Things to bring over

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1
Guten Tag... i am planning my move to CH in the coming months.... and i am wondering what should i bring along?

My company will be engaging a moving company to assist me.... and i would like to know if there are any tips on what to bring and what not to when moving in to CH...

Initially i planned to move :

1) new bed + mattresses + pillows + blankets (from online sites, these items seems to be very expensive)

2) minor small furniture items, ie. drawers, chairs, tables, lamps,

3) essential kitchen items (pan, wok, plates, etc...)

4) enough clothings to survive the first few months

5) some canned foods (are canned foods, dry foods allowed??)

what do you think? How you did it when you first move to CH?

ideas and suggestions are much appreciated.

Danke.

2
I zbjernak,

I would say you can bring all those things you've mentioned over to Switzerland. Not sure how it goes with bringing dried food along though.

Good luck.

3
I brought two suitcases mostly full of clothing, I did pack some reusable grocery bags, and then I bought a carry on with my laptop, and emergency clothes should my suitcases get lost.

It depend what your things are worth if its worth bringing or not. I am sure all the things you mentioned are allowed we've taken them back and forth many times.

4
I would say that if your Company were paying for your moving costs then bring over what you will need as certain items are expensive here to buy. Obviously you need to know what accomodation you will be living in. There is no use bringing all your gardening equipment over if you live in a tenth floor flat

5
Never mind clothes and shoes, they just take up room unnecessarily.. you need to pack mixed spices, self-raising flour, stuffing mix, and mint sauce...

6
Do they have those things in Klang ?

I have to admit I had to look up the place

7
"Klang" has a German ring to it, a "deutschen Klang", if you will. You will surely have no problems adapting in Luzern.

8
A pre encoded Sky box with card worked for me, saved loads of hassle, for all else there's that card thing...

9
Remember if what you bring over is under 6 months old you are liable for import tax at the border!

If you have not got those items already, it might be an idea to get some when you are here.

If on the other hand you are bringing over older personal possessions, all of what you suggest would be helpful.

10
If I moved over again I would leave most of what I brought behind.

Bring your books over and things that have sentimental value, but leave everything else behind.

Its cheaper to buy the furniture here. One thing I really regretted bringing over was kitchen stuff.

11

I'm with you on this. I hear this all the time...most everything you need on a day to day basis can be found here and when you factor in the cost of moving it, it is just not worth it. By the time you factor in what it cost to pack up the goods and move them, it is cheaper to buy them locally, though time consuming.

The problem is that many employers refuse to offer you a reasonable cash settlement in lieu of shipping your entire household goods and what they do offer can be taxable. That seems to be one of the reasons why anyone with a shipping allowance brings the entire house full of stuff.

If it turns out that as you suggested, you bring just their sentimental items and other essential objects where a replacement is not suitable, then you need to look for a consolidator who will ship just a few boxes. This is not so expensive. Some people sell all the items they are not bringing to help cover the cost of replacing those items in the destination country.

One advantage in not shipping furniture is you can avoid having to stay in temporary housing, another expense, while waiting for your goods to arrive. This is particularly an issue when there are pets. It is then possible to move into permanent housing almost immediately. This can also be done with rental furniture though this is quite expensive on a short term basis. That's why I have taken clients on a shopping spree for the essentials..it's actually a lot of fun for kids to choose new things for their room, like duvet covers etc. Familiar things are important to kids (don't forget a favourite stuffed animal) but new is exciting too.

12
I think it also depends on whether you will have a car or assistance with transport/delivery, and whether you have kids, and whether you have time to shop.

We airfreighted 5.5 cubic metres of personal belongings plus four airfares to get us from Australia - with three kids. It was very expensive, but only 20% more expensive than sea, and it arrived perfectly as promised. The only problem was that there were some extra limitations vs. sea freight...

I wouldn't bother bringing food...surely the cost of freight would make it not worth it...there are plenty of asian grocery shops here in zurich..I assume you can find one or two in the main cities...and that is the stuff we love the best (I now realise that even though we are Anglo-Australian, we are very used to having food with Thai, Indian and Chinese flavours)...

My suggestions (if someone else is paying for the freight) would be to bring over 'one of everything' that you need to set up your apartment so it is liveable. Electricals will be a problem if you need transformers..three transformers, two desk lamps (your new apartment may need lights installed), computer gear, two sets of your favourite linen and towels, and plenty of clothes to suit cold climate, and heaps of underwear.

We also brought our sentimental items, heaps of books and the children's favourite toys, and work gear,

Also, we managed to pick up a filing cabinet here from another expat who was moving out.

Allow a decent budget on arrival for larger furniture if it is not cost-effective to send these things - and book one trip to Ikea - we used www.prioritymovingservices.com - the guy's name is Nathan - we went to Ikea early in the morning, it took 2-3 hours with three kids and lots of trolleys to get what we wanted - and Nathan met us at the checkout at midday, helped deliver our purchases and installed our lights (he'll also put your flatpack together if you want to pay him for that)...

