Shipping a house worth of belongings internationally

[MooseBreath]

DH and I are trying to get our affairs in order for an international move to another continent (in December). We have a 4yo and an 18mo, as well as a dog. Permits to live in the country are sorted.

We currently rent, but have a house deposit ready for when we move. Ideally we would bring much of our furniture and belongings, so we aren't starting from scratch.

AIBU to have absolutely no idea how to go about doing this? I assumed we could use a shipping container, but we would be moving overseas and then a fair way inland. I have read online that this is incredibly unreliable and takes years for belongings to arrive, which seems insane. We can't exactly wait years for our furniture and clothing...

Has anybody done this before and know the basics of what to look for? How does it work?

I think you would be crazy to take pots and pans and day-to-day stuff. That kind of stuff can be bought so cheaply now. I would definitely take as little as you can and build up new stuff slowly. It feels quite liberating! Obviously take the personal stuff and sentimental items. But then let most of it go.

My DS lived in US for 2 years.
Shipping took about 28 days.
Insurance cover is included in the cost.
The only thing, he had one new piece of furniture, and plastic packaging covers had to be removed, else it counted as an import.
Similar time frame on his return.

Friends did this a few months ago to Canada. It took just over 2 months. So they lived out of 2 suitcases each until then and just bought essentials. You need a shipping company who come and assess what you’d need size wise for your container . Make sure it’s properly insured !!

Done many times, though not paid for it very often myself except when I was very young and not taking much. Back then it was cheaper to take excess luggage on the plane, and to box up other essentials and ship via parcel2go or whatever they are called these days. I've recently shipped nearly 80kg UK to EU for £100 including import taxes.

I am going to disagree slightly with some other posters. It is nice to have your own things around you in an unfamiliar environment. And some things are very expensive or uncommon in your new location so you prefer to take them. For example beds can be very hard in some places. Electrical appliances are often not worth taking though as new location might use different plugs/electricity supply.

I've found that shipping doesn't usually take very long at all nowadays. Sometimes I've received things within a week, and a family member who did EU to East Coast US late last year received all their stuff including their car within 3 weeks and they took an entire household of stuff. That can be faster and cheaper than trying to source the same items in an unfamiliar environment.

We moved from France to a French Caribbean island. The container took 6 weeks. DH had already moved into a temporary furnished accommodation and we first visited family, then joined him in the rental for 3 weeks until our container arrived.

We massively decluttered beforehand. But also bought extra flat pack (non made up) furniture to take as we knew there was nothing cheap on the island.

We kept minimal clothes etc. Irreplaceable sentimental items either stayed with MIL (as our move is temporary), or came in our plane luggage. All my jewellery travelled in my hand luggage.

Our move is a temporary one. We chose to take all our old furniture. But when we make the move again next year we will leave a lot of stuff here and buy new.

We had one full container which DHs company paid for.

With such young kids I would HIGHLY simplify and minimize their toys and belongings. Mine were older so were very attached to an unfortunate number of things. Since moving here I've continued decluttering so our next move will be simpler.

I moved UK to US with 7 suitcases and bought everything there

When we moved back we got a container and shipped lots of furniture back - never again. Get yourself on the Two Fat Expats facebook group, you will get some great advice on there

Definitely get the shipping company to look and take a quote. But be wary.

On the day they packed up our stuff they stopped at one point and said container was full, and that was it. Major panic cos there was still 2 sofas, some flat pack boxes, 4 bikes, scooters etc. To pack!!!! Absolute nightmare. We managed to negotiate space for the flat pack and 2 bikes and 2 scooters but had to leave the rest of the stuff. Which was awful dealing with the day before flying! (Some friends came in the evening to help us otherwise we d have been truly fucked)

DH laughs at me still decluttering but after that experience I really only want to keep what we need and love.

It doesn’t take years.

I’m currently doing this now. It will take approximately another month for our belongings to arrive in our new home, so two months in total.

How much is cost will depend on the weight. Ours is insured through my husband’s company, but you can look to get additional coverage. Make sure your furniture is wiped down (no cobwebs), and that you’re not trying to bring something made of a wood that isn’t permitted into the country. Anything you’re taking that could be classed as outside furniture/agricultural is throughly cleaned (no grass seeds stuck on patio furniture, for example).

We're going to the Toronto area, so not close to either coast.

There are definitely things I would like to keep that are more expensive. As much as I appreciate IKEA and the like and used it in the past, we have over the years bought more durable furniture that we have upcycled. Not keen on replacing everything - it seems so wasteful when (other than electronics, obviously) our current belongings are good quality.

Definitely will be going through everything and donating/selling everything we don't need though.

Contact a removals company who deal in international moves for personal effects (not all freight forwarders do private work directly). It's best to ask other families who have done the same move who they used because different locations lend themselves to different companies.

You need to then work out what you are willing to spend on shipping and consider the shipping time. Cull your belongings starting now, good excuse for a sort out.

I've done this and it's tough! We had boxes go missing too so you need to inventory every box.

Just another thought, think about booking the Queen Mary 2 westbound instead of flying (into New York) if east coast Canada as you can take unlimited luggage within reason plus the dog! Kennels get booked up so no guarantees. Then find a company to drive to over the border. If you didn't take furniture you might be able to use this plus mail a few boxes.

If any of you are going out to visit on any occasions before the move, max out your baggage allowance and consider buying more bags to pre move stuff so its there when you arrive (leave with a Canadian friend or get a small storage unit). Dont forget it will be freezing in Dec, so make sure you have good winter clothing options for all of you)

We moved from London to Vancouver with a large family. A full container (small ones are 20ft long) is fairly expensive and the easiest way it normally part of a container. Don't believe anyone who says it takes 2 weeks, it absolutely doesn't.
I'd allow 6-7 probably. It would just be delivered to your door in boxes.

