karla03

Hello Again,

I was wondering how much money people took with them to settle them in Canada? I am not really worried as the sale of our house will leave us with a nice sum, however Simon will not be earning for about 6 weeks after arriving in Canada and we don't want to find ourselves struggling, especially with 3 children under 6.

What we are also trying to find out if it will be better for Simon to go out first and get his Air Brake test and Licence sorted plus somewhere to rent and then follow on. We did want to all go as a family but we don't want to spend all our money in the first 2 months just on living.

Any advice would be great. Thank You

Karla x x x x x

Hipster Contrarian

I think this is one of those impossible questions, as so much depends on how many of you there are, your lifestyle and standard of living, what sort of salary level you are used to, etc.

I'm scraping together as much as humanly possible- I don't think you can possibly take too much!

burton bunch

Hi karla

As you know Phil has gone out before me - but we did alread have a place for him to stay as I have friends and family out there.

I have just been out for 2 weeks to set up our rental which we took possession of on May 31st.

The first 4 days were spent dragging the kids around for basics that we would need and then 3 days to clean decorate and move the bits of furniture people had kindly donated to us.

The another few days rushing around getting other stuff such as lamps and electricals and registering for school.

As I said Karla we are very fortunate to have had help from people that we have known for years but even though my kids are 12 and 11 it was really hard work - as they moaned and fought probably the whole time.

If it is at all possible and as you have much younger children than me I would tend to try and send your OH to do a bit of the ground work for you to try and lift some of the burden from you.

Phil took about £16,000 with him and was earning within a week, he also went a bought a $28,000 one year old SUV and he had a sizeable amount of money in the bank when i arrived - which has since dwindled (well he did give me his debit card to use as I wanted ).

All in all Karla I think you have to weigh up the pros and cons of it all - I wont even try to tell you what it is like being left in the UK as that is stressful in itself but you have to do what is right for all of you. Added to our stress is that we havent sold yet either so that is always at the back of your mind and the age of my kids they understand and miss dad even more than I would think they would have done had they been say 5 or 6 years younger. But remember Kids adapted !

ok waffled on - good luck with your decision

gaynor
x

karla03

Thanks Alot Gaynor, I'm grateful for your comments and I really hope you sell your house in the UK really soon.

Good Luck

Karla x x x x

R2D2

You get through so much money in those first few weeks.
As others have said, its impossible to give a ball part figure as everyones spending habits differ, but you'll need to bring a fair chunk, car to buy, insurances (which can be costly to begin with), Home purchase costs or 1st months rent + damage deposit, some of the utility co's will want a returnable deposit from you as you are a new customer, not to mention all those bits and pieces just to set up a home. (buying masses of cleaning supplies and foodstuffs in one week can set you back a fair bit.)

We went through thousands in the space of a few weeks, but we did buy two cars............oh, and a house ..

susanmom

Hi
We arrived with about $22,000. With that we have
(1) put down a 5% deposit on a house (nice big 4 bed one), paid the transfer duty and closing costs
(2) Bought a 1995 Ford Windstar cash
(3) Lived for 3 weeks (gas and food as my employer arranged an apartment for us)
(4) Paid for 1st month of insurance, converted our drivers licences, and set up prepaid mobiles, and annual season tickets to museum and Zoo.
(5) And have $4,000 left to buy a second cheapie car, used washer/dryer and some additional small appliances we need as well as some additional pieces of furniture (planning to head to garage sales this weekend as we get our keys to our house on Friday)

This is for a family of 5 (3 kids under 5). I have started work this week and my husband is hoping to start next week. So far no utiity company has asked for a deposit including MTS.
We came over together and that was hard as we have had to drag 3 kids around looking at houses and cars.
Basically it depends if you need expensive new stuff or are happy to make do with used. We got used to buying everything including clothig used in the UK with the cost of living there, so no change really.

Hope this helps

Susan

karla03

Fantastic - Thanks for your comments. We are looking to have £30,000 after paying off the rest of the mortgage, loans, overdraft,etc etc.

We don't go on mad shopping sprees here in the UK and we buy things as and when we need them - so your comments have really helped me.

Danny B

Here are a few pics of my stash of money at home http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=10159

karla03

Fantastic