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Household basics - where?


DXB2OZ

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Jumping the gun a bit, but at that irritating stage where if I don't DO something I will go absolutely insane. So am resorting to making lists.

I will probably whizz ahead of hubby and two kids to try and set up, in the middle of Melbourne winter. Container won't arrive for a while and there will be certain household basics that we need to get. Have been holding off on this side to avoid doubling up.

Trying to strike some sort of balance between false economy (buying something that is so awful you end up chucking it and buying again) and going crazy with a limited budget. So trying to buy reasonably priced stuff that will actually last for a while.

Top hits include sheets, duvets, bed linen, towels, toaster, kettle, etc.

Shopping suggestions welcome please. Where did you go, what was good, what was bad and what was downright ugly?

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I buy cleaning items and some groceries at Costco which is really way way cheaper, but you have to join and pay an annual fee of $65. It's when you buy in bulk, like big bottles of mayonnaise or Nutella (of course now that Im not allowed to send nutella sandwiches to school, I just eat a few spoonsfull every day :) ) and other goodies that I pack for the kids' lunchboxes. They also have towels and all types of kitchen appliances.

Other nice places for kitchen appliances is Big-W and K-Mart. Big-W is like Game and K-mart is a mix between Game and Makro (without the fresh produce)

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Target usually has towels, sheets, duvets etc - Manchester when you're in Oz, and it can be quite cheap - very often 30% off.

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K-Mart is great for cheap appliances and all kinds of stuff you didn't know you needed!

Ikea is also worth a trip for kitchen utensils and bedding. Target has nice bedding and pricing is ok when on sale.

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I bought kitchen starter packs from Kmart about 2 months ago - pack of 6 x crockery/glasses/cutlery, pack of knives+cooking utensils and a pack of non-stick pots/baking trays. Very cheap, but the quality is not great. The cutlery is junky and the cooking utensils aren't as firm/rigid as you may like - but then I needed to get started with limited budget so I'm happy for now :)

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For white goods, fridges, freezers, tvs, recorders, vacuum cleaners, small kitchen appliances : go to The Good Guys, Retravision, Harvey Norman... DO NOT BUY.... just price the goods, ask them if that is their best price, look disdainfully at the price, walk out and go to the next shop, once you have been to all of them, go BACK to the one that offered you the best price. They actually expect you to haggle here and by buying everything from one shop, you will get the best price.

For sheets, duvets, bed linen, towels : go to Harris Scarfe, Spotlight, Target, K-Mart, Big W. I like the quality at the Harris Scarfe, especially the sheets, mine are 1000 thread count and the price was excellent.

For crockery, cutlery, kitchen odds and ends : go to Target, K-Mart, Big W, Harris Scarfe. Especially when the sales are on, Harris Scarfe have some really excellent deals.

As with everything, if you have the time, shop around, you will be amazed at the price differences.

If you PM me, and I am available, I would be happy to take you shopping for what you need....

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Following... :-)

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Check out the Reject Shop (Yes, that's the actual name of the shop :whome: ) for cleaning materials and body care like shapoo, etc.

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Is it worthwhile taking our furniture and household appliances or is stuff quite reasonably priced and of decent quality?

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Check out the Reject Shop (Yes, that's the actual name of the shop :whome: ) for cleaning materials and body care like shapoo, etc.

Yes, keep an eye on this shop. It seems to get random excess stock or something. I went there once and there was a pallet in the middle of the store, stacked high with bottles of Appletizer!

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Check out the Reject Shop (Yes, that's the actual name of the shop :whome: ) for cleaning materials and body care like shapoo, etc.

I agree as well as cheap as chips. They have a lot of junk but you can pick up kitchen utensils etc pretty cheap. They have awesome goodies for Christmas lol

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great to read all the info. we are planning to just pack a couple of boxes and put that all in a small cube. will be buying all appliances, furniture again there. well where ever there is. we still busy with the appl so hopefully either NSW or Queensland.

with all the tax you are paying for bringing in your furniture, i do not think it is worth it with us.. and i would like to buy nice new stuff :whome::ilikeit:

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great to read all the info. . and i would like to buy nice new stuff :whome::ilikeit:

Unless your budget is pretty generous "nice" and "new" may not be able to be used in the same sentence when buying furniture in Australia! I think good quality furniture is horribly expensive. You can buy cheap stuff from A-Mart or Fantastic Furniture but the old adage of you get what you pay for applies and the quality is not great... and actually in rand terms you are still paying a LOT!

Trawling garage sales and second hand or thrift shops you can find some nice pieces ... and it is fun!

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Unless your budget is pretty generous "nice" and "new" may not be able to be used in the same sentence when buying furniture in Australia! I think good quality furniture is horribly expensive. You can buy cheap stuff from A-Mart or Fantastic Furniture but the old adage of you get what you pay for applies and the quality is not great... and actually in rand terms you are still paying a LOT!

Trawling garage sales and second hand or thrift shops you can find some nice pieces ... and it is fun!

As Eva implies

NICE - NEW - CHEAP - pick any two ....

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  • 1 month later...

hi

Before you leave your furniture behind look at the prices of goods/furniture here. We paid about R60 000.00 with insurance to bring a 20 foot container of furniture and another R.5600.00 for the inspection. By my calculations it would cost more than double that to replace all the items here. You will need your dollars for other things.

When things are on special then you get bargains but I am glad that all I have to buy is a washing machine. They range from R5000.00 to R12000.00. Food is expensive and shopping for basic groceries will be about R1000.00 each time. I paid R79.80 for the pack of three peppers, reg green and yellow. Cheap bread from Woolworths is R20.a loaf. Bread sells on special at 2 loaves for R70.00.Vodka costs R400 a bottle.

