What I mean is, will it be okay to list the contents of each carton as "books, linens, clothes, and dishes" (etc) or do we need to break it down ("5 pairs of jeans, 3 tea towels, 8 dessert forks, 12 paperback books, 10 hardcover books..." and so on)?

One other moving related question--is there usually a line up for crossing the border at North Portal, SK-Portal, ND?

Hi there,

Doesn't have to be broken down too much, we did something like:

Box 1 - Kitchen items
Box 2 - Linens
Box 3 - Wall pictures, ornaments
Box 4 - Clothing

etc etc

I just finished my packing list; I labelled all the bins/boxes numerically then on the packing list: #1: Dishes, cutlery #2: Clothes #3: books & CD's, etc. nothing too specific. Also the approx. value. If you have any electronics be sure to include the serial #.

Thanks! That is more or less what we thought, but wanted to be sure. Also didn't really know that about the serial numbers for electronics.

Line-up probably won't be too long. Avoid weekends (especially late Friday afternoons) when the cross border shoppers are headed down.

You're supposed to have the serial numbers written down. I made a quick list not on the box but a seperate piece of paper. Note also about DVD's, CD's etc. no pirated or copies of things!

Uh oh. What about VHS tapes recorded off the TV? He taped the re-airing of the first Saturday Night Live with George Carlin for me. We also have a 6-CD set that is a compilation put together by someone from the travel site we indirectly met through. Should he mail those things? The CD thing isn't a huge deal since we both have a copy and he could just give his to someone, but I really want to watch the George Carlin thing and I obviously don't want to get into any trouble when we cross.

Taping a TV show is fine. Bring that along. I don't know what's on the 6 CD set, so can't tell you. The issue is the whole royalty thing, and copying movies and music instead of buying the original DVD or CD.

I think they're more concerned with illegal imports and bootlegging for the purposes of capital gain. I didn't worry about bringing my CD's which were copied from originals I already owned (because we all know how CD's get easily damaged), and neither did CBP. I think you'll be fine.