Ellypop

Thanks for this. Sorry, I am not sure what 'pm me' means - new to this expat site. I am going to have a manic two days as I now have to list everything in our v large 5 bedr house and garden and things we may wish to buy between now and May! I am presumably going to have to 'guesstimate' how many boxes our books and china will fill as nothing is packed? Am just going to make myself a coffee and have a quiet panic attack before starting on Excel!!!

kazbob

It is not a big problem. We just created our own spreadsheet in Excel, it listed goods (serial no's, make and models for things like Wii), and price in CAD$, then I totalled it up at the end. Don't worry about breaking it down into to much detail. We just put things like Books, Pots and Pans, Glasses Plates and Cups. To be honest they barely glanced at it, just stamped it and said thanks.

You will be fine, just remember to include everything as you can't add anything once you have landed.

Karen

Ellypop

Hi, thanks.

Is it okay to take Wii? I thought the system was slightly different in Canada and we were going to sell ours here and re-purchase over there - same with TV etc.

Silverdragon102

Wii is different and games are regional. I waited until here in Canada before I bought mine. (as far as I can make out)

pm is private message and will send you one with my phone number if you fancy a chat. Now you have more than 3 posts you will be able to access it

We too did excel spread sheet and just put stuff like books, pots and pans, ornaments. Didn't itemise each individual item. Any garden stuff before you pack make sure you have washed it down and clean of any dirt.

lousid

OK, OK I have to ask, why are so so many people moving to NS? We had considered it big time at one point however, doesn't the dream end when you start to look for work? The wages are not the same as other provinces. Yes the houses are cheaper but the cost of living is more expensive. Is it defined as success to have the acreage and large house but not have a suitable job with any career prospects in your field? Is it defined as success to have plenty of space for your kids to play and yet have limited amenities around you or be quite isolated from civilization? I totally understand the dream of living in NS. I just think that the reality is very different from the dream. I would be very interested in hearing from people who have been living in NS for years and have tried other provinces. For us, having 3 children means that my husbands job is the pull to stay in BC and there is so much opportunity for the children.
I welcome all opinions.

FiByTheSeaside

we're still in the uk and only want to go to nova scotia.. rather than anywhere else in canada. our main reason is to be near dh's aunt and cousins.. we do like the property prices and with what we have in equity to bring over we'd only need a tiny mortgage that we'd actually be able to clear in 15yrs. Here in Somerset we have an interest only mortgage at the moment as we can't afford a repayment one even with dh's good salary and can't see that changing anytime soon.

rgilbert

Also recommend you have a $CAD sub total at the end of each page you print. We read about this somewhere and the customs people seemed pleased we had done this.

rgilbert

Who led you to believe that there are no jobs with prospects in NS? Both myself and my husband have the same professional jobs here we had in the UK and both have very good prospects should we wish to climb the career ladder further. We have less disposable income here than we did in the UK but we have the life we wanted in the UK but couldn't afford. It would probably depend on what your skills were and whether they were needed in the area you choose to live.

I also don't think you need to live isolated from civilization in NS to have plenty of space around you. We live in a rural area and we are only 20 mins to the centre of Halifax. We also have amenities in the community we live in.

I haven't lived in any other Provinces though so I can't compare with how life would be elsewhere.

hobbitess

Have to tell someone...just booked our recce . Any one know much about Airtransat, we are with them from Gatwick.

Ellypop

It depends what you need in your life. For a good family life it is important to have a house that suits your family size (and not a crippling mortgage too) and NS provides that and more. In 4 years of recce-ing (incl other provinces too) we have not found NS to be overly lacking in culture, activities or civilisation. And to be honest, in terms of day to day life, they are not the main things anyway, either in the UK or NS. Having a nice home, space for the children to play, roads they can bike on safely and good state schools (we pay well over 25K per year in UK) are the main things for us. Maybe we are lucky in not looking for a 'career' provided by another company or person - we have done all that in the UK and both now have our own transportable businesses and enough equity to hopefully be okay. Plus, we have seen enough interesting jobs around and had positive feedback from recruitment agencies if my husband does want a job to start with until we are a bit more settled and know people.

We don't live in a city in the UK (used to live in London) and wouldn't want to in Canada. Although we are only 30mins from cities in UK parking is generally such an issue that we don't avail ourselves of what they offer really. I wouldn't advise anyone to move to NS if shopping or nightlife was of major importance to them but, from what we have seen, it may well replicate the good parts of our UK life - countryside, space, quiet - without the cost and the negatives. There will be downsides I am sure - haven't found a decent farm shop yet, double cream does not seem to exist - but we are hopeful it will overall be the right move. We haven't found the cost of living to apparently be more expensive. Any other thoughts on that? Insurance seems more than expected but otherwise things seem the same or less. For us it would need a lot of things to be more expensive to outweigh paying such a small amount for a house and taking school fees out of the equation.

NSboundTaffys

As the OP said NS is just not for everyone. We were all set for a positive future in NS........until we visited. To be honest I knew as we were landing that I couldn't live there, it is just soo flat, I really wasn't prepared for how flat it really was. We too were only able to spend a week there and spent the first 3 days trying to convince ourselves we could be happy there but just couldn't find enough to be positive about. We decided a big house with lots of acreage really wasn't the most important, we'd be much happier with a smaller house and just enough acreage for our animals in a different province that ticked more boxes, so are now exploring other areas of Canada. Personally I would advise anyone thinking to moving to such a big country to explore more than just one province as you just might find more of what you desire. For us too there was just no wow factor.

lousid

[QUOTE=NSboundTaffys;7986907]
well said. We came to Canada with a huge dream. However when you start to pay the bills and the mortgage and you do your research, you begin to understand your priorities. It's not all about the house. We live in a 3000 square foot house at present on 1/4 acre but we have just sold and have bought a much smaller house in a better area with more of what we wanted. Sometimes, in certain provinces, there's a reason that the house prices are cheaper. If it seems too good to be true, it normally is. The reason that house prices are so expensive here is because a lot of people want to live here for everything that BC has to offer plus it is a beautiful province. There are downsides to every province but for us, the reality is sometimes you have to make your own dreams and what we have realized is that if we are happy as a couple our children will be happy. In NS, is there enough for us to be happy? Yes you can buy so much space for little money, but is that what it's all about? I don't think so.

Flogger

Did you get all this off the telly?

Arris

We got back yesterday from 2 weeks in Nova Scotia (originally we were looking at Alberta - have a 3.6 acre lot for sale there we were that serious).

Stayed with friends near Porters Lake about 20 mins from Halifax.

We had a great time & saw a lot of the province & some of things you'd might not see - good thing about staying with Nova Scotians, rather than not knowing anyone & staying in a hotel/motel.

Nova Scotia definitely ticks ALL the boxes for us & we're looking forward to getting over there next year all well & good

NSboundTaffys

really pleased for you that you have found somewhere suitable for you. I've not said that NS is a bad place just that it's not suitable for everyone and I really do think people should visit more than one province before making that final decision, yes it is a lot of money for many of us but it costs even more to have to move again. Good luck in NS and I hope it continues to be everything you want.