Rainierbeauty

Hi,
We are moving to the States soon and am trying to decide if we really need certain items, or is it better to buy when we arrive. One item is our Duvets (sorry if that sounds really dumb, but we like them). Is it really worth shipping? We are not sending furniture, or other big items only books, photos, and personal items.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

PS what is the best way to send these?

R

Duncan Roberts

I didn't bring my duvet when I moved. However, everything I tried here was crap so in the end we bought a duvet at Debenhams one visit and then brought it as checked luggage. Then we bought two sets of covers for it and had my mum ship them over.

Ionna

I did not really bring anything when I came here...I basically just brought personal items! If you are not bringing a lot..then you might as well include these things in your buggage...a lot cheaper than shipping it with DHL.

Good Luck!

MsElui

I bought a duvet with us - (and the bed and bedding to go on it) because our employer paid for shipping.

That is now in our spare room and we have a new bed, duvet etc bought here. The choice of duvet etc is quite small - but you can find them. ?They are slightly different sizes to the uk. However - i bought some northern nights brand bedding from QVC in the uk and it must have been us sized as it was slightly larger than my uk stuff (still useable) but just right for the us stuff.


other things to think about (all minor and maybe not worth the effort unless you like to make/eat the specific items):

shallow jam tart sized baking tins (only have muffin sized tins here so hard to make mince pies etc),
pudding basins (steamed puddings not done here so hard to find suitable basins but can resort to pyrex),
measuring jugs - (if you intend to use any of your old uk recipes its handy to have a uk sized pint jug as the us pint is smaller)
yorkshire pudding tin

sassy-cat

If you're paying it comes down to cost of shipping. You can buy decent duvets over here and covers. Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, department stores have them. I've even found euro sized square pillow cases at Target.

Company paid to ship our stuff and air freighted some urgent stuff but if we were paying most would have been left behind (including an ancient piano which probably cost more than twice it's worth to ship!).

It does get expensive when you first arrive ... replacing all those electrical gismos and essentials!

Mummy in the foothills

I brought my Duvets and covers. I got nice ones from Co op. I tried getting ones from Ikea, they were too thin. SO hang onto the Fogartys.
You really don't need furniture, it's so cheap here new.
Other than that you need all you sentimental stuff.

Bob

One thing to do if you do bring it, bring lots of covers etc because they're all slightly different sizes over here...

Also if your not paying for shipping, and moving to a chilly area, bring curtains, they're either generally really rubbish over here or really expensive...

Mummy in the foothills

Curtains yes. I brought some back couple of years ago. I measured the windows and went to Rosebys and got nice lined ones. I'm doing two more rooms when I go this summer, the boys bedroom and my bedroom need decent lined curtains.

notacrime

Haha, I bet Bob and MitF have the most British looking houses on the block.

Ash UK/US

Another vote here for the duvets! if you plan on having a queen sized bed here bring a king size duvet (US queen size covers will work on a UK king size).

My sister has used Parcels2go quite a few times to send stuff to me. The parcels were delivered by DHL and Fed Ex.

artisanvip

my Mum had a thing about the bath towels, she hasn't found any that are as big as the ones over here

also dish cloths, the sort that come in rolls from Wilkinsons and M&S underwear! those are the things Mum seems to ask me to buy and send over

Mummy in the foothills

After 20 years I finally found underwear that I like, up until now I had my Mom sending me M&S ones Or it could be my standards have declined
I still buy my tea towels from UK, now that grandma has passed my tea towel supply has dried up and I have to buy them myself.
I have found enormous bath towels here everywhere, they call them bath sheets,

Rebster

Another vote for duvet and duvet covers. The choice of duvet covers over here is very limited.

And another vote for baking tins! Yorkshire pudding tins are IMPOSSIBLE to find in stores!

I'd also suggest an oven glove. I actually had my in-laws bring me one as I couldn't adjust to using a single mitt.

Kar98

Don't forget to bring a copious supply of safety razor blades and maybe spare handles, if you're used to those. Those things are all but extinct stateside.

artisanvip

Thats another thing Mum has moaned about, although I did say, hmm, small price to pay for sun, sea and sand!

Mummy in the foothills - I will say 'bathsheet' to Mum!!