What is the minimum amount of stuff would you take?
 

As we (hopefully) be moving later this year, we are beginning the job of clearing out stuff so when the time comes we won't be bringing the world including the kitchen sink.

We are planning on bringing what we would call the big ticket items;

Couch,
Beds/mattresses,
TV,
Computers,
Clothing,
Kids toys (this will be limited but we want them to have there own)
Washing machine and tumble drier

Along with this we will be bringing all the kitchenware, some other furniture (Bookcases, storage units and drawers etc).

So above what I have listed, is there anything that is a must? I know people say bring everything, but we want to take the opportunity to downsize too.

Re: What is the minimum amount of stuff would you take?
 

Having done the Oz - UK - Oz move twice, I agree that it's a good opportunity to downsize. The first time we took no furniture or big electrical items at all, the second time was an 'everything' job.

Your first consideration is what size shipping container you're using. If you have the room, take as many things things as possible that you use and would have to replace. Do you have hobbies/leisure pursuits with associated gear? Lots of much loved books? A nice dining table and chairs? Outdoor furniture? Tools, gardening gear? Artwork? Wall mirrors? Rugs? Bed linen? Sound system? Don't underestimate the cost to replace items that you know you'll use, nor the pittance you'll get if you sell them. In addition, it's surprising how much personal stuff we collect that's hard to part with. Photos, important documents, nan's crystal that you inherited, that sort of thing.

There really aren't any 'musts', that all depends on you and your family. But from my experience - if you know that you're going to use an item and it's in reasonable condition, take it if room allows. Best of luck with the move!

Re: What is the minimum amount of stuff would you take?
 

we found that the size of bed over here are different to the size of beds in the UK, so unless you are going to be buying your sheets, duvets constantly from the UK don't bother with them, you will also need to find something to sleep on before the containers turn up so might as well buy new beds and bedding, which is called Manchester over here.
Don't bother with things like wardrobes as most houses have built in, and again you will be needing to wait for the goods to arrive to utilise anything you are bringing over.
Bringing washing machines and tumble dryers is fine but again you may need to hire these until container turns up. we had to wait 9 weeks of being here before our container arrived. left just 28th Dec and arrived 13th March and we arrived 10th January. So don't underestimate the amount of time the container can take.

Kid toys we bought over with us, even the Wii, but also bought stuff to keep them entertained once we got here.

Re: What is the minimum amount of stuff would you take?
 

We have set a limit of a 20ft container. It's going to reduce what we can take as well as costs.

Only sporting goods I'll be bringing are 3 bikes (1 adult 2 kids) and 4 fishing rods. Rest get very little use.


Thanks both for the input though. Really appriciated.

We have our first company quoting us on the 5th Feb, so we shall see what they say.

Re: What is the minimum amount of stuff would you take?
 

Hi Spouse of Scouse,

It sounds like we are doing a similar return trip as yourself. We are looking at going back to Perth after 5 years of living in Wales. When we moved to the UK we brought our Aussie Car (long story), and about a third of a shared container worth of furniture and stuff. We still have most of our stuff from Australia (bed and electricals), and the car (which is worth nothing here but approx $10k in Aus), so will probably look to take all this back, plus maybe some of the newer whitegoods and small items we have accumulated over the past 5 years. I'm thinking if we get a full container we can put the car in it as well. Do you have any experience of this?

Could you please give me any idea of what shipping companies you looked at and liked? What was the timeframe for shipping items to Perth? We are just outside of Cardiff.

Re: What is the minimum amount of stuff would you take?
 

Sounds like you'll be fine with a 20 foot container. Best of luck with the move.

Re: What is the minimum amount of stuff would you take?
 

Hi Poida (having a giggle at your user name :lol: ) For our return to Perth this year, we had sole use of a 20' container and were quite surprised how much could be crammed in there. Which was just as well, as all our stuff had been bought new in the UK 3 years previously, so I wasn't about to leave any of it behind!

Re: bringing the car back - that's something we thought of doing too. We had a 2012 Peugeot SUV that we loved and was in great condition, but after some research we decided against it. The regs for importing your vehicle into Oz are bloody complicated (how unusual!), I'm sorry that I can't remember all the ins and out but I do remember that I had to glean information from 3 different WA websites and I still couldn't work out exactly how much it would cost. I think it was in the region of $2,000, but to be honest it was the red tape that defeated us in the end. I'm sure that if you got sole use of a 40' container and didn't use more than half for the rest of your stuff, your car would fit as long as it's not a limo etc!

All our electrical items were purchased in the UK, but my husband just put new plugs on them here and there's been no problems. Even the TV was fine, once he'd spent a couple of hours tuning it in...

We moved from Merseyside (New Brighton) to Perth (Morley). I got heaps of removal quotes by going on a few websites that are specifically for that, and ended up going with Britannia Fleet, their Deeside branch. Although they were the cheapest, that's not the only reason I chose them. I liked that they came to our home and did what they call a 'survey', to see exactly what we wanted shipped. They supplied all the packing materials, spent 2 days at our house packing everything so we didn't have to do a thing, then stored it all at their warehouse until we gave them the go-ahead to ship it over. We weren't ready for it to be shipped straight away as we needed to buy a property in Perth first.

All that went great, but they fell down on their ETA of the shipment in Perth. We were told 5 - 6 weeks, but it ended up being 12. It was a bloody pain because we had to get short term rental furniture to tide us over. Something I will say about them though - not one single item was damaged or broken during shipping. That is a very different experience to when we shipped about 20 boxes from Perth to the UK in 2015. That time we used a Pack and Send franchise, and about 25% of my old bone china and crystal was smashed.

The company Britannia used in Perth to transport our stuff from Freo to our home was Chess removals, they were good. All up price was £3,700 - I think the only extras were the Oz customs clearance (about $250 from memory), and $33 for Quarantine to destroy one of my pretend trees that unbeknown to me, had real bark.

I hope that helps a bit, best of luck!

Re: What is the minimum amount of stuff would you take?
 

We almost filled a 20ft container, bringing beds (UK king, and two twins, all of which pretty much flattened) two wardrobes (which were dismantled) and a small dining table and chairs, but no sofa, no easy chairs, no appliances, no TV, and one bicycle. Then we had the usual kitchen and tableware, a fair number of books, records, and CDs, a few hand tools (two tool boxes) and clothes of course. We didn't have children, so there were no toys. …… So my thought is that you may find fitting everything you plan to take into a 20ft container, to be more of a challenge than you expect. :unsure: