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Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

Old Jun 1st 2019, 3:15 pm
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Default Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

Am starting the process / existential crisis of sorting out what to take/ leave behind.
I have tried the Marie Kondo approach (‘does this cruet bring me joy?’ and the William Morris technique (‘is this bath mat beautiful or useful?) so now it’s time to turn to the collective experience of the forum...
What are you glad you brought with you, and what should you have left behind?
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Old Jun 1st 2019, 4:12 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

Originally Posted by mogscat
Am starting the process / existential crisis of sorting out what to take/ leave behind.
I have tried the Marie Kondo approach (‘does this cruet bring me joy?’ and the William Morris technique (‘is this bath mat beautiful or useful?) so now it’s time to turn to the collective experience of the forum...
What are you glad you brought with you, and what should you have left behind?
For me it was just some artwork that was one of a kind and irreplaceable. It was going to cost too much/be too awkward to ship them over framed so we just unframed things- secured them in tubes and brought them over on our initial flight over.
My husband and I came over with 4 large suitcases mainly of clothes, had one box shipped to us (which was more hassle than it was worth & I wouldn’t do it again)
We just bought everything out here. Furnished our unfurnished house at a furniture thrift store for barely $200.
Bought a new bed and mattress from Ikea- for about $500 in total.
Bought kitchen stuff/towels/bedding etc initially in Walmart and have since gradually replaced some things- and some are perfectly fine and nice and we still use them.
Brought smaller electronics with us- phones, laptops, kindle etc.
Otherwise TV and stuff we bought out here.

We rent, and all rented places come with kitchen white goods so no cost to us there.

Used moving as a good opportunity to give away/donate/throw out about 90% of what we owned. It felt amazing. Made a point of no longer buying stuff for the sake of it or on a whim and it feels great.

Nothing I would have changed really. Nothing else I wish I had brought over.
:-) definitely a good time to clear out that’s for sure.

Good luck!
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Old Jun 1st 2019, 5:03 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

My Brit sense of humour....
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Old Jun 1st 2019, 5:17 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

Originally Posted by macadian
My Brit sense of humour....
+10000
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Old Jun 1st 2019, 5:22 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

Originally Posted by Former Lancastrian
+10000
+ a visa
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Old Jun 1st 2019, 5:39 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

UK credit card. Useful if you're restricted to a low credit limit initially.
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Old Jun 1st 2019, 7:23 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

Originally Posted by BristolUK
UK credit card. Useful if you're restricted to a low credit limit initially.
V good idea...
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Old Jun 1st 2019, 7:30 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

Originally Posted by suzeandmatt


For me it was just some artwork that was one of a kind and irreplaceable. It was going to cost too much/be too awkward to ship them over framed so we just unframed things- secured them in tubes and brought them over on our initial flight over.
My husband and I came over with 4 large suitcases mainly of clothes, had one box shipped to us (which was more hassle than it was worth & I wouldn’t do it again)
We just bought everything out here. Furnished our unfurnished house at a furniture thrift store for barely $200.
Bought a new bed and mattress from Ikea- for about $500 in total.
Bought kitchen stuff/towels/bedding etc initially in Walmart and have since gradually replaced some things- and some are perfectly fine and nice and we still use them.
Brought smaller electronics with us- phones, laptops, kindle etc.
Otherwise TV and stuff we bought out here.

We rent, and all rented places come with kitchen white goods so no cost to us there.

Used moving as a good opportunity to give away/donate/throw out about 90% of what we owned. It felt amazing. Made a point of no longer buying stuff for the sake of it or on a whim and it feels great.

Nothing I would have changed really. Nothing else I wish I had brought over.
:-) definitely a good time to clear out that’s for sure.

Good luck!
Art in tubes and carry on the plane rather than ship. Good idea. I have lots of artworks by my girls and their artistic friends that I couldn't replace if they got damaged in transit.

Most furniture in our current home Is either from recycling project I used to work for, or Ikea. Not sure how much to bring to maintain sense of being at home, or to replace with similar when we arrive.
Did you manage to do your whole house in one go from the thrift store or did it take a while? I am v impressed you did the lot for $200!

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Old Jun 1st 2019, 9:56 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

Originally Posted by mogscat
Art in tubes and carry on the plane rather than ship. Good idea. I have lots of artworks by my girls and their artistic friends that I couldn't replace if they got damaged in transit.

Most furniture in our current home Is either from recycling project I used to work for, or Ikea. Not sure how much to bring to maintain sense of being at home, or to replace with similar when we arrive.
Did you manage to do your whole house in one go from the thrift store or did it take a while? I am v impressed you did the lot for $200!
The furniture thrift store was great- we got here with very little money (we basically moved here with about £1000 to our names with husband starting a job 3 days after we arrived) so- we went to Canadian Tire and bought an inflatable mattress for $60 and some bedding from Walmart.
Went to the furniture thrift store the next day- they had numbers of several “man with a van”- so we picked out a bunch of things; 3 seater sofa ($40), arm chair ($20), coffee table ($20), side table ($10), dining table ($40), 5 dining chairs ($20), 4 bedside tables ($20) and a unit($20) for in the living room. Then paid the man with a van $60 to load his truck up and drop it off at our house- he was great too and helped carry it all in as there was just me and my husband.
Some stuff we got was great too! Really well made sofa in just a neutral colour. A solid oak dining table which I honesty love! And a coffee table which I will probably have for a long while because I love it too!
We used the inflatable mattress for about a week until we got our Ikea bed and mattress.

I had some nice pieces of furniture in the U.K. that at the time I felt quite attached to- but friends and family claimed some things and we donated/sold some others- but just over 2 years down the line and I’m really not bothered anymore. Haha
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Old Jun 1st 2019, 11:11 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

My husband and daughter, and British resilience, couldn't have done it without my family and the we can get through this mentality.
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Old Jun 1st 2019, 11:58 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

​​​​​my primark skinny jeans (still doing well) - you have to be a size 0 to get in the ones they have here!
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Old Jun 2nd 2019, 1:56 am
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

My bug catcher (I'm not advertising I just wanted to show what it's like!)

https://www.thebestthingsdirect.co.u...iAAEgI63fD_BwE
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Old Jun 2nd 2019, 10:14 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

We brought EVERYTHING! We had a 40ft container so were of the mindset that we may as well fill it - and I'm glad we did. Turned out our garage has 220volt power, so all my power tools worked (well enough for my purposes anyway). Even the electric power washer worked. Over the years many things have been replaced with the North American equivalent, but our antique furniture, paintings etc are still the same. The move was certainly expensive, but to have had to furnish a house this size from scratch would have been eye watering!
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Old Jun 3rd 2019, 3:47 am
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

My split divan bed base. https://www.bedfactorydirect.co.uk/b...ase/split-base

There is no way in hell a full size bed base purchased over here would ever fit down my twisty basement stairs.
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Old Jun 3rd 2019, 5:08 pm
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Default Re: Things you’re glad you brought to Canada..?

Originally Posted by Danny B
My split divan bed base. https://www.bedfactorydirect.co.uk/b...ase/split-base

There is no way in hell a full size bed base purchased over here would ever fit down my twisty basement stairs.
The box spring for a queen bed wouldn't go up our stairs and around the corner to the bedroom - although the mattress did. The mattress is one of those pillow top things which doesn't flip and is pretty rigid so, luckily, that did get in there.

Leon's had to change the original for a split box spring, so you can get them here.
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