what to take and not take
 

hello

we were advised to bring all of our belonging to nova scotia when we come over, but i have been reading on here that it could cost in the region of £350 to do this, now with the exchange rate currently at nearly double , this would be nearly $7000 CAD so surly we could buy allot of home furninture etc with this amount of money.

thoughts please :thumbsup:

Re: what to take and not take
 

I'm sure lots of people would love £350 to be $7000, I think what you mean is £3500 ;)

Furniture, like beds, tables and chairs is expensive here and $7000 will not buy a lot of it I can assure you. If however you don't have much or it is really not worth much, then you could avoid the shipping costs and not bring it.

Re: what to take and not take
 

My neighbour just spent $3000 on two easy chairs, a 2 seat couch & a coffee table... add in table & chairs, beds etc etc..... I don't think $7000 will fill a house.

check out furniture prices
www.thebrick.com
www.sears.ca

Re: what to take and not take
 

We did not bring any furniture with us but that was mainly because the furniture we had in the UK was on it's last legs and needed replacing. Just before arriving we was able to sort some stuff out with our local sears and bought bedroom furniture (2 bedside cabinets, and 2 chest of drawers)and bed plus leather suite (glad on leather as dusty a lot of the time) and very little change left from $5000 on top of that, good thing was definitely worth the money as excellent quality. Leather chair was slightly damaged as was the mattress but nothing that showed and a great discount which paid for some other stuff. We then had to buy TV, kettle, microwave and few other electrical stuff. So doubt you are going to have much change left from $7000. Up to you whether you fetch stuff out but definitely check out the websites in the previous post.

Re: what to take and not take
 

And don't forget you will need to add on 13% sales tax in NS.

Re: what to take and not take
 

I think this is a personal choice, we brought nothing, furniture had gone beyond sell by date in the uk. The only few decent peices we had (dining room suite) did not justify the cost of shipping the one item over. Our bed was good but we did not want to then have wrong size beds over here for new bedding etc etc.

I think if also depends on your tastes, how quick you want every thing perfect and how big a house you have now. We moved from small to big, so we would have had to buy anyhow. We took our time to buy things so we did not feel the big expense in one shot.

I know people who have brought everything, washers, dryers, hairdryers, favorite electric digital clock which they got from a car boot sale for a quid:eek: One family recently spent $20,000 to ship it over. I agree $7000 is not a lot at all for furniture, but $20,000!

Re: what to take and not take
 

We're having the same dilemma at the moment, I worked it out and it's borderline as to whether it's worthwhile for us, so it's a choice of paying to ship or replacing for new at almost the same cost.

We're thinking of just shipping about 10 boxes worth of stuff that we can't replace easily, for about £1000.....

Re: what to take and not take
 

We shipped everything over in a 20ft container and glad we did so.

We still had to buy 3 beds, bedside tables, chest of drawers, sofa set for living room (old one in family room), all electricals, including plasma tvs, dining table and chairs, garden furniture, BBQ, some new kitchenware blah blah - spent probably around $20,000 on new things. That did not include buying white goods are they were left in the house by the previous owner.

Beds alone were $1100 for queen bed not including headboard or bedding which probably added on at least another $500.00. Kids got queens beds too so that was well over $4000 just on beds and bedding.

Don't forget you will also have to buy a car (or 2) - add 13% tax on that too, even for second-hand vehicles.

In Nova Scotia $7000 reduces to $6100 with the tax deducted. :eek:

Re: what to take and not take
 

I've just got back from a trip back to NS where we are looking to return to to live. Whilst over there I did a days window shopping for items to furnish a home, I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to furnish a 3 bedroom home with the major items (ie beds and bedroom furniture, dining set, sofa's, washing machines/dryers, cookers, Tv's) I wasn't going to get much change from $30,000, but remember this is just personal to me. Occasional furniture can be bought failry reasonably from the likes of Wicker Emporium etc.

