Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Dear All,

I just got my TWP along with my husband & moving to Vancouver frm UK on the 5th of Oct.

Confused what all to take & what not ??

Can you please give your valuable advise what all makes sense to take from here ??

Do i take utensils, microwave, electronics, household items, furniture ?

Transportation cost is alot .. so in a fix whether to buy stuff when we reach there or to take frm here ?

Appreciate your advise..

Regards,
Gurpreet Kalsi

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Don't bother with the microwave. Canadian electricity is different from British electricity.

Suggest you read these Wiki articles:
Also read the Wiki called Shipping-Canada.

You will get conflicting opinions about taking your furniture. Some people say that good quality furniture in Canada is expensive and that, if you have good quality furniture, it's worth shipping it. Other people believe in starting again from scratch and buying new furniture in Canada.

I wrote the Dissenting Opinion section at the end of the Shipping-Canada article. The Dissenting Opinion section advocates shipping your furniture if it's of good quality.

Yet, in my own recent move from Calgary, Alberta to Nanaimo, BC, I left behind most of my furniture and decided to start again from scratch. But, compared with my previous moves, my circumstances were different this time. First of all, I'm downsizing from a house to an apartment (flat). Secondly, I've just separated, and I didn't want the furniture that represented my old life.

Anyway, this is one of the questions that never gets resolved on this forum. There are about as many people who favour one approach as there are who favour the other approach.

The fact is that, whichever way you slice it, an overseas move is expensive. All the best with your decision.
x

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

I'm with the bring everything you can brigade.

If you bring curtains its a good idea to bring some extra hooks. I hung our old curtains and had to use the UK hooks as the Canadian ones wouldnt attach to the curtain header, the UK hooks though would fit onto the Canadian curtain rod.

We didnt bring our beds, for various complicated reasons but wish we had. What else. Maybe I could have pared down some baking trays, dumped really old pans. Some of my books I should have left behind.

I like the idea of having my old stuff with me, there's comfort in the familiar.

We are moving house and I was looking at new sofas and dining chairs, and I can't see anything I like thats reasonable quality that I like, or would like better than my old stuff with throws over it.

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Hi Judy ..

You hv been very supportive .. i saw you in action in many threads .. good job :)

Another thing .. We are moving to Whiterock .. Is it a Comfortable / affordable place to be in as far as the living / daily needs / essntials are concerned ?

Lemme know your thoughts ..

Thanks in advance ..

Gurpreet

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

We are in the same situation as you, we are moving to Vancouver on 11th October. It took us a long time to decide, but we decided to have start a fresh when we get to Vancouver so we are mainly only taking personal stuff, however we are planning on taking some kitchen bits and we are 100% taking our bed we could not be without it!!!

We decided against wardrobes and living/dining room furniture as we would to maybe have a different style once in Vancouver.

I think it really is down to personal choice and budget!! Our budget is small so only the essentials and absoulte favourites are coming.

Good Luck to you.

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

I would start by getting some idea of costs. What (if any) would you consider your essential belongings? How much would they cost to ship? Then consider the marginal costs of the things you could happily replace. Think about whether you can or would want to sell the stuff you are thinking of not taking. Then consider replacement costs in Canada. We were very happy to get all of our stuff from home, and it has made a big difference to how we feel about our apartment. We brought everything except wardrobes and chests of drawers which we left in our house (now rented). I regret some of the things I threw away (things like tins for food stuffs) but haven't regretted anything I have bought.

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

It would be a good idea to start another thread about this with White Rock, BC in the thread title. People who know the answers to your question about White Rock might not open a thread entitled, "Important stuff to take while moving ??"

JonboyE lives in White Rock, and likes it. He would be able to tell you more about it.

White Rock is popular for several reasons. First of all, you have easy access to the ocean, which would not be the case if you lived further inland. Secondly, the further south you go in the Greater Vancouver Area (generally speaking), the less rain you get. There are many times that it's raining in North Vancouver and it's sunny in White Rock.

I don't know that I would call White Rock an affordable place. From the point of view of real estate, its popularity places it at the more expensive end of the spectrum, I think.

But the cost of food in supermarkets and other daily necessities would be broadly similar to the costs anywhere else in the Greater Vancouver Area.

You could find most of what you wanted in White Rock. What wasn't available in White Rock could be obtained from the occasional shopping trip to another spot in the Greater Vancouver Area. For example, if you wanted to go to IKEA, there's a branch in Richmond.

You also might consider going on the occasional trip to the state of Washington, where many items (clothes, etc.) are cheaper than they are in British Columbia. But I don't know whether or not you are a British citizen and whether or not you'd need a visa to visit the USA.

I don't know where you'll be working. JonboyE works in Richmond, and the commute from White Rock to Richmond is not bad. If you are going to be working in downtown Vancouver, then the commute might be a bit longer than I would like (but your tolerance for commuting may be greater than mine).