What we did was just paid for extra suitcases and packed essentials- kitchen stuff, etc, to keep us going until the container finally arrived. We didn't have to pay for shipping as it was a work transfer but if I was paying myself I would take as little as possible. It's really not worth taking something from IKEA.

Bear in mind though everything is more expensive in Canada than the UK, but we did get a lot of free stuff from marketplace which you will probably be able to do as well, provided you aren't in the middle of nowhere.

Assuming you’re not currently planning on staying forever in your shoes I would take as little as possible. Declutter and sell stuff you’re not attached to or which you know you won’t use when you’re back. Leave family heirlooms and truly sentimental stuff with your family in a loft or something- there’s no way I would trust a shipping company with anything I couldn’t bear to lose.

When I lived abroad I got a small trunk of stuff shipped to me and then accumulated stuff from shops like ikea but also eBay/ second hand once I got there- then it felt less wasteful. I enjoyed the process and was also able to sell quite a bit of it before I came back too. Although it might seem daunting/ wasteful to replace in your new home imagine the environmental costs of shipping every last teaspoon across the world! Plus some things (like electrical items, bedding etc) simply won’t work, or won’t work as well in the new place and you’ll be really surprised how quickly it all starts to accumulate again!

Can someone go on ahead so you’ve got the basics like beds, table and sofa for when you arrive with the kids?

Check bed sizes. Real pain in the arse when you ship your bed then find bedding sizes in the new place are slightly different so your sheets never fit quite right

@Youhaveyourhandsfull

I did in reverse took over 4 months, dockers were on strike!

Check if electrical items are compatible with the power supply.

Depending on where in the UK you live, I would potentially be interested in purchasing some bits from you! I'm looking mainly for living room and snug furniture but could also use knick knacks etc 🙂

If you feel comfortable to share your vague location and some photos of your sofas etc then I could absolutely take some bits off your hands!!

• don't take any Ikea furniture, chipboard doesn't travel and it's easy to sell
• find shipping companies which offer a share in partial container, takes bit longer but cheaper
• sell any electronics - you will need 110V over there I think and different plug. You won't want to wait 3mths for the tv anyway
• agree with others that if you can get away with not shipping furniture then do this as new house will need different pieces
• check out airfreight for hybrid options. Gets there fast, but dearer than freight per cubic metre. Ideal for kitchen items+ toys, a few books etc
• hand carry all valuables on flight

Remember, if you use Facebook Marketplace to get rid of stuff on this end you can absolutely use it to get cheap stuff on the other side!

We moved US to UK and did it with a few suitcases and a cat carrier. Over the years we've toted more stuff over in suitcases after annual trips home, where I usually spent a few days going through the stuff we'd left behind and throwing out even MORE stuff than we already had. We'd left Minnesota in mid December so it was easier to throw it in the Uhaul rather than find a place to dispose of it. Also, dont forget charities - BHF will take furniture I believe.

We are going back this year and as much as I want to take this bed, the mattress and sheets wont fit US sizing. Most everything else is borrowed or Ikea and the electronics stuff I can unload quickly to friends I imagine. You find out very quickly what really matters to you and what is just general life crap - and its a good lesson to keep learning when you are in your new locale wondering if you should buy something expensive or sizeable, or more books/toys, etc!

We are going from the UK to Canada.

OP we did the same move in 2016. We had a whole shipping crate for our 3-bedroom house. It all went smoothly and took about 4-6 weeks in total I think. We got quotes from 2 or 3 companies that specialize in this. There will be lots of suggestions on the British Expats forum. We do know others who have not been so lucky however, and have lost a lot of their stuff in moves or taken months for it to arrive (2 different families).

If I were doing it again, I wouldn't move all the furniture. It isn't worth it. Instead I'd share a crate, which is much cheaper, and only move art, personal effects and a few items of furniture that I love. 💗

It’s not worth it for furniture usually. We didn’t bother. Sell what you have and buy new ( I mean secondhand new also).

We just maxed out luggage options, most airlines you can pay to add up to 3 32kg per person if needed. So you have a lot potentially with 4 people. And then post a few as regular large parcels for things you want to keep but not urgent.

We moved from the uk to the Middle East, and then from the Middle East back to the uk nearly 20 years later: we used Pickfords on both occasions who were, on the whole, brilliant. They came and packed everything up, loaded it onto the 40ft container and we saw it again a few months later at the other end.

A family member did a similar move and shipped pretty much their entire house overseas. They paid an international moving company to do the packing and filled a shipping container. It didn't take long to arrive and everything arrived in one piece. If you don't have a house ready to move into when your stuff arrives, storage fees charged by the shipping company can be very expensive though, so if you think you're going to take some time finding somewhere to live, also look into local self storage options, which will be cheaper.

We have done this moving to the uk from the southern hemisphere. We used a international company called."Crown". We had a house full of stuff but I managed to sell the bigger items like sofa, beds etc. We did bring our table and chairs as well as TV etc.

We packed small items but there were two staff memebers came in to pack the kitchen and it took them all day.

It took 3 months to arrive at our house in the UK and they also unpacked everything and helpped to put most furniture together. It was 10 years ago though, everything was paid by DHs company but from memory it was around £5000. The whole process was pretty straight forward and nothing got lost or damaged.

Contact someone like Pickfords, and get hold of their international arm. They will likely give you a cost and time scale.

Things to consider:
It will take weeks (maybe months) to get your stuff. So you may well find yourself buying stuff to get you through... And where/how are you going to live while stuff idms being transported.
If you take anything electronic, you will be living with adapters. And anything that isn't duel voltage will need a transformer too.
Will you be able to get sheets and duvets to fit the beds? Different countries have different size beds....