Right, 12 months before leaving what should we buy now in order to ship over?

[sandk]

So we are about 14 months away fro leaving. We have been living in military quarters so a lot of our stuff was 'make do'. Should we invest in a good washing machine, tumble dryer etc now and store it for 12 months and the ship it over (I do like Miele applicances). Or should we wait until we get out there? I know bedding is a good thing to buy here but what about a new bed? Any other things we sshould invest in now to make a) life easier when we arrive and b) simply because it makes good finanical sense. From the big to the small please tell me your all! :cute:

[Guest jonescl35]

Why buy anything here? All goods are available in Aus and of course there is always the internet. Makes no sense to me to buy, store and ship anything!

[shellyk666]

Why buy anything here? All goods are available in Aus and of course there is always the internet. Makes no sense to me to buy, store and ship anything!

I was under the impression that certain items were so much more expensive buying in Aus when compared to the UK that it may be worth buying here then shipping over - do you not agree? Would be interested to hear your experiences :biggrin:

[Iron Chef]

Not when you take into account that you could leave your money in a long term deposit and do better out of it. Bear in mind you actually have to ship it all here too...

 

My suggestion, choose a car (WISELY!) and own that for 12 months if you want to dabble and try and get ahead financially.

[sandk]

Shelly I thought like you that even with the shipping things would still be cheaper and of a better quality if bought here. Interesting to hear that is not necessarily the case. My worry is we get rid of all the stuff that cannot be shipped (12 year old dishwasher anyone?) but was servceable and then have to buy new when we getthere. I am worried that by needing everything we will not be able to shop around as much as we will 'have' to get things. My husband is very happy to hear that nothing needs to be bought....

 

Iron Chef you have given me some good advice on your other thread and we are looking at getting a new car this month!

[Alaska]

I think white goods are more expensive here from what I've heard - things like washing machines, fridges etc.

I have found they don't have the same cheap second hand market that I had access to in the UK (through a local facebook group with 9000 members in our small town). Everything was car boot prices.

I would've bought some good quality second hand furniture - chests of drawers for example.

 

If you like reading stock up on novels from amazon and supermarkets. We just use libraries here so it's no drama but some people like them new.

[calNgary]

I think the second hand market is as big as in the UK if not bigger. There is Gumtree ( abit like LOOT) thats very popular, Ebay Australia, Boost classifieds thats growing by the day, Facebook garage sale groups covering loadsss of areas, Trading post on line or paper form (again abit like LOOT) and city papers (for me Courier Mail) that have a huge pull out section every Saturday, there is definately bargains to be had here if you look for them. Then there are the small local papers than also have a classified section at the back. We have bought loadsss of second hand stuff here , and sold quite a bit via the above means as well.

 

I think if to bring your stuff or not, always seems to boil down to how good your stuff is and personal prefernce. We brought very little, no furniture or white goods and if i had my time there isnt really much id change ,other than probably bringing my tumble dryer instead of giving it away,lol.. Sometimes when you add the cost of shipping the item to the purchase price it doesnt work out that much cheaper if any. Also bear in mind alot of UK warrantys arent valid here so if your appliance starts playing up, you may be stuck for help.

 

Cal x

[Playghirl]

i would bring out more UK painitngs and art etc I liked. I asl olike certain brands of British perfumes which thet do not ship here, Pehaligans Bluebells for example. Takes me straight back to a British SPring.

 

I would have bought up on suitcases of childrens clothes and shoes in the older age ranges.

[AJ]

If you are sending a container anyway and you have room, its worth buying anything from Ikea here that you want. We got our two year old a bed which cost 89pound here but is $269 in Ikea in Melbourne. If there wasnt much difference I wouldnt have bothered but that is quite a lot.

[Playghirl]

I would also stock up on various prescription drugs that you get. Whilst you can fins cheapish places here you may not akways be near. So just stock up on it all.

[NicF]

I think the reason most of us ship things is because we already have them and it would be a lot cheaper to ship them than replacing them all in Australia. Particularly so if you have expensive pieces of furniture that would not be easy to replace. If you don't have the items already and you don't need to buy them to use in the UK then you would be better off waiting and buying them when you get there. And could you imagine how annoying it would be if you bought white goods to ship only to find they were included in your rental, or the items you bought didn't fit in the spaces available?

