setting up home

Emergency

Ambulance, Fire and Police - 112

Telephone / Mobile

The country code for Sweden is +46.

The outgoing international dialling code is 00. If dialling an international call from a mobile phone, press ‘+’, which is equivalent to the 00.

The area code for Stockholm is 08 and is often printed in front of the phone number. If calling from a mobile/ cell phone, you must dial 08 before the number, but to place a call from a landline/fixed phone within Stockholm, you do not need dial 08.

Swedish Phone Books

All phone numbers and addresses can be found online at www.hitta.se or www.eniro.se.

Medical

24-Hour Medical Advice Hotline ((Press 5 for English, 2 for Children, 3 for Adults) Also available at www.1177.se - 1177

24-Hour Apoteket (Pharmacy/Chemist), CW Scheele, Klarabergsgatan 64, Stockholm (near T-Centralen Station) - 0771 450 450

Karolinska Hospital Main Emergency, Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital. Also available at www.karolinska.se - 08 517 700 00

Dental Emergency, Folktandvården Akuten - 08 123 156 80

St. Eriks Eye Hospital www.sankterik.se - 08 672 30 00

Poison: General Information. In an emergency call 112, ask for poison info - 010 456 67 00

BRIS Helpline (Children's rights in society), www.bris.se - 16 111

Bris adult helpline regarding children (M-F 9-12), www.childhelplineinternational.org - 077 150 5050

Useful Telephone Numbers

Stockholm International School; School Nurse - 08 412 40 00

Stockholm Tourist Information www.visitstockholm.com - 08 508 280 00

Stockholm Visitors Board, Kulturhuset, Drottninggatan 33 - 08-508 285 00

SL Information (Public Transport) www.sl.se - 08 600 10 00 (For information in English, press 9).

Directory Assistance - 118 118

Telemarketing Calls

To avoid these calls, you can register your number with Nix-telefon. All companies must check this database before placing calls, and are fined if they fail to do so. However, if you have been in contact with a company/business they then have the right to contact you.

Nixtelefon, www.nixtelefon.org - 0772 28 00 00

Emergency Population Warning Emergency Alert / VMA

This is a loud signal broadcasted four times a year. March, June, September and December, the first Monday of the month at 15:00. If at any other time the alarm sounds, please check the radio: Sveriges Radio P4, or call 113 13

Recycling is encouraged in Sweden. Some streets within the city have green curb-side pick-ups containers or small recycling centers that will take plastic, glass, cans, Tetrapak milk cartons, newspapers, cardboard. Glass Bottle Banks are marked färgad (colored) or ofärgad (clear).

There are also large recycling centers