gurpreet79

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

Judy in Calgary

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.
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fledermaus

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.

gurpreet79

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

VanSte2000

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.

nooka

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.

Judy in Calgary

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.
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Judy in Calgary

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.
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Linda P

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

Judy in Calgary

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.
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Judy in Calgary

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."
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Linda P

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

Linda

SarahBC

Hi there,

We brought over a small selection of furniture and belongings with we moved to BC. This included 2 beds and bedframes, sofa, armchair, welsh dresser, bar table and stools, and boxes and boxes of books, cds etc.

I'm glad we shipped some furniture because once we arrived, and were living on my Canadian wages, we realised that buying a ton of furniture in one hit was going to be impossible.

In the UK, you go along in life picking up bits and pieces and get given a lot of furniture by friends and relatives. But to start from scratch is tough.

Now we've been here 3 years, I am still accepting donations from people!

One thing I wished I'd bought more from the UK is bedding. I find it hard to find good quality (and nice design) duvet covers here. The ones in Tescos affordable and fashionable. Compared with the drudge you find in the Bay and Sears etc, the Tesco bedding is fabulous! Of course there is lovely bedding available here, it's just it's so expensive.

If you can afford to ship it, and you like your things, I say go ahead and bring it!

Sarah

pammiej

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.

gurpreet79

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