How to get my stuff from UK to Bulgaria

We use our local bulgarian food store to ship stuff back and forth when we need it, such a good service (I feel like it's more of a community service than a business).

However, not sure if it's the best for moving all your stuff in one go.

Worth it anyway for the future, if you want to send stuff back and forth. Go on Google maps and search for a bulgarian food store near you. If you have one give them a call or go visit and ask about a lorry service and price per kg.

Hello can anyone please tell me how easy it is to take all my stuff from UK to Bulgaria? Which is best way id like to take most of my belongings over there. Thank you any advice would be appreciated . - @wendygould2

What kind of "stuff": Furniture, clothes, white goods? 

Moving this far is a great opportunity to declutter; I'd guess that you probably don't need to pay good money to ship ALL your stuff, unless you've already pared everything down to a minimum.

@wendygould2

Many of us reckon that moving "all" our stuff is not worth the aggravation and cost. It's very easy to buy what you need once you're here. If you have a car, and plan to keep it, then filling your car with clothes and essentials works well. Some have purchased an older white van and brought even more of their stuff, then disposed of the van here once it has served its purpose. If you want to do a proper move and really take it all, you could hire a man-and-van or moving service... but it's not cheap!

@wendygould2

Quite expensive, and involves customs now. So try to travel light.

For professional removal, recommend going to Facebook, and searching for "Expats Couriers". They cover the North of England and Scotland.

Because of the way we're doing things -- slowly renovating our village house in Bg while we wait to be eligible for a D visa -- we're taking a suitcase of our smaller "stuff" each over every time we travel, clothes and books and smaller bits and pieces. And we're bit by bit furnishing the house with a mix of the usable furniture already in the house and new items, so we won't need to take any of our furniture, kitchen items, white goods, etc. It's possible to get almost everything you'll need in Bulgaria and it could work out costing much the same to buy new there as paying to move your existing things there.

When the time to make our move comes we should be able to fit our remaining stuff in a van and will drive ourselves there. I gather from what others have said here on the forum that there's likely to be far less hassle that way. Items in personal luggage are generally considered exempt for any import duties.

You may of course have family furniture with a strong emotional value for you which you want to take. We don't, and it makes things far easier. Cats, books, clothes, and favourite duvets are about all we'll be taking with us! Probably a few other small items we wouldn't be able to replace locally, like my vintage sewing box and some of hubby's tools. Everything else, we'll get in there.

If you have someone else do the moving for you, everything needs to be listed and itemised. You're wise to have receipts for anything that looks new and/or expensive to show they're over six months old so you don't get whacked with import duty. It's probably not a good plan to buy new things in the UK to take with you, unless you're not going to move for over six months.

Some things do cost a little more locally -- for example I recently bought an Instant Pot from the Bulgarian Instant Pot site, and could have got it cheaper in the UK. But for the convenience of having it delivered to the village house and not having the hassle of lugging a UK purchased item with me (and having the wrong plug!), it was worth paying a small amount extra.

@janemulberry

Don't get me started on InstantPots - I have six of them (actually, only 5 now, because I gave one to a friend who hasn't yet dared to use it 😂).  The original models all had removable "computer/kettle leads", so there was no problem with plugs. There are regular deals available on the BG site, and a thriving FB group, although I don't post much there anymore.

I can't say that I rate the newer models much; since Corelle bought the company things have rather nose-dived - not to mention the bizarre idea to have MAGA-themed models to suck up to You-know-who...🙄

LOL, really? A MAGA designed one? Oh my! Seems they understand their US purchaser group demographics!

I bought one of the older models, very definitely NOT MAGA themed, has a kettle lead, doesn't do everything I wish it did but seems to work fine so far for what it claims to do. Apparently the main issue with this one is the "burn" error code when cooking thicker stuff like rice or porridge (even on the settings for those) or trying to pressure cook a thick tomato based sauce. Because it's been summer I haven't tried cooking enough with it to run into that issue yet. Cooking bowl-in-bowl is said to resolve the problem, so I intend to buy a smaller bowl for that.

