ship out the old or buy second hand or new

[Guest jasongd]

Hi,

 

Myself and my wife have been advised to take as much of our stuff with us when we immigrate. I am sure we were told it was about £4500 for a container or half not sure which.

 

I have also been told furniture is very expensive new but secondhand is cheap and very popular down under.

 

Anyone give any advice from experiance because I am getting advice from aunts who emmigrated 30 odds and 15 odd years ago and it must have changed.

 

 

Any advice would be graet Jason

[Guest The Standrings]

Hi Jason

If its any help we are in the same predicament!! We have been advised by load sof people to take white goods as there are expensive out in Oz (but I'm sure that those who live there will inform you better!) We decided to get a quote and see if it was worth takin stuff. Pickfords came out last week and quoted us £2300 for 400cubic foot shared container, that included stuff like our kingsize bed, kids beds, washing machine, fridge/freezer, pots/pans, clothes etc!

We have decided better in the long run to take most of our stuff with us! I hope this is of some help.

Emma

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

If it helps you any (if it's your style/lifestyle), there is an Ikea in Adelaide, as well as a company I've found called Fantasic furnture (http://www.fantasticfurniture.com.au/home) which sells 'packages' of furniture to do a room in one go as it were. Also, apparently lots of places do deals or accept haggling especially if you are buying a few items (like white goods) from what I have read on various forums etc.

 

We priced things up to buy new from these type of shops, and it was about the same as a full container tbh - and as all of our furniture is very very old and very very knackered (eg our only tv is a 30" CRT thing that has a few chunks out of it, washing machine cost £100 4 yrs ago, tumble drier ditto, fridge freezer is a tiny thing that was complete bottom of the range and so on....) (apart from the old little thing, like we have an OK bed, but thats just the one bed) its probably easier, less hassle, nicer and less stressful to just buy it all again. If we can get things cheaper second hand (on here/Gumtree/Ebay/garage sales etc) all the better, but we are budgeting for brand new stuff, all be it lower quality (ie Ikea bottom/mid range rather than top of the line) to start with as tbh we are just starting out (newly married couple).

 

I imgaine it depends somewhat on your lifestyle/stage of life though - if you have nice stuff I would have thought it would be cheaper to ship it, even with the hassle of doing it, but as we don't, I can't really comment on that lol (have no idea what nice stuff costs, as I know we can't afford it!)

[Guest helene73]

We are going to start afresh (if I get the visa) I was advised by a friend in Perth about package deals on furniture, he took a container with stuff out there then found it was cheaper to have started again, dont know how true this bit of info is but I am sure someone will put me right if it is wrong he said his fridge packed up within months as ours can not cope with the heat and the water knackered his washing machine!!!?!!

As long as I have my shoe collection that's all that matters to me lol

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Leicesterlad]

Some white goods here are expensive but some people do insist on buying their stuff at the most expensive shops. As others have said it's all about 'lifestyle'. Just ask yourself 'How much of a shopping snob am I?' Then check out the catalogues at http://www.lasoo.com.au/ where you can compare the various stores and their prices.

Harvey Norman and The Good Guys sell white goods, as do places like Target.

[Sallyh]

Well I don't buy the most expensive things (but like to research what's a good idea to buy and what's a waste of money) and I don't think there's much doubt that white goods are more expensive here. DEpends also if you have the time to furnish an entire house with new (or new to you) stuff all in one go as well as getting used to a new place. Some people like to start afresh with everything new, and that might be you. For us it was also important (as well as actually almost impossible to price everything up for buying new) to have wherever we lived "feel" like home for our children - same chairs, same furniture etc. We don't have flash stuff but there was nothing wrong with it. I'm glad that we made that decision actually. When you think about your entire house contents, the idea of having to start from nothing and work up might seem like a totally massive (and unecessary task).

[antlet]

We brought as much as we could, just simply you take years to accumulate all that you have/need and to completely start anew would be extortionate. It's not so much the large things as as one person has said, some furniture places sell packages, but its the small things that appear insignificant until you realise you don't have it!. We bought a lounge suite but that was about it initially.

Its also worth noting that cash and negotiation works pretty well here also in some places - the Good Guys for instance.

 

If you are considering a container, then fill it to the brim. When you get here there will be quite a lot of outlay for rentals, bonds, etc not mention stress of settling - to have familiar things can mean alot. It was like all our christmases had arrived when our container arrived!!

 

Hope this helps

[Guest Nicky&Andy]

we brought alot of stuff , but got rid of loads before we came , if i could do it again i would have brought more , we gave alot away, including bikes tools,kitchen stuff etc the list goes on ,

it helps you settle to have your own things around you, espically if you have children,

emigrating is not easy, you go through stages of "oh s... what have we done " but familliar things around you make you realise you are home (in my case it helps)

[scooterdan]

When we arrived we came with nothing...... We furnished out 1st rental with $5000 all new white goods and sofas!! Some of the stuff we got was second had but still helped! If you shop clever it's easy!

[snifter]

I personally don't want to have to start all over again once in Aus. We are bringing a fair chunk of stuff, but mostly as its too good a quality to be able to afford to replace like for like once in Aus. Plus while cheap is fine for a bit it doesn't usually last and so buying out for cheap stuff new once we are there isn't really my ideal. Its throwing money away really IMO. I'd rather take our good stuff and buy the bits we need once there but buy decent stuff but less of it.

 

Things like our bed, sofa and few other things will cover the cost of shipping alone pretty much. And we'd never be able to afford the same sort of quality once there. Also things like personal effects, some books, all my kitchen ware will ship.

 

White goods will vary. They are more expensive in Aus but as our fridge freezer is old we won't bother taking it. But our washing machine and probably the tumble dryer (condenser one which seems to be extortionate in Aus) and microwave we'll take.

 

Also things like bedding, bed linen, towels are expensive in Aus. So I am stocking up here to take with us. I'm not worrying about curtains as I've noticed most Aussie houses, the curtains we have here, even floor length ones won't really fit the windows in most places. Also won't take any wardrobes as many Aussie houses have them built in.

 

Work out cost wise what it will cost you to replace stuff if you don't take it. Of course don't take cheap stuff thats falling apart but price it all up and see what works best for you. For us its a no brainer to take the good furniture, personal belongings, kitchen stuff down to the garlic press and chopping boards. Other furniture like our shelves (Ikea and damaged now), bookcase, desk and kids bed frames we'll leave behind.

[Guest guest3462]

We also came with nothing! I loved going shopping for all our new goods and our girls were thrilled to go from ccots to beds. When we moved into our own house that we built we needed lots more furniture which we got second hand from ex display and show home sales so it is all new furniture essentially but for a fraction of the price.