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Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Old Jul 16th 2012, 8:53 am
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Default Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Hi all,

For those of you that have sorted your own shipping to the US, can I have a little bit of advice please?

We are planning on selling all of our furniture and electronics before we move to LA at the end of summer. We will therefore only be moving our belongings (clothes etc). I have given a rough idea of the items we’ll be moving below.

Has anyone had any experience of moving a similar volume of stuff?
Who did you use and if you don’t mind me asking, do you remember roughly what it cost you?
We will be paying for it ourselves and we will be in no rush to have it delivered. (We’re looking for the cheapest option)
I am also happy to do the packing myself if people have found that this can make a difference to the cost?

Items:
Clothing and shoes for 2 people (4m of wardrobe space).
5 big framed pictures.
Kitchen utensils, crockery (8 sets) and glasses (40).
About 50 books.
10 vases and about 8 other ornaments.
Skiing/snowboarding equipment for 3 people.
About 8 sets of bed linen.
10 sets of towels
4 duvets and 13 pillows.
one tool box
one flat screen computer monitor.
1 CD player.
2 big filing cabinets worth of paperwork.

Thank you all in advance for your help, it’s really very much appreciated.

Laurie
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 1:12 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Bedding won't fit beds in the US very well, so probably ditch it, but duvet covers are handy.

Towels and ski equipment would be cheaper to replace than ship.

Monitor, hand luggage.

Everything else, box up and ship via the post office? Surface mail is cheap and about 10-16 weeks.

There's also a wiki entry on small scale delivery, which might help?
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 2:20 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

If you want to cut costs I would ditch the duvets/bedlinens/towels/pillows (why do you want to bring 13 pillows? ) Also ditch the CD player/glasses/crockery/vases/kitchen utensils...unless any have sentimental value or are particularly expensive to replace.
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:13 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Thanks for the replies!

Sadly, all of the items we plan on shipping (apart from the ski stuff and our clothes) were wedding presents, and are therefore very sentimental (and new). We don’t want to get rid of them unless we absolutely have to.

We’re likely to replace our Ikea bed with like for like once we have an apartment, so in theory, all our bedding should still fit the new bed.

Will look into small scale shipping, that sounds about right for us. Thanks Bob!

HAHA We don’t have a pillow fettish if that what you’re wondering? We have a 3 bedroom place here with 3 double beds, hence the number of pillows You’re right though, we probably don’t need to keep them all!

Thanks for the help,

Laurie
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:19 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Originally Posted by LaurieHK
We’re likely to replace our Ikea bed with like for like once we have an apartment, so in theory, all our bedding should still fit the new bed.
IKEA resize their US-sold beds to US sizes.......otherwise, nobody would buy them!
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:21 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Originally Posted by fatbrit
IKEA resize their US-sold beds to US sizes.......otherwise, nobody would buy them!
Oh bol**cks. Thank you for the heads-up though!

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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:22 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Originally Posted by LaurieHK
Thanks for the replies!

Sadly, all of the items we plan on shipping (apart from the ski stuff and our clothes) were wedding presents, and are therefore very sentimental (and new). We don’t want to get rid of them unless we absolutely have to.

We’re likely to replace our Ikea bed with like for like once we have an apartment, so in theory, all our bedding should still fit the new bed.

Will look into small scale shipping, that sounds about right for us. Thanks Bob!

HAHA We don’t have a pillow fettish if that what you’re wondering? We have a 3 bedroom place here with 3 double beds, hence the number of pillows You’re right though, we probably don’t need to keep them all!

Thanks for the help,

Laurie
As I said bed sizes are different here...therefore so are a lot of the pillows. You need to check the bed sizes on line before you consider bringing bedding/pillows/duvet etc. Google US/UK bed sizes.

We rented an unfurnished, 3 bedroomed duplex...around 2.5K sq ft. We brought clothes/sentimental ornaments and pictures/grandfather clock/crockery/crystal glasses/silverware. Apart from the clothes we've hardly used the rest. Long gone are the times we had friends or relatives over to dinner most weekends...when we used the crockery/glasses/silverware.
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:33 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl
As I said bed sizes are different here...therefore so are a lot of the pillows. You need to check the bed sizes on line before you consider bringing bedding/pillows/duvet etc. Google US/UK bed sizes.

We rented an unfurnished, 3 bedroomed duplex...around 2.5K sq ft. We brought clothes/sentimental ornaments and pictures/grandfather clock/crockery/crystal glasses/silverware. Apart from the clothes we've hardly used the rest. Long gone are the times we had friends or relatives over to dinner most weekends...when we used the crockery/glasses/silverware.
Thanks for the reply JerseyGirl!

As we have duvets with covers that fit and pillows with covers that fit, we won’t actually have to buy anything more than new sheets for the bed (as our current ones won’t fit). That’s good to know as we wouldn’t get rid of our wedding bedding if it was just a case of having to buy one or two new sheets. Yey!

Thankfully we’ll only be looking for a 1 bed place in LA, so won’t have to replace much of the stuff we’re selling here. We really won’t be bringing much with us, just a couple of boxes of bits and bobs that are sentimental. The rest we’ll get rid of.

