[ck38]

Is there anyone who has moved to NZ and not taken more belongings than baggage allowance allows?
We are a family of 5 and hope to be in NZ in about a years time. We do not own our home, and have no articles of furniture that we particularly have a desire to bring with us. Therefore, rather than shipping a container filled with all our old junk we are planning to sell as much as we can at car boot sales etc and house sales to give us more cash to spend on refurnishing when we get to NZ.
Has anyone furnished their new house in NZ with second hand furniture bought from trademe etc or has anyone any idea on how many NZ dollars I should set aside for buying used furniture and essential household appliances?
How easy is it to rent a furnished property for the first few months in the Christchurch area (are there many properties like this around?).

I would appreciate your views on this. Thanks.

[5kings]

We are not in NZ yet, but have thought about doing this. We have a house of old stuff here, alot that needs replacing to be honest.
We had thought about taking nothing, but then we thought well the kids will want their stuff, and we have loads of photo albums, etc, so we might buy a few new things and use them here to improve the appearance of our house to sell it, then bring a small container over.

Sorry I can't help with your questions, someone who is already there would be better placed to answer.

Have you looked on trademe at rentals or furniture? Might give you an idea of what is available.

Helen


Is there anyone who has moved to NZ and not taken more belongings than baggage allowance allows?
We are a family of 5 and hope to be in NZ in about a years time. We do not own our home, and have no articles of furniture that we particularly have a desire to bring with us. Therefore, rather than shipping a container filled with all our old junk we are planning to sell as much as we can at car boot sales etc and house sales to give us more cash to spend on refurnishing when we get to NZ.
Has anyone furnished their new house in NZ with second hand furniture bought from trademe etc or has anyone any idea on how many NZ dollars I should set aside for buying used furniture and essential household appliances?
How easy is it to rent a furnished property for the first few months in the Christchurch area (are there many properties like this around?).

I would appreciate your views on this. Thanks.

[mcacmartin]

This is what we'll be doing in January/February. We're selling everything, packing up our suitcases and heading over. We'll bring pictures in an envelope and on a CD but that's about it. We'll just start new when we get there.

[Mrs Pony]

OH did this when he first moved to NZ. Most places can come furnished too I belive

[Nick88]

We are going to do the same thing when we leave NZ, ironically. The cost of shipping and storage at the other end will be more than our furniture is worth. Just need someone to buy the place so we have a timeframe.

[KerryS]

I rent unfurnished houses, then furnish them for the contractors I have working for me to live in whilst they are in NZ.
To buy all the essentials for a kitchen, bathroom, and bedding etc for a five bedroom house I have a budget of $2000, and I can often get change from that when there are sales on.
I rent the furniture from DTR, but there are always stores with sales on. Target, Big Save and Fern Furniture are all pretty reasonable price wise.
It really does depend on what style and quality you want.

[Kea]

We shipped 10 boxes- mainly clothes, computers and gadgets, kitchen stuff, some work stuff. It cost us about 500 pounds but we did manage to get a huge amount of stuff in there.

We also bought furniture when we got here and we did find it cheaper than the UK. But we also spent a lot of time in shops when we arrived which was pretty boring. I'd recommend a look at a few websites to get an idea of prices.

Farmers
Big Save
Bond and Bond
Target
noel Lemming
Harvey Norman

and of course Warehouse. You got to love and hate it!


I'd have found it very hard to come with just airline luggage. Just a few pairs of shoes seemed to take up half a suitcase. But have been quite impressed with the furniture here. It's a tough decision and we went back and forward about if/what to ship. I don't think there is a right or wrong...

Good luck

Julie

[DizzyF]

We leave in 7 weeks and are only shipping some items. We have booked 25 boxes plus a few items and it is about £800. Mainly shipping clothes, toys and wedding gifts or pieces of sentimental value. As shipping takes 8-12 weeks no point in shipping essentials as you can not live without some items (ie bed, saucepans, etc) for this long. No Ikea in NZ so think it will be more expensive and a bit less choice (accoring to OH who is a Kiwi).....good luck!

[kiwijock]

Hi for those who shipped boxes, can I ask what company you used? Would you recommend them?

Thanks

[NZ Hopeful]

OH did this when he first moved to NZ. Most places can come furnished too I belive

From what I have read on here and other places a furnished place is quite a rarity...

[broadsword08]

ny ten cents worth...
before we emmigrated a friend of mine who had recently come back to UK from US advised me to 'take everything' ... in the end we took most of our stuff (except a cheap ikea slat bed and a very large antique chest of drawers) boy would we take both those items if we had our time again! (we could not replace the bed with like for like quality for the same money here and the chest of drawers would be worth nearly 3 times what we paid for it in the UK!)
NZ is great but boy is choice limited (for most things) and blimey second hand furniture is expensive and largely a load of old rubbish that people wouldnt even give away in the UK also if you are outside the main centres dont forget cost of shipping on big items bought off of trade me.
now we had never set up a home before and even though we brought everything we had apart from these two items we have found it very very costly to buy all the furniture and white goods we need... we have found NZ very expensive (relatively) for quality items and at the lower price end the quality just isnt there... i remember my friend saying to me 'do you want to have to go to the shops to get a crappy old shelf unit then get home and realise you needed to buy a screwdriver too!' in reality that crappy old shelf unit is hideously expensive here in NZ compared to UK!!!
if you know what you want and have the money we would say buy in UK and ship... the more you ship the cheaper it is!

