Guest guest17301 Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Hello! Would be interested to know if anyone else plans to start from scratch in Australia. By that I mean going over with just suitcases and not much else! I'm unsure if this is a genius idea or absolute madness! We plan to sell all our worldly goods (may ship some tea-chests with sentimental/useful stuff or send as excess baggage) and use the proceeds to part fund our new belongings. If I had the money and decent furniture I would undoubtedly ship the lot. Do you think it will be less stressful not having to wait for a container and 'camp out' or will all the shopping we have to do be a trauma? Plan to go to the bargain stores, ie Big W, Target and Ikea for most stuff. We won't have a fortune to take with us and we will have to live frugally for a while. Also as we are on a 457 we will be limited to 20kg baggage each. Does anyone have any experience of this and how much stuff do you think we'll be able to cram in? Any ideas or advice would be gratefully received! Thanks xx
Guest Working to fish Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 we shipped a 20f container and if we were to do it again i would sell up and go with as little as poss . Having to wait in a new place for all your stuff is a pain in the #ss eddie:dull:
KIRK AND CO Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Just want to say good luck but it does sound like one last go on the roulet table
Guest EmmaDon Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 If we go, we will sell , or give away, what we have and just bring out personal effect like photos, and some of the kids old baby stuff, all sentimental, I think a few boxes would do it, oh and stuff like quilts and sheets cos I've heard they are more expensive in Oz, but apart from that and a handfull of toys for the kids, then we would like to start afresh. Our stuff is not worth shipping over.......Like you said Ikea...:notworthy: I love it!! Em
Guest toria Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 hi my brother moved to oz 3 years ago with 2 children on his own he got his visa on the thusday booked tickets on friday and flew out on the monday with 3 suitcases. he booked a hotel and within 2 weeks had a rented house the kids in school and found a job. he said everyone he met helped him with extra furniture ect and anything else he needed he got eventually.he didnt know anyone but people always help you out . now he has his own buisness and is doing well. think of it as an adventure you will get there . good luck
Petals Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 My parents did that, just suitcases when we first went to Africa then the same when we went to New Zealand and the same when they moved to Aus. Everything always works out if your optimistic. In a way baggage holds you back. When I returned to UK to live just suitcase as well. Then back to Aus the same. :smile:
Quoll Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 We did that when we came here - just the backpacks, two bikes and 35 parcels of books. We lived very frugally for an awfully long time because we were living on a student scholarship for the most part! Thank goodness for second hand shops, friends' handmedowns and nowadays there is freecycle which is always worth a look/request.
THORPES Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 We are doing the same. We are taking our suitcases and probably ship a few boxes with kids playmobil toys and sentimental items. We are not taking any furniture/white goods. We too thought we would shop at Ikea. We dont have alot of money to take but it will be an adventure. Jill xxx
rach28 Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 hi we are planning to go with just what we can carry. we are going to sell all are stuff before we leave. We are going to try and send the kids toys etc out as it will at least give them some familiar things around them. someone posted a link on here for a company that ships boxes for £20. Cant find it now but will post link when i do.
Guest The Pom Queen Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Unless you have anything of value I would definately just sell up before you leave. We have had 4 families recently whose furniture have been delayed, one family came over 1st August and are still waiting for their furniture and have been told it will be another 2 weeks. The others have had to beg, borrow or steal (well maybe not steal but you know what I mean) as well as buy furniture to keep them going. You could rent furniture but sometimes this can prove expensive. One company in Melbourne charges $300 for delivering the furniture to you.
Guest guest17301 Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Thanks guys, encouraging to hear it has been done successfully. I think it can be quite liberating and cleansing to rid yourself of material possessions. Always feel great after a good chucking out session! Freecycle is fab, already had a look at the WA one. Just put some stuff on this morning as trying to clear the garage out. Suppose it all depends on your attitude, I think Forgetmenot is right in that being optimistic helps. I'm a firm believer in "anything is possible". I think life is one big gamble and if we didn't take some risks we'd never achieve anything!
