Cost of furnishing a house in NZ?

[chickychickyparmparm]

Hello, I've scoured the internet and done some pricing but am getting a bit of a headspin, would be helpful to hear from anyone who's recently moved to NZ.

The cost of shipping our three-bedroom house to NZ is going to be about NZ$12,000. That won't include big electrical stuff (fridge, washing machine) as the voltage isn't comparable.

If we just shipped the smaller things and sold the rest, we'd save quite a lot, and would have around $9000 to furnish the house. It would also save us storage - we'll be arriving around three months after our luggage does - and I guess costs of moving stuff around the country. I would guess this will save us around $1000.

So (sorry about the level of detail!), is it possible to furnish a house in NZ for $9000, including fridge, washing machine, two double beds, two singles, dining table and chairs? We don't mind second hand, but would prefer decent quality second hand, and I know NZ resale value of everything is quite high.

Other factor is, we'll probably be moving to a very rural area in Southland, so the choice of goods won't be as high as somewhere larger/more cosmopolitan.

Thanks for all the tips. We'll be in the UK for a couple of months before we head back so will definitely be stocking up on shoes and clothes. And bedding, by the looks of things. Only wish we could fit some IKEA furniture in ...

Sorry for not checking in! We were told that hardwood furniture is fine but any small holes in softwood would be suspected woodworm and would mean our whole container would need to be fumigated. Our container has the contents of our 3 bedroom house, inside and out. It was touch and go whether it would fit but the packers were amazing. It's like a massive game of Tetris to them!

We've just pretty much furnished a 3 bed house from scratch. Theres a website called mocka.co.nz which has great kids furniture and is starting to do some home pieces too. Really reasonable and cool, and quality is good.

Nood is great, but expensive. Only buy in their 50% off sales - we bought a big L sofa for $1800.

Furniture City is surprisingly good. Not quite as hideous as the others. We got a top brand king bed and base for $1750.

Be wary of Freedom - looks great online but quality is awful. I refuse to buy anything from there anymore.

Fibre broadband is great. It's not everywhere yet though so if you are rural you may not have it at your address yet. Go to spark.co.nz and put in the address and it will tell you what you can get. We've just moved, and our fibre was installed within 4 days of me calling to arrange it. We pay $125 per month for 200 speed unlimited fibre, and that includes a sub to Lightbox (smaller version of Netflix).

I'd recommend bringing what you can, assuming your things are in good condition.

Thanks Teaguzzler. I have done some googling and I think our stuff is hard wood. Fingers crossed, anyway! Hope everything fits in. Maybe not taking washing machine/fridge will free up a bit of space...

We won't actually be there to pick up our consignment, my poor old dad will have to sort out any fumigation/problems.

Useful info, Gin. Our stuff is in reasonably good nick, about half and half I think. But we might get some new stuff made (new dining table and take the old one along to sell).

Sorry, only just catching up. Yes, we came from UK. I was assuming you were too, so thought voltage wouldn't be an issue. Good to see a recommendation for Mocka...I've been tempted to order from them but thought the prices seemed to be too cheap for anything to be decent quality! Some lovely designs on there so will give it a try.