Eating out is expensive. a large pizza at a restaurant costs R220.00 each . 2 bags of 90g crisps cost R50.00 at the garage shop when on special.

I also figured it would be better to pay in rands than in dollars due to the exchange rate. My five year drivers licence(no test) costs R1660.00. Our son joined the local gym and that is R440.00 every 2 weeks.

That being said you should really cost it out to make a proper decision.

Hope the information helps.

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2 bags of 90g crisps cost R50.00 at the garage shop when on special.

Never, ever buy anything at the garage shop (except for petrol, of course). Its massively more expensive than anywhere else. Avoid.

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Jumping the gun a bit, but at that irritating stage where if I don't DO something I will go absolutely insane. So am resorting to making lists.

I will probably whizz ahead of hubby and two kids to try and set up, in the middle of Melbourne winter. Container won't arrive for a while and there will be certain household basics that we need to get. Have been holding off on this side to avoid doubling up.

Trying to strike some sort of balance between false economy (buying something that is so awful you end up chucking it and buying again) and going crazy with a limited budget. So trying to buy reasonably priced stuff that will actually last for a while.

Top hits include sheets, duvets, bed linen, towels, toaster, kettle, etc.

Shopping suggestions welcome please. Where did you go, what was good, what was bad and what was downright ugly?

DXB what do you pay for a duvet and duvet covers nowadays at Mr Price? Or towels?

I am wondering because I know prices have gone up a lot but I still think these things are cheaper in Rands (beware fitted sheets, bed sizes vary slightly).

I do like Ikea bedding but again their duvet covers only fit the Ikea duvets, so you end up buying both to match...

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If you buy those bulk crockery sets at Kmart or Target they will be fine but pretty chunky, if you know what I mean. We got some on sale at Freedom Furniture and then still got a discount for being RACQ members. Ikea kitchen sets are ok but I gave up buying their cheap cutlery after it all rusted. Bought an expensive set at Myer and it doesn't go in the dishwasher ever again! When we ran out of teaspoons I sourced matching ones online & it was cheaper than Myer by far.

Kettle, toaster depends on quality but I'd just choose a decent Kmart one & chuck them away if they break in 2 years.

Iron - read reviews online & don't waste money on a cheap one! Ironing board, I spent money on a Brabantia, it is worth it.

Towels, look at 5+ places, try & find sales. Can be as cheap as $10 at places like Spotlight. I'd bring from SA or even shop online. Bundles at Harris Scarfe are good.

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if you don't mind second hand furniture and kitchen utensils or are waiting for your furniture you van buy at Vinnies. I saw a reasonable leather lounge suite for

R 2400.00($240.00) today . Australians recycle. They have glasses, cutlery, plates. ironing boards, fridges, cupboards, clothing, mattresses, vintage clothing, clothing, shoes.

The shop i was in had flannel pj's for $15. these were new. If you are coming to Sydney you need warm clothing.

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Isn't Mr Price available there online - linen etc might be good through them then?

My one set of cousins in Perth pointed out a lot of stuff they had gotten through Gumtree - a case of if they would go fetch it, they could take it for free. I would never have known it wasn't bought new - it looked used, but like anything does after you've had it for 2 weeks with 3 kids and 2 adults actually living in the house. So that has stuck in the back of my mind - you would probably either need to rent a bakkie (truck?) or beg a friend or relative to help you pick up the stuff you want though.

interesting thread :)

From the reviews here I would probably end up packing our cutlery and putting it in the movecube... with maybe 2 of everything, plus at least a spatula going in the check in luggage - dunno if that's viable? I'm not sure how long you can go on with plastic utensils and plates...

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Isn't Mr Price available there online - linen etc might be good through them then?

My one set of cousins in Perth pointed out a lot of stuff they had gotten through Gumtree - a case of if they would go fetch it, they could take it for free. I would never have known it wasn't bought new - it looked used, but like anything does after you've had it for 2 weeks with 3 kids and 2 adults actually living in the house. So that has stuck in the back of my mind - you would probably either need to rent a bakkie (truck?) or beg a friend or relative to help you pick up the stuff you want though.

interesting thread :)

From the reviews here I would probably end up packing our cutlery and putting it in the movecube... with maybe 2 of everything, plus at least a spatula going in the check in luggage - dunno if that's viable? I'm not sure how long you can go on with plastic utensils and plates...

Your second paragraph made me LOL. :)

Not actually PMSL, but funny. Exactly how I would see it.

BTW I bought a desk chair here 2 years ago off Gumtree for some huge amount like $20 - I retired it a few weeks ago, because I couldn't find any gadget that would allow me to toghten the screws properly, and I DO have some weird and wonderful drivers.

Not bad value at less than $1 per month.

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I swear half my house is from Gumtree!

And no, I don't believe we can buy Mr Price stuff online in Australia? Can we? ?

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Ages ago I looked at the Mr Price online - yes you can buy stuff - but all I found was a VERY limited clothing / shoe range. No linen. Perhaps it has changed.

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Hi

My family has moved countries a number of times due to my job. I have found that in the long run packing up a container with the items and furniture you use regularly is definitely the easiest option. Good quality, long lasting wooden furniture is extremely expensive in OZ. So are beds and appliances. When we moved to OZ we checked prices and brought along new good quality furniture which we would not have been able to afford over here. The best part was that once our container arrived, we were able to unpack, settle in and focus on getting the know all the details of life in OZ, jobs, schools etc. considering that you guys will be on an information overload for at least six months, running around trying to find and collect basic items and / or arrange or rent a Bakkie (Ute as the call it here) then getting lost all the time cause you don't know the city etc.....is simply compounding your settling in period. Having familiar kitchen utensils and household items carries a strange comfort when your whole world is new and strange. The key...,is to cull like crazy and only bring things you use regularly and cannot do without.

I hope this helps with your planning

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