jackiewalters

Hi We are nearing the end of our journey with regards to emigrating to Canada, we initially started this process thinking that we would get a substantial amount from my husbands rather wealthy grandfather who had passed away, unfortunaly dear old father in law kept the lot for himself!! ho hum thats a whole other story.....ANY WAY.... although we have managed to pay our way for the emigration etc, we know realise that we will not have thousands of pounds to spend on a new house or car when we finally get over to Canada, my husband has a job to go too, and I plan to look for a job also, my children will attend the local school.....but.....wondering if we will survive? yes we will have a couple thousand initially but we start our new lives on just that? many people on this site say the "Sold a house" or seem to be financially able, where are the people who came over to Canada with just the shirts on their backs? or have those days gone?? are we truley mad for pursuing our dream even though we are not wealthy people??

LorraineG

We are not what you would call 'wealthy' by some people's standards and we have relied heavily on relatives to help to make this happen. One thing we have always had though is a determination to achieve. I hope you can end up finding a way to achieve your dream in whichever country that ends up being.
Lorraine G.

dinger24

We too are basically SKINT!
But we feel once I get work that we can make a life for our selves. If you eat out and shop in more exspensive places then you need the cash either from you job or from your savings, I dont think we will have either, but then again we dont eat out much and we tend to buy the bagains etc in the UK so how we see it is we will live the same standard it will just be in better suroundings with a better view!
At the end of the day we feel we have to try or we will always regret it!

4d32ftw

just because some people "sold a house" doesn't mean they have any money.
we sold ours and paid off the mortgage and debts and brought the little that was left with us.

i'd love to be able to rock up and buy a house here with cash, but don't have those funds.

so were renting. all i know is living on 1 wage and no debts is better than the life we had created on 2 wages, debts and no money left each month, so in reality we are much better off each month than we were.

i sold my collection of shonky cars and put every penny from them to buy one decent one here (debatable lol), and we save up and buy what we need.

you can turn up with shed loads of money or virtually none, its up to you what you do and if you make it a success or not.

dinger24

Good for you!
I bet it is a relief as well, debt free is the way ahead!

ann m

In all seriousness, what do you call a couple of thousand? Literally, a couple of thousand? or $5k, $10k, $20k ?

I don't know where you are heading, but do you feel you can get by OK on one salary? What is the likelihood of you finding a job relatively quickly if you need to? Do you have sought-after skills or will a $10/hour job be OK in the interim? Many people on here report that job-finding is difficult in these times.

You will need a roof over you head, unless you are staying with family or friends - just renting will require a deposit up front.

You will very likely need one or two cars (unless you are close to a city centre). Insurance is no small sum here.

Your children will need supplies for school depending on their ages. In fact schools require small amounts of money with great frequency. Will your kids want to swim, or skate or play soccer? If not of school age, can you work for enough money to afford child-care?

When are you arriving? Will the kids need a decent coat, snow pants and some boots early on?

Will you have some kind of health cover in the province you go to, or will you require to pay yourself for some private cover initially?

Are you shipping over a pile of stuff, or are you starting from scratch?

I'm not one to rain on anyone's parade, but a few thousand, for a family, is not sufficient IMHO. The minimum sums required by CHC are there for a reason (and even then, I don't think they are that much for a western society)

Sorry - but it's the 'children' part of your situation that makes me ultra-cautious Expensive wee blighters at the best of times, and you are in a different phase of life than a single 25 yr old moving for an adventure, or even two 25 yrs olds moving here.

Can your husband arrive first, get a bit settled first or does that stretch finances too much in two locations?

I wish you well - it's all very exciting, but seriously, without several thousand pounds (or more) as a back up plan, I'd be very worried.

alilane

Sorry to butt in......

am watching this thread with interest. OH has already gone over to Vancouver and is established in his job as carpenter.. am looking to try and bring myself and children over as quickly as possible. Now it looks like our house is gonna be taking a time to sell (but then again isnt that the case for a lot of people??) but there is a possibilty we will be coming into some money via inheritance. Think we are looking at around £10,000-£12,000. We wont be looking to get a car for a while and will be looking to rent for a while until we are sure what area we want to settle in.

I am hoping to get some work once older children are settled in school and I can find some sort of childcare for my 3yr old unless I work around OH.

Please could someone reassure me that if we have the amount I stated then it would not be too much of a financial hardship for a time? I am not silly enough to think life will be a bed of roses as soon as we arrive and have already prepared the children to expect things to be tight for a while... I just would appreciate some reassurance myself!!

hudd

ann m

We got through $40K in 1997 in a very short time moving to Calgary. Not because we went mad but had to replace what we sold or gave away before leaving England.

We brought a two second hand cars.
Your right about car insurance as it cost $4700 in our first year to insure a Ford Escort and VW Fox.
Winter coats/snow paints/boots for our boys and new boats for my wife and I was at least $1K.
Rent was $850/mth to rent a basement plus 1.5 month rent as a deposit.
New beds and bedding, Kitchen table, white good, TVs/Video etc.

I agree with you that you have to seriously work out the costs of moving your family overseas.

I know what's it like to try and raise a family of 4 on a $40K/yr in Canadian city. Its not fun and we were lucky then as we had savings to dig into and help from our family back in the UK.

hudd

dboy

You will be fine on the money you referenced and as long as your are realistic about what/where you rent, you will be fine. And as much as people go on about the price of real estate, i don't find it anymore expensive to rent here than Manchester, in fact i dare say it's cheaper, especially when you factor in no council tax. I'm not suggesting that you will be living off the hog and there will be considerable start up costs, but the initial sacrifice should pay off in the long term.

Don't have kids so can't be of much help as far as child care goes. Consider your self reassured.

dboy

Was it worth it though? I came here with a back pack and a thousand quid in 1993. I had no job for a year and relied on my Canadian wife who wasn't really earning much. We lived in a studio apt had a sofa couch, a stereo and a tv/video and not much else.

Looking back it was worth it - but I don't miss that apt or Kraft dinners! I swear to god, my back still hurts from that damn sofa couch.

ann m

That's what I mean - single guy, or young-marrieds can muddle by on not a lot. Ooh, Kraft Dinner Surprise! The demands of a family (as per the OP) give a different emphasis and costs ... There's temporarily skint, and then there is skint

dinger24

I have a sore back from my sofa couch too! and I havent slept on one for around 20 yrs now!

Kids are the worry here, they cost a fortune and mine are grown up and still dipping my pockets!

I still think you have to just be careful with the cash! Not everyone needs two cars (no offence to the poster who mentioned it)
If you take the cash that is stipulated and you have employment then I believe you can o it!
I am surprised that there has not ben more posters with there own personal experiences on here?

snowshoveller

Where are you headed?

the cost of day to day living in canada is the same or slightly higher than the UK in my experience. I'd say that to be reasonably comfortable you need to have a cushion of $25-$40k and be able to say goodbye to that over 6-12 months. If you didnt have kids I'd say you are good to go, but they can be expensive to run especially if they need to replace stuff that was jettisoned when you leave UK.

dinger24

I just remembered something!

When we were first married and we had the kids, we were so hard up, I remember that we could afford either a bag of sugar or a packet of disposable nappies (diapers)
I havent worn a nappy since..... No I meant I havent taken sugar since!

ann m

Quick check through previous posts - looks like OP heading for Kelowna, and has an 10 yr daughter and 11 yr old son coming with her.