[Kea]

We used this company:

Oakbridge Int Ltd
01440 760310
www.oakbridge-international.com

I think they are local to suffolk but did a great job. We currently have storage with them- quite a bit at £50 a month bu we are planning on shipping that soon too. I did bargain them down a bit and got some secondhand boxes included. We did get charged $145 'MAF fee' at this end and insurance was extra.

Good luck.

Julie

[Spudgun]

My wife and I came over with two suitcases each, a laptop, hand luggage and two bikes.

All our other stuff is still in storage in the UK. I must say I’ve found it very refreshing not to have all our junk lying around. The only things I wish I’d shipped are...

Car – only because we had so much trouble selling it and with hindsight we should have shipped it to arrive just after we did. We where quoted about 800 pounds to ship it and we lost more than that when we sold it in the UK

Kitchen knives – Can’t find any decent stuff here

Camping gear – As above

We managed to furnish our 2 bed ‘Unit’ in Auckland for about $4000 with mostly new stuff. It’s really surprising the things you thought you needed but don’t miss.

My wife’s new favourite shop is called Freedom. I suppose it must be the Kiwi version of something like John Lewis.

Tips…
Check the maximum size of baggage allowed. We flew with BA and the max size (I think) was 156CM when you added up the length x width x height. We managed to get these huge holdalls from Argos which where exactly that size and used them for out clothes.

Check the allowance for sport equipment. BA allow you to take one piece each free of charge. We took our bikes and ‘hid’ a few heavy things in the bags like tools.

[canajanz]

Is there anyone who has moved to NZ and not taken more belongings than baggage allowance allows?

Has anyone furnished their new house in NZ with second hand furniture bought from trademe etc
I would appreciate your views on this. Thanks.

There are a lot of Op Shops around
The Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul have shops in every town of any size. You can get everything from bedding and beds to handbags and forks.

When we arrived we got all excited and headed out to SALEs ... but soon discovered that there is ALWAYS a sale on.

Have a look at TradeMe for the area you will be going to and see what is available and for what $$ .. it won't change significantly over time.
Be aware that it will cost $ to have stuff shipped from other areas.

Furnished houses are a real anomaly ... much cheaper to camp out in your new house while you acquire furnishings.

[BodaciousBean]

Hey there,

Hubby and I are doing this. We are taking our baggage allowance and some boxes, which we will pay for the extra costs. I do have a ton of photo albums but I will scanning them into the computer and will ship the albums to my mom.

We really do not have anything of huge value or worth to justify the shipping costs and the hassle. They are just things and can be replaced. Also, NONE of our appliances or electric things will work there anyhow. Plus, the whole thing for us is more symbolic, strip us of our old life and start over fresh. :D We are taking our precious things that cannot be replaced and have sentimental value. And our clothes. :) We do not have any kids, just us.

Wow, cannot believe we are going to be doing this. LOL:o

[vic11]

Hi myself and OH are coming over with our life in our suitcases! 4 at 23kg each! We have only 2 weeks left and are hoping that we don't have that many clothes! :laugh
We are leaving our house furnished so not worried about our stuff, plus our tv, washing machine etc. probably all need replaced anyway, so if we had decided to ship we would have bought all new to bring out. Since we are now renting out our house rather than selling, thats not an option. Sure all we need is a t-shirt, and a rain coat....:uhoh

[alexjascott]

Car – only because we had so much trouble selling it and with hindsight we should have shipped it to arrive just after we did. We where quoted about 800 pounds to ship it and we lost more than that when we sold it in the UK


£800 seems pretty reasonable! That price definitely right, if so I might have to consider sending mine if we take the plunge...

[Flutterby]

we will be arriving with not much more than the clothes we stand in, DP is pushing towards selling EVERYTHING and i'm pushing slightly more towards shipping some items (mostly to keep some familiarity for my daughter) but we have family at that end to support us a little.

[Spudgun]

£800 seems pretty reasonable! That price definitely right, if so I might have to consider sending mine if we take the plunge...

Yes, 800 pounds was for a Roll on/Roll off ferry which takes 8 weeks min. We where lucky enough to have two cars so we should have shipped one and kept one until the last minute. They where also both diesel and I’m having real trouble affording/finding a diesel out here.

[mylesdw]

Remember that it will cost upwards of $1000 to actually get a car on the road in the NZ and that's if they don't find much wrong with it.

[shakyle2906]

We shipped 12 boxes through Britannia and flew with 6 cases - there are 3 of us!

We bought beds, sofas, white goods, etc when we got here. We rented white goods for a while from Mr Rentals which were pretty reasonable. Perweek also have a webpage that you can apply for credit with then - which we got our first flat screen with.