Hope that helps.
x

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Almost all Canadian houses, townhouses and apartments (flats) have built-in closets.

I will add a comment to that effect to the Wiki called Shipping-Canada.
x

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

We bought our kitchen table and chairs with us. It is solid rubberwood and we thought it would be worth shipping.

The table is ok, but the chairs have not liked the move. With the air being so much dryer here, the chairs keep splitting.
I hope my leather sofas will not suffer the same fate!

If I knew then what I know now....I would have left them and bought new!

Linda

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

A really good point in connection with Alberta, Linda.

However, just for gurpreet79's benefit, I'll mention that the climate of coastal BC is humid for a good chunk of the year, so I don't think that should be a deciding factor in their case.
x

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

I have added a Wiki article called What to ship-Canada. It does not provide any information in its own right. It merely refers the reader to the articles called Shipping-Canada and Compatability of Goods-Canada. However, I felt it might help the person who does a search of the Wiki using "what to ship."
x

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Yes..... I should have thought to stress that I was in Alberta, to save any confusion. :)

Linda

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Gurpreet,

my husband and i came over in May and we had all of the contents of our small three bedroomed house shipped - it cost about four thousand pounds but included everything - the company packed and transported and unloaded at the other end - other than a jacket - everything turned up in perfect condition and to be honest, it was the best decision we made - we brought everything - including our six year old mfi wardrobes which looked dated in the uk but have been the point of much admiration in our basement suite in surrey - every one who has been round just loves the wardrobes! i bought extra bedding - after having read the forum - for both beds - king size and double - and we had bought things like toilet paper and kitchen towel in bulk from costco - so it all came over -don't bother with things like washing up powder etc as the machines are different here but basically i would say, if you use it in your home in the uk, then you will need it in canada - i appreciate everyone's circumstances are different but i am not working right now as i am at home with my two year old and so spending a lot of money as soon as we got here on furniture etc would have seemed painful plus, to be honest, our furniture from back home was newer and nicer than furniture we had seen here on our various recce trips! we did indulge in shelving from ikea and a tv stand so we have had to spend money anyway - but in the main, i would say, if you can afford the cost of the container, then have your stuff shipped, unless this is a short term move and you intend to go back to the uk and don't want to incur the cost the other way round...hope this helps.:)

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Hey Pam / Judy ..

Thanks alot for your advises .. I am deciding now wht to get n what not ?

Hope to make some friends in BC, cos leaving behind lot of family n friends :(
Bt have to move as I hv got a Good job in white rock..

My husband is stressed cos he has to find a new job there .. Here in UK, he was working as a Sales team leader at Staples UK Ltd & had done very well over last year .. so he is compromising big time moving :) but i'm very excited & looking fwd to the move ..

Cheers ..

Gurpreet

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Hi

I brought lots of UK electricals.

These work well:
Those with switchable power supplies, eg most modern computers
Those with external power supplies that are autosensing 110/240 eg most modern laptops

These work OK ish:
This with external power supplies that needed to be replaced eg my router

These I struggled with

Guitar amp, guitar FX.


BUT - they are up and running because I got a spark to add a 220V circuit to the house,. Its basically two 110V supplies back-to-back. Works real well for my computers, Alesis Microverb, router etc.Two 110V back-to-back is common in Canada. Its how they get big appliances to work, eg aircon, dryer, etc. Its not a bodge. The spark will know what to do (but do get a spark to do it, yeah?).

Amazingly my 2005 Toshiba 28" flat screen worked first time on the 110V supply.



TV, Video and playstation is a chore. Basically, we brought all our lecky stuff to avoid getting buttons and because we had room in the container. So we now run our UK PS2 games on our UK PS2 on our UK telly. Cant play North American games on it. Can't run the PS2 on any other telly, but at least we have a games system for the den.

Obviously, my laptop can read any DVD and feed any telly via S-video.


Bring electricals across the pond isnt as big a chore as it used to be.

One thing - don't trust inverters. If you get one, get one with 4x the nominal running capacity of the equipment you are planning to hang off it. Some appliances have a big draw when the power supplies power up (eg tellys). So a 75W telly like ours really needs a 300W inverter. Its easier just to get the spark to put in a couple of 220V points. They get different shaped plugs so you can't mistakenly plug a 110V in.

INCIDENTALLY - I spent a small fortune putting the various 2 and 3 pin plugs on my UK stuff that was 110V compliant. I wish I had brought my 4-gang UK extension plugs, simply swapping out the end plug (the end that goes into the wall in other words).

hope that helps people!

