Advice: 40ft sea container & 1,000lb air freight

[caramelgirl]

I have googled to find previous threads but not come up with much, so sorry for repetition.
But 1,000lb air freight, that sounds like ALOT? What would that typically cover? We are moving to Singapore so no need to move heavy coats over etc..
And 40ft container, again sounds massive. We have a three bed and will ship about half the furniture from it.
I was massively de cluttering ore move (more planned than actually happening). If I run out of time and want to ship all the u sorted junk (aargh) can I easily dispose of it there or are there penalties for throwing out more than x amount of stuff?
Also, I should ship my vacuum cleaner, right. But my washing machine as well or is this supplied in most unfurnished condos? Fridge?
Thanks very much.

Forty feet is huge - we moved the contents of our three bed house in a twenty foot container but...this didn't include much furniture (eg no beds or wardrobes ) or any white goods

Thank you, it is very hard to visualise. Presumably precious stuff like photos would be better off air freighted than shipped? Given 1,000lb sounds like a lot of air freight allowance?

There are two sizes of container. 20 square foot and 40 square foot.

If you get someone round from the company, they will be able to tell you how much stuff you have.

We've got 35 at the moment. We live in a pretty big house and we've loads of stuff. Bikes, three sofas, eight seater solid wood table, a chest freezer almost as big as a car. We are going to cut it down so we can have a 20 foot container.

Company giving it to us as part of the moving package. But sounds like I can order new beds and mattresses and sofa anyway.

Btw closertofiftythantwenty your user name is one that has chimed with me for a while (age 36, soon to be 37, waaaaah)

Air freight the smallish things that you will need quickly (but not immediately) eg box of kids toys, kitchen stuff, paperwork

Pack very precious stuff in your own suitcases - you probably need to take your jewelry as your luggage anyway

Yes, aging

Ageing, even

We moved from Singapore last year and had the same allowances. You will easily fit the contents of a 3 bed house plus bikes etc into the 40ft container. We had a large 4 bed condo plus we bought furniture in Singapore that isn't exactly small and there was still quite a lot of space. For the air-freight yes the weight seems quite a lot but you are more restricted volume wise so nothing too big and bulky. Part-furnished generally means white goods are included. Don't hesitate to negotiate new washers/dryers. Yes take the vacuum cleaner.

Thank you for tip re: new washer dryer. And vacuum. And I hadn't thought about bikes . Should I buy what I predict they will need for next few years as well? Is cost of comparable balance bikes etc. v different in your opinion?
And any thoughts about practicalities of shipping stuff to throw out once there? Obviously not ideal ecologically or organisationally but am having awful difficulty finding any child care or help here and move date edging ever closer.

I don't know about throwing stuff out. But when we moved back I gave some stuff away to friends and sold some via the expat FB page. This became more popular and I think they have now set up a separate page for selling stuff. Also we left some items at our condo recycling area and the condo staff took what they wanted. If you're not paying for shipping and struggling to get rid of stuff before you go I guess you could look at these options. I wish we hadn't shipped so much tbh. Depends if you have much of value (financial and emotional).

Aaah, that is also helpful. Thank you. Not valuables just some stuff that I will want to keep mixed up with lots of stuff that I will want to chuck.
And separate query: my friend said that she had taken wine and a wine fridge over. Is it like the UK where you take a bottle or two to people's house when you visit or not? If so may be cheaper to pay import duty on lots of half price Ocado wine I thought?

Do you know what you're moving to in Singapore? Modern houses and apartments can be small. Our 2.8m sofa took up a whole wall in our Singapore home, it looks lost in our Texas living room....

Sorry, 1.8m sofa!

Aah, our friend had a massive condo in River Valley so assumed that we would have a massive home too.
Exciting news is that we now have a school place (!) as of today so at least I have a basis to start looking for condos- Dulwich came through!

A 40' container is usually 40' long, by about 8' by 8'. If thats what they mean (standard shipping containers are 40' or 20', by 8' 8'6'')
it probably bigger than a removal van, so unless you've got loads and loads, it sounds like plenty.

We have been offered 800kg of air freight, and 5t of shipping. Were hoping to go just on air freight: ie no furniture. But most accomadation looks to be fully furnished at our destination.
We can also convert some of the shipping to air. (Not going to Asia tho)

We had a 40' container and shipped 120 boxes plus two beds, two sofas and a comfy chair, dining table and 6 chairs, 1 desk, 2 bookshelves, 3 rugs, electric fan, four bicycles, 1 scooter, 1 pogo stick, 10 paintings, 1 tv and dvd player and 1 hoover, with space at the end of the container.

We know someone who imported their wine collection in and out of Singapore, and paid a shed-load of duty.

Don't count on having lots of space. What kind of rental budget do you have? I would go for a 20 foot container instead.

Do as much decluttering and junk-clearing now. Getting rid of large items is a problem, unless they really are things that are in good condition and can be given away on Freecycle. Or you can sell on FB or Gumtree. If not, you'll end up having to pay someone to take it away. But really, you don't want to spend your first couple of months getting rid of stuff you wish you'd never brought.

Don't bring white goods. Most rental properties come with washer and fridge at a minimum. Usually a dryer too (we barely use ours, but it's handy to have).

YY to airfreighting vacuum and kitchen goods. All the stuff that you will need immediately when you move in. Consider the furniture you'll need when you first move in. It may be better to buy beds here, depending on how long the container is going to take. Most places have at least some built in robes so don't bring wardrobes, but do bring chests of drawers.

There's no need to bring all your winter clothes, but I would advise you bring some of them. Whether for trips back home, or to cooler places in the region.

Good luck caramelgirl!

Just to add, in case it isn't clear from my post. Just because you have a certain shipping allowance, doesn't mean you should use it all.

And winter clothes for trips to the cinema...

I searched online for a 'shipping calculator' to work out how much we could bring back from the USA to the UK, within our allocated allowance of 480 cubic feet. Weirdly, our company will provide us with a 20ft container, but will only pay for us to ship 480 cubic feet worth of stuff...meanies!

I can't find the online calculator now, but this www.usainternationalmovers.com/movemgr.aspx might be a useful guide? I'll search again tomorrow.

Bear in mind that moving companies usually overestimate when they assess your moving needs, and I don't find they're as good as filling boxes as they should be!

Just the pep talk I needed about chucking stuff, thank you. And we never have drawers (no space in last weird houses) so will buy some now.
Thanks for online calculator idea too, v handy, I didn't think of that. Aargh re mean company allowance.

Don't buy drawers just yet. Both of the apartments we had in Singapore had drawers as part of a fitted wardrobe, pop to ikea if you need them once you get there (they deliver and build for you?...)

Of course, I forgot about IKEA [idiot emoticon]. Thank you. One less thing to buy here at least.