Do we have enough money to move?
 

I’d love some advise from people that have made the move. So we have sold our house and are awaiting my husbands work permit approval, our application for PR has been submitted.
we have about £40,000GBP we put on our pr application we would be going with £17500GBP so $30,000CAD so this money will be kept in saving until pr approval. What I want to know is £22500GBP $38000CAD going to be enough money for myself my husband and our 2 children to set up our lives out there.
We won’t be bringing anything with us so will need to furnish a property, rent a property, buy a car, insure a car, pay for flights over.
Will we able to finance a car or will this have to be purchased outright?

any advice or experience would be great!
thank you

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

For a family of 4, it may well be cheaper to ship your furniture, plus make it easier for the kids to adjust with familiar items around them rather than new? This thread has some useful figures in, if you're hoping to buy a car (or put a deposit down on one) with that £22k, I think you'll really struggle in all honesty. https://britishexpats.com/forum/cana...canada-735341/

If you're applying under OINP with a job offer, you don't need to keep any funds until you get PR, so you could put that towards the move instead of hanging on to it?

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

You can buy a car outright for $6k, buy a Toyota or Honda and you shouldn't lose too much when you sell it.
Insurance and gas will be another $200 month

I don't know where you will be living, but my Son lives in Vancouver and he rents a 3 bedroom (top floor of a house) for $1,800 month all bills included

Groceries you should be able to get by on $600 month if you shop at Costco and buy bulk.

No idea how much health insurance is

Buy used furniture from Facebook marketplace and you can probably furnish an entire house for a few thousand if you are not fussy.

It's tight, but doable on 38k. A lot of people come with far less.

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

Thanks for the replies!
christmasoompa yes we are applying under the oinp, it asked how much we were bringing on the PR application and we have put $30,000 as I didn’t realise applying under oinp you didn’t need to have funds, if we can change that we would be willing to use that money towards the move.

We had a quick look at shipping, most of our furniture here is IKEA which is great but once taken down and moved never goes back together the same so we thought we could sell it and put the money towards furnishings out there.
I’m hoping we will be able to put some of the kids toys in our luggage and just pay for extra suitcases on our flight out?!
I thought the application process was the most confusing part but I’m starting to think the logistics of getting everything in place to go is worse!

TIA

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

Forgot to add we are moving to Barrie, Ontario x

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

Depends on the stream, but if you've already applied then you'd know if funds were required (it would have asked for proof of those funds on the document checklist), wouldn't be required for a stream with a job offer.

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

It just asked for the amount we would take but not proof of funds, he has a job offer. The stream is economic provincial nominee and we had to submit paper based application.
I just presumed it meant what we would have and then maybe they would ask for proof later, if we definitely didn’t need that for PR we would then use it towards the move!

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

Perhaps have a look through the articles in our 'moving logistics' in the wiki :) https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Categ...gistics-Canada
Renting in Ontario you will pay first and last months rent (last month is effectively the 'deposit') - plus you will need deposits for utilities. Vehicle insurance will be the biggest shock I suspect!
2nd hand furniture can be bought cheaply - but buy new mattress's - which are a different size to the UK, if you were thinking of bringing over bedding. You can 'make do' with cheap pots, pans, microwave, kettle, coffee maker, plates / cutlery, kitchen utensils, sheets, pillowcases, quilts, etc., from $$$ stores or Walmart.. I still have some odds and ends from 20 years ago!
Bring as much of the kids stuff as you can, so they have some familiarity.

Instead of paying for an extra suitcase you could pay for Air freight (on Air Transat, for example) - often cheaper than sea shipping etc., and you can drop it off the day you get on your flight - pick it up at the cargo area at the airport the day you land / a couple of days later - so you have it without any delay.

Good luck with the move!
:D

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

perfect thank you! That link is super helpful, I will take a look at the air transat shipping that might be an idea! I’m happy to purchase cheap stuff to start with, this all we did when we first moved into our own home.
thanks again

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

You might need to pay more than first and last.
landlords get nervous about new arrivals. You might have to offer to pay first and last three or four months to get it done. PM me if you want more of an explanation 😊

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

It's worth noting that it is illegal for a landlord to demand more than first and last, but sometimes needs must if you want to secure a place, you are right! (I had to pay a year up front as I only had visitor status at the time).

https://stepstojustice.ca/questions/...rent-new-place
https://www.ontario.ca/page/guide-on...ease-newcomers
It would be better to put the explanation on the forum so others can benefit from the information, please.. thanks.
:)

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

With all due respect to Daniel, I don't think that $600 a month grocery bill for a family of 4 is accurate. I have a family of 4 (my kids are 2 and 4 so don't even eat much) and I mainly shop in costco.

I spend at least $1600 a month on groceries and sometimes way more. I'm an accountant and categorize and reconcile all my spending so I know exactly how much I spent on what. In the UK I spent about 400GBP a month on groceries and ate better than I do here.

Canada imports most of its food because it simply can't grow it year round. Imports are expensive.

Lets look at an extreme example assuming you stretch your food budget to the limit and try get by on 1 loaf of bread a day with beans and soup for lunch/dinner, and a couple pieces of fruit each.

Bread $3.33 (I buy 2 loaves for $10 at costco, but they do 3 for $10)
Can of beans $1.00
Can of soup $2.00
Butter $0.50
4 Apples $2.00 (when bought in bulk)
4 Bananas $0.75

thats $9.58 a day x 31 days = $296.98 a month (don't forget to add tax).

That's 50% of the $600 gone already and thats before you factor in toiletries, washing soap, drinks, meat, milk etc and no one is ever going to stick to that menu for long. Those other costs add up quickly, just take milk, as a family of 4 we get through a gallon every 2 days, thats $2.50 a day which is $77.50 a month, it would be cheaper owning a cow I'm sure.

I'm not saying people don't survive with less and I'm not saying everyone spends as much as I do, but when I moved over groceries was the one thing I had completely under-estimated and for someone on a fixed budget with so much uncertainty around their other expenses it would be prudent to be more aware of the prices and exactly what you can expect from a budget you set. You can expect to pay around twice the price for non perishable foods and non food items, and three times the price for anything fresh (fruit, veg, meat, produce).

I hope this helps, and of course, no disrespect to anyone managing to survive during these tough times on low budgets.

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

for the food side- why don't you go online groceries at Walmart or grocery store near where you intend to live and create a shop as if you were here?

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

I don't live in Canada, but I have no doubt your experience is correct. The US government publishes tables of the cost of food for individuals, and has four broad levels for spending habits - I don't recall exactly what they call them but they're something like high, medium, low, and frugaL The cost varies a bit by region, but the "low" cost is around US$250/mth (C$325) across much of the US, and more in big cities. The high is around US$350 (C$445).

And my own experience is that, while living in a relatively low cost area of the US, and with a fair amount of food grown locally (or at least grown closer than if we lived in Canada), and not living extravagantly, we are certainly spending more than US$250/person/mth. I would estimate that over the past 8 months when I have been doing virtually all our family shopping alone (my wife has a history of chest infections), we have been spending US$900-US$1,000 (C$1,170-C$1,300) on groceries/mth including household consumables - laundry detergents, cleaning products, toiletries, paper products, etc. for a family of three.

Re: Do we have enough money to move?
 

You scared me for moment there, I haven't been called Daniel in a long time :lol:

You're probably right about me under estimating food. All I know is, we go to Costco every other Friday and my bill is normally $300 each trip. Thank god we don't live up in Iqaluit :eek: