Guest The Pom Queen Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 When you move house or make the move to Aus or the UK do you sell everything you have and start again or do you bring everything you have. The reason I ask is to see others opinions. We have made 5 moves since being in Australia and although we have moved everything with us we always find it doesn't fit in with our new house. Apart from electrical goods none of our other furniture has looked right, we have either had too much or not enough, ours has been dark wood when modern is needed etc. For example our move from Cairns we had three sofas, 2 x L shape and a 3/2 seater. Not one of them will go in the new house. Our fridge was way to big for the space that we got in the new house. So is it really worth paying such high shipping costs or are you best selling up and starting again. Also when coming from the UK or moving back to the UK what do you do whilst you wait for it to arrive? Any tips for people doing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjg Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 If its expensive, leather or antique; ship it. You wont make your money back by selling then rebuying. Buy something off ebay to tide you over, then bung it back on ebay when the good stuff clears customs. Otherwise, start again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 We brought everything and still needed more, it also reduced the impulse buying because we needed it rather than being a piece of furniture we actually wanted. It gave us the luxury of taking our time replacing furniture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyHeart Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 If you love it or it has special value then ship it. If it's new(ish) white goods, ship it. We were talking about this only this week. I had a coffee table in hindsight I should have shipped. We shouldn't have wasted space on kitchen stuff though. If I had great pots/pans/crockery/cutlery etc I'd ship but no point shipping standard stuff. Just as easy to buy new here. You can kit a house out with all the basics just as cheaply here as in the UK (that includes bedding!!) We had little of value to bring so we sold/donated to charity. We bought our bed, washer, fridge freezer and several boxes of stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevsan Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Our movecube box stacking exercise is continuing, with the actual cube arriving a week on Friday. We are leaving beds / sofas bedroom furniture etc, currently have a fridge freezer sitting in the middle of the pile, with a kitchen table & 4 chairs. We also have a 2 seater ikea sofa taken apart, that will go in if there is any room left. Other than that, its clothes/ books / kids toys / photos / tools / tv(s) / computer(s) & bits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 We didnt bring any furniture when we moved to Aus but i think if i was moving around in Aus i would take some of it with me. I totally understand about things not fitting, there is no way our UK lounge and dining room furniture would have fitted into this house, hence for us leaving everything behind worked well. I have known familys bring sleeping bags, plastic cutlery and plates in a suitcase, because they had everything coming in a container and didn't want to buy again. I know you can hire electrical stuff but unless you want to lock into a 6mth contract it can cost quite a bit with most company's. Big W (or maybe K Mart) do a Home Starter pack ,that contains just about every kitchen it me you would need. Its in a huge box and they sell them for $50, if i had stuff coming over i would probably get something cheap and cheerful like that to tide me over. Gumtree is awesome for second hand things, we bought a 10 seater patio set the week we arrived and used it as a dining set in the house whilst in a rental so we could buy new when we bought a house. Fantastic Furniture also do pretty cheap furniture packages , their quality is a bit like Ikea but if you can utilise items in spare rooms when your container arrives it saves sleeping or sitting on the floor,lol. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiegirl Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 We have being do we take do we sell for a it now, and we have come the decision to sell everything with he sale of the house if they want it, and we are only bringing kids stuff clothes, personal stuff ,books DVDs ,photos and kids game consoles and stuff. And saving to buy new when we get there. Was going to take car but now selling it and getting one over there . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jac2011 Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 @The Pom Queen dont get rid of anything, I will be looking for furniture on arrival! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Que Sera Sera Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 We had nothing of any great value DFS rubbish that had gone through 3 kids, needed new beds, knew we'd probably not need wardrobes they were rubbish MFI jobs too so like hood is they wouldn't survive the journey . If I were going the other way, well whilst we've now got some quite solid furniture I doubt any of it would fit in any house we could afford back in England. New house new furniture I'd say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tina0101 Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 The only furniture we shipped our sofas as we are still paying for them. I reckon we would have left them behind had there not been finance still owed. We figured new country, new start. