InOzOneDay Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Hi We are planning to arrange things as a 6 month trial that we can return if we hate it afterwards. Therefore we are packing our things into storage in the UK and won't be shipping them until we are sure we are staying. My question therefore is what is the most economical way to bring everything we need with us. For Example we need to take saucepans, bedding, etc... plus have a two year old and need to bring at least some of her books and toys as she may be up to year without everything.... No chance that it will all fit in three suitcases! How have others tackled this? Is it cheaper to buy extra luggage allowance with airline? Am concerned even two suitcases per person might not fit everything in... both weight and size Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dxboz Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Wow six months is a short time to decide - unless you love/hate on first sight. I don't think I would bring pots and pans, bedding etc. maybe just fave toys for two year old. You can buy pots, pans.bedding really cheaply here -maybe not the best quality and not what you would want forever but good enough - have to say you can also buy great quality if that's what you want! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Furnished lets tend to be hard to find in Oz unless you use holiday accommodation (which will then have bedding, pots/pans etc). That will be quite a costly option and will also give you only a limited idea of living in Oz I suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Hi We are planning to arrange things as a 6 month trial that we can return if we hate it afterwards. Therefore we are packing our things into storage in the UK and won't be shipping them until we are sure we are staying. My question therefore is what is the most economical way to bring everything we need with us. For Example we need to take saucepans, bedding, etc... plus have a two year old and need to bring at least some of her books and toys as she may be up to year without everything.... No chance that it will all fit in three suitcases! How have others tackled this? Is it cheaper to buy extra luggage allowance with airline? Am concerned even two suitcases per person might not fit everything in... both weight and size Thanks I have never heard of anybody doing things this way to be perfectly honest. I am sure that extra luggage allowances on your flight would be very expensive for things like pans so this doesn't seem like an option to me. Sometimes people bringing not very much would use "movecubes" but I believe these are sea freight so you would probably end up buying a few pans to keep you going anyway. The other option is air freight which of course would get very expensive with heavy stuff. If you did decide to move after six months, how will you practically arrange for the shipping to be organised? Who is goin to pack it for you? Do you have family that would be happy to do it or would you fly back? Gosh I don't know, this is a really odd plan. I wonder if you are just setting yourself up to fail by going in with the mindset that you may well be back within six months. If you really are that uncertain, I wonder should you question the wisdom of the move at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 We only arrived with 5 suitcases and we planned on not going back. If you are only coming for 6 months then don't bother shipping/bringing anything. I agree with the others 6 months isn't long enough and a lot of people who love it here have always had a stumbling point around the 4-6 month mark, they have stuck it out and are so happy that they did. Can I ask why 6months? Most say 12 months or two years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InOzOneDay Posted May 5, 2015 Author Share Posted May 5, 2015 Thanks for your messages... we both believe we will stay for good... but I hate to burn bridges / not keep things open. My current thinking is: 6 months in furnished (there does seem to be a few around which are reasonable priced) Then we decide if we are staying on.... if we are, then we start looking around for rental which is unfurnished and start the shipping process... so about 9month / 12 months in we are back with out things... Its not just saucepans... by the time you've repurchased enough to run a household (kitchen stuff / bedding / kids stuff) then I'm wondering if it becomes cost effective to fly it out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Thanks for your messages... we both believe we will stay for good... but I hate to burn bridges / not keep things open. My current thinking is: 6 months in furnished (there does seem to be a few around which are reasonable priced) Then we decide if we are staying on.... if we are, then we start looking around for rental which is unfurnished and start the shipping process... so about 9month / 12 months in we are back with out things... Its not just saucepans... by the time you've repurchased enough to run a household (kitchen stuff / bedding / kids stuff) then I'm wondering if it becomes cost effective to fly it out... So if you are sure you are both moving for good (which is the most any of us can expect, even if we do return) then ship it out! Honestly there is hardly any furnished accommodation in Australia and what there is can be very expensive. Have the courage of your convictions, I can't see this plan doing anything but waste money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacaranda Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Try shopping virtually with either Big W or KMart.Make a list of what you'd expect to be sending over,then shop online so to speak to see how much it would cost to replace it if you were buying new.Get a quote (I think there is a company which send over your extra stuff called "Excess Baggage")to send your stuff and then compare.Don't forget you can buy secondhand stuff in op shops cheap enough or go to garage sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Thanks