OUR Priority with three children and my husband needing to get to work straight away when he arrived, was to have our house functional within two weeks...if you don't have that pressure, and your company is paying, this is what I would do

- pack 'one of everything' and basic furnishings so you can set up your apartment out of your boxes

- get it all ready and hold it in your home country and have it sent as soon as you are confident that everything is OK at the other end...

- get your company to find you a suitable apartment

- get your company to put you in a serviced apartment for one week on arrival

- get your company to make someone available for 2-3 days to help with viewing the apartment, viewing your new office and meeting some of the staff, registering at the gemeinde, opening a bank account, getting a mobile phone and ordering your internet and fixed phone.

- then you view the apartment, check it is OK, confirm to have your airfreight sent to arrive within a week, stay in the serviced apartment and do your shopping etc, and get food etc and take it to your new place!

Gee, hope that all makes sense...

ALSO, assume what you are bringing is 'one way' and don't bring furniture etc if you think you might need to take those things home again - because the freight OUT of Switzerland might be DOUBLE what you paid to get it here in the first place...

13
Agreed, also worth thinking carefully about which kitchen appliances are worth bringing/leaving - if you're bringing UK appliances, voltages are compatible and the plugs on most things can be changed easily or adaptors bought. Most homes I've been in supply fitted fridge/freezer and dishwasher and it may be difficult to house a 2nd fridge etc in the kitchen. I brought my new fridge/freezer with me and store it in my cellar unit which has electricity and this comes in very handy for freezing all the sliced wholemeal bread that my UK visitors bring me .

If you like english blend tea, my tip would be to bring shed loads of that over, much of the tea here tastes like gnats pee

Another tip: take care to do a thorough inventory of your belongings to be shipped before and after moving with the removal company. I did and it paid off in the end as the removal company caused a fair bit of damage to my leather sofa and some wooden furniture which was noted on delivery to my swiss home and all items were reimbursed in full.

Good luck.

14
sabs-> thanks, glad to know those are allowed

smackerjack->most probably i would be renting an apartment... small enough for 1 people

sada->klang is in malaysia, and yes we do have mint sauce and rising flour... hehe

galatea-> thanks for informing,then i will need to make all the items looks old???!??!? or how would they know if is not older than 6 months?

planthead-> thanks for reminding, i heard it is hard to get english books, guessed i would need to bring all my reference books or work related documents

swisspea, mrs, doolittle-> thanks for the advice and tips...would check out the website you informed, but i think there are no Ikeas store near to luzern, so i bet the moving cost might be expensive...

caroline-> thanks for the tips, i will make sure that i tag and list all of the items.... and i hope that malaysia appliances are compatible since we "followed" UK standard

The company will be providing a temporary apartment and also storing place for me until i find my own place, so at least i wouldnt need to have headache to sort out the freight storage.

the new lists shall includes :

1) new bed + mattresses + pillows + blankets (from online sites, these items seems to be very expensive)

2) minor small furniture items, ie. drawers, chairs, tables, lamps,

3) essential kitchen items (pan, wok, plates, etc...)

4) enough clothings to survive the first few months + UNDERWEARS

5) transformers for electrical stuff

6) BOOKS

15
Found beds, pillows and duvets to be a different shape here, so there's a good chance none of your linen will fit, so either bring a load over with you, or think that one over again!

Didn't find beds to be too expensive here.

16
I would bring heaps of spices and curry pastes - esp if you like cooking or enjoy your curry and dont want to pay 30CHF for a bowl of curry.

We didnt have any problems bringing a big box of food things over from Australia. I had lots of sealed packets of curry pastes, spices and herbs - even wasabi paste!!. All were sealed (ie. newly bought) and clearly showed the ingredients. The moving company (Crown INternational) told us customs may want to open up the box and this may delay the delivery.

OUr delivery was delayed in the end but not due to customs. I still have no idea if they checked the contents. I did stick a full inventory list of the food items on the box.

Brown sugar is another thing that does not exist here.

My tip - bring heaps of A1 curry paste!!!

Actually we also packed a big box of toilettries - esp the stuff that are our favorites and we didnt know if we could buy them here. Shampoos, special body creams etc. It also meant that for the first few months when budget was tight due to all the moving costs, we didnt have to go out and buy these essentials.

Because my compnay was paying for the whole move (budget of up to 12CHF) we packed EVERYTHING...right down to our cheap Ikea (ie. make do furniture you buy when you first move out of home) furniture. It meant that we didnt have to go out and buy much when we moved here.

17
I have bought it here, so not sure why you say it doesn't exist here.

18
Curry powders & pastes, wasabi paste and brown sugar can all be found in Switzerland.

19
From the Asian grocery right under Hauptbahnhof I can get curry pastes, fresh asian vegetables and herbs, basics for Japanese, thai, Indian, Chinese...and for me the best bit is that all the imported stuff has English labels and I can tell what is gluten-free (for special diet for my son)...

And, the prices are cheaper than at the supermarket...

The prices ...well ..compared to Asia, but then again our salary is double, and our costs are double...we are Australian...

20
An open mind and a sense of humour.

Hope this helps.

Nick