Best way to ship over 2-3 suitcases of general belongings

Apologies if this has been answered before (i'm sure it's a very common question).

My wife and I are moving to the UK after Christmas. I'm trying to work out the best way to bring over all our stuff (clothes, books, framed pictures, souvenirs and trinkets, mugs....we collect mugs, don't ask why!).

I think that in addition to our standard airline allowance of one suit case and one carry-on case each, we're probably going to have maybe 2-3 big suitcases of stuff.

Is it best to just pay the airline fees for additional baggage? Or is it best to go with Fedex/UPS/USPS etc? Or any other alternatives?

A problem I'm noticing is that all the big-name delivery companies offer very FAST delivery (i.e. 1-3 days!) which I assume means everything goes by airmail. But what if you're NOT in a hurry? I'd be happy to wait a couple of weeks while my stuff is shipped over on a boat if it could save me some money, but I can't see anywhere offering that option.

Thanks for any help!

USPS no longer offers ground shipping (6-8 weeks on a boat) so your only option with them is airmail (7-10 days for the cheapest service).

I shipped 4 boxes back to the UK in 2008 (1 box of clothes, 1 box of paperwork, 2 boxes containing a bicycle) and I used USPS airmail, 7-10 day shipping. It cost me $400.

I enquired about the cost of shipping with FedEx but their cheapest quote was $1,000 just for the bike! So I gave up on that idea and shipped it with USPS for $200 instead.

You could look into USPS prices but it might be cheaper to pay for excess luggage on the plane ... just depends on the prices and the services offered.

Sendmybag.com -- saw it on Dragon's Den -- worked really well and now my parents use it to send things to me!

@ksand

I shipped 4 boxes back to the UK in 2008 (1 box of clothes, 1 box of paperwork, 2 boxes containing a bicycle) and I used USPS airmail, 7-10 day shipping. It cost me $400.

When you say "boxes", what kind of size are you talking about?

@gewn666 - thanks, I'll check that out.