:thumbup:

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Hi Gurpreet,

well we are only in North Surrey,near delta so not too far from you so if you want to make friends, you only have to get in touch - let me know when you are moving over and we can make some plans...good luck with the packing - but you will need more luck when unpacking - there is never the right amount of space in the new place!!!

paminder

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Thats a really good idea thanks for that.:thumbup:

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

You are right about the elecricals - i have a tefal steam iron - the one wiht the base - which i was loathe to part with so we bought a transformer at this end - used a canadian extension lead for the wall part and a four plug english extension lead for the front - works a treat with my ghd's, hairdryer, food mixer, obviously the iron and other electricals that we bought over as we had the space and no one else wanted them - the cost of the transformer was 185 cd plus tax but that is because it will take the 3000 volts - i only use the iron once a week for about two hours so hopefully isn't too much of a drain on the electricity bill but as we are in rented, isn't my problem quite yet!

the small tv is used to play dvd's only and plays off a converter plug which we got from the same place as the transformer and with the laptop we just got a canadian cable so its quite surprising just how much will still work over here - definately worth thinking about before friends and family benefit from your generous donations!

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

we arrived a month ago and are glad we brought pretty much everything. If you're getting a container you may as well fill it. Furniture- the big stuff, like sofas, tables, chairs etc - IS expensive here and you will not be able to buy stuff on credit. Unless you have cash to burn I think it would be cheaper to ship your old stuff over. It certainly would have cost us a lot more to buy new.

When my computer arrives tomorrow (a 4 week delivery, courtesy of UPS) I'll post my own experience of our first month in Sherwood Park...

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Isn't shipping a hassle unless you know if the place you're going to be renting is furnished / unfurnished? If it's unfurnished you'll have no furniture for 6 weeks till your stuff arrives, and if it's furnished you'll have to move into unfurnished just before your stuff arrives.

That's one of the things that concerns us about taking our stuff. Reckon we'll just sell everything and buy again once we get over there (we've looked on the internet at Canadian department stores etc for replacing things - we don't have anything really expensive or sentimental anyway).

Anita :thumbup:

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

This is pretty much what worried us. We didn't have anything too expensive anyhow (cheap Ikea furniture mostly), so we decided to get rid of pretty much everything and then buy new (we went to Ikea again). We moved into an unfurnished house, so would have had to have bought stuff to use anyhow during the time that the furniture took to come over (ours took 12 weeks)

It was actually quite good fun replacing everything

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

thats our plan, we are just sending over box's of personal stuff, we will buy new when we need to, we are renting for 6 months any how, so give us time to purchase certain things like a huge tv :D oh and the other boring stuff :sneaky:

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Hi Gurpreet
We are in a similar situation to yourselves. I have a well paid job in Abbotsford whilst my OH doesn't have a job to go to yet. We are waiting on visas so haven't got a date to go just yet, but hopefully not too long now.

We decided that as we will be there well before any of our belongings, there is no point in taking them as we will have to go out and buy pots, pans, furniture etc anyway. We have decided to ship personal belongings that we won't require instantly (cd's, dvd's, photo albums, books etc) which will be costing about £1000. We included the big pieces of furniture and white goods in the house sale and have sold other stuff off to family & friends or given it to charity.

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Thanks all for your valuable contributions to this thread .. Well since we'll be on rented accommodation for initial few months so not taking much stuff ..
'll see what all is required when we land there ..

Cheers ..

Gurpreet

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Hi parminder ..

Appreciate your response .. 'll try n get it touch as soon as we settle down there .. 'll need lotsa advises n seek gr8 friendship :)

Regards,

Gurpreet

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Remember that you ship by VOLUME - not number of articles. Usually you take a container, 33feet or 66 feet, so you can fill your container with as much as you like and it won't cost you a penny more.

A container will cost around £5000, the 66feet a bit more; certainly not double.

How much are your belongings worth? We insured ours for around £20 000 so it was much much cheaper to ship than to buy again in Canada and a lot less hassle.

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Hi,
Can I just ask a question to those people who have or are taking their beds please? We are going to BC and I read on one of the sites that the mattress would need special treatment and a certificate to be allowed into Canada. Is this the case? I ask as if we can take our beds it will save us money for now and allow us to save for new beds when needed. :confused:

Thanks in advance

Simon & Sue

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

We brought both beds over no problems although the removal company packed them so I don't know if that makes a difference. We also brought over all our garden furniture, tools etc even though the regulations say they need to be treated etc - the removal company just required us to wash everything down before they packed and stacked them.

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Partly true - price is determined by volume and labour time to load and unload the possessions at each end, therefore a 75% full container will be less expensive to ship than a full container.

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

I agree, we were amazed at the value of what we brought (and the insurance cost). I would not have liked to replace so much, apart from the hassle of finding out where to buy things etc, we didn't have a vast amount of time on arrival, and many things to do. We had to wait a month or so for our stuff to arrive, and survived on very little for that while, but boy it was nice to get all of us stuff - suddenly the apartment became home. I think it really helped us all to settle.

Re: Important stuff to take while moving ??
 

Hi Pammiej
Thanks for the reply, daft question were the matresses brand new? also were you asked when you landed or signed for your container? :confused:

Many thanks

Simon