Posted by
mutton
17 yrs ago
We are moving back to the UK this year and I can’t get my head around the practicalities. We have a 3 year old daughter and a 9 month old baby. We have a tiny house in the UK and although we have family there we don’t have anyone that can put us all up for a few weeks. We are teachers so we don’t have much money and we haven’t yet got jobs to go to. So how does one logistically move from one country to another with two small children?
Do we leave all our furniture here and just ship back clothes, photos and toys? This means that we will have to somehow get rid of all our furniture on the very day we leave (as we will need cots etc till the very last minute). This also means that we will have to kit out our house from head to toe the minute we arrive – money we don’t have!
Or do we ship as much as we can? This means that we won’t have to buy so much stuff in the UK BUT it will cost us money to ship things plus how can we live without essential furniture for 8 weeks while our belongings are in transit?
Has anyone ever done this before?
All thoughts, advice, ideas, opinions greatly appreciated….
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We came here from the UK with an 18 month old and this is what we did. We shipped everything, except some clothes,toys and buggy taking full use of our baggage allowance. The packers came 2 days before I left so I spent 2 nights in a hotel with my son (so they had a cot there).
When we got here we spent a month in a serviced apartment (so they have cots too) while we found an apartment and waited for our stuff to arrive (only took 4.5 weeks.
The shipping costs were far less than the value of all our possesions - I know because you have to provide an itemised list for insurance purposes, and the hassle of having to try and buy new everything would be enormous (a sofa from Habitat, for example, has a lead time of 8-12 weeks).
Also there are companies you can rent baby equipment from so if you are staying friends you can get cots/high chairs/sterilizers etc.
The fact you are thining about it in advance means you will get it all organized and planned which is what you need in order to cope with moving with 2 littlies.
Best of luck!
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Dont forget service apartments here are very very expensive..
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cd
17 yrs ago
Ship as much back as you can afford, so you don't have to buy more. Sell items you don't want to take. Borrow from friends and family for when you get back until your stuff gets there. You only need basics, we stayed in our house once for a couple of weeks while we did some painting, we borrowed some airbeds and mattresses to sleep on, a plastic garden set to eat off, and a small futon to sit on. The kids thought it was very exciting camping out in the house.
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Thank you so much for your replies. ClaireHK - I hadn't thought about how long it would take to buy furniture in the UK and have it delivered. It's a really good point.
The fog is lifting a little at last. CD I love your idea of borrowing some garden furniture to eat at!
Thanks again.
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10
17 yrs ago
Hey ClaireHK, sorry to revive this thread but now that the time is getting closer, I just wanted to ask which shipping company you used? 4.5 weeks is REALLY quick! You can PM if Ed won't let you say it here.
Thanks...
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My husband's firm moved us and they used Sante Fe. They were brilliant.
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Ed
17 yrs ago
http://www.asiaxpat.com/movingquote/
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