WelshDragonsWales

Hi

Its still a little way off yet (but who knows - could come around quicker than we think ), and a little thought popped into my head .....

How on earth do we decide what to take with us?

We will take the precious things of course and pictures etc but what about furniture etc.....

We have a lovely table we will be taking - and our own special things - but just dont know what to do about the other nice stuff. Its going to cost to take it with us and if we sell it and have to replace it when we arrive that is going to cost as well. Is it better to take the really nice stuff and pay more or save the cost and purchase new

Your thoughts please

thanks

Dawn n Geraint

dbd33

If it's electric sling it. If it's not take it.

My line of thought is that little unexciting things of no apparent value; the dish rack, the ironing board, the clothes pegs, the meat pummeler, cumulatively cost a bundle and require fetching from a shop. For what you want to emigrate and then spend hours, days, weeks dragging around shops looking for nothing items?

Member123

I'm like you too - I go between taking only clothes and photos to taking all the contents of my kitchen cupboards/denby teaset and Xmas decorations, which ironically mostly were all bought in Canada!
I am cracking my OH up - if he could get off with it he'd put his worldly belongings in a back pack and that would be it.
I think its is a personal choice to be honest. Sorry not much help to you though.

Oakvillian

What he said... although depending on where you end up you may find clothespegs redundant if your chosen municipality has a ridiculous bylaw against hanging washing outside (as ours does and it drives me nuts).

The incremental cost of shipping stuff in a container, if you're bringing something like a table anyway, is almost certainly way less than the cost (in time and money) of replacing everything when you don't know which shops to go to for which household items. Count the cost of replacing all your plates & cutlery, pots & pans, beds, chairs... it adds up very quickly when you already know you'll need to pay out for a car, major appliances like washer, dryer, TV, etc. My advice would be to take as much as you possibly can.

And apart from anything else, the feeling of having your own "stuff" around you when you move into a new house in a new country will likely help you to settle in and feel at home more quickly - especially if you have kids.

hot wasabi peas

The cost of shipping stuff from Britain to Canada is a very good deal. I'd bring everything and worry about 'what to take or not' if you ever move house within Canada... that's a cost that could sting.

dbd33

It wasn't an entirely random example...

Paul Wildy

I've seen people arrive with next to nothing, having sold all their furniture in the UK for a pittance, and have to spend literally a fortune replacing everything. It seems that everyone under-estimates the cost of furniture and other household stuff in Canada. The shipping cost really isn't expensive in comparrison to the replacement cost.

The only exception would be, if you are really sick of your furniture (its all the stuff you bought from IKEA when you first met) and its time to replace it anyway then get rid of it first. But if you like it, ship it.

As for electrical stuff, most of it does or at least can be made to work. Look on the back to see if it says 100-240v or similar. If it says that its fine. Event some things that don't say that and which don't have large motors (like TVs, DVD player or HiFi) can actually work okay. The only thing I got really scuppered on and couldn't get working was a british washer and dryer. It seems like there aren't any conversion possibilities for those.

daft batty

Take evrything you can, its not just the cost of replacing it, its the time and effort in buying new stuff. Belive me after a while spending gets tiresome. all that packaging to get rid off. Wondering if you went to the right shops, what to ask for. Its nice and comforting to have your own stuff around you anyway, at least something is familiar.

Flossie and Jim

My other half is taking the more anal approach to deciding whether we are taking certain items.

We have a "will definitely take" list, a "not taking" list and a "not sure" list.

We have had some shipping quotes in and he has calculated the very rough price per cubic foot (approx. £5.50 in our case). He has then done a spreadsheet which works out the proportionate cost per item based on its cubic footage as estimated by the shippers. If it looks like the cost of shipping the item is loads more than its value then we are going to ditch it.

On the basis that our plastic linen basket would cost £27.55 to ship as it is estimated to be 5 cubic foot in volume, we will be ditching it before we go, given that to replace it should only cost a few dollars! On the other hand, our king size bed is estimated to cost about £300 to ship, but it is still fairly new and comfy and to buy a new decent bed would probably be way more expensive than that.

I know its anal but he does love his spreadsheets and it has helped us to shed a bit of light on some of the items that we weren't sure about taking.

Flossie

Oh, and never underestimate the need for a few boot fairs to clear some stuff before you go!

daft batty

has he worked out that you fill the linen basket with linen when its packed?

Ginger3710

Are you serious? Is this just an Oakville thing...because we're seriously considering Oakville as our place to live. Coming from sunny Oz, I couldn't imagine not hanging out my 10 loads of washing each week! What do you all do...use dryers? Must be pretty costly. We don't even own a dryer here!

PROLLINSON

Dawn n Geraint[/QUOTE]


We decided, apart from Photo's,Cd's, DVD's & keep sakes etc... Bin/Sell/Leave it. Why move and start a new life and bring your old life with you??

The only non necessity items.....Wife brought cook/baking book's....Problem is....I do the cooking and we don't have the oven's she wants.....so no baking....Glad I paid to ship them.


BIN IT ALL!

Almost Canadian

Surely such a calculation is superfluous if you are using a container (as I suspect most people would) although I appreciate it would work if one was only shipping a specified amount or using a "shared container". As has been said previously, most 20ft container quotes come in in the region of 3000-4000 pounds. Our belongings from our 4 bed detached fitted in with no difficulty at all and we took everything bar our washer/dryer/dishwasher. There is absolutely no way we could have refurnished our house for less than $10,000. On the whole furniture is more expensive and of worse quality than in the UK, unless one shops at IKEA where, exchange rate considered, it is comparable. There are no DFS etc type stores here that sell furniture for anything like the cost it is possible to obtain in the UK.

As others have said, I would bring everything bar large appliances if you have the room.

Almost Canadian

Same in Calgary- by-law prevents it

Oakvillian

unfortunately yes, deadly serious. Oakville isn't alone, however - there was a thread on ludicrous by-laws on the forum a while ago and several came out of the woodwork, it seems the no-washing-line rule is surprisingly widespread.

We hang stuff up in the basement or use the dryer, which seems a profligate waste of electricity when it's so damn hot outside - although of course the ban is less relevant in the winter unless you're into freeze-dried underpants. There is apparently a resolution before the town council to overturn the laundry ban on environmental grounds, but I'm not holding my breath.