moosey2canada

We arrived in NS last wek after deliberating for over 2 years we decided to just pack up and come to NS got a vistors visa for 6 months thought we ahd plenty of money did loads of research on net and books etc but didnt comeover for scouting trip, assumed everything would be ok. ITS NOT. we have worked out our finances and what is alot of money in the the UK isn't alot of money here- houses inside our budget are miles from anywhere, cars are expensive, shopping is expensive chicken is $10 FOR 1 SMALL BIRD dont think thats only £5 its not when youre earning dollars its 10 dollars! petrol is dearer than home in equivelents, if we live here, bearing in mind we are both professional people with good jobs, we couldnt afford chicken in our weekly budget, milk is 2 dollars a litre - more than petrol. fruit is extortionate please dont reply that maybe we are shopping inthe wrong place we looked at the three top supermarkets and barring a few cents here and there it doesnt vary much. If you like a drink get ready to get a bank loan to enjoy one, 24 330ml budwiesers is $40 dollars dont ask about spirits. We thought this would change our lives and be a better life but the fact is that we had it all at home a house of our own that we could afford to run and have nice, a car each, money for holidays meals out and basically a nice life- all the things we came here for. So now we are going home in 3 weeks (when our flat runs out of lease) embarrassed, (we had a huge party before we left) a few thousend pounds lighter and homeless and unemployed and to be honest going home is more frightening than coming to NS ever was i feel like such a failure, if anyone can put a positive glean on this i would appreciate it but only as long as its not well at least now you know or at least you tried.

rach_woz99

Moosey to Canada,

What an awful shame, I really feel for you. A shame you didn't get chance to do a reccie first. I also live in NS, I have found some supermarket items more than UK, but many others cheaper. Steak for example I find much cheaper, so we eat that more than chicken.

People round here brew wine, which works out about 75p per bottle, you can brew beer but I have never tried it. Gas is about 1.30ish this week, which is less than 70p per litre is it not?

Granted we live in a rural area, our huge house was 65k, but I thought even in Halifax or 30 minutes out they were pretty cheap? Why not give us an idea of your budget, areas you are looking at and maybe someone can advise better?

I have to say a week or so is not long to give up on your dream, surely??

Rachel

Rich_007

Frankly, I think you stuck it out three weeks too long.

And I didn't see a reference to the price of cheese or auto insurance.

5/10.

R.

BristolUK

Eh?
My 1903, 2-bed terraced house in a 'cheaper' part of Bristol was sold in 2005. After loans repayments I had £123k left. That money bought our 4 bedroom detached house with massive garden in a city bigger than Bath. It also bought a duplex in the same city. And I still had about £20k left.

If not a lot of money in the UK did that then a lot of money will do more.

Where in the UK can one buy a 3 bed detached house like this for £51k? Or this for £57k?

These are not miles away from anywhere and there are hundreds like them in Atlantic Canada.

Yes, chicken can be expensive. But other things aren't. A joint of beef is cheaper than the UK. Judging by what I see on Sainsbury's site, most steak is more than I pay and some cuts as much in ££ as it is in $$.

I left England in 2004. There's very little I buy in supermarkets that cost more here, now, than back then. there.

Spend 10 minutes making up a shopping list from the weekly flyers and you can save a whole lot of cash.

I did an average size shop today, focusing on in store offers. Among my purchases I bought 12 microwave snacks for school lunches for $12, 3 loaves of bread for $4, Joint of beef for $7 and leg of lamb for $1. That was $7.49 per kg. I see Sainsbury is charging £9.49 a kg. Even without the offer the lamb was two-thirds the cost of Sainsbury.

My total spend was $51.32. The receipt shows I saved $39.38 on the store's normal prices.

Rich_007

With respect, they do need about $100k each to make them reasonably contemporary, nay habitable by anyone other than a blind 90 year old spinster. But I take your point.

R.

geedee

I think the most embarrassing thing for you will be only giving it a week!

If you relocate anywhere you have to give it a year, at least.

