Shipping personal goods when Moving to Spain from Australia

You know how sometimes you think you’ve come up with a genius plan to cut some corners and save money? Yep, we all do it. And sometimes, the universe just sits back and has a good laugh at your expense.

This is the story of how I thought I was being very clever by planning to ship our 27” iMacs in suitcases when we moved to Spain.

So, here’s the thing: shipping suitcases is way cheaper than those "moving overseas" shipments, especially for the size. For months, I’d been thinking, “I’ll just pack our iMacs into suitcases, and boom—problem solved!” What I didn’t know at the time was that my iMac (being a newer model) doesn’t allow you to remove the stand. Yep, you read that right. It’s stuck there like an annoying little anchor.

I set aside time to pack the suitcase, fully prepared for my victory lap. After hours of watching YouTube tutorials, trying all kinds of “methods,” and even damaging a few business cards in the process, I finally accepted defeat—my iMac stand wasn’t going anywhere.

“Okay,” I thought, “maybe a bigger suitcase will do the trick.” So I grabbed the suitcases we were planning to take with us and guess what? It fit! Woohoo! But hold on—turns out, I was using the word fit very loosely.

You might be reading this and thinking, "What’s the big deal?" But for me, it was a very big deal. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t easily accept defeat. I had now spent over four hours trying to make this work, and the fact that I had to throw in the towel was driving me up the wall.

Finally, I admitted defeat. It just wasn’t going to work. “Great, fantastic,” I thought. “Let’s see how much it’s going to cost to ship the iMacs in their original boxes.” And my shipment budget of $400? Well, it soon ballooned into $1500, and that’s when panic set in. Afterall we were moving ALL THE WAY from Australia to Spain so fair enough.

But It’s Not in the Budget

You see, I’m meticulous about money. Anyone who knows me knows that “but it’s not in the budget” is basically my life motto. And that stems from my upbringing.

Growing up, we didn’t have a lot. I kind of developed a scarcity mindset around money, always worrying about whether we had enough. It wasn’t until 2017, when I was planning our wedding, that I finally became “good” with money. I went from someone who lived paycheck to paycheck to someone who saved everything and budgeted for everything.

These days, I often tell people that I turn “we can’t afford it” into “we can afford it, just not yet.” And let me tell you, that mindset has served me well so far. It’s helped us save, plan, and be prepared. But here’s the thing: anyone who’s really good with money knows that this mindset has its downsides.

If you constantly think there’s a cap on your earnings or that all you should do is save, you’ll never really be financially free. It’s true—to make money, you need to spend money and invest. I’m still working on breaking out of this scarcity mindset, but it’s a long road, and it takes time. It’s not easy to let go of those habits, but I’m trying.

So, you can imagine how frustrating it was to see my careful budget balloon right before my eyes. I wasn’t just facing a shipping problem—I was dealing with a mental tug-of-war between my old scarcity mindset and the part of me that knows I need to spend money to solve problems sometimes.

To Add Insult to Injury...

As if all that wasn’t enough, earlier that morning I’d arranged for someone to buy our bedside tables and pick them up that evening. So, by 8:30pm, I was finally catching up on my work (graphic design) with my husband by my side, when the doorbell rang. I was blindsided. It was the lovely girl coming to collect her new bedside tables.

Now, these tables? Still had all of our things in and on them. 😅

In my dazed confusion and mounting frustration, I scrambled upstairs to get the tables ready, and my husband—being the absolute angel he is—got up to help me. But here’s where it gets ugly. In my blinding rage and full panic mode, he became my verbal punching bag.

“Come, go, why aren’t you running?! Bring me the box, no, not that box! Oh, I’ll just do it myself. Pick this up, leave them! I’ll wipe them down. No, don’t wipe them—just don’t worry about wiping them, just take them down to her… AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

It was like an out-of-body experience, and I was barking orders left and right. My poor husband. I definitely apologised afterward because, in the moment, I was an absolute mess.

Now, normally, he holds his own during our little “verbal sparring sessions,” but this time? He didn’t say a word. He was so patient, probably because I looked like a broken version of his wife. I think that flipped some protector switch in him, and he did everything in his power not to add fuel to my volcanic fire.

Back to the Drawing Board

At this point, I was back at square one. And if I’m being honest, I’m not a fan of “back to the drawing board” situations, but then again, who is?

The next three hours were spent filling out quote request forms and calling relocation companies. It quickly spiraled into the kind of day I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. To add some context, I’m neurodivergent, so getting something done that doesn’t interest me or excite me is already a challenge. I had planned for this day to be full of productivity, tackling multiple things, but instead, I spent the entire day trying to fix just this one problem.

By the end of it, I had quotes that shot the budget up to $2500, and let me tell you, my financial insecurities were in full attack mode.

Honestly, I’m not even sure why I’m sharing all of this, except that I just need to vent. But here’s the thing—you can’t always predict what’s going to happen. And more importantly, you should always budget for more than you expect to spend. It just might save you from a full-on meltdown when things inevitably go off track.

The Value of Relocation Services

In the end, I realised something important: these relocation services exist for a reason. Once I looked at what’s actually included, the price tag started to make a little more sense. They offer door-to-door service—literally picking up everything from your old place and unpacking it at your new one. And when I factored in that I could ship our TV too (so we wouldn’t need to buy a new one), it practically paid for itself.

I’m not cheap—or at least, I don’t think I am. What I am is a value hunter. I want to know that the money I’m spending is worth it because I work hard for every dollar. I’ve learned that sometimes you have to look beyond the initial cost and see the value in the bigger picture.

Lessons Learned

So, what did I learn from all this? Well, for starters, I learned that you can’t always plan for everything, and sometimes life throws you a curveball. But more importantly, I learned that when it comes to big life moves—like relocating to another country—there are some things that are worth paying for.

So, thanks for listening to my rant. I feel much better now, and hopefully, you’ve learned a little something from my mistake. If you’re planning a big move, my advice? Budget more than you think you’ll need—your future self will thank you for it.

Also, if you're wondering who we ended up going with? I'll have that all updated on the moving to spain guide post.

Visit our Moving to Spain Guide

Adios!

Jasmine & Andrew