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emilyalaina9 Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Our movecube box stacking exercise is continuing, with the actual cube arriving a week on Friday. We are leaving beds / sofas bedroom furniture etc, currently have a fridge freezer sitting in the middle of the pile, with a kitchen table & 4 chairs. We also have a 2 seater ikea sofa taken apart, that will go in if there is any room left. Other than that, its clothes/ books / kids toys / photos / tools / tv(s) / computer(s) & bits. How much is your cube costing ? We are looking at one of them and can't decide on size. We only want to take kids stuff / personal bits like all my pics in frame and my shoes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelensvaleHoward Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 We bought just about everything new... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiegirl Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Tina, was you able to do it with on finance , that's good if you was , I always thought when leaving you had to pay it off. The only furniture we shipped our sofas as we are still paying for them. I reckon we would have left them behind had there not been finance still owed. We figured new country, new start. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiegirl Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 We we are going to send stuff through move cube, if you go on the shipping and transport bit ,there is a lady who has just done it and put pics on what she put inside it, loads of boxes , bit like our bits we are taking so should fit inside the move cube How much is your cube costing ? We are looking at one of them and can't decide on size. We only want to take kids stuff / personal bits like all my pics in frame and my shoes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramac Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 I'd go along with what the others have said, although last time we shipped everything. With everything we wanted to take we were between 20' and 40' container size, so we thought we might as well fill the bigger one. Coming back the same size should have been full, but so much of our stuff was 'lost' in Melbourne (and a lot of what did arrive was pretty badly damaged), it was only 2/3 full! We really need some new sofas, but until we know where we're going next we'll just have to make do with these old tatty ones. They're good for the dog anyway! We also bought a lot of IKEA furniture when we got back here and I doubt we'd take much of that if we end up back in Australia again - maybe try to keep it to a smaller container next time. We've always bought or borrowed cutlery, pans, kitchen implements etc. They're cheap in the supermarkets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 We have never shipped white goods but have always shipped furniture. Most of it has worked in any setting, but we had some bits we knew we wouldn't have room for after the latest move, so we got rid of those beforehand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevsan Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 How much is your cube costing ? We are looking at one of them and can't decide on size. We only want to take kids stuff / personal bits like all my pics in frame and my shoes £890 for the large one, plus AUD$308 on arrival - thats Rugby to Melbourne (seaford). I think the medium was about £500 if memory serves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emilyalaina9 Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 £890 for the large one, plus AUD$308 on arrival - thats Rugby to Melbourne (seaford). I think the medium was about £500 if memory serves. Thank you kindly I think id go For a medium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 I did ship furniture. Overall, I am glad I did. Reasonable quality furniture is worth nothing to sell second hand, but expensive to replace with new stuff. You will have enough expenses on arrival without having to buy furniture. Yes, you probably can get cheap stuff second hand, but you have the hassle of finding it and transporting it. But, beds in Australia are longer. On arrival, you are going to need a mattress to sleep on. So you are going to have to get a new mattress anyway, and the frame of your old bed won’t fit your new mattress. Bed linen, too, is likely to be the wrong size. So little point in shipping that stuff unless it is to furnish a spare bedroom that can stay empty whilst the container arrives. Electrical/white goods are worth bringing provided you feel able to change the plugs to Australian ones. These are available in DIY shops. But, again, be aware that you will need a fridge/freezer when you arrive, so don’t bother shipping one unless you want to have two of them. Australian households tend to have super-enormous fridges, so unless you have one in the UK, I would just commit to buying one here – but they are expensive. Televisions may or may not work; they will need to be attached to a digital TV box, but I suspect that is now the same in Britain. Computers are going to be useful from the get-go. If you still use a desktop and don’t have a laptop (do such people still exist?) then take your computer in hand luggage even though it will seem like an impossible task. Airlines allow computers in hand luggage in addition to other hand luggage and cabin baggage. I did this and got admiring looks from airport