What do you regret not bringing with you?

What did you leave, sell or give away that you now regret not bringing with you?

Along that same line what US items that you can not get in the UK do you wish you had stocked up on and brought with you to the UK?


Once we move we will not be returning to the US as all my immediate family is deceased and all husband's family is in the UK, so no next time I am in the States I will just pick up some of that.

You might want to take a look at these threads:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=103.0
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=115.0

thank you for the links but I would like some current insight and the posts that are this year are mostly about the weather and clothes. I thought making a new thread might get some fresh replies. My bad if it is a faux pas here to do so.

No, of course you're welcome to start a new one, but I thought it might help to read those while you're waiting for people to post.

I'm always intimidated by long old threads 

Two things, but I left them behind by accident on my last day. A nice big wooden cutting board (they're expensive here!) and a welcome mat my mother gave me (it said "GO AWAY!"). Also, the cat that ran away six months before I moved.

There are things that are difficult to get here, but there are sources of supply if you look for those threads.

So much is complicated by the incompatible electrical systems.

  LOL sorry had a great giggle about the cat it must have known you were moving to rainy old England!

Thanks for the tip about the cutting boards I will bring mine although if my husband had his way we would sell everything and start new! No Way! LOL maybe if we win the lottery before we move.

I'm interested in responses to this too.  We've started selling things, mainly the obvious things.  But now we're moving onto the more difficult choices.  I have things like a yoga mat, for example, that I don't technically *need*, and I might not use for several months, but eventually I'll probably buy again. 

My issue is not with sentimental stuff - I moved a suitcase of that stuff over last year - but worrying about spending money to replace perfectly good items that I have cleared out.  But on the other hand, if I keep all these "might use" items, then it's extra work packing and more expensive to ship.

So far I'm thinking we'll bring:
-Half of our clothes and shoes.  That might be painful 
-Maybe the duvet, and definitely two sets of duvet covers and two blankets, but no sheets
-4 computers (yes, really.  A laptop, a server, and two desktops)
-Playstation
-Pots, pans, silverware etc.  But not any breakable stuff
-Kitchenaid and Cuisinart.  I'm still mulling this over, but I think it will be cheaper to bring them in the long run
-A few tools
-One or two small boxes of books
-A tent and sleeping pad
-Two fairly large framed pictures
-A few bits and pieces like throws, small rug, couple of board games, binoculars, cameras etc
-DVDs without cases, although they are all on the computer now...

We'll leave our snowboarding gear here with the in laws, and I guess it's possible that we'll leave one or two more things depending on how the packing goes.

Things I'm sad to leave behind:
-TV    It's only three years old.
-Kitchen appliances - my breadmaker, little food processor etc.  I have my kitchen nicely set up here.
-The rest of my camping gear.  Happy memories, and stuff I'll end up buying again anyway.
-A couple of nice, but breakable, casserole dishes
-Tools (electric stuff), mainly because of the cost to replace
-The car 
-All the consumables eg. contents of the food cupboard, toiletries etc.  Mostly because that adds up to a whole lot of money!

Thankfully I don't care about our furniture - we're still in the futon/Ikea stage of life!

When we told our in laws we were moving, they started talking about all the things they wanted.  We had to gently remind them that we do need to make money out of some of the items!

I brought sheets.  The ones here are either a 50/50 mix or expensive.

You can buy really good tents second-hand (but perhaps only used once or twice) on eBay for not much money. So unless yours is extremely special, I wouldn't really bother bringing it.

Depending on what size bed you have (and what size you'll have over here), you may want to replace sheets once you move. All things are not equal! 

I didn't bring my KitchenAid or Cuisinart. Over time I've replaced them here. To me, the hassle and expense of a transformer just wasn't worth it. Yes, they're expensive appliances, but I use mine so much that I didn't mind the investment.

Duvet innards are so cheap and common, you can find them in the supermarket (well, our bigger Tesco, anyhow). Bring the covers, though.

Clothes are expensive here.

Books? No comment. I got rid of most of my books and still brought 25 boxes of them   

I would say to think about the size of house you are moving into and whether you really need things or can pick up here.
DW shipped a lot of things over although also got rid of a lot. But I was astounded by how much she got rid of once here, either giving away to friends/charities or dumping.....the cost of shipping is expensive so at least make sure you want or need the items.

My sheets from home are a little bigger than the bed, but that just means I can roll up like a bug more without deprinving my poor, long suffering husband of sheet. 

Ah, there is no way I am bringing sheets.  I currently have:
-A set of thin yellow flannel sheets
-A set of white flannel sheets with roses on them
-A set of blue sheets with planets and stars

Needless to say I'm not paying to bring over any of these beauties!

The tent is almost definitely coming.  I can pack it in a vaccuum bag, so it will be about $5 to ship - not bad for a $150 tent.

I will rethink the duvet situation though - thanks for the advice there.

One thing I'd be lost without is my Pampered Chef 'Measure All' cup, because it gives both cups and ml for measures which helps since I brought so many of my American cookbooks.

Very few of your summeriest clothes are necessary. There are rare days or even a week at a time where you can wear very warm weather clothes, but for most of the summer t-shirts and shorts are cool enough, or not even necessary. Heavy winter clothes are a great idea. I don't know if you intend to get a car here, but people seem to walk more even with a car. Comfortable shoes are very necessary without a car, even if you use public transportation a lot.

Sentimental items are a must. Family heirlooms, Christmas or other holiday decorations with special meaning, quilts made by family, anything that has a lot of sentimental value and can't be replaced. I'm fortunate that I was able to store a lot of things at mom's to bring over as we can.

The tent is almost definitely coming.  I can pack it in a vaccuum bag, so it will be about $5 to ship - not bad for a $150 tent.

I am interested to find out where this will be shipped from. (USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL etc). Dad tried to send some chocolate over last Christmas and it was going to cost him $18 through the post office going the cheapest way he could. I've tried shipping a couple t-shirts in a mailer bag that cost over $13, as light as t-shirts are.

I am interested to find out where this will be shipped from. (USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL etc). Dad tried to send some chocolate over last Christmas and it was going to cost him $18 through the post office going the cheapest way he could. I've tried shipping a couple t-shirts in a mailer bag that cost over $13, as light as t-shirts are.

This is my estimate based on rates on UPackweship.  Their rates are by volume, so I calculated the volume of the tent and worked out the rate.  It's $9 to ship without vaccuum packing, but I reckon I can get it smaller than that.  It is quite small - lightweight, 2-person tent.