Gryph - what is the difference between a 20ft and a 40ft container? Whilst not being dismissive on anyone's money, a £1-£2,000 difference may not be a lot when you try to buy back or replace items you have flogged off in the de-cluttering.

I SO wish we had brought more ! I don't even know why now, but we got rid of two pine double beds before we left - they weren't very exciting and were a bit old and groovy. But do I care about that now?! I have two empty bedrooms in the basement which would just have loved a groovy old pine bed in them ! And I wish I had bought a light oak unit I saw in the sales in February in the Uk - I cannot find anything like it here. It's hard to equate spending any money out on the Uk end of things, when you know you will need all pennies at the Canada end. But things cost a lot here too ! And two more 'guest' beds are suddenly not high in my priority list now - till the first person phones up to say they are arriving for their holiday !

Food for thought ! or just stirring and making your more confused? sorry!

The difference seems to be about £1500

Well this was definately our intial plan. And I agree with it. Its just the Anglo pacific guy said we would theoretically get it all in! but the others said we wouldn't! We don't know who to believe!!

We could not bring one bed as its IKEA and was very cheap - pretty much all the furniture we would bring otherwise.

What's the wardrobe provision like- do most canadian houses come with walk-ins or fitted wardrobes?

Do you know whether garden benches cope with winter- its a wooden eculyptus one I thin?
Gryph

I guess it all depends on whether you are prepared to get rid of things if they wont fit. If there are things you dont really need then you might be okay.

I must tell you though that we had a really bad experience with White & Co (if you search the forum you'll see some other posts from me about them) and although it might have been an isolated incident I think the hard time they gave us when we had to make an insurance claim was probably "standard proceedure". Just beware! If I could turn back the clock I would pay more to use someone else.

We are not going to use white and co- I think based upon your experience- and it doesn't surprise me as he started to twitch when I asked exactly what this liability was and ask questions about not paying out the full value etc. Also someone else had a few issues with them.

We will go anglo pacific or brittania- depending on whether we want a 40ft or a 20ft. All three companies have estimated our contents between 1000 and 1400 which is quite a range!

Thanks
Gryph

Most (if not almost all) houses will have walk in or built in wardrobes. Eculyptus will break in severe cold!

Hope that helps!

You are right to bring as much as you can as replacing items can be very expensive and time-consuming. We brought over a double bed, complete with bedding to use as a spare and am glad I did as it would have cost over $1000 to replace here. We also took over chest of drawers and bedside cabinets to furnish the kids rooms and spare bedroom. I bought 3 queen sized beds here and they cost $1100 each. Of course we had to buy all new bedding and headboards - it all adds up to a tidy sum!

We also brought over our UK living room furniture to furnish our family room - we bought all new for our NS living room. Kitchen utensils, dishes, cutlery etc are all worth taking too. Even if you buy some new, your old set can be used when guests are visiting and/or you are eating outdoors. We are also glad we brought over our garden tools.

I could have kicked myself each time I had to go out and buy an item to replace one I had given away eg wheelbarrow, dinner sets. Everything adds up.

If you are bringing over a container - fill it up.

We used White and Co and couldn't have been happier with their service both in the UK and with their partners in Halifax. Not one breakage - in fact all the clothes hanging in the cardboard wardrobe boxes were still hanging up when they arrived. If I remember correctly we were around 3300 GBP for a 20ft container plus around 300-400 GBP for insurance. This was in January 2007 and our container only took 3-4 weeks to arrive but we kept it in storage for another 4 weeks at a cost of around $400.

Yep i agree that every extra item you can bring is worth bringing. We only brought our bedroom furniture to use in spare room and the kids had old beds that needed replacing so didn't bring them. I guess we have spent close to $5000 on new mattresses, bed frames and bedroom furniture. I beleive Sleep Country Canada sell a $5000 mattress, wow i didn't ask to see it.
There are so many things that you suddenly think of, ususally in the middle of the night, and the list seems never ending.
Bring as much as possible then have a garage sale if you don't need it here, there will be plenty of us expats coming round to look.