Moving Questions Where to start ????

Greetings to all who read this   I have been reading this website like a novel, but there is a phenomenal amount of information here and due to time constraints, I need to ask questions that have probably been answered before.
I am in a bit of a quandary as I am making a 5 year commitment to move to the UK.  I am debating if it more feasible to just find a storage unit for my belongings or take them with.  I really don't want to leave them behind and I need to feel at home in my new surroundings.  Has anyone moved their whole house overseas minus electronics to the UK and what lessons did you learn by this experience?  I have a king size bed and a very bad back (have had surgery and spinal, hip problems) that I want to bring and just purchased a new living room set that I am still paying on and will never recoup those funds.  I am also a bin lady by choice and store everything out of season in plastic bins.  Instead of using cardboard boxes for moving say holiday decorations, clothing, would they be safe to use if they are duct taped shut.
    I have been to the UK numerous times and realize that the flats are miniature and we hope to rent a house to begin with.  How long did it take before your goods were delivered if you did it by oceanliner.  Has anyone moved their goods themselves and packed them in a crate as shown in one of the websites?  we live on the great lakes so I would imagine it would ship out of New York City.

I have no advice to offer other than this: When I came over here over seven years ago, it was the end of the month/beginning of the next, so I had movers put ALL my belongings in storage.(I planned to come back, stay with one of my brothers until I found a place that would accept a cat, etc.)  I didn't plan to stay in the U.K for more than two weeks, but once I met my husband face-to-face, I knew I wouldn't be returning to the States in two weeks. We were kindred spirits. So I stayed, and to this day, all of my furniture (sofa, loveseat, and glass side tables and coffee table), cool lamps, marble dining table along with seats, not to mention a brass queen-sized bed and countless books and family photos, very expensive prints on the wall, etc., are still in storage. At first, we were paying $139 per month for storage; now it's $179-plus dollars per month. We've probably paid more than everything's worth, but my furniture and bed were only two years old when I left, and in perfect condition. My husband thinks we should default on the payments after all this time, at which point everything I own would just go up for auction, but I won't go for that, because if I DID, I'd have nothing to go back to in the States, if the worst happened.

You haven't explained why you'll be here for just five years, but if you're here for romantic reasons, I wouldn't bother shipping all my belongings here, given that he's already fully furnished, I would assume. I made the mistake of putting my stuff in a crammed outdoor storage space. I have no idea how the temperature extremes in the D.C. area have affected it all. If I were you, I'd put my belongings in an indoor, climate-controlled storage space. I hope this rambling message has helped you in making a decision, either way. HOWEVER, I'D ADVISE: DON'T BRING ALL YOUR BELONGINGS HERE--YOU'LL JUST BE ADDING SURPLUS TO WHAT YOUR PARTNER HAS, AND I DON'T THINK YOU REALIZE JUST HOW SMALL FLATS (APARTMENTS) AND HOUSES ARE HERE.

Good luck.

Suzanne

Some clarification regarding my situation.  We both live in the States and he wants to go home due to lack of employment opportunities out here.  Thus, we would be starting from scratch out there.  The job right now is set to last 5 years and that is why I have agreed to make the commitment to go with him as we are married and I don't see giving him an ultimatum of staying here while he lives there.  He's been out of work for over 11 months and has worked feverishly to find employment out here. Out here we deal with age discrimination, out there that's illegal.  Hope this explains things better.

Now I understand why you have to take all your belongings with you. I can't give you any advice on moving furniture, etc., overseas, but there are a lot of people on here who've done it. I know it's very expensive, but it certainly can't be more expensive than starting from scratch.

I looked into getting a loveseat, dresser, and various smaller things sent over.  I contacted some shipping companies and found I'd likely need more than the 200 cf lift van crate.  I decided to reduce it to just my dresser (something I've had for years and love) and a reduced number of smaller things.  I'm in the process of arranging the shipment now.  The best advice I could give is to look at this forum:

http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=9

It gives recommendations on both domestic and international moves and maintains a blacklist of companies that are shady, unreliable, etc.  I am using Sterling and they've been great so far.

