Thanks for the company info - we love our bed here and may still consider taking it!! We have been advised that CostCo is a good place to shop for beds and furniture of good quality but cheap pricing. We are members in the UK, but not sure if that will work in Canada?

I know we spotted Ikea out there last time we were there (certainly in Toronto, not sure about BC) - how are they priced? They do some really affordable stuff in the UK...

That's a difficult question to answer... if you search through previous threads about this people have all sorts of opinions, situations and experiences.

I only just shipped stuff over that I liked: 28 boxes and or items of stuff - books, CDs, trinkets, do-dads, pottery stuff, thingamabobs and some art. I don't get attached to furniture, well not emotionally and where I'm going is more of temporary situation. Furnishing a small condo won't break me. Other people have different situations though and take everything.

Yep there are two Ikeas in Vancouver and it's still pretty cheap!

Yeah, there's an IKEA in Richmond and one in (I think) Port Coquitlam or maybe Port Moody... somewhere out there.

http://www.ikea.ca/

Coquitlam.

Good to hear - thanks

And there was me thinking I was the only one. It's the inevitable consequence of being a trend setter I'm afraid

Hi J&H,
I would advise selling anything you can sell except sentimental items. It sounds like you're not bringing anything like that.

I held several yard sales in Britain a few weeks before going. Not only was this a great opportunity to shift some stuff, but ironically we got to meet a huge number of new people, who we could then make envious of our adventure.

The yard sales were so popular that as we approached the last ones we were asking neighbours if they had anything they wished us to sell, just to keep stock up to an interesting level, obviously passing on the takings as appropriate.

As you don't know exactly where you're going, there's no point in bringing any furniture with you. This will just be a hinderance. I made the mistake of bringing over some cottage chairs which I though we couldn't buy here. Well I was wrong, although as my (then) employer was paying we did bring more things than we would if we were paying.

Some things to consider:

1. Furniture is similarly priced to Britain, with a good choice of timber based, quality furniture.
2. IKEA is in most parts of Canada. While I'm not the Swedish companies greatest advocate (I won't repeat what I normally say about them), buying from IKEA really works for newly landed people. This is because
a. furniture is generally flat packed and lightweight
b. quality can be ok if you check it out in the showroom first
c. items are returnable within 90 days so you can over purchase and have one trip back to return unwanted items (check latest policy)
d. delivery is quite a bit cheaper than in Britain as I recall, and it's fixed for I think as many items as you buy (again, check latest policy)
e. much of the furniture is designed around space saving, which if you're in temporary accommodation.
f. as it's trendy, it's probably easier to resell if you decide to replace it shortly after buying
g. being flat packed also helps if you move after purchase. Most furniture is dismantlable so you won't need to get specialist removals, or a special vehicle in most cases.

For electrical items, I would try and sell these as you'll need an adaptor, and some equipment, e.g. televisions, may not work. Newer LCD TVs are ok, as are most computers, particularly laptop type.

I found electrical equipment quite pricey compared with Britain, and the choice is far lower (as well as older models). If you have a cellphone then make sure to get it unlocked (available at most market stalls) before coming out to use it here. Again, cellphones are expensive and way behind Britain so you may as well keep hold of them. BTW, you need a tri band phone. Most up market phones will work, but you have to get them unlocked as I don't know anywhere near me that does this.

Regarding money and cost of living, there's several posts here to get an idea. This really is a personal thing as it's easy for me to say you'll need $3000-4000 per month but then I'm in a large house in a very expensive area with kids. It also depends on the province and area you move to.

I wouldn't assume that it's going to be any cheaper than Britain in general. One thing a lot of newbies find is that they notice all the things that are cheaper a long time before the realities of the other costs set in. We're paying almost exactly the same each month than we were in Britain, but the proportions are very different.

Other factors include whether you have a job or are looking on arrival. If you have a PR then I would allow a minimum contingency of 6 months at $3000 per month. Hopefully you won't need this, but even if you get a job on day 1 it's going to be 1-2 months to start.

Also if you've sold all your furniture, you have to factor in the cost of this to replace. The good news is that you really need very little when it comes down to it. A bed, table and chairs and some storage. We used Ikea and Costco to buy temporary solutions. $1000 would cover this easily. Also consider visiting the many yard sales for some items.