Good luck!

Sharon
x

[Jennispink]

We did exactly this. We arrived with 5 suitcases, a car seat, a buggy and a surf board! One suitcase was mostly full of Jakes toys so that one doesnt really count.
Trademe is great for cheap stuff but you have to be prepared to travel a way to pick up stuff,if your good you can coordinate your pick ups and do one big round trip.
Another great site is freecycle. We freecycled a load of stuff before leaving the UK and now we are receiving, all good karma:) We have got, for free
Sofa
Armchair
Microwave
Plates
Pans
Cutlery
Electric Heater
Mobile Phone handset
Iron
Inflatable bear chair (was supposed to be a double mattress!:laugh)
Single inflatable mattress
Washing Machine
Tumble Dryer
Single bed
Hoover
The last 4 items were all listed as broken or not working but needed very little to get them going again. Im not bragging, I just really love freecycle and the more people that use it the better it gets:clap
From Trade me we have got
Double Sofa bed $35
TV $15
Dining table and 4 chairs $10
Fridge freezer $50
Granted non of the above will remain once we get it together enough to buy new stuff but we will freecycle it on and it got us on our feet VERY cheaply.
One thing that was an absolute must for us was this very cheap little laptop (its an asus ee-pc for those who are interested). Its hard drive is tiny and it has little memory but its allowed us to webcam to family back in the uk and me to stay vaguely in touch with this fabulous forum:nice1

Its all about how comfy you want to be and how much roughing it you can cope with. Matt has just started work after 4 months so we are just now in a position financially to start looking at buying new stuff but interestingly enough, top of the list is actually a new bed rather than anything extra than what we already have. Its quite liberating being free of your clutter!!

Ive rambled....sorry!

[GreenMeansGo]

oh yay there is freecycle in NZ!! :nice1
A lot of our stuff is falling apart anyway, so we wouldn't ship most of it. I've been scoping out trademe, but free is good too! I'm also looking forward to being rid of our clutter, and most of it will probably go onto freecycle, as we've gotten a lot of use out of most of our things and they aren't worth the hassle of selling!

I'm very attracted to the idea of coming with just suitcases, but have a couple of large items that are of good quality that we don't want to have to replace (newish bed, a good dresser... um, I think that's it, lol, don't think we'd ship the piano). Everything else is replaceable, how nice to not be attached to stuff!

[walnut]

oh..posted too quickly. Didn't read pages 2 and 3...soryy!

[walnut]

Wheather to move everything or not has been subject to long debate here in our Dutch house.

Eventually we decided to sell/give away almost everything and only go with airplane luggage and 4 cubicle metres of sea freight. And there's four of us so packing space is limited. Shipping 4m3 of sea freight from Amsterdam to Auckland costs Euro 1,200.00 full-service.

Full relocation would be Euro 4,800.00 for a container. Plus maybe additional movings costs once we decide to move houses in NZ.

It's great not to have a container of junk once in NZ! Although I will miss our antique French oakwood dining table and Mission HiFi speakers.

We found out that selling furniture, decoration, power tools, mountainbikes etc on "marktplaats" (part of E-bay now) works quite well. You do not get the money for it that we once paid for it obviously, but you get a reasonable price. Added up with the relocation costs that can be evaded now, we have set up a savings account only to buy back these things once in NZ. I just hope it works!

It did take some time however to sell all the stuff...and w're not finished yet! Maybe I should take a look at freecycle, it's a great idea!

Once in NZ I'll settle for a second hand couch and an old tele. I really don't mind.

Hope I don't regret it after all, not shipping the lot. :rolleyes:

[dilanium]

We came over with 12 boxes all checked bags on the airline. Cost about $800USD in excess baggage charge but they were 50lb each. We bought some furniture on sale and some from the salvation army. So far to furnish our home we've probably spent $2800 or so, but that includes the fridge and the washing machine.

[kirkandliz]

For my two pennith - I totally agree with BroadSword08

While the idea of selling everything and getting new stuff over here may be appealing and less hassle - be prepared for the cost.
NZ ain't cheap especially once you start earning and living off the kiwi $.

If you have sufficient funds to bring with you and you can budget for it then fine.

Otherwise bring as much as you can - would be my advice.

It's amazing how much getting yourself started over here can be and if you can give yourself a headstart here then great.

Not for everyone but I figure its good to not have to stress about things like this

[NikT]

We came with 4 holdalls of clothes etc.
I air freighted my sparky tools, Swarovski crystal collection, and all the other sentimental crap, photo albums etc.

We decided that, new life, new start, new stuff.:nice1

If you do buy new, make sure you haggle.;)

Kiwis assume that Poms are rich, so stick it out and haggle.
We did and got heaps off furniture, electricals etc.

Good luck!

Nick.:cheers

[ck38]

Thanks for all of your replies. They have all been very helpful.
We are not at all worried about getting all new stuff once in NZ, so the suggestions of where to get 2nd hand goods is fab. Thanks again.