We've been here just over a year and there's still plenty to pee us off. Like the $458 dollar fine we got last week for not renewing the car registration.... apparently, because my surname starts with a certain letter, it should have been renewed in June. Nobody told me, except the kind policeman who stopped me and fined me!!!

Seriously, any move abroad is a culture shock. Nowhere on earth is as it's portrayed on the TV or in magazines.

Try to recall why you wanted to come here.... and wanted to leave the UK.

I'm not trying to change your mind... but I am urging you to try and not have a knee-jerk reaction to the move.

Danny B

I'm speechless, I really am

You are packing it in after only 3 weeks? you deserve to be embarrassed

achanginglife

You made the decision and you need to focus on the future. Regreting what happened is not going to help, what can you learn from this? You know that you need to do more research, need a scouting trip next time, be sure you use that knowledge to make sure your next move is the right one.

You are well and truly outside your comfort zone at the moment. What outcome do you want? Do you still want that better life? you do have options....(there's a positive already)

1. To go 'home' embarrassed, unemployed, homeless
2. Go home heads high, having discovered what you do really value
3. To research now and find the place that will give the things you want.
4. Use the 6 months to have fun, (what have you got to lose now anyway)
Change your perception of the situation.

Get back in control, think clearly about what you want, and start making realistic plans.

destinationnovascotia

Yes, chicken is expensive, so are dairy products. On the flip side, meat and veg are cheaper (and better quality), cars and gas are definitely cheaper although insurance is not. Property is still cheaper than in the UK, as anywhere it is more expensive in the main City, depends where you want to live but prices within 30 mins of Halifax compare well to houses within 30 mins of London.

That said, if your main reason for moving here was the cost of living then no wonder you want to go back. There have been loads of threads on here warning that property prices aside, not to expect the cost of living to be cheaper than the UK, and that applies to Canada in general, not just NS.

To live 6 months paying rent and without an income would stress all but the very wealthy. Many people here sold up in the UK and are now mortgage free. That makes life easier in any country.

We moved here because we love the place, despite the cost of milk. We like the slower pace of live, the open spaces, so much access to the water, the people and the culture in general. These are the type of things that make a place right to live in. OK, you have to be able to afford to live, but all things being equal, there area just as many cheaper things as there are more expensive ones.

No place in the world is perfect for anyone, so if your experience here has helped you find out that your perfect place in the world is the UK, then good for you. That fact alone will probably make you happier there. At least you won't be sitting there in your dotage wondering "what if".

NatsnSid

What you know as the UK at the moment may not be the UK in the next year or so! Its about to go POP and things are already rising fast. Chicken in Sainsburys/Tesco/Asda are at least £7.00 thats for a RSPCA Birds -(slightly more room in the cage!) and if you want totally free range/organic you are talking £8-10 easy...so they compare.

We came over for a recce last year and noticed when we shopped like "residents" for the week that things were more expensive. We didn't opt for our home brand beer from the Offie - we got the Cowichan one or the one with whales on! lol - they were cheaper.. Spirits and Wine were expensive from the offie - but then I was told the local brewer refills your bottles of Cider/Wine for a good price locally. Anyway im looking forward to not having so much access to alcohol (parents own a pub) it will be good for us.

WHEN we finally get there I am hoping to have my own chickens for eggs, maybe the odd Turkey for Christmas and a veggie patch to make Hugh cry! My husbands salary will be the same in $ as it was in £ as the construction industry doesn't double like an admin job would i.e. £15k is $30k (example only)....so we will be living on his salary for a wee while until I find a f/t job.

I think you have to see Canada for what it is and not compare it to your life back home - you will then say "wtf" and "why" - however if you see Canada as a new opportunity for an adventure - you'll be fine.

Im looking forward to having a house similar to the "good life" lol, it may not be the 5* house I see on MLS that I thought i'd be getting (as the house prices here are poo now and im still not shifting mine) but as long as I have a roof that doesn't leak, a garden big enough for my plans and a great life for my kids without text speak and being put in a headlock on a regular basis - im happy.

Just call me farmer Nat! hahah

The decision is yours but some expats told me "don't compare" it'll make your life hell! Good luck with whatever you decide.

