hi all,
i have been reading issues, articles, views, opinions, discussions on this useful website now is the time for me to find my answers also but unfortunately i cudn't find the same so here's our situation.
We landed in March this year and got all SIN, PR, and other work done very smoothly!. We also bought an apptt near Square1. We are now moving soon. Want to know from where to buy stuff like furniture for bedrooms, kitchen stuff including machines, and curtains or blinds. We're not sure if our appt already have blinds on windows. Similary where best to get a rent a car from? later we will buy a car(4wd). We have found a nearby school for our 5 year old.

anyone to help?!

thanks,

Navali

There are many standard furniture shops in Mississauga. IKEAs is the one of them that you can always rely on. I am not sure there is one in Mississauga, but there should be one within drivable distance.

For kitchen related stuff please check canadiantire.ca, homedepot.ca, sears.ca, rona.ca, walmart.ca and many other such stores.

For curtains and blinds you can check above stores plus there are specialized once.

You can rent a car online from hertz, avis, national etc.

Buying a car is a great deal and you may like to shop around before making any decision.


Best thing - go to maps.google.com and search for something like:

car rental loc: 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, ON L5B 2C9

-----------------------------------------------------------------
A Proud Indian Canadian

May be this answer is not relevant in your situation as it says that you have bought a condo near SQ ONE. I'm curious how did you buy a condo without knowing whether the drapes and blinds come with it or not.

May be you come from an affluent background. But my 2 cents to you as I presume that you have not looked around for a job.

If this is not relevant to your situation please ignore this response.The reality hits you when you look for a job and the breeze you feel when you get your PR, SIN and other is not Reality!.

Even if you are from US with a good IT job, I'll not feel Gung-Ho in the current situation.

Do not plan any major investment. Conserve cash. Cash is King !.

Try to sustain on minimum cash outflow. Even if you have a million dollars in your bank account it will fly away without you noticing it.

Have you ventured outside near the Apple One or other staffing company doors with new immigrants walking like Zombie's with long faces. There are no jobs and people are losing jobs. Your EI is available after 960 hours of work and that too of 55% of your gross for a period of 48 weeks. Typically you can get CAD $413 per week and that comes to $1652 permonth gross and may be around $1540 per month after taxes. Assuming that your wife doesnot work what will you do with this amount per month.

We all landed at better times, spent money like water with the fond hope that the economy would get better. We borrowed and borrowed, maxed out on our credit card, Line of Credit, spent our savings. Many of us have lost heavily on our retirement plans(RRSP).Now we are in deep debt. We cannot leave this country as the mortgage is due, children are in school and we have other commitments. If I were in your place I would not even bought the condo. As the price of RE is crashing your place would be worth less than what you would have paid for. If you had invested the same on a FD in India(I assume) you are from India you could earned atleast 8.5%PA on it. Will any RE investment today give you a Positive return?.

Do not overstretch. Limit your expenses and be frugal. The best place ot buy the furniture is get it from the Craigslist.
The link is here: http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/

There are many places like value village, salvation army where you can get good stuff at cheap prices. Do you know a used place called Talize is going under. Even used resellers are not left alone by recession.

You will find fantastic sets at such cheap prices as many of the affluent families are losing their homes to foreclosure.

I'm not scaring you but I'm giving you the true picture. There are plenty of shops around Mississauga which sell refurbished washing machines and other appliances. Many of them give you free delivery and take cash (you save 13%).

In Canada the only ones who succeed are the one's who pinch pennies.

If you feel this is not suitable for your situation please ignore this post.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sunny Leone a true Canadian DESI now back in India !.

thnks to both members for the info. As a new member i would like to explain our situation side by side! First of all, living in UAE and paying high rents made us to purchase an apptt in Canada....It doens't mean that we have done all the payments...we will be paying morgage for that apptt. for years

As for job, yes i may try for job as my both kids will be going to school. we know very well about the economic crisis, job situation and the hardships people must be going thru...and things are not good even in here but its all how you SPEND and save and this is not much possible with low salary income!

Secondly my husband is not willing to pay rent in two places....which means that he will stay and continue paying rent in Shj while kids and i will start our lives in Canada!! Secondly all the years that we have spent in Dubai (and now in Shj), we spent very reasonably and very sensibly, hence saved easily as we had applied for immigration within two years of our residency in the UAE. We are from Pakistan. And we are good Muslims so we have complete faith and trust in Allah (SubhanahuTaalah) that things will be smooth as have always been only because of the faith in Allah!

Thanks about (canadiantire.ca, homedepot.ca, sears.ca, rona.ca, walmart.ca)we will definitely chk these websites and ofcourse these stores in person, when we will come inshallah in May.
We could ve asked our relatives in canada about all these things.,,,but those living there for years gives you very bright picture, that sometimes is confusing and we wanted real picture!


anyway, thanks again,
best of regards,
navali

For school visit peel district school board website http://www.peel.edu.on.ca/ and check the school maps, that will help you to know which school your kid will be going to and he/she will be getting a school bus or not. You can direcly call the board, mention your street address and they will let you know.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
A Proud Indian Canadian

Walmart is almost certainly the cheapest place in general to buy stuff (apart from furniture). Freecycle.com is a wonderful resource to get free stuff (furniture/tv/etc) that people no longer want. You can use it for a while till you are sure what you want/can afford and then buy accordingly. I personally do not like Ikea nor do I find them cheap. So why dont you spend some time in your condo, look around for deals over a few weeks (example SOFA 999 has some nice furniture and good deals at times) and buy slowly - only what you need and what you like.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Immigrant Parents in Canada http://groups.yahoo.com/group/immigrantparentsincanada

Currently, this store will give you almost anything and you do not pay until 2010.

http://www.thebrick.com" rel="nofollow">LINK

Vandemataram's words are so true and realistic. Ever since coming here, we had sort of anticipated tough times until you settle here and therefore we followed a policy of "pinching pennies".

So far, so good.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!!!