Hi everyone,
We are finally off in December (fingers crossed!) and have had 5 quotes from
moving companies.Insurance included it'll cost us 6,500K euros about 5K sterling.Seems the packages are standard, they pack most of it other than clothes and cost is door to door.
Does this sound right,are there any other options?
A friend of mine said I am mad to pay that....I should sell everything and keep the 5k then buy everything out there? Sounds a bit drastic to me...she is single though with no kids
thanks

Sounds about right to us. Personally, we felt it would cost rather more than £5k to refurnish here. Beyond which, it was helpful to our settling process to have some familiar things around us.

Kind regards,

Eamonn & Janet.

I would say bring what you can. You'll have enough to do when you get into your new Canadian home without having to go shopping for knives and forks etc.

My thoughts too.5k saved from moving costs plus money made on selling stuff, could probably dump it up to 8k.Even if that was enough ,I have many things I would hate to part with.I have 2 children also,I dont think that it
would be good for them, its enough of a wrench to leave their friends behind.
I do wonder if people have done that though....

It's each to their own isn't it. We respect the fact that some people like to start afresh, or maybe they think many of their thanings are coming to the end of their useful life so they may as well just buy anew here. No problem with that. However, another consideration was the fact that if you come here and have to buy everything afresh, you might find yourself buying at a sub-optimal time (ie: outside sale periods). That can result in significant incremental spends verus being able to pick and choose the time to buy that best suits you. Moreover, it can also take a little while to get to know the space you are moving into, what works and what doesn't. Having to rush buy to get a place furnished can add to the risk of making poor purchasing decisions (we speak from experience here - not sure we'd buy the same bonus room sofas again - and we wish we had managed to squeeze our existing sofas into the container to buy us some time to choose more carefully - but hey, you learn as you go )

Eamonn & Janet.

Agreed.

E&J.

We shared a container , cost about 2.5K ( to Toronto) , big things like sofas arm chairs etc we left in the UK, and got new ones when we arrived.

They quoted 6-8 weeks , but is was nearer 10 , so we had 3 4 weeks of living on 4 plates , 4 knives etc , so i would say anything you can live without for this time, don't send, but don't do what we we did , send as much clothing over as you can , as it cost me 250 quid in excess baggage at thye airport , so put the stuff in the case weigh them , and what is left send on the container...

also our stuff got wet , and all my kids baby photos are ruined , so i would strongly recommend that things like pictures / painting you wrap in plastic so they can not get wet, and ruined, we are insured but unless they have a time machine i can't get take those pictuers again.

Gary

I think it's a personal choice, but simply put - get on the interweb and search for the costs of similar things in Canada and add up the total and see if it makes sense to pay for the container. Also remember to include cutlery, crockery, pots and pans linen and so on. All the little bits add up too.
Then I guess you can add on a bit for sentimental stuff.

Of course there might well be some items that need replacing or that you really wouldn't mind leaving behind.

For us it made sense to bring most of our stuff.

Rob's comments strike a chord with me - there's no way I could have replaced everything for the cost that shipping entailed. By the time tools, bikes, outdoor stuff, furniture, household bits and pieces were taken into account it was a no brainer.

Remember, once you arrive ordering furniture can take a month +. You need to be adaptable enough to cope in the meantime. Also, do you want the added hassle of having to shop and buy kitchen stuff, linens etc and all the household niceties you're used to within a day or so of arriving? In my mind it's just adding to the stress you'll be under.

Hi there, we are moving to Calgary in January and I have priced up the whole container move thing. We decided to take all our belongings with us as if you sell them here you dont get what they are worth and you have to start again over the pond and may not get the bargains you had hoped for/the right items in your rush to kit out the house.

Also we have children (but even if you don't) you may be happier coming home after a bad day (its gonna happen occasionally) to items that you know and love from the UK.

We have packed our house up ourselves and put all items into a 20ft container at a local storage company as we sold our house a while ago and are now renting. On moving day a truck & contained will come to our storage area, the guys from storage will tfr all our bits from one container to the other (costs about £150) then the next time we see our container will be at customs in Calgary - a local agent will deal with the clearance through customs but we need to be there to clarify anything, then it is delivered to our address and unpacked into the house. The total cost for this is £3100 which is alot cheaper than some of the large removals companies - let me know if you want the companies details for a quote.

Hope this helps as £5k is alot of money when you can do it yourself for alot less with maybe 3-4 days hard work (packing)

Good luck, regards Jan

Hi Jan, (wonderful name ),

First of all, a very warm welcome to BE. Almost missed you there with you tagging onto someone else's post! You sound completely sorted so there seems little point in directing you to the WIKI and so on. Congratulations on making it this far and best wishes to you and yours re making the move across in January (wrap up warm eh!)

By the way, we totally agree with you re the sense of shipping stuff, the chance you take on getting poor deals and making wrong choices when you rush to furnish at this end and the value of having familiar things around you at a time of significant change in your lives. We also admire your industry in sorting the whole removals thing yourselves. Will be intrigued to learn how that all turns out so please post back on that.

Kind regards from just down the road from Calgary in Okotoks,

Eamonn & Janet (or Jan...told you it was a wonderful name )

Hiya Jan (et!) and Eamonn,

thanks for the message, good to hear from people who are already there and made the same lifechanging move as we are just embarking on - congrats on your 1st year - I am watching your blog too and loved looking at your pics and reading your updates. Keep in contact, regards Jan

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.After sitting down working out the figures
it simply doesnt match up,selling everything and buying all again I wouldnt be better off.I think even if I end up spending more taking our belonging with us
just for the piece of mind,less stress in the first few months etc will be worth it.Its not like we are speaking about thousands of pounds difference.
Yes we are going for a new life,but I dont want to wipe out my old one.

Jan,an interesting read.Certainly when you go about things doing them yourself, it normally ends up cheaper, its just how much hassle it is arranging it all.I will certainly look into though.
Thanks,
Eve