Anyway, there's lots of information there. Hope this helps.

Paul

Re Costco - you can use your UK membership card there with no problems. I certainly found the American and Canadian ones had a great variety of stock compared to the UK ones.

You can actually log onto Ikeas Canadian site to check their stock - I found the prices a bit more expensive, and that was even before the fall in the $ rate. I've logged onto some of the main shopping stored and found most of the stuff on par with UK prices and others are dearer - I found small electrical items and TV's to be slightly cheaper.

You really get mixed responses from people - re do bring or don't bring. Many people say our furniture is off better quality others worry about the weather and it effect on wooden goods.

I just worry about having a major outlay on goods on arrival, particularly as we want to put down as big a deposit as we can afford on our house. I thought about selling - but a set of wardrobes I only got 2 years ago and cost me nearly £500 would sell for only £20 - 40 on ebay etc.. I'd then have to pay out the money at the other side. I don't really have a lot of small things to sell so a car boot sale is out.

It frightens me when I see what i have to take - going up to the loft is terrifying - but when I go through the boxes I can't find anything to get rid off. MY hubbie on the other hand would get rid of everything - including my Christmas tree, and all the dedecorations I have collected over 20+ years.

And there I thought the IKEA near Toronto was a bit more expensive than British IKEA, but not too bad.

From what you guys say, I'm dreading this move! I thought we'd be done (London-Toronto) in 6 weeks, and that I'd have to entertain 3 under fives with just a couple of packing boxes for 6 weeks.

I think we'd be filling a container, and then some. It took 3 days to pack us to move into our current house and over 70 boxes. And that was before we bought the sofas, computer cabinet, tv cabinet, kids bookcase, dining tables, daughters cabin bed, kids kitchen/slide/rideon toys...
Trouble is most things are only 2 years old, so it would be more expensive to sell and rebuy as the removal costs are paid by the company but very little in the way of other expenses for replacing tv/washing machine etc. In fact I'd be hoping to rent then buy somewhere with washing machine in already.

Thank you Paul for all the advice! We've been sorting our house into bits for a carboot sale and those bits we want to take to Canada. We've been living in our house nearly four years, and whilst much of our furniture etc is relatively new, we have no real attachment to it. We're hoping to try and sell the house "fully furnished" and pitch it at first-time buyers who will need all the furniture etc included.

We can probably raise about £300 with all the little bits and bobs in the house, selling at a carboot. We've looked at furniture though and most people seem uninterested - even eBay doesn't fetch that much!

It's weird to see everything you've saved and worked for (and in our case, some of it we're still paying off from the original move!) go for very little. The prospect of a fresh new start in Canada is really appealing, and hopefully if we get the figure we want for the house, we should be able to setup and establish ourselves relatively comfortably. Heth already has a job in nursing arranged so that helps from day one. Still not sure what I'm going to do yet....

Thanks again for the advice
J&H

Just wanted to bring up something that I haven't seen mentioned yet... most houses/condos as well as apartments come with built in closets and some cases drawers as well so don't be over concerned about those bits of furniture... I lived in 3 different apartments and never had to buy a wardrobe or drawers to store my clothes in.

Something to think about... it had taken me off guard when I realised houses/apartments in GB don't come standard with clothing storage space.

Condos and new houses, yes, but the only closet in our house is the one I installed. The house is typical of "character" homes in that regard.

Well spank my bottom and call me Fred! Never been to a house in Canada that wasn't built with closets already integrated... maybe your from them there Posh class that can get them fancy houses with the pillars and doo hickeys

Thank god you said so dbd33, I had never been to a house or flat like that (maybe summer cottages or vacation homes out in the boonies/rural areas though) in the 16 years I spent in Canada! Where have I been!?

One other thing to consider (and to just to confuse you even more)... sometimes it's nice to have familiar furniture/stuff around you when you set up home in a new place. It makes it feel more like home. Especially for the kids.

Also, in my experience so far, I have found furniture shopping very frustrating here as so many of the shops are miles apart, off highway this or that, which makes shopping around time consuming. It's not like you have a town centre with a choice of furniture shops and one or two on the outskirts. (Unless you count the more chi-chi shops in the city centres).

So while it's nice to have new stuff, you need to think about how much trawling around you really want to do.

No point bringing junk though!

Good luck
Snowqueen