for your messages... we both believe we will stay for good... but I hate to burn bridges / not keep things open. My current thinking is: 6 months in furnished (there does seem to be a few around which are reasonable priced). Really? Are you sure you are looking at short term furnished? Would cost your at least $120 a night for a holiday let, and thats Cheap!! So over $20,000 just on rent for 6 months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 We just brought 8 large boxes of kids toys, personal stuff and kitchen items etc in a shared container, we sold everything else as we believed having nothing to run home too would make us put that extra effort in IF things werent working out. Almost 9 years on i am so glad we did it this way as its not till a year or so down the track you actually realise how stressful that first year here is. What visa do you have ? we got extra baggage allowance due to having a PR visa, which meant we had 8 suitcases and 4 hand luggage between 2 adults and 2 small kids. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelbBound Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 What visa do you have ? we got extra baggage allowance due to having a PR visa, which meant we had 8 suitcases and 4 hand luggage between 2 adults and 2 small kids. Cal x Hi, do you mean that you paid for additional baggage? or did having the PR VISA somehow mean that the airlines let you carry more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Hi, do you mean that you paid for additional baggage? or did having the PR VISA somehow mean that the airlines let you carry more? Having PR does not mean extra luggage allowance. Most airlines will not offer that, but one or two will if it is a first visit and a one way ticket. However you have to weigh that up against the cost of extra baggage anyway, for some airlines it is just £30 per suitcase, for others maybe £300. You just have to do the maths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jac2011 Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Have you priced up the cost of returning all your items if you do decide to fly back? I believe shipping in the opposite direction is really expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeebeth Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I can understand not wanting to move all your stuff over just to move it back again if it turned out you really didn't like it, if we had lots of furniture we would probably do the same. I think 6 months would be a sensible time to reassess your situation and see if you want to give it a bit longer or ship your stuff over. What hubby and I are doing is shipping personal items like books and DVDs, we are then going to get a furnished rental (you do get them if you look on the right sites although they aren't as common as they are in the UK) so we won't need to buy the big items (like sofa's and beds) and buy things like bedding and kitchen equipment from Target when we did our recci in March we found a big Target and checked out the quality of their basic items and I would say its fairly good and would last you at lest a year if not longer. All our clothing will fit in out suitcases (we get 30kg as standard and the vacuum bags are a lifesaver!). We worked out by doing this it would be cheaper than shipping all our stuff and we would have to get most of the smaller items when we land anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naomi from Manchester Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 You can access toy libraries across Sydney for your little one. We didn't have a tea spoon to our names when we arrived. All our carry on luggage was clothes and USB sticks and a few important documents. We rented out our UK flat fully furnished, rented an unfurnished flat here, and bought necessities from Ikea with the intention of deciding whether to stay longer term after 12 months. When 6 boxes arrived by sea 3 months after we did, I honestly couldn't remember what I'd packed ... they turned out to contain a load of useless university books and fancy dress. I have no idea why I shipped cheap feather boas and a collection of wigs across the globe. Right now I'm sitting looking at all we've accumulated in the last 3.5yrs ... What a load of cluttery, trinkety, unnecessary crap! Wish we didn't have half of it - oh to be free of material possessions once again, they're weighing me down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Hi, do you mean that you paid for additional baggage? or did having the PR VISA somehow mean that the airlines let you carry more? No we didnt pay, it was included free if you had a PR visa that hadnt been activated. This was with Singapore Air and im not the only one as ive seen it mentioned on here quite a few times over the years. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tina0101 Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 When we flew over with Singapore, it was a standard 30kg each but because we were validating our visa, we got an extra 10kg each. So, between the three of us we had 120kg!! lol. I also agree with the comment about waiting 3 months for the container - when it arrived I was looking at stuff in there and wondering why the hell we shipped some of it over!! We'd bought everything while waiting for it to arrive!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlas Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Sorry to hijack the thread, but re the Singapore Airlines flights, do you know if that was only valid on one way tickets? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Longer term furnished lets are available for six months or more. Just not as many. They are cheaper than holiday lets as you are responsible for bills usually. It can depend on the area though. They are more common in metropolitan areas. Agree though ugh if furnished then just buy any kitchen items you need here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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