cheaper to ship it all here - depends on your circs.
I'd still tend to bring large items rather than sell em/give away at UK end only to buy again here - not all tradeMe is good stuff but most is bargainacious! Pays your money....
If I had a container part filled and wanted to add some stuff then I'd bring out a washing machine as the european front loaders knock spots off the NZ top loaders and most front loaders here, we effectively did that by leaving a real bargain Hotpoint W/M from Comet with our tenants and shipping the Bosch Exxcel machine we already had, can't get a machine with 1600 spin speed for the price of the Hotpoint (or three of them!) in NZ.......
No hard and fast rules but it *seems that* more people to bemoan leaving stuff/giving it away rather than suggesting that "we shouldn't have brought all that stuff"....ah the heuretics of moving continent......

sarahlou2411

[QUOTE=lardyl;5323550]as you say it can be cheaper to buy it all here but it can also be cheaper to ship it all here - depends on your circs.


I agree... its a very personal decision for the individual.

We had planned to come to NZ for a long time, so didnt replace things when they needed it in the UK ie sofa, bed, mattress etc... We were also lucky in that OH brother lives in CHCH and was buying a house with his girlfriend. Therefore they had two houses already full of doubled up stuff they needed to get rid of. We bought a UK front loader, dining table, double bed and some occassional chairs from them a lot cheaper than on trade me. Just paid for the van to bring it here.

The things I feel I should have brought were the sentimental stuff. Paintings the kids did when they were going through school, our wedding keepsakes, christening and birth momento's. All currently packed in dry store in my mothers garage!!! dont think they will ever find there way here somehow

whitesand

I would say bring everything as furniture is very expensive here and very old-fashioned. If you like IKEA and modern furniture replacing it here costs a fortune. We brought most things with us and were glad we did. However, we didn't bring our great Braun coffee perculator and have been looking for one ever since. You can't get the range of some electrical goods here so it's worth taking them with you. Also, don't forget to bring your old clothes and things you feel really comfortable in, as these are the things you initially need.

Also, be careful if you buy new things to bring as you may have to pay tax on them.

kiwi_janet

We're planning on moving in about 18 moths time. It seems the advice is take everything, so I won't start selling off my stuff at car boot sales just yet

themoores

We are going to Hamilton in January and have been wondering whether to take our furniture or sell or sell a lot of it, this has been really helpful, thanks to all for your hints and tips. Hoping to fit all our stuff in a 20ft container if we can!??

How long does it take to ship it all out to NZ?

teambwr47

Depends on the route/ship your shipping company use but allow about 4-6 weeks.

Our crate will be here on the 25th Sept having left the UK on the 25th August

Obviously add a week or more for the shippers either end to get the crate to/from the docks etc

sarahlou2411

Our stuff arrives today after leaving the uk on 19th June!!!!:curse::curse:

teambwr47

Was that a container for your sole use or shared?

donnaf

I would say bring everything except wardrobes and washing machine, unless it's one that you can easily get parts for here. Our 6 month old hotpoint has completely bust here after 6 months. The repair guy said he frequently goes to homes of brits who have migrated whose washers have died after 6 months. The guy who delivered by lovely new front loader today said the same thing and I know several Brits who have had the same problem. If you do bring it buy a circuit breaker but we wish we hadn't bothered.
We also had a shared container which was OK apart from we had to wait until it was full before they shipped it which caused a delay but once it arrived it was bliss!