 

Nicola

[Alaska]

I think the second hand market is as big as in the UK if not bigger. There is Gumtree ( abit like LOOT) thats very popular, Ebay Australia, Boost classifieds thats growing by the day, Facebook garage sale groups covering loadsss of areas, Trading post on line or paper form (again abit like LOOT) and city papers (for me Courier Mail) that have a huge pull out section every Saturday, there is definately bargains to be had here if you look for them. Then there are the small local papers than also have a classified section at the back. We have bought loadsss of second hand stuff here , and sold quite a bit via the above means as well.

 

I think if to bring your stuff or not, always seems to boil down to how good your stuff is and personal prefernce. We brought very little, no furniture or white goods and if i had my time there isnt really much id change ,other than probably bringing my tumble dryer instead of giving it away,lol.. Sometimes when you add the cost of shipping the item to the purchase price it doesnt work out that much cheaper if any. Also bear in mind alot of UK warrantys arent valid here so if your appliance starts playing up, you may be stuck for help.

 

Cal x

 

I think I was lucky in the UK then. The fb group I was a member of there sold everything for peanuts as there was such a lot of competition. We are talking about fairly new fridges/washing machines for about £40 - often people with older relatives going into care homes and that kind of thing. Comparable second hand products on gumtree were around $300. There was plenty of solid wood chests of drawers around £20-£40 and similar on gumtree at least $200-$300.

That's the only thing that I was caught out on really - the price of second hand goods compared to what I could source in the UK.

Most other stuff has been comparable - children's clothes are cheaper (in the likes of kmart etc), and we've found plenty of "cheaper" shops just like in the UK.

[Playghirl]

Yep my fridge does not fit in the space in the kitchen so 4th bedroom off the kitchen is a junk room with a bloody large fridge!!Also remeBer loads of Aussie pm es have but in wRdonrs. So I have an antique armoirre holding linen in a room it should not be in!!

[Iron Chef]

I would also stock up on various prescription drugs that you get. Whilst you can fins cheapish places here you may not akways be near. So just stock up on it all.

 

lol I'm not sure importing large quantities of prescription drugs is such a good idea...

[Danny&Em]

Not when you take into account that you could leave your money in a long term deposit and do better out of it. Bear in mind you actually have to ship it all here too...

 

My suggestion, choose a car (WISELY!) and own that for 12 months if you want to dabble and try and get ahead financially.

 

I agree with the iron! Wished I'd done my research and bought a belter. You'd be able to buy two of everything then.

[Danny&Em]

Can anyone name a few ozzzzie shops. Kmart I've noticed. I just wish to a dummy shop so I know what to take and what to ping on a car boot... Many thanks. May help with the original question also in a similar manner, so please don't think I'm deviating from the chosen topic.

 

D

[AJ]

Can anyone name a few ozzzzie shops. Kmart I've noticed. I just wish to a dummy shop so I know what to take and what to ping on a car boot... Many thanks. May help with the original question also in a similar manner, so please don't think I'm deviating from the chosen topic.

 

D

 

Target, Big W, Myers, David Jones, Good guys, Harvey Norman, theres loads, what kind of things are you looking at?

[Danny&Em]

Top marks AJ.... We're gonna piece together a list. See if it's worth keeping and shipping,,, or sell it and buy fresh... Example would be the hoover due to import tests etc. others items in the arm wrestle would be; microwave, foot pouf (it's a posh one), tv and stand, ornimants, rugs, baby cot bed,... Wife.

[sandk]

Thank you all for the comments - yep a lot of out stuff would not be worth shipping over. For example, every army quarter seems to have different sized windows so we have got loads of wooden blinds in our 'just in case' box but to go to the effort of shipping them - no probably not. Also I am really looking forward to getting a forever home. As the daughter of a service man and then having married one I have never had a 'real' home - always a space that we made home (home is where the heart is etc). However, I am old now (especially after the harrowing ordeal of getting a visa) and have a hankering for my bath towels to match my hand towels.....

 

The drugs (prescription) is something I would value more advice on. I have a low thyroid and also have certain pain medication (the good stuff that I occassionally 'lend' to hubby when he feels very rough). because I have a life long condition I will never have to pay for prescriptions here in UK. Whilst I knew I would have to pay in australia I have not looked at the realities of getting a prescription, getting it dispensed and the blood tests every few months etc. On the off chance does anyone else have a condtion that needs them to have a regular supply - could you tell me how you manage?