We will still be sending over a 20/40 ft container with items from the UK, ok so you clear out the crap but don't forget you will be setting up a home over there and it is always comforting to have familiar things around you. In 29 years of marriage I've moved lock stock and barrel a total of 13 times including places outside the UK. It's nice to have familiar things around you, I have an attic full of good crap (that's what I tell OH) that's been packed since 1999 and has followed me round 2 continents. I look forward to the day when I have Grandchildren and can dig out my stuff from Africa and tell stories.

If your move to Canada is permanent don't forget those that follow you! crap to some is family history to others! Canadians love to trace their family history back to the 'old country' - our old crap will one day be family treasures to a new generation of Canadians.

Re: what to take and not take
 

I totally agree with LiffyB. The day our container was delivered to our new home was like Christmas Day to us. It was great to unwrap our furniture and the nick-nacks we had accumulated over the years.

We were also glad to have our clothes back as we only had what we could pack into suitcases. OH was delighted to be reunited with his book collection and the kids were glad to have familar things around them.

Remember that your new house may be larger than the one you left behind. I used our old living room furniture to furnish our family room in the basement - we bought all new for upstairs. We also shipped over one double bed for our guest bedroom. :)

Re: what to take and not take
 

Something else to think about (aside from the sheer cost of trying to furnish a house from scratch) are the practicalities when you arrive.

Shopping around for and ordering furniture, appliances etc takes a great deal of time. Delivery can in some cases be 6-8 weeks. Can you manage without a bed, furniture, TV etc for that period? What about basic cooking utensils and equipment? Crockery and cutlery? Will the kids miss their toys or can they cope with starting over and waiting for new possessions?

I shipped virtually everything that was practical to bring (20ft container) - there was absolutely no way I could have replaced even 25% of it for the shipping cost. There was a dock strike in Vancouver when my container arrived, so I had to wait a couple of months before the container was released. It's pretty tough trying to live with just what you've packed in a suitcase for that length of time.

Since living here I've purchased a new bed, other bedroom furniture, 2 lounge room chairs, a sofa bed and various appliances (TV, DVD player etc) - basically enough furniture for 2 rooms. It's cost over $12,000.

Re: what to take and not take
 

we had the same dilema and just brought mostly everything including bedding. although no sofa as it seen betterdays. its all the little things that add up. my husband didnt want to bring anything but some stuff i had collected for years ie xmas ornaments. we couldnt expect kids to leave all there toys either. so decided just to bring everything. my dvd player works just fine too. we had 20ft container cost 3000. door to door.

Re: what to take and not take
 

We also had a similar dillema...all our stuff in the UK was 10 years old and had been given to us or had been battered by the kids, so we decided to buy new when we got to Calgary.

We have rented a house with washer/dryer...dishwasher, have been lent a T.V and a Microwave and have spent $3000 ish on beds/ bedding/ cutlery/ hairdryer/ plates/ mugs/ Glasses etc...mostly thanks to IKEA all delivered in 24hours from being in store...it may not last forever but it will get us through the next few years.

All told with the house rental and furniture we have spent around $6000, and are very happy withour purchases so far.....a little hint/tip from our new employer was to check out the auctions...all brand new stuff ... repossetions (sp?) things left overs from show homes etc. my husband is at one now looking for a TV will let you know how he gets on.

Although probably a slightly more expencive way in the long run, being away from all our old tat in the UK is kind of cleansing, there are some bits we will ship over in the future a couple of boxes of books/ornaments but the furniture, just wasn't worth it for us.

Re: what to take and not take
 

I would recommend taking everything. We moved Scotland to SK. Door to Door cost about £4,500 (I think)for 20ft container. No way we could replace everything for $9000 as well as buying cars, new house, seasonal clothes!!! I wish I had thrown all bits and bobs in container- easier to throw away here things you dont need than find you have to replace silly things you could have brought with you.

Re: what to take and not take
 

wow

did not relize that so many of you took your stuff, we are just not sure if a large container is worth having for a sofa and dinning table a few tools bikes etc, i guess no one brought their cooker etc over did they?????????