dbd33

All of this good advice is hard to implement in the first week. You need a pot and a plate. You need a toiler plunger. You don't have any knowledge of the relative merits of the shops or the going rate for plungers. It's easier if you've brought your mundane items and, if you have children or pets, they may value the familiarity of household items (not especially plungers admittedly).

not2old

All of the responses to the OP are wide & varied,lots of great info for a newcomer.

On the 'toilet plunger', similar to the 'Poundshop' in the UK we have the 'Dollarstore' & depending where the OP is heading one can find a Dollarstore almost within 2-5 km of each other, or at least one in every town

At the Canadian dollarstore you could outfit all the small necessities, from food, cutlery, dishes, kitchen stuff, all the washing & dishwashing supplies, brooms, floor mops, toothpaste, toiletries, tissues, napkins, some have pans, crisps, pet supplies, candy to gizmos & gadgets

dbd33

I knew I could count on you or Bristol to document the ideal place to be obtain a low cost toilet plunger. Nonetheless, I think that as a new arrival in a foreign country with a blocked toilet, I would not pause to search for a flyer discounting plungers but would just buy the first one that I came across. The urgency of my evaculative desires would override my desire for financial prudence.

In my case the same would apply to almost all mundane items, I'd be concentrating on getting to my new job, not determining where doormats are cheap. For me, the fair comparison is the cost of shipping the lot vs. filling a van at Lowes or HD (and renting the van), not the cost of shipping vs. the lowest possible price for each item.

not2old

Granted, yet this was about the cost of things (the OP's question). On the "plunger", well there is Canadian Tire, Home Hardware or Home depot (B&Q in the UK)

Its about the first week in Canada, the essentials, right down to a car rental, cell phone plan, dollar store shopping to Thrift store shop & we could post a list of the grocery stores if nesessary

Then as some might 'pipe up' a cab ride to the local 'Costco', simply walk in get a one day shopping pass...

All sorted

The OP has 'mucked right in like they're right at home'.... welcome to Canada

Shirtback

I'll stick my (heavily discounted from Costco) oar in:

When pricing shipping costs, have a look at new & used prices for the big stuff (furniture, mainly) & compare how much it costs to buy new or used in the particular part of Canada you're moving to.

I've never regretted bringing beds, a wardrobe or 2, chest of drawers, desk, table, chairs etc and boxes of pots pans kitchen "stuff".

Depending on where in Canada, washing machines, dryers, cookers and fridges can be had very cheaply secondhand or even brand-new to start off with. Also smaller appliances. It's a waste of time & money bringing them anyway - they mostly won't work.

~4 or 5 years ago, when I was starting out again from 0, within Canada, a fridge-freezer, cooker, washing machine cost me ~450$, secondhand. 50$ of which was paying the cooker seller to deliver not just the the cooker, but also to pick-up & deliver the other appliances.

I also at that time, acquired a (very nice but far too cumbersome for chez moi) sofa via Freecycle, which has since been re-free-cycled.

Lamin

Thanks guys, I am in Germany at present and have decided to ship everything as the container was fairly reasonable, particularly compared to the UK which was ironic. I have been coming to Canada for the last 17 years and have lived there twice but had the comfort of being looked after by work.

This time with no job, no car, no house and a poor pound every last cent is going to have to count.

Thanks for your replies so far.

Aviator

You get lost? It took me 9 hours!

Souvy

It's worth keeping an eye on The Canadian Tire flyer.

They do huge discounts (like 75%) on some items every weekend. I always look at it because we are still equipping our son's house. You cannot argue with a decent set of saucepans at 75% off.

It is, of course, a lure to get people into the store. Choose what you are going to buy before you go and stick to the list.

Ditto supermarket flyers. It helps if the supermarkets are close together. The ones here are. I'm not sure how a city of 250k people supports so many large supermarkets (or home improvement stores, for that matter).

kirstyp

Hi Lamin,

I was just working on a post over in our BE Vendor forum for international removals which is a great tip about using currency exchange experts instead of your bank to save money. http://britishexpats.com/forum/overs.../#post12180692

Hope it helps!

rivingtonpike

Money saving. I think it depends on your circumstances whether to ship your stuff from one country to another. For us it was WAY cheaper to pay the 7K GBP to ship everything - and I mean everything (ish). With a 40ft container, we could pack the contents of a 5 bedroom house in comfortably. I still have a UK 240v microwave stored in my garage! Had had to, we could have used it with a transformer.