Will hopefully get a relocation company to come and put a quote together for us later this week. At least then we’ll know if it’s going to be feasible for us to ship the things we want to!

Thanks for the help,

Laurie
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:34 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Originally Posted by LaurieHK
Oh bol**cks. Thank you for the heads-up though!

Laurie
Ikea's the place to go for your US-sized duvet, though. Duvets, like many of the changes in the rest of the world over the last 50 years, have really not caught on over here.
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:36 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Originally Posted by fatbrit
Ikea's the place to go for your US-sized duvet, though. Duvets, like many of the changes in the rest of the world over the last 50 years, have really not caught on over here.
Hehe. That’s good to know. Thank you (although hoping to just bring our UK sized duvets with their UK sized covers…and then not have to replace anything other than sheets) Sorted

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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:41 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Originally Posted by LaurieHK
Thanks for the reply JerseyGirl!

As we have duvets with covers that fit and pillows with covers that fit, we won’t actually have to buy anything more than new sheets for the bed (as our current ones won’t fit). That’s good to know as we wouldn’t get rid of our wedding bedding if it was just a case of having to buy one or two new sheets. Yey!

Thankfully we’ll only be looking for a 1 bed place in LA, so won’t have to replace much of the stuff we’re selling here. We really won’t be bringing much with us, just a couple of boxes of bits and bobs that are sentimental. The rest we’ll get rid of.

Will hopefully get a relocation company to come and put a quote together for us later this week. At least then we’ll know if it’s going to be feasible for us to ship the things we want to!

Thanks for the help,

Laurie
Sorry I misread your post I thought you wrote you were looking for a 3 bed place...that's why I mentioned what we had rented.

Any bedlinens/duvets for a std size double or single UK bed will be of no use to you here...leave them in the UK. Ask a rellie if they can store them for you if you don't want to get rid of them. If you have a UK king size bed...apart from the fitted bottom sheet...it will fit a US queen. If you want a US king size bed...then forget bringing anything. For a US king...UK pillows/bedlines/duvets are waaaaay too small.
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:45 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

We had quotes for 125 cu ft that ranged from 600 to 1500 pounds. That was only trinkets of sentimental value, some toys, kitchenware, CDs, books, some clothes, etc.

Some companies might let you pack it but they won't insure stuff you packed yourself - they have to see it's not broken when it's packed. So yeah it'll save you money by not being able to buy insurance!

Right now I'm on tenterhooks as my stuff is sitting in a warehouse 60 miles away awaiting the bill from customs So far it's on week 15 out of an estimated 9-13
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:48 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl
Sorry I misread your post I thought you wrote you were looking for a 3 bed place...that's why I mentioned what we had rented.

Any bedlinens/duvets for a std size double or single UK bed will be of no use to you here...leave them in the UK. Ask a rellie if they can store them for you if you don't want to get rid of them. If you have a UK king size bed...apart from the fitted bottom sheet...it will fit a US queen. If you want a US king size bed...then forget bringing anything. For a US king...UK pillows/bedlines/duvets are waaaaay too small.
Haha, no worries.

Yey, that’s good news. We only have UK king sized bedding, so in theory we can bring everything and not have to replace anything other than the sheet. That works for me

Thanks for the help,

Laurie
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:51 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Originally Posted by GeoffM
We had quotes for 125 cu ft that ranged from 600 to 1500 pounds. That was only trinkets of sentimental value, some toys, kitchenware, CDs, books, some clothes, etc.

Some companies might let you pack it but they won't insure stuff you packed yourself - they have to see it's not broken when it's packed. So yeah it'll save you money by not being able to buy insurance!

Right now I'm on tenterhooks as my stuff is sitting in a warehouse 60 miles away awaiting the bill from customs So far it's on week 15 out of an estimated 9-13
Hiya,

Thanks for the reply. Mega helpful!
It sounds like you probably moved a similar volume of stuff to us and £600-1500 sounds doable. Do you mind me asking who you went with in the end? Would be good to get a quote from them

Hope all your stuff arrives SOON, and in one piece.

Thanks,

Laurie
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Old Jul 16th 2012, 3:52 pm
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Default Re: Paying to ship our belongings to LA…! Your experiences?

Originally Posted by LaurieHK

We’re likely to replace our Ikea bed with like for like once we have an apartment, so in theory, all our bedding should still fit the new bed.
Unless you're bringing the bed, it makes no sense to bring the bedding, it'll be more hassle than worth. Duvet covers are about the only thing worth bringing.

Queen sized bed ain't that big either, which is about the only one you'd have UK stuff to fit if you had UK King stuff.

Any of the wedding gifts still boxed? Try returning and replacing in the US with a gift registry? Or leaving with parents to look after?

The pillows are a waste as they're bulky, so will cost more to ship than replace. Might have some luck with those vacuum sealed bags I suppose, but they're not that great.

CD player, unless it's a B&O, sell it as it'll be cheaper to replace.

Books and monitor are about the only things really worth bringing, harsh as it sounds.

The clothes, sell or donate anything winter related, in LA you just aren't really going to be wearing it. Suits, t-shirts/shirts and light shoes are about all that'll be worth bringing. Might be different if you were moving else where.
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