Guest spottymercedes Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Hello! Would be interested to know if anyone else plans to start from scratch in Australia. By that I mean going over with just suitcases and not much else! I'm unsure if this is a geniuis idea or absolute madness! We plan to sell all our worldly goods (may ship some tea-chests with sentimental/useful stuff or send as excess baggage) and use the proceeds to part fund our new belongings. If I had the money and decent furniture I would undoubtedly ship the lot. Do you think it will be less stressful not having to wait for a container and 'camp out' or will all the shopping we have to do be a trauma? Plan to go to the bargain stores, ie Big W, Target and Ikea for most stuff. We won't have a fortune to take with us and we will have to live frugally for a while. Also as we are on a 457 we will be limited to 20kg baggage each. Does anyone have any experience of this and how much stuff do you think we'll be able to cram in? Any ideas or advice would be gratefully received! Thanks xx Hello there. :spinny: I personally would not be able to leave it all behind, but that is probably because I have 3 kids and they would never forgive me!! We had a 40ft container and brought any decent furniture we had but left all old rubbish. We brought a lot of kids toys, far too many in fact, my husbands mechanic's tools and all DIY tools, We brought our fridgefreezer, washing machine, dish washer, antique grandfather clock, TV's, dvd's Playstations etc, cups, plates and cutlery and obviously all personal things and clothes. (We even brought a car engine which my husband plans to put into another car one day, but thats another story!) We managed to squeeze the 4x4 into the container, and would have had room for more if we had'nt already disposed of certain things, and stored a few things at my parents which eventually got sent by excess baggage costing £175 plus customs fees, and took 3 months to arrive. I guess if you are able to do without until you can buy more and you haven't got kids needing their things then why not. I have to say though that the things we did replace cost a lot more money than I expected them to even in the 'cheaper' stores. In our case I think bringing everything was the right thing to do and I don't regret bringing any of it with us except maybe the amount of kids toys. I do think that if we had to replace everything we had for the same amount of money we spent shipping it all across, we would not get even half of what we needed. I'm not trying to put you off of coming with just suitcases, but just want you to think carefully about how much it all costs to replace. Good Luck with your decision:smile:
LKC Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Undecided what we are going to ship at the moment. There are some things that we definitely want to take such as our bed, our kitchen table and chairs, and our eldest daughters furniture, because they cost us quite alot of money and we really like them. However, there are other things that we are unsure of. The kids indoor toys I'll sort through and we'll take the better ones and the ones they play with most, but the outdoor toys and the ones they don't play with any more we'll get rid of. We only have a portable tv anyway (our big one broke a few months ago and we decided not to replace it until we are in Oz), and our video and DVD player are so old you have to get them going with a crank handle! We do have a Humax digital recorder thing, but we'll probably sell that because I believe it won't work. The dishwasher,washing machine and tumble dryer are a good make (Miele) but we live in a very hard water area and as we have had them for four years or so, I am thinking of selling them on and buying new because they'll probably need repair/replacement soon anyway. We have a Rangemaster cooker that is pretty new, and I am torn about bringing it. It is a traditional range cooker and, whilst I love it, I'm kind of thinking that it might look out of place. Same goes for the rest of our furniture - we live in a 200 odd year old cottage and have furniture that looks "olde worlde" if you know what I mean. So we will sell it on and buy some nice new furniture in Oz. To be honest we don't have alot of stuff. We have some decent furniture, but we don't have expensive gadgets or things. I often joke to hubby that if anyone burgled us, they'd probably be very disappointed!
Mongrel Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 We brought our stuff over settees beds washers etc . If you look at the shipping charges against the prices you get for your gear, it can still be more economical shipping. Settes cost 2 grand 3 years ago they are mint con, offered 200 pounds swivel was my answer. The Ikea in oz is more expensive than the european.We rented furnished for 8 weeks was 2 weeks thro the third term when our gear landed. We got the first rental and had to wait 1 week so bought a bed to be going on with and it was not cheap but viable. One tip if you get solar heating get a washer with hot and cold fill Mally from Kally
Guest Angie*mark Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Hi we plan to go with basically nothing.........for us it's a total fresh start and that means everything will be bought when we get over there. Apart from photo's and clothes etc that will be it.........call me mad but im looking 4ward to it, all that shopping, bargain hunting everything different i think it will be fab!!!!!!!!!!
