I have a massive (household) shopping list. Where would you buy the following items?

[SunshineSpring]

I move back to the UK (yippee!) in 2 weeks. Ive not been to the UK in 5 years. Where would you buy the following items (medium sized city in the north). And what brand/item would you buy? I'm assuming I wont get finance, so will be cash/credit card transactions....

*King sized bed
*Childs single bed
*bedding for above

• 2 kids bikes - age 7 and 9, sold our beloved iala bikes but 2 new isla bikes are coming in rather £££ *wireless printer *cake tins, baking sheets, roasting tins (ovenware) *reusable shopping bags - this is such a no go out here, I'm actually prevented from taking reusable bags into some shops- you have to leave everything with security before you enter...

I will also need a car. What do you all drive? - not tiny. Ideally 5 doors. I had an Astra before. Didnt like it much, but that sort of thing.

Cheers! My to do list is so long, I fear I'm going to make some snap purchases that aren't fully researched, and will get it wrong.

John Lewis for most of that.

IKEA or next for beds. Ds2 has the next Shoreditch bed and it's super sturdy
www.next.co.uk/g522144s1#168176

Sainsburys is also great for good quality cookware. All the supermarkets sell reusable shopping bags.

John Lewis for beds - just bought a kids from there actually, it's called a Wilton child compliant. Free delivery, the night before they give you a 2 hour window, so you don't fart on for the whole day.

Islabike Facebook group is great for used.

TKMaxx or HomeSense does excellent baking tins. I bought a couple of Calphalon baking sheets recently.

I'd go with John Lewis for the beds and bedding - they have a service where they deliver and build the bed for you so takes some of the stress out of it!

Kids bikes - we recently bought an Isla 2nd hand but were advised in a local independent bike shop that Frog bikes (new ish UK make) are almost as good and about £80-100 cheaper, so if you want to buy new that may be a good bet.

Shops have not changed that much in the past 5 years!!

I'd say Aldi for reusable bags - cheaper and much better size for grocery shopping than most of the actual supermarket ones.
Argos for most of the other stuff (they deliver, often same day).
Gumtree or eBay for bikes once you're here.
Skoda Octavia for a car.
I'd avoid ikea for bed/bedding as the sizes are slightly odd.

With Ikea though you'd need to construct the beds which is v time consuming. However with JL there may be a delivery lead time to consider

I'd do all JL if it were me and budget wasn't so much of an issue; better quality stuff than Ikea imo

John Lewis from the comfort of your sofa for the lot, other than the car.

I'd also look at Costco.

We've purchased our replacement mattresses for Ikea (mainland European sized) beds off Amazon as they were delivered.

I'd just go to a large local car dealer and buy best deal on offer that's two years old and lowish mileage.

Size of car
Engine size
Fuel type
Man or auto

And take it from there.

I have bought a variety of bed linen over the years. For value and quality I go back to M&S every time.

John Lewis for most of it. Much less painful than Ikea with its funny sizing etc. There will be a lead time for beds though so check that before ordering.

Intrigued to know where you are re security and reusable bags?

John Lewis for most of it. Much less painful than Ikea with its funny sizing etc. There will be a lead time doe bess though so check that before ordering.

Intrigued to know where you are re security and reusable bags?

Oak furniture land do lovely beds and other furniture too. They have showrooms/shops and you can buy online too.

Supermarket kitchenware is surprisingly nice and good quality.

JL or any department store for bedding.

IKEA for cheap short notice sofas/storage/kids wardrobes/kallax etc..

Cookware - Lakeland (online and deliver)
Beds and bedding - IKEA

Is there a Bensons beds or a local bed shop near you? The local bed shop I use delivers and makes up the bed to boot....

Bedding - www.soakandsleep.com/ good value and a great product. I buy all my duvets, mattress toppers and pillows from here, and they deliver.

Bedding/towels

Www.richardhaworth.co.uk (hotel quality, next day delivery
Www.justlinen.co.uk

Where are you moving to? What about local independent shops? Please support them. I bought a whole range of new pans for my induction hob from a local shop, excellent service and prices.

Outlet type stores also may be useful for furniture as the items are in stock too. Perhaps a Barker and Stonehouse outlet?

For everything except the car and the beds, I’d buy it in your nearest good supermarket (by which I really mean Sainsburys, but Asda and Morrison’s do a lot of good stuff too).

I always figure a supermarket picking 5 printers for me to choose from is going to be better than me trying to choose between 5000 printers on the web. Ditto bedding and cookware.

Reusable bags you just buy with your first food shop. (And then again with every shop when you forget them.)

Ikea is good if you want furniture fast but the self-assembly is horrific. Last time we tried to use the "service" to get someone to put stuff together for us it was complicated and then they let us down! We got our decorators to do it who, luckily, were willing. I'd get beds from JL or M&S with the assembly and packaging removal included.

I second Skoda cars. Yetis are a reasonable size

Asda bedding is cheapish and good quality. Their duvets are good too. DD has one. The do homeward too.

They do sturdy reusable bags too.

I had a nightmare with John Lewis over beds. New house, mattresses due to be delivered, rang me from an unknown number so I didn’t answer, no mattresses for nearly 4 weeks. I’d ordered them 6 wks earlier. The new mattresses came after Christmas instead of on 1 December.

We've just ordered new beds from JL - had thought of Ikea originally, but when I looked, JL worked out cheaper and they have loads of detailed reviews of their products (which seem genuine!) online. So that also helped as I couldn't get to the shop itself. Delivery doesn't cost extra and they text you with a time the night before. So thumbs up from me.

Good luck with your list OP!

Argh East what a nightmare - v different experiences then!

I actually got some great kitchen utensils and overware from Poundland and Wilko!

When buying a printer always check how much the compatible ink costs - sometimes it's better to spend a little more on a printer and save money on the ink, than buying a cheap printer and having to pay through the roof for ink cartridges.