ScyLarc

Well our things finally arrived from the UK, feels odd to have our furniture and bits and pieces back. I realised that half the things i couldn't be parted from and carefully packed away before we left are things i don't need/use or even want anymore!

When we started to pack i wanted to bring some food that we knew we couldn't find easily here so i had marmite and Bountys ready to go. I was gutted when the packers refused to take them. However my mum (bless her) somehow got past them and smuggled a jar of Branston Pickle in with our bedding. We found it last night...............utter bliss. I never realised how fantastic that stuff is with a chunk of cheese. Silly really, we don't miss that much but a little thing like Branston Pickle actually reduced me to tears

Bob

aye, great when you find things like that
And although you can live with out it all, having the little treats from home now and again is always nice

Elvira

I remember crying when I unpacked my favourite teamug six months after we moved...

Sad, maybe even pathetic, but I think most of us have had similar feelings at times.

britnyank

Just out of interest - being at the stage of packing my bits and pieces - what sort of things have you realized you don't need/use or want anymore? It might help me streamline things at this end!!! And reduce the cost!

ImHere

Everything pretty much. Only things we brought are irreplaceables like heirlooms and paperwork and stuff. We looked at it this way:If we are emmigrating lets make a complete new start and take the opportunity to clear all the detritus that gets picked up along the way and spends most of its life in various boxes/lofts/garages. It only took about 4 months to re-fill our house with piles of crap.

Chandler

I'd second that.

We were pretty ruthless in sending stuff to the tip/charty shop when we left. We rented our place furnished in the UK so that removed the furniture from the equation and meant we could by new. Clothes (perhaps just 50% of what we owned), some pots and pans, and some paperwork was all that made the trip with us.

But, as I stll here I can see a new clutter growing all around me! :scared:

Bob

Only things worth keeping honestly, any decent furniture, computer and some sentimental items and heirlooms....the rest just ditch....It's really only the small things that you want so you don't feel quite so home sick in the first few months your here, especially until you get your barings and know where to go to get decent groceries and things from home

Oh, books, shouldn't chuck those...and dvd's....definately keep all your paperwork safe...

Guelder Rose

I've got a closet full of all my 'sentimental' stuff ... about 10 large boxes! I shudder when I think of how much I paid to get that lot shipped over here, but there was just no way I could part with any of it ... so it's all here and will remain in those boxes 'till I snuff it!

When it all arrived I spent the day unpacking all the boxes, balling my eyes out and then repacking everything again for storage.

Lynne

It is difficult to really know what to ship. The people that shipped our stuff were really good and actually gave us some advice on things not to bother to ship like mattresses, etc etc. We actually shipped little furniture. We shipped our computer and also our hi fi equipment the latter causing an odd look when we told the builder of our new house that we wanted a 220 in the living room. lololol

The stupid things I shipped and to this day have no idea why were a spud peeler, a strainer and some bedding which fits none of the beds we own. Why ship a spud peeler and wait six weeks for it to arrive lololol. The one thing I was grateful I shipped was my English Pyrex measuring jug. Before that arrived I made the mistake of not realizing that an English pint and US pint are different and boy can it make a difference to a recipe. So now when I use my English cook books I use my English measure and when I use my US cook books, the US measure.

When family come over they have a shopping list, gravy granules being the number one. I just can't find any substitute for gravy granules when making a Tavern Pie. It took a while to find the right beer as in the UK I used Kron 1664.

I did bring a lot of sentimental stuff with me especially things that friends had bought me over the years.

Oh and finally, be aware of the weather conditions where you are moving to. I packed two heavy winter coats that I have never worn because it doesn't get cold enough here.

Bob

Everything is in cups here, which is a bit weird...but anyway, kronenbourg, you can get that here in some places...the local co-op around here has it every so often, so maybe could find it online?

joto

We shipped most of our furniture (work was paying for the move). And the good toys and books that the kids had looked after well from when they were tiny. The kids were 11 and 16 when we moved, but their things were in such good condition we couldn't bear to throw them out, and who knows, we might have grandchildren some day. Before we left, the rubbish guys must have wondered what had hit them with stuff we should have got rid of long ago and didn't need or use any more.