IMO, it comes down to what you can afford to send, whether the monetary and/or sentimental value is worth the cost of shipping, and if you can easily sell the things in the US for a good price.  If I had planned this better, I probably would have just sent the small stuff UPS (they will do boxes, not furniture), and would have sent the dresser to my friend to enjoy and love.  I probably would have had sold everything I am basically giving to friends too.  I didn't have a lot of time between getting the visa and going, so here I am.

I will be glad to have my things with me, and it will be nice to have things to pass to my kids ("My mum brought that dresser from the US when she immigrated here").  Also, some things actually work out cheaper to ship than to buy new.

HTH

Out here we deal with age discrimination, out there that's illegal.  Hope this explains things better.

Wait...you're saying you get age discrimination in the States but not the UK? I don't know about specific laws, but I get the exact opposite impression. In Britain, everything from newsreaders and TV presenters to leading politicians seem to be in their late thirties/early forties...max. My company's UK branch is all thirty-somethings and under, even senior management.

Ummm...not to dispute your experience, I've just frankly been kind of depressed by the youth orientation of Britain. (And my British partner definitely agrees). I like my politicians and senior managers silver-haired and wrinkly...like me 

And I'm coming over (if all goes well) in February and planning to bring almost everything. I've got family furniture I can't replace, and I want to have comfortable, familiar things around me...even if it's just worthless crap. We're going to have WAY too many plates, but there you go...

I haven't gotten a price quote from a mover yet, though, so I'm no help.

Yeah I guess I could give some ideas of the quotes I was given.  Anywhere from $1500-2000 for 100 cf.  Some shippers have that as their minimum, but at least one on that site's list will do under the minimum.  From what I have heard, UPS is comparable to shipping companies in price if you are just doing boxes.  The cheapest 200 cf I was quoted was around $2500, but  because of the shape of my furniture they probably would have had to do a special box for it, which can be more.  This is why we opted to leave out my loveseat. 

They are making a special box for my small shipment, and the mover said it'd be about $100  to $200 more.  These prices are based on me living where I am.  If you are close to a seaport or further away, the prices will be more or less.  I am in a Great Lakes city, but I am under the impression they are sending it via land until it gets to a seaport and not sending it through the lakes.

My wife and I have decided that when we come over we will probably bring nothing furniture wise.  Except probably an inflatable Bed and our "pack and play" portable crib.  We have a few pieces that we love, and we will probably put those in storage or something.  We came to this decision when we were pricing out the cost of moving everything.  We decided that for about the same cost of moving all of our stuff we could go to IKEA and purchase any of the stuff we need.

We saw a few advantages to this. 
1.  We won't have to deal with the added stress of having to get our furniture shipment figured out only the stuff that can easily go in small boxes, (we are coming from central Illinois). 
2.  We can buy pieces that will specifically fit our new place, as opposed to trying to squeeze our current furniture into a smaller apartment than they are in now.
3.  When we finally get to the UK, a fun shopping trip to IKEA will give us some nice retail therapy for all the other stress from the move.

Maybe you guys could take just a few of the more important things and purchase the rest.

-Tyler

Thanks to all who are sharing their words of wisdom which makes a lot of sense.  I love IKEA and we don't have one close by, so we make field trips out there when we need a fix!  I'm going to work on the cubic foot system by doing my own calculations first.  However, I do have some IKEA crap that will easily break down, and will depend on whether we re purchase some of these products or bring them with.  No two IKEA's are alike.  We shop the Canadian IKEA and I've been to the one in Long Island, NY.  I've seen the UK version catalog but have not been to one.  There are some differences, supply and demand would be my guess.  Out in Canada you can't even purchase a farmer's sink (that's we call them) if your life depended on it.  They just can't keep up with the demand.  Okay, now I know I digress.  It's part of my nature to be long winded, I'm working on my someday must read novel! Heck, I'll settle for a novella at this point.   Michele

20 ft container $7500 from Atlanta to England. It was gathered up on July 28th and its being delivered on Wed, Sept 19th.