 

Thank you all:)

[AJ]

Thank you all for the comments - yep a lot of out stuff would not be worth shipping over. For example, every army quarter seems to have different sized windows so we have got loads of wooden blinds in our 'just in case' box but to go to the effort of shipping them - no probably not. Also I am really looking forward to getting a forever home. As the daughter of a service man and then having married one I have never had a 'real' home - always a space that we made home (home is where the heart is etc). However, I am old now (especially after the harrowing ordeal of getting a visa) and have a hankering for my bath towels to match my hand towels.....

 

The drugs (prescription) is something I would value more advice on. I have a low thyroid and also have certain pain medication (the good stuff that I occassionally 'lend' to hubby when he feels very rough). because I have a life long condition I will never have to pay for prescriptions here in UK. Whilst I knew I would have to pay in australia I have not looked at the realities of getting a prescription, getting it dispensed and the blood tests every few months etc. On the off chance does anyone else have a condtion that needs them to have a regular supply - could you tell me how you manage?

 

Thank you all:)

 

I have my thyroid removed and on thyroxine, never had to pay for any blood tests etc. I went to a medical centre that bulk bills, you will get a prescription with a certain amount of repeats on it so you dont have to keep going back to the Dr, just keep taking it to the chemist till it runs out, Thyroxine (Eutroxsig) only cost about $26 for 200 so not very expensive.

[AJ]

Top marks AJ.... We're gonna piece together a list. See if it's worth keeping and shipping,,, or sell it and buy fresh... Example would be the hoover due to import tests etc. others items in the arm wrestle would be; microwave, foot pouf (it's a posh one), tv and stand, ornimants, rugs, baby cot bed,... Wife.

 

I would take it all. If you have baby stuff and planning on having another one I would definately take it, that is one thing that is quite expensive compared to here.

[sandk]

AJ thank you. So do they let you have a certain amount without ever checking your levels? Do you just go by how you feel? My GP is a pain and will only raise my thyroxine in 25 mgs increments and you have to wait 6 months before he will let you have more. Am still not in the zone where I feel my levels are okay (and despite eating a mars bar every day am still putting on weight:cute:)

[pintpot]

Not really worth buying loads of stuff IMO as you don't know where you'll be living or whether it will fit

 

That said, we bought a pushbike and some furniture to bring with us, and brought some old (antique) furniture we probably would have sold in the UK normally. Didn't regret any of those, as all those items are quite a bit more costly here and we don't like much of the furniture we've seen here either in terms of style. We would have bought a new Mac to bring with us as the old one was due for replacement anyway, but they're cheaper here so we didn't bother

 

The only thing we didn't bring and should have done is a washnig machine - we bought one here but it cost a fair chunk and we don't like it much. We probably just bought wrong.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the 12 month thing, so long as you're not bringing loads of brand new stuff in original packaging you shouldn't get caught out. The one caveat to that is vehicles, when of course it's very obvious when you bought it. High-end cars are one of the things you can apparently make good money on - I know a bloke who is bringing 2 Porsches over - but it (importing cars) is a load of hassle by most accounts, so it has to be a good financial deal to be worth it.

 

I would add that we weren't paying for shipping. But if you're bringing a container anyway and there's space in it, you may as well stuff it

[sandk]

Pintpot, thank you. We have to get a new car and now realise that we need toget it NOW as we leave next July. It seems starnge that on th eone hand everything seems so far away and yet we need to do things urgently. It does not help that my husbnad is serving abroad and I am having to make decisions on my own (well and with the help of the lovely pomsinoz community). I just do not know what car to buy....

[pintpot]

Well, tbh I'd only get a car to ship if it was going to make you good money. I'm not an expert but maybe a 1-2 yr old German model. They seem to go for $stupid over here, and second hand values hold up much stronger in Oz too. So if you bought one in the UK that had taken its big first year depreciation hit and shipped it over, you could be quids in. But you'd want the money in the first place to buy it

 

Me personally, I have a low tolerance for faff and bureaucracy so I don't think I could be bothered unless I had the free cash to buy now and tie it up for a year, and if I was going to make plenty. If I knoew I were staying just for a year I'd be inclined to buy a cheapy in the UK (piece of cake to buy something perfectly serviceable for 1K or so there) and accept I was going to lose that when I shipped out, and then buy again in Oz. But that's me. Shipping cars seems to work quite well for many