Moving worldly belongings on a budget!

[LondonWelsh 0]

Hi all

Not sure if this is in the correct forum but here goes!

My husband and I are moving with our son and cat in September TBC back to his home state of Indiana, from London UK.

We have very little money so everything is having to be done on a budget!

I'm wondering how other people with financial constraints moved their 'stuff' out there? I'm not talking about furniture or anything huge like that, but I have quite a few records (vinyl), books, photographs, personal bits and a few instruments I would like to keep. So, not enough for a container (and we couldn't afford one!) but I'm thinking couriering/posting stuff would get very expensive too...

We have keeping stuff at friends' houses here and bringing it back bit-by-bit over the years as an option but that depresses me a bit!

Is there anything inbetween? Can you container-share, or is there a cheap way of shipping boxes of things safely? Time isn't too much of an issue as we can start sending things over now if there's a cheap option that takes weeks/months!

We have to be out of our rented flat in June which is a few months before we'll be ready to emigrate which is why I'm particularly confused at the moment as I've no idea what to keep when I'm not sure what our options are!

Any pointers would be great

Thanks in advance!

LW x

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

We used 1st Move International to ship 23 boxes via container. It's a sharing thing, but their minimum was 2cu meters. Don't know if they fit your budget or not. You can save money by not insuring. Our things arrived in perfect condition with the shipment still sealed so we know it was not pilfered or boxes opened. We filled our allowed luggage with the real valuables and priceless items.

Website http://www.shipit.co.uk WATCH the video on that first page to see how it is all wrapped and sealed onto a pallet.

I just noticed they posted photos of people's shipments and there are several not 2 cu meters, so maybe no longer a minimum.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Nich-Nick

[Nathan&Emily 10]

This is who I've been looking at. 2 cu metres of boxes from UK to LA and price quoted is around £900

Edited April 22, 2016 by Nathan82

[AMZJ 61]

This is who I've been looking at. 2 cu metres of boxes from UK to LA and price quoted is around £900

I'm using baggage hub. They quoted me £470 for 5 large 25kg boxes (they have a lot of space in them. I only ended up filling 4 boxes so it'll be less and you don't have to pay duty on them as they take a copy of your visa once you have it. As for the cat, I'd suggest somewhere like Airpets. I say Airpets because I personally have used their services to send a dog to my friend before. They were very good and dealt with most of the paperwork for me. I can't afford to take all my things with me and I've had to make a lot of really big sacrifices in order to keep with in my budget. I think baggage hub have reasonable prices.

[Nathan&Emily 10]

I'm using baggage hub. They quoted me £470 for 5 large 25kg boxes (they have a lot of space in them. I only ended up filling 4 boxes so it'll be less and you don't have to pay duty on them as they take a copy of your visa once you have it. As for the cat, I'd suggest somewhere like Airpets. I say Airpets because I personally have used their services to send a dog to my friend before. They were very good and dealt with most of the paperwork for me. I can't afford to take all my things with me and I've had to make a lot of really big sacrifices in order to keep with in my budget. I think baggage hub have reasonable prices.

Might get a quote from them. Total weight of my packages is 410kg and rising though The joy of ship it is they go on size and weight is irrelevant

[JFH 12,190]

I am using air miles to go business class which allows me 3 large suitcases and 2 large pieces of hand luggage. But I've decided that's all I'm taking.

I was going to ship about a thousand books but we have been talking a lot about what we plan for our life together and we have decided on a fresh start with new memories and also we want to live in a small trailer on our own patch of land and be as self-sufficient as possible.

This week I've started mentally decluttering and it's been very therapeutic.

Obviously when it's a whole family moving that probably won't work as you will want to take all your memories with you.

[AMZJ 61]

Might get a quote from them. Total weight of my packages is 410kg and rising though The joy of ship it is they go on size and weight is irrelevant

I don't know it might be more expensive since you have a lot more than me. My stuff fits into 4 boxes... I don't have everything in there, but most of it.

[lurdino 9]

I flew Icelandair, who gave me two items of checked luggage (up to 23kg) as part of the ticket price, plus an item of carry on luggage AND a laptop bag. I bought another two bags at about £180. So £180 bought us at least 152kg of stuff - more than enough for my books, vinyl records, clothes, and a lot of impractical sentimental items (including a small lamp, a replica TARDIS, and several photoframes).

[LisaK 3]

I used transglobal around 13 medium boxes up to 15 kg each, took 6 weeks door to door, I payed around £360

I used transglobal around 13 medium boxes up to 15 kg each, took 6 weeks door to door, I payed around £360

[HollywoodNorth 22]

I have family that specializes in international relocation [in North America, Allied Van Lines]. They partner with Pickfords in the UK. They can pack your breakables, and you can self pack everything else. They'll partition it into a cargo container and take care of all the customs paperwork and can arrange an Allied truck to deliver everything to your doorstep in the US.

[LondonWelsh 0]

Thank you everyone! Lots to look into

[DaisyD 12]

In the end I just took on extra baggage on the plane. The cost was not too much, but it was only me travelling so I did not have as much as I imagine you will with your family. But if there are extra things that you want to take with you and want to have immediately, check out how much each extra bag will be to take on the plane with you as it might be a good option. Even a couple of extra well packed bags can be really useful to have with you. Plus do not forget to use the full baggage allowance for your kid too, even though it is a child ticket, you get a full allotment of baggage space for him. Make sure you work out how to pack things very well so they do not get broken or take extra precious stuff as carry on if you can.