security as I set it up on the xray conveyor belt. One of my biggest regrets was leaving behind a stepladder. I have lost count of the number of times it would have been useful here, and they are so cheap in the UK but astronomical in Australia for some reason. One thing worth thinking about is that it can be difficult and expensive to get rid of bulky rubbish in Australia – so don’t ship stuff that you are just going to throw away. Many houses have dead electrical items. Under an EU directive, you can dispose of them by taking them to any electrical goods shop in the UK. I took two carloads of dead electrical rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 We did not ship anything other than 10 boxes of personal effects. But, that was due to financial constraints. If we could have we would have shipped some, though a lot of our furniture was very old and second hand. But certainly would have brought the newer things. My advice would be that if it is in reasonably good condition then to ship it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicF Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 We had got to a stage in the UK where we were buying good quality expensive pieces of furniture that we loved. There is no way we could have sold them and bought equivalent over here for less than the cost of shipping them, and if you are shipping a few pieces of furniture it's worth filling a 20ft container with other things as well. We didn't bring everything though. We had a big clear out and sold all the furniture from our spare bedroom and the stuff from the garden in the UK before moving and we left a wardrobe in one of the bedrooms (after checking with the people we sold the house to if they would like it). And we had a list of things we would be happy to leave behind if they didn't fit in the container - fortunately everything fit in nicely so it all came. We even brought three wardrobes in case we ended up in a house without fitted robes and then sold two on eBay almost immediately after moving in to our rental. We were lucky though in that we stayed with my folks in the UK for a few weeks before moving over and then stayed at my mother in laws here before moving in to our long term rental once the container arrived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rossmoyne Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 As a lot of our furniture was antique and some had been in the family for many years, we bought it with us, and still have it. We had beds that were only a year old so they came too with a supply of suitable bedding that was bought at the same time as the beds. We didn't bring TV or white goods, but did bring a kettle, toaster, Kenwood mixer and any good crockery, kitchen paraphernalia. We had three garage sales to get rid of the furniture, outdoor play equipment,toys, bikes, car, and anything else not coming with us. Money made from the garage sales set us up with what we needed when we arrived in Perth. We stayed with friends for the last 2 weeks in UK and then with my parents for three months when we first arrived in Perth so didn't need anything until we purchased our house and the container arrived. The container left UK the day after us and took 9 weeks from leaving Tilbury to clearing AQIS, so it only sat in storage for a couple of weeks before the contents were needed. Worked well for us, but I can see the merit in selling everything to. Clean slate and all that. But we are all different and have different needs and possessions.... whatever works for you really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marenmatt1 Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I am currently debating whether to take my queen bed suite with us to the UK We've only had it for a yr & it was quite expensive. Have had a look online & saw the equivalent of a queen bed in the UK is slightly smaller so am unsure whether to bring it or not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I am currently debating whether to take my queen bed suite with us to the UK We've only had it for a yr & it was quite expensive. Have had a look online & saw the equivalent of a queen bed in the UK is slightly smaller so am unsure whether to bring it or not It depends on the suite. If you need to get a new mattress in Australia then it will overhand the end of a UK flat bed, or will not fit in the frame of a frame bed. If you bring your UK mattress and want to replace bed linen, you won't be able to use the stuff in the shops in Australia and will have to get it sent by mail order from the UK. I brought my bed which had a metal frame. I was able to take it to a welding yard and they cut the frame in the middle and added inserts to make it long enough for Australian mattresses. This was inexpensive and they did a really nice job, but I suspect I just got lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loula5 Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 This is the third family move (in 1999 it was my mum's dilemma), and this is the third time we won't be bringing furniture. For us, it's not worthwhile. We will be shipping various personal effects, and a couple of boxes of the kids' toys will be air freighted (our youngest will be 16mths and outgrow his toys by the time they arrive by sea!). My husband is obsessively selling on gumtree, and we'll be using gumtree when we arrive. I don't know that there's a right or wrong way to decide what to do. I hate moving...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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