Obitim

Hi there!

Seeing as we're about to embark on a new journey (if only for a couple of years), this has prompted us to have a bit of a clear out of the stuff that we no longer need.

So I just wanted to ask people's advice about when you moved out to Canada, how did you clear your house? Did you just pack a load of stuff off to the charity shops? Or did you sell things online?

Just looking at different options really!

christmasoompa

Ebay or Freecycle/charity shops for us.

Danny B

We had a hard time filling up our shipping container so we brought everything with us except for our TV, fridge, freezer, washer, dryer and some 240v tools.

We sold that stuff dirt cheap just to get rid of it in a hurry.

Obitim

That's what I'm thinking!

We will be buying a TV and the like out there initially until we end up deciding if we;re gong to stay in Canada or not

suzeandmatt

We gave a fair amount of furniture away to friends. We put some things on Gumtree. We threw out some stuff & took some stuff to charity shops. We were pretty ruthless. Yet- we still have a rented container in the UK full of books and art etc. Haha
We brought hardly anything with us-
Literally just four 120L duffel bags and a 150L box got posted over.
The duffel bags were mainly clothes- and the box was mainly kitchen bits and pieces.
We bought everything else out here- we used second hand shops for most of our furniture- and Ikea for the furniture I wasn’t willing to get second hand (beds for example). We rent- so kitchen has white goods already. We just had to furnish the rest of the house.

Good luck!

Verdant

If you're only moving for a couple of years then it might be wise to look at storage options - either with family / friends or with a company.

Initially, I was going to sell everything... but then after researching the cost of essentials (and the fact that a lot of Canadian furniture is ... ahem ... rather bland) we've decided to ship just the sofa / table / bed ...

Everything else is being uploaded digitally (dvds, music, photos). There are decent offers on external hard drives during the winter sales or you could use cloud-based storage.

Amazon and eBay are good places to sell CDS, books and clothing, but you do need a few months to have enough time to shift your items. It's not the season for it now, but car boot sales can also be really useful if you're not going until the spring. Last resort: facebook market place / Gumtree to shift bulky items and save you a trip to the recycle centre.

If you're not hard up for funds then consider donating stuff - we gave a nearly new fridge/freezer combo and a piano to the British Heart Foundation as they take electricals.

We're hoping to live more minimalistic once we get to Canada. Stuff is overrated.

scilly

Don't forget that all accommodations (house, condo, apartment) whether rented or bought come with all large kitchen electrical items such as stove, fridge, often microwave. Houses will usually have washers and dryers, apartments will have access to a shared laundry, condos might have in-suite laundry or access to shared laundry.

Also remember that Canadian houses will probably have rooms that are larger than in the UK, and your furniture might look out-of-place in a larger room.

Also there will be built-in closets in all bedrooms, usually one in each bathroom, and often one in the entry. Free-standing wardrobes are not necessary

Obitim

Cheers folks!

We're flying out Christmas day so have got a storage place booked for our sentimental stuff, we were gonna land with a couple of suitcases full of clothes and see how we did (pick up some IKEA type stuff while there) and once we're settled and in the process of applying for PR through EE then look at shipping our gear out as we're considering the dual intent angle with that...