LOL, really? A MAGA designed one? Oh my! - @janemulberry

Would I lie to you? 😎

https://tinyurl.com/2sar9f5s

There was also an article about it in the NY Times (behind a paywall..)

@SimCityAT

Furniture some tools clothing general household stuff , I have compressor, generator etc thank you

Sell as much as you can in the UK and buy second-hand (or new) in BG. Unless your stuff is really valuable, even if only emotionally, shipping is just another hassle you can do without..

@wendygould2

You need to estimate the weight and volume of what you want to transport, then you can try some of the suggested contacts further up. Local Facebook groups for the area in Bulgaria you want to move to may also be helpful places to find transport services. But if you have a lot of stuff you want to move, taking things beyond the man-with-van level, you will be looking at using a removals company and should expect a quote for a minimum of several thousand pounds.

As @JimJ said, ideally, move as little as possible.

I'm guessing from the list of items to take, you're buying an old village house in need of renovation and intend to stay in it while you work on it? It's a good idea to go prepared in that case! For the useful things you really need to have with you when you arrive like clothes, cooking gear, tools, compressor, generator, sleeping bags, if you drive or have someone who can drive you, it might work out cheaper to buy a second hand van or rent one, and drive your stuff over yourself.  That ensures your tools and clothes will arrive at the same time you do. Deliveries in Bulgaria don't always happen as easily or as timely as one would hope and getting to the house prepared to start work then discovering your tools won't arrive for two weeks is not fun!

Unless you know for sure the house is livable or has secure weatherproof storage for furniture, I would perhaps wait to bring larger furniture and white goods over until you have a space to put it. Unless your furniture is very good quality or have sentimental value for you, the cost of transporting these heavier bulky items will almost certainly be higher than the cost of buying replacements in Bulgaria.

As I said before, for items someone might import to resell like electricals, tools, etc, unless they obviously look old and well used, make sure to have invoices showing they're over 6 months old to avoid paying import duty. This is less likely to be an issue when you are travelling with the goods, but is very wise if you use a transport service to get your things there.

If you're willing to share a little more about your situation, how much stuff you want to move, whether you've seen the property you're moving things to, etc, we might be able to give more helpful suggestions. Taking the seller's word for it that the property is livable and moving stuff there without having visited the place first (and some forum members have done that) can end in tears.

It's asking for trouble if you have an unoccupied house with anything in it, including building materials, tools, household appliances (and often even sanitary fittings or electricity cables in the walls!).  You MIGHT be lucky and get away with it once or twice (or even always) but every time is a risk - and your absence(s) WILL be noticed and commented on, and word gets around. 

As a rule, Plodski here is even more hopeless than in the UK (yeah, I know - difficult to believe that's possible!) and the chance of getting anything back is pretty much zero (we were somewhat lucky in that respect but fortunately well insured).

It depends on how much you are bringing with you. We bought a cheap van and brought over as much as we could. We only bought a small property and it had some furniture with it and white goods we bought here as they are a good price.

@wendygould2

You did not mention whereabouts you are in the UK but I can highly recommend Rumen (07***) who owns a transportation company, and provides excellent service. I used him personally earlier this year, and was extremely happy with transportation.

I found that most Bulgarian removal companies only have standard Luton vans of around 15m3. If that's all you have to move, then there are plenty of options available. If you need more room than that, I got a quote from Move Day Removals. It was a  a good sized vehicle and the best quote for the size.

@grumpyoldbird

Not sure about the rest of Bulgarian companies offering transport services but his particular person I mentioned has a fleet of 5-6 vans. If you book early enough you can use as many vans as needed for your transportation in one go. In my case my luggage was transported with two of the biggest size vans arriving at the same to my address in Bulgaria.

We offer  xlwb sprinter vans normalt twice a month BG to UK and back.. pm me for details.

We offer xlwb sprinter vans normalt twice a month BG to UK and back.. pm me for details. - @Kevin Sweet

Why don't you register in the business directory for free HERE? Or at the top of the page?