[shakyle2906]

Can anyone offer any advice ??

We anticipate moving over to NZ end of Feb on working visas.

As we rent (which is good in one respect as we only have to give a months notice rather than sell up) and have no savings as such, we have to sell everything furniture wise.

Anyone been in same position and can offer some advice ?? Obviously ther is ebay and car boots for clothes, books, some toys, and certain items but what did you do or what do you suggest regarding large items like bedroom furniture, kitchen appliances, living room furniture, etc ???

Any advice would be so very helpful!!

Sharon

[wiki]

I'd be tempted to put adverts in the local tesco/asda etc as most have community boards (at least our tesco does) or an advert in the local paper. Some second-hand furniture shops will buy house-loads, but won't pay much. The same goes for letting agencies - they might buy a load to put into one of their rentals, but they'll want it as cheap as possible.

We're doing the same thing - via the tesco noticeboard to start with and beginning with things we don't really need for 3 months, ie bedframes

best of luck!

[gil]

Hi Sharon,
We left Cardiff just over 5 weeks back and found it very difficult to sell anything that was surplus to requirements. (Sorry if this sounds a bit negative, it's just to let you know how we found things) We put items like a cabin bunk with futon, desk and bookcase on www.freeads.net and had no takers :(, couldn't even shift it for nothing on Freecycle, so we ended up giving a load of stuff to the Sally Army.
On a brighter note, I know Willsken made a bomb by ebaying and car booting :yes

Good luck,

Gil

[nippa&pippa]

try this

http://www.gumtree.com/

then click to your areas on right side as they do UK as well as NZ

Had few sold on our items..

[marcia]

We sold stuff on ebay and at car booty's, bigger items we used our local paper - they have free ads on a Saturday where you can sell items for under £100 free of charge - we sold quite a lot this way and the best thing is they come to you at a time to suit you!

Good luck!

[CarolineReid]

I'm doing the same...and as well as the above, I've sent an email to everyone I know, with prices and pictures, just asking them if they know anyone who might be setting up home etc. Don't let it get you down.
I've just put big furniture on Ebay as well - apparently it works sometimes.

[Ana&Steve]

You could try craigslist UK (http://london.craigslist.org) to help, though I'm not sure how popular it is there. (It's pretty big in the USA)

BTW, if you don't know what car booting is, neither did I :o so I Wikied it...
Car Boot Sale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_boot_sale)

Ana

[mossum]

Hi

Could you consider shipping it over ??We had slightly too much for 20 footer & no where near enough for a 40 footer- as we flew out days after movers etc we did not want to risk things not fitting & having to sort it out at such a late stage - we could not get rid of some of our stuff for love nor money - Even 2 x brand new single beds that had literally only ever been used 4-5 times - no one wanted them despite advertising them at silly prices . In the end every weekend i'd put stuff on the end of the drive with a big sign saying free - please take me !!!

now the reason I say ship it is - things are expensive here , now I could do with a spare single bed & we're in a position where we dont have the $800 spare for a new one - Grrrrrr to think you could pick a cheep single up for so little in the UK . Even all the small things count - I'm always saying " I thought we had one of those " then following it with " oh ***** I gave it away "

hth vic

[veronica]

this bringing it with you has been in the forum lots of times in the past and it is worth considering. It really works out expensive when you have to restart over here and if you have to buy all the furniture as well as all the everyday bits and pieces. The cost of replacing it all will be putting an extra burden on your start here.

New furniture here is expensive and second hand is almost as bad so if its in decent condition then consider bringing it, even if it only starts you off and you buy new here at alater date to replace it you are pretty certain to be able to sell it here.

Do a search on the forum to see what has been said in the past.

[pinkpiggy]

Sharon,

Do either you or OH have a community notice board at work? I work from home now but when I went out to work we had a big notice board in the canteen where people could advertise.

Also, some places I have worked at have had a staff section on their intranet where you could advertise.

Don't know if either of the above helps but good luck.

[Hannah]

Sharon, our stuff is being shipped over. Must admit most of it is all cheap tat (bought second hand mainly) but we looked into replacement costs in NZ and realised we'd be crippled financially if we tried to replace it all. Second hand stuff is so pricey...as is new stuff.
Also, when you realise how little your flight luggage allowance will allow, it's quite scary. I'm not attached to any of my stuff really - apart from photos - but hubby loves his tools and kids love their toys. Selling the toys and rebuying them would have been tough on kids (we have 2 huge boxes just containing teddies - every single one has a name my kids have told me!!!).
Seriously though, investigate replacement value and factor this in with costs of shipping etc. Our shipping cost is £3500, insured for £15000 worth of stuff (and that's only replacement on main things) - if we sold it all here we'd make very little money as much of it is quite old (although has a few years life in it yet!). Our concern was replacement costs (stuff REALLY expensive in NEw Plymouth). Buying again was not an option. Already we are looking at having to buy some stuff when we arrive (crockery, cutlery, linen etc.) as we'll have to wait some time for our stuff to arrive. Just the thought of buying those things is scary! Indeed it's often those kinds of things (clothes, linen, lampshades, kitchenware etc.) which put the costs up. It's easy to think of big things like sofas, wardrobes etc. and to get excited about decking your house out in new stuff, but the real cost can be in all those little things that fill the boxes in your removal lorry (we are up to 40 or so boxes now, and are seen by our friends as minimalists!!!!)
hannah

[shakyle2906]

I know, and i wish we would afford to take!

We have had a rough year or so, Steven lost his job and was unemployed for 8 weeks, hence all money saved for our 'dream' was swallowed up in keeping our heads above water.

To add to this, his dad had a heart attack last Feb which meant me taking time off work, unpaid, to look after our 4 year old.

i can see from looking at loads of threads on forum that it will be expensive, but we both feel that this is all we can do!

Sharon
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