Nats

terrywogan

Well, I'm not blind; I've got another 28 years before I get to 90 and I suppose, having been single for the last 30 years, I could be classed as a spinster, but I'd take either of them! I presume the furniture wouldn't come with the house so by the time your own furniture is in....... it'd be as contemporary as you like.

MJM1

I agree totally with Farmer Nat! Good Life ahoy!

I did supermarket comparisons when I visited NS in May and totally agree chicken was much more expensive......

But having said that- when I browsed the fish and steak counter I was pleased to see they were much cheaper.

And I cannot wait to have lobster for the occasional Sunday dinner!

I think you need to accept life is currently feels very different and as someone else mentioned you are 'out of your comfort' zone.

Why don't you try and meet up with some Expats already there- yes I know thats not entirely embracing the new culture. But it might be good to see how others have adapted and coped and give you a bit of a giggle at least sharing some of the things that have shocked or surprised you since you arrived. And if you can peek into someone elses daily life you might at least be able to see if it really is the lifestyle you are looking for.

chumley

my thoughts are with you if you really think you have to go back

must say though I have been here almost 6 months and like you came as visitors and now have community identified approval and just applied to extend visitor status for a year till PNP sorted


We are not of course doing any work and wont be for probably another year

what we have done is absolutely thrown oursleves into the community from day one and its been great

huisband is a volunteer firefighter we do volunteer work for another 5 community groups and we have slotted in so fast

because we cant work we spend every day giving to the communitty and this


has meant we have reaped rewards money cant buy


as for the cost of living we have found it to be 50% of that in the U|K

ok we dont eat chicken daily but we adapt we eat a far more healthy diet and shop at farmers markets etc
our leisure time consists of being with friends, pot luck suppers , the magnificent country side, going to community events that cost next to nowt and just having time to stand and stare

the best things in life are not things and its living here that has made us realise that

we can do without our materialisitc UK lifestyle

we have a stunning home with no mortgage Ok its not your magnolia all mod cons box but we have grown out of that!!a bus for a car and its 6 years old but it gets us around so what does it matter

for us its finding a kind of peace that we cant put into words and a generally simpler easier to live life worth far more than money

it all depends on what suits and what you are really searching for
it hasnt come easy and we have worked very very very hard for this
good luck

grantanddebs

i would rather end up bankrupt, homeless and jobless than go back to the UK.

Poppy2

My first thoughts are the OP wont return to see our replies and even if they do, little reason will pervail.

Seriously? It took such a short time to go to some supermarkets and decide the place is too expensive? And what would the 3rd supermarket be, as generally there are only the 2 - Pete's Frootique?

did you not even think ahead whilst waiting in the UK and read the online weekly flyers?

We moved to NZ and stuck that out for 4 years, and PLEASE never move there if this disappoints you! Unless you know some good recipes for pigs heads and chicken necks. What we have in NS is a vast improvement on what we had in NZ and Bristol UK. We own a house (with a mortgage, we didnt come with more than the cost of a car) that is 150,000 pounds and it is like something from Footballer's Wives (except nice) on an acre, with the view of St Margaret's Bay and 10 minutes from Bayers Lake. We both work in Healthcare and dont get paid much, as in any country except the US maybe, and we are so much better off. We are 20 minutes from a white sandy beach, we are an hour from a ski slope, we own trees, we have a raccoon family in our garden, we have proper holidays to look forward to - white christmas's (not up for debate, by UK comparison).

We went back to the UK for a month between coming from NZ to here and dear lord, its a sh!thole. You havent given here a chance and what a ridiculous situation to create. NS hasnt let you down, you have, though you have every chance to redeem that. Why dont you meet up with some of us who have been here recently, we can give you poiners and info that can help. Why rush back and waste all that energy and money to be worse than square one?

Seriously - I am sending you karma or a PM, and let us either have a chat or meet up as a group, I know DNS would be up for that too, ther are lots of us here. Give it a go, I promise you, you will regret this if you dont give it a full try.

Rachel x