My Gumtree house

So... we've had our darling little baby, I healed surprisingly quick from my c-section, and besides a bit of an infection which required antibiotics, I've also healed really well too.
3 weeks after having our little girl it was time to start the house hunt as I was still at the beginning of the whole healing process driving around wasnt much of an option so onto www.realestate.com.au I went.  The housing rental market in Sydney isnt as cheap as Masterton, but we had our budget and our list of what we wanted in our house.  After a few weeks and viewing alot of 'heck no's' I finally found the one for us.  Now how to apply was the next big question... Shaun had only been in permanent work for  a little over a month and when I went to view the property I was one in at least 20 so I really had to make a good impression.  I started with as many of the realestate requirements I could gather up such as the realestate form, bank statement, copies of drivers lisences, passports & medicare card Shauns payslips from the last 4 weeks etc I also included New Zealand substitutes such as the bond return letter from our last rental place in Masterton and the lease aswell so if you're wanting to get into a house as soon as you get here make sure you bring copies of all of those.  And include as much relevant information you can.  I also headed the application with a letter explaining that we had recently moved from NZ and explaining the NZ documents I attached.  By the end of that week we got the call that the house was ours to move into when we were ready!! Oh Happy day!!  3 bedroom home, newly renovated bathroom, extra toilet in the laundry, split system aircon in the lounge, fully fenced back yard with one and a half car sized garage and covered outdoor entertaining area... $330pw... which compared to some places in NZ might be pretty hefty but here in Sydney its very cheap for this very tidy and might I add CUTE home... Its small, but its perfect for us.... Kaea seems happy with it, just look at him... :o)

Even though we came to Australia with a grand total of 14 bags we pretty much had nothing to move into our new home... so I needed to get some cheap stuff fast... the priorities were beds and a fridge... so on to www.gumtree.com.au I went and with Gumtree and the help of some very kind and giving Church & family friends we now have everything we need... plus some extras...and I am so happy in my little GUMTREE home :o)

Wanna play a guessing game??  Here are pics of almost everything I bought off Gumtree, you guess how much I paid for each item and I will tell you at the bottom of the post... ready??? Set??? Go!!

Our Trampoline was actually the first item we got from Gumtree not long after we arrived in Australia... we got it for the boys so they could jump out their wiggles...and give our friends house a bit of a rest from them :o) 2nd hand but still got lots of life in it??  How much do u think we paid for this?

Next somewhere to sleep... this will do.  Queen size bed, great condition, included fairly new mattress.... how much you say???

 We couldnt move in until we had somewhere to keep the milk - a fridge and there are lots of them on Gumtree... this one, however, came with a 30 day warranty as the guy who sold it fixes and resells these kinds of items... Westinghouse 500litre fridge freezer... how much did we pay?

Somewhere to eat was pretty important so since the kitchen had a breakfast bar...these barstools came next... we got 5 of them all in really good condition, nice and sturdy, easily cleaned when the boys make a mess on them....

I felt sorry for my little Kaea stuck at home with Mum & Baby all day with no toys so this wooden train set came next... he had one of these at his preschool in Masterton and spent most of his time playing with it...

A woman needs her washing machine and here's mine... 14 months old, PYE brand, 8 litres... what would you pay for it??

With Babys blessing coming up we wanted to invite the whanau over for lunch afterwards, plus I wanted to make as much use of the outdoor entertaining area as we could so the table with 6 sturdy mesh chairs came next.... whats your guess.. $100 - $150 maybe???  And what is that in the background you ask???

WELL... This is our most recent Gumtree purchase and my husbands favourite...6 burner hooded BBQ with side burner cooker, gas bottle and 5 peice almost new BBQ utensil set... but what would you guess was the going price???

Well that was fun... most of these items were found by fluke.. but all are such blessings.  Some were found  by getting on early in the day and having a little browse... others were there for quite a while and I was just lucky that when I was ready to buy them they were still avaliable.  With Gumtree I've found you really have to be quick for the good deals and it's better to give the seller a call than to email them cause if you snooze you looze! :o)

I'm sure this wont be the last you hear of Gumtree from me... We're on the lookout for a little work car for Shaun, yes you can even find cars on there... C U next week and I hope you find some super bargains this week too x



WHAT WE PAID FOR THEM...
TRAMPOLINE - Nothing... this was in the 'FREEBIES' category... worth checkin out!!!
BED - $50
FRIDGE - $220
BARSTOOLS - $20 (for the lot, 5 of them.)
TRAIN SET - $25 (this item was on Gumtree for quite a while... at $30 even though I thought that was a bargain I asked if he would take $20 and we settled on $25.  Dont be afraid to barter)
WASHING MACHINE - $100 yep $100!
TABLE & CHAIRS - $75
BBQ - $160