[Howie]

We leave the US on March 9th and are about to select a shipping company and need to decide what comes and what sells. We don't have a lot of stuff, or much nice stuff, and we really won't have a lot of extra money once we arrive in NZ so we really want to make the most economical decisions. The quotes from the movers that seem to know what they are doing have been a lot higher than expected so we keep leaning more towards selling more stuff. I'm concerned though, because everyone says to move as much as possible because things are so expensive in NZ. I've been looking online at trademe and the warehouse and things don't seem that expensive. We really don't mind if we have to buy used furniture instead of new. The decision becomes easy for a few things such as electronics and the car which we can't move anyways. It turns out that the couch (the only nice thing we own) and the kayak are too big to fit in our partial container anyways, so we will sell them. But what about everything else? Since our stuff isn't that that nice to begin with, are we better off selling most of it? I know things will be more expensive in NZ, but maybe not if you calculate the cost of shipping. Also, since we have a partial container, we may have a long wait for our stuff. I don't want to ship stuff that we will end up replacing before our shipment arrives anyways. Here are some examples of things we're not too sure about:

Kitchen appliances (blender, waffle maker, george foreman grill, bread maker) - we're thinking of getting one converter as we generally don't use more than one kitchen appliance at a time.
Pots, pans and mixing bowls - I'm thinking these will be cheaper to replace than ship.
Bedroom furniture, bookshelves, filing cabinet - don't think these things will take up too much room if we fill them with light stuff
Cross country skis - We'll be in Auckland so this seems kind of silly, but is there cross country skiing anywhere on the north island?

What else makes sense to ship? What really doesn't?

[tigerlily]

Howie-
I'm thinking of leaving all things that plug in, except lamps (but we are moving a 20 foot container so space isn't the issue), which I can get rewired ( I hope, and it's only 3 anyway). My thinking is that kitchen gadgets are easy to find in yard sales or not too expensive new.

I think the things that you can't replace- those things with sentimental value- are the ones that you should send. I'm normally of the school that once you own it, it's cheaper just to ship it, but since you have very little to ship anyway I think I'd lean toward not shipping if I were in your position. You can send books through the USPS book rate. You could perhaps leave a couple of bags with a family member who could bring them when they come for a visit?

I think the X-country skis could be replaced or rented in NZ if you found a venue.

How nice are your pots and pans? If they are something that you are not attached to, then skip it! Also I agree that you would want to have them as soon as possible and it won't help if they are waiting for a ship in Long Beach.

Could you scan the files in the filing cabinet (or shred them) to avoid the need for the whole filing cabinet being shipped?

What about art or photographs? Could be rolled into a poster tube I guess. You do want to have some of your familiar things to make it feel like home, and a little less like "what have we done!"

[katandbob]

I have this decision to make too, I have most of my stuff packed up in my mums garage, my inlaws sheds and clothes and gadgets at Hotel MIL. it is going to be a logistical nightmare to get quotes for shipping it over, I got a rough quote. and now I have to wait till April when I am off and sort it out then, but I am starting to think its not worth the hassle of taking pots and pans etc...we are going to need them when we get them...not 6/8 weeks later.

I think it will be just sentimental stuff, the Truck and the extra clothes that we dont want to drag around the island when we are doing the tour.

oh and my cds and dvds...and books.

Kat

[Smiler]

Howie

We shipped sentimental stuff, china and 4 or 5 nice bits of furniture. The rest, beds sofa etc we sold or skipped and bought new here.

We also bought all our pc stuff and office equipment (we both work from home, me fulltime and OH in the evenings). OH bought all his gadgets and radio stuff. Me, all 500+ cd's, and 3 lots of stereo equipment, the cost of replacing them here prohibitive. Oh and shoes and bags :D.

At the end we had to come out here so quickly we didn't have time to sell anymore stuff, so just chucked it in the container, but we had room. It was good when the stuff turned up, I did feel more settled to see things from home and they turned this place into a home.

If anything, I regret giving away my new kitchen gadgets, toaster, microwave and BBQ but hey ho, trade me came in handy here.

If your stuff isn't that nice I would say ditch it and buy new or secondhand here, as and when you can afford to.

Deborah

[jo b]

I shipped 'everything' over and I am so glad I did. The cost of electrical goods equates to the same cost of things in the UK but the NZ dollar is less and earning power is less.

The diffence in the 20 footer versus 40 footer (which we had) out weighed the cost of replacing the would be discarded items.

We were advised by everybody already here, if you already have it bring it.

Jo

[mechidna]

I brought over almost everything. I wish I would have brought my kitchen gadgets with me, but replacing those wasn't too bad. In my opinion, the furniture over here is expensive. I wasn't prepared to pay $1500 + for new livingroom and about the same for bedroom furniture. It was cheaper for me to hire a moving service for $5000. I guess it depends on what you want. We do have a local auction house and they have been wonderful. I guess it's just a personal preference.

Michele

[jubjub]

We brought everything with us too, as we liked it, and it was in good condition, OK we had to rent sofa/bed etc for a few weeks, but it was so nice to get our own bed/sofa back, complete with its feather quilt...

If you need new stuff anyway, then ditch the old, BUT stuff is expensive here and if your stuff is serviceable and you can survive a few weeks "roughing it" then it may be economic to ship.

Have a look at online sites such as Harvey Norman, Target, and Noel Leeming (oh and Trade me) to get a rough idea of replacement costs, and make your decision from there.

[Howie]

Thanks for the advice everyone. We are alternating between deciding to get a full container and move a everything, or sell everything about move just one liftvan (200cuft).
The problem is that a container will cost us over $6500US, whereas about 1/2 a container about $5000US. We had really only budgeted $3000. We're going to get quotes on 1 liftvan today, but I'm afraid it's still going to be more than $3000. We've been doing some math and based on volume, for example, our kitchen table and chairs will cost over $300US to move. That's probably more than we paid for it 10 years ago. I was looking on trademe and think that we can get something used for about $200NZ. We've done some similar math for our bookshelves, bed/dresser, arm chair, and I don't think any of that will be coming.
Please tell me if I'm crazy, but our finances are going to be rather right in NZ, and I really don't want to arrive with any debt from the move. If we have no stuff or money in NZ, I think we'll be pretty motivated to hunt around for good deals on used stuff.
Susan

[Park City Partner]

Keep in mind that to effectively use tradme you will need internet access at home in order to monitor your bids. We couldn't get internet access until our phone was turned on which couldn't happen until we got to move into our house which was about 2 weeks after I arrived and 3 weeks after my parnter signed the lease. Phone was turned on on Monday and I now have internet access. YEA!

We were trying to bid on a fridge in advance of moving into our house. We have no buying history on trademe so one auction that we placed on autobid up to $450 we lost to someone at $380. We left the internet connection we were using at Starbucks with about 50 min to go in the auction and felt confident that we were going to win. But when we checked the next day we discovered that we were "removed" by the seller. Unclear as to why but we are assuming it is because we have no bidding history...never realized that this could happen.

So, in short, just know that trademe while good is time consuming and only really works if you have frequent and easy access to monitor it.

[Smiler]

PCP are you verified with TM? You'll need to do this before your bids are accepted.

D x