bryam99 Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Thats exactly what we did! Life in the UK was so hard, we didnt have a lot of money and all our stuff was second hand anyway, so we thought we would just sell the lot, its only 'stuff' anyway eh! Having said that, we had the hardest 3 months to start with, although i was working on day 4 of getting here and bringing in a wage it was quite expensive to start again from scratch. I must say it was the adventure of a lifetime though and we laugh now when we remember how poor we were, living on one pretty average wage, it took hubby 3months to get a job, much longer than we thought. Every scrap of food was used and we slept the first couple of nights on the floor on towels!! Until we upgraded to airbeds!! We have two kids 17 and 13 who were mortified by our poverty!! (Poor things what did we put them through?) but we have nearly got there now and it has been great to see it all coming together. I wouldnt advise it for the fainthearted but most people have a little more than the $6000 we came with! Now we are renting a nice 3 bed house, we have beds (yay!) a secondhand sofa and chairs, new tv/dvd dining set, new car and other bits that we feel like we have a home at last and have started to enjoy life and start putting a little dosh aside at last to save for a deposit on our own home. I dont know if we were crazy or brave or naive when we came but it all worked out in the end, weve been here 7months now and life is rosy even though we miss our people at home! Good luck! Just remember no one is risking thier lives, just the material things for a while! x x x
Guest guest17301 Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Quote (Bryam99);Good luck! Just remember no one is risking thier lives, just the material things for a while! x x x __________________ That's how I feel about it too! Your story sounds just like ours! Glad it's working out for you, hope we will be as lucky x
saunders clan Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Great last post! And anyway how do you know that your current furniture will go in your new house!!!!!?!!!!???? And also what great fun you can have choosing new stuff! (if you like that kind of thing I suppose.) I say GOOD LUCK! Never let anyone tell you you're wrong. Just go with it and enjoy. Kate
Guest dawniegee Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 we have just started our journey waiting to se the migration officer, but when we go we are only taking the bare essentials, we began our life together in england with nothing and hopefully we get to oz, we will start again , we,ve always struggled, so starting again is nothing new, oz is our new beginning, soi want everything to be new, maybe not expensive but new i want to be an australian, so will buy australian, and you know women any excuse for a shop lol
Guest michelle in Havant Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 I think its a great idea. We are only shipping over a few things, mainly the childrens toys (our furniture isnt worth keeping)! We decided we would have a complete new start and anyway I love shopping!!!!! Good luck! Michelle x
PommyPaul Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 i'll be starting out from scratch, less than 15kgs of luggage, no job offer and going all on my tod with no one i've ever met before over there. Its definately going to be an adventure i fly out monday woohoo... (getting excited!!)
Guest guest17301 Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 i'll be starting out from scratch, less than 15kgs of luggage, no job offer and going all on my tod with no one i've ever met before over there. Its definately going to be an adventure i fly out monday woohoo... (getting excited!!) Paul, I think it's people like you that have the best time in Oz. You're not frightened to give it a go and you will reap the benefits. You can overthink things sometimes and talk about things till you're too old or unable to actually do them. Life is, most definitely, what you make it. We've all been blessed with freedom and a mind of our own and the opportunities are endless.... the only limits are those which we place on ourselves. I wish you all the luck in the world (not that you will need it) and hope it's all you dreamed it would be x
PommyPaul Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 Paul, I think it's people like you that have the best time in Oz. You're not frightened to give it a go and you will reap the benefits. You can overthink things sometimes and talk about things till you're too old or unable to actually do them. Life is, most definitely, what you make it. We've all been blessed with freedom and a mind of our own and the opportunities are endless.... the only limits are those which we place on ourselves.I wish you all the luck in the world (not that you will need it) and hope it's all you dreamed it would be x Thanks Fiona!! you've got a great way with words there, as a great man once said.. He who dares rodders, he who dares (or she) :cool:
countrybumpkins Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 We are a family of 5 off to Melbourne jan/feb on a 457 visa and we are selling/getting rid of most things. Lots of time taken up with car boots and ebay! I just don't see the point in paying a fortune to ship over knackered old furniture. we have decided to use www.sevenseasworldwide.com. Plan to ship around 18 small boxes for approx £500. This will be a few sentimental items, clothes, shoes (lots of!!) kids toys, dvd's etc. I'm really looking forward to shopping for new things for our new home once we are settled. It will be nice to just have what we "need" rather than lots of useless gizmos we all end up with! Does anyone know of any other companies which ship small boxes?? Donna
lees Posted October 4, 2008 Posted October 4, 2008 I am not really sure what we are going to do yet. I like the sound of buying all new i don't know if hubby thinks so. My friend went 7 months ago and she said take as much as you can but if you are waiting long for your gear to get there it doesn't really help.
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