MillieF

5 years ago I took Rivington's recommendation to heart, and I packed most things without a motor... and have been eternally grateful eversince it's all the 'stuff' you have picked up in odd places, that makes a home 'home'. It's also very expensive living without these bits and pieces and soul destroying in the process....am I a 'better woman' because I have the perfect bit of kitchenalia for the job...probably not...but it feels like it sometimes...

Very best of luck!

misskatpaw

I would agree that packing as much as you can from your home into a container to bring is the most cost effective way. I regret not bringing more and regret selling some stuff beforehand like our kayaks (we were worried we'd be low on room in the container)

I still vividly remember the day our container arrived after we'd been here 4 weeks living in a trailer and then for the last 10 days in our just about empty rental house with borrowed stuff. Once it got cleared through customs, I burst into tears as the build-up of tension and expectation got to me and th relief was overwhelming.

I was so amazing to unpack our house contents and all the familiar stuff that immediately left me feeling comforted when I had been a little like a fish out of water.

We brought our solid wood furniture like bed, bedside tables, 2 x chest of drawers, wardrobe, 2 sofas, kitchen island, TV stand, dining table & 6 chairs. Not to mention 2 x mountain bikes, dozens and dozens of boxes of all things like clothes, kitchen equipment, camping gear, fishing gear, workshop tools, pictures, paintings, cushions, bedding, blankets. Replacing all of that $hit adds up very quickly.

When you're here, if you get chance to shop at (Real Canadian) Superstore, get a Presidents Choice (PC) Mastercard if you can blag the credit (or secure it with a small down payment) and at least a PC Points Card. We buy most of our gas and groceries at Superstore and save our points until Christmas, We have had $400-500 in loyalty points to spend on our Xmas grocery shop every Christmas for the last 3 years. At the same time we stock up on things that last throughout the year like foil, parchment paper, big Ziploc bags etc. That helps!

rivingtonpike

I'm still using British power tools I brought with me using the 220v power source I have in the garage - or with a transformer. When my hammer drill or whatever finally Koncks out, I'll replace it with a 110v North American one, but until then, why go to the expense? On the basis I've spent a small fortune on tools I never had or needed/wanted in the UK, never mind replacing ones I already owned, I'm glad I brought everything I did.

MillieF

Could not agree more...it makes you know that all those grubby bits and pieces that brought you to where you are at were worth it

Like Rivington...we've got quite a few odd bits of equipment that get seldom used...TIG/MIG Welder, electric carving knives etc....when they give up the Ghost they will be replaced by the more 'proper' Canadian ones...but who has the money when they first arrive

CLW78

To add, I would definitely say bring as much as you can. If shipping is cost effective, bring it. We arrived in Canada just under two months ago and I wish I had shipped so much more than we eventually did. I wish I had packed bedding, towels etc as I'm finding these things are expensive here (if I want to replace like for like).

We rented through airbnb for the fest few weeks we arrived so we had 'everything' we needed to cover us while I settled in to my new job, husband sorted all of the bureaucracy (which takes ages and is soul destroying) and our kids started their new school. This option was SUPER expensive though. I don't regret doing it as it gave us time to figure out where the Dollar stores and kijiji (like Gumtree) to start buying second hand furniture and not worry about toilet plungers.

We have just moved into a rental accommodation and have most of the white goods provided. We've managed to get all of our furniture second hand through kijiji and facebook buy and sell groups. Bear in mind the length of time it takes for shipping to clear customs too. Our stuff arrived in Canada on 5 Jan but didn't get cleared and delivered to us until 16 Feb!

Definitely take the time to check the flyers for deals each week. Also, factor in getting a rental car as soon as you can. We spent hours (and I mean hours!) trying to get to homes across the city to look at furniture we wanted to by second hand. It was stressful and not fun (especially in the middle of winter). The public transport system where I live seems to cover the whole city but is really infrequent. We ended up being time poor as well as cash poor! Our savings went very, very quickly!

The positive thing is I have been bowled over by how friendly everyone has been in helping us settle. It is always worth asking if someone is selling other items when you are enquiring about furniture. I went to buy a bed frame and struck a deal to buy loads of other stuff as the woman was downsizing and wanted rid. I had to get over my British reserve ;-) if you don't ask, you don't get.

Good luck with the move!