Bringing your "stuff" belongings with you... too costly?

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@juliet1980 It all depends on how much you are connected to all this "stuff" and how sur eyou are that your new home in Portugal will have space for the "stuff". I arrived with all my "stuff" and I am very happy about that.

Shipping can be a headache so there's only one serious question.

If you sell the lot, would you REALLY miss it?

I thought I would but regulations in my destination country at that time were nasty and required a whole bunch of bribes, so I moved country in a couple of large bags.

I missed my copious collection of reading material that ranged from wobbling Willy, through a wide selection of everything from Hardy to Archer, to a number of excellent books about WWII aircraft - but I managed life without them.

My suggestion - Keep it simple.

    @juliet1980 It all depends on how much you are connected to all this "stuff" and how sur eyou are that your new home in Portugal will have space for the "stuff". I arrived with all my "stuff" and I am very happy about that.         -@TGCampo

I am an extreme minimalist. I NEVER get connected to anything. At all. I literally have zero pictures and zero sentimental items. I am not into any "sentimental" nonsense. My issue is MONEY loss. Anything that doesn't get used gets donated.

The issue is that the few items I own are expensive and ones I use very often. The biggest issue is... will shipping it cost more than rebuying it. The treadmills is a goner (because that thing weighs 5 million pounds and it would be crazy to haul that thing overseas). If I sell it I will never buy such expensive treadmill again.

So I guess the answer is... sell the crap and take the loss!

Then start with logic and technical requirements.

What volatage do your electronic toys require, and is that available in your destination country.

If they won't work on 230 volts/50 HZ, sell them.

The 50 Hz starts to matter when it comes to anything with a clock in it. Things like Microwave ovens and so on may well have problems.

There is the transformer argument, but the things are a pain in the posterior.

        @juliet1980 It all depends on how much you are connected to all this "stuff" and how sur eyou are that your new home in Portugal will have space for the "stuff". I arrived with all my "stuff" and I am very happy about that.         -@TGCampo

I am an extreme minimalist. I NEVER get connected to anything. At all. I literally have zero pictures and zero sentimental items. I am not into any "sentimental" nonsense. My issue is MONEY loss. Anything that doesn't get used gets donated.

The issue is that the few items I own are expensive and ones I use very often. The biggest issue is... will shipping it cost more than rebuying it. The treadmills is a goner (because that thing weighs 5 million pounds and it would be crazy to haul that thing overseas). If I sell it I will never buy such expensive treadmill again.

So I guess the answer is... sell the crap and take the loss! -@juliet1980

After the above I wonder why you asked the question in the first place. Honestly.

            @juliet1980 It all depends on how much you are connected to all this "stuff" and how sur eyou are that your new home in Portugal will have space for the "stuff". I arrived with all my "stuff" and I am very happy about that.         -@TGCampoI am an extreme minimalist. I NEVER get connected to anything. At all. I literally have zero pictures and zero sentimental items. I am not into any "sentimental" nonsense. My issue is MONEY loss. Anything that doesn't get used gets donated. The issue is that the few items I own are expensive and ones I use very often. The biggest issue is... will shipping it cost more than rebuying it. The treadmills is a goner (because that thing weighs 5 million pounds and it would be crazy to haul that thing overseas). If I sell it I will never buy such expensive treadmill again. So I guess the answer is... sell the crap and take the loss! -@juliet1980After the above I wonder why you asked the question in the first place. Honestly.        -@TGCampo

Was not sure whether it's cheaper to bring my crap or leave it that is why. The things I own are used often and very expensive!! Does that satisfy your comment!?

@juliet1980

I moved all my stuff back from California to UK... and it then sat in my parents' barn for 15 years, until I threw it all out. :-)

But I sent it by boat. I think you'll be surprised how cheap that option can be, if you don't care if it travels slowly and arrives in a month or two.

There are several websites where you can specify your load, and you get quotes from different shippers. You can even make it a bigger load and include vehicles, bikes, heavy exercise equipment.

I haven't shipped anything for some years, but my guess is that a good-sized load might be 2-4k... so if you've got 20-30k of stuff, it's a pretty good deal. And probably less aggravation than selling everything off on Ebay for cheap, and then buying new over here.

We moved from Holland to the UK 20-odd years ago - I still have 3 packing cases in our garage that I hadn't unpacked when we moved to Holland from Germany.  I know what's in them, I just don't need t a whole load of old military uniforms anymore.

Was not sure whether it's cheaper to bring my crap or leave it that is why. The things I own are used often and very expensive!! Does that satisfy your comment!?
   
    -@juliet1980

Well, I guess only a couple of quotes from shipping or freight forwarding companies will give you the answer then.

...
But I sent it by boat. I think you'll be surprised how cheap that option can be,

...
I haven't shipped anything for some years, but my guess is that a good-sized load might be 2-4k...

I don't know if it's a good size or bad, but a container will be closer to $10,000.

In our experience, most of the elapsed time was spent on shore at the origin.  It's unpredictable.