Furniture-whether to buy

[upandrunning]

My brain is overloaded. FinallY found house to rent but haven't arranged shipping on our stuff from UK. So does anybody know whether it is worth buying seconhand then reselling when ours arrives or to rent furniture. Anyone heard of www.dtr.co.nz a rental company?
Also do they have laundrettes here?

Ta
Fiona

[Michelle and Richard]

Hey Diny we have garden chairs in our rental, oh dear green metal and plastic, its not looking good. But we have a wooden table! now you might have some idea why we want to get out of here. All that said its not a bad idea if it saves you some dosh.

I haven't seen any laundrettes about but will keep my eye open.

There does seem to be thriving second hand market so dont think selling or buying anything will be a problem

Michelle

[Diny]

Hi Fiona

I've heard the rental companies can be abit pricey and after all - it will be dead money. The Salvation Army and other Op Shops are a good place to buy 'temporary' furniture. A nice set of garden furniture can be used indoors until yours from UK arrives, then you can put it outside and enjoy the summer.

To be honest I couldn't tell you whether they have laundrettes or not, but I know there is quite a market for reconditioned white goods. However, I think it was Moorf (on this forum) who managed to get a good deal on a washer and a drier. She says that if you pay in actual cash you can get the price down - so that's worth knowing.

Where are you in NZ.

Diny

[Jodie]

Hi Fiona,

We bought a lounge suite and fridge/freezer from the local 2nd hand paper - the Trade & Exchange (I think they've got a website so might be worth checking out prices.....). Be careful though - some things that people try to sell should have been taken to the dump! But we did manage to find a decent (large) fridge freezer and good condition lounge suite for just under $200, so quite a bargain really. (We hired a luton van for $50 to pick it all up with)

Last week we bought a new queen size bed from Wellington beds for $750 on offer, and a new washing machine for $499 special offer from Bond & Bond with a 2 year warranty. It's a toploader though - front loaders are quite a bit more expensive over here it seems.... And they tend to do cold washes cos it uses less energy - they even have proper cold wash powder in the supermarkets! (It's all washed well so far....)

As for Launderettes, they do have them over here (might take a bit of searching for one though as they're not that common), and they cost around $4 per load for a cold wash, and you have to supply your own powder etc. However, I have found that the machine we've just bought washes our clothes MUCH better than those at the launderette.

Hope this helps.

Jodie

[Moorf]

From our experience here in Christchurch.....

Personally, the second hand stuff is awful. It's really knackered, smelly and bad condition and VERY old!

We looked at 2nd hand white goods and, quite frankly, they weren't very cheap considering their condition. Check out "combo" deals in the large stores like Farmers, Bond & Bond, K-Mart.

New furniture isn't that cheap - not from what we've been looking at - depends on your taste and budget really.

Check out the newspapers - lots of goods for sale there - and definitely the garage sales. Buying second hand might sound like a good idea but when you actually have to SIT on a smelly, dog hair ridden, 1950's sofa it's another matter :?

And as for beds... ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

As Jodie said - front loaders are a tad more expensive - we plumped for a top loader and I love it - so quick too .... was part of a combo deal at Farmers and we got a dryer too. I hear that top loaders can wreck clothes ... not ours so far :hopeso

[upandrunning]

Thanks all!

Do you think they have bed bugs in NZ?

I'm in auckland, looking for a house on east coast bays. Husband is crapping himself about the commute but at least I'll have nice beaches cafes and coffee houses for me and the kids. Tee-hee. After 4 weeks cooped up together in apartment you would think an hour in the car sounds positiveky fun. Might even delay the divorce papers!

I knew it would be hard but my brain cells have frozen since arriving in no heating land.

[Tara Sage]

We are still waiting for our funiture and luckily our new friends have rallyed round and supplied us with beds and a sofa. We have bought cheap duvets to make do and a garden furniture set in lounge for dining table

It looks really funny, but we wern't going to buy new when our stuff should be here in a weeks time.

[veronica]

yes bed bugs can be a problem but more in hotels hostels etc. anywhere you have a travelling population there is a risk of the little beggers. They are also on the increase again in the UK.

[Annierobrigado]

hya all

so now i'm gonna ask for the websites of your movers and shippers, so i can have an idea how much it'll cost me to ship rather than buy new in nz.

i have a feeling it's gonna be the same...?

annie

[Diny]

Annie - where have you been? You've been very quiet for a few days.

2 out of the 3 companies I have had quotes for are UK based. However, Crown Relocations have offices worldwide .... so I was told in the sales pitch anyway. I guess if you just do a search under their name you'll be able to find them.

Must tell you though - Crown quoted several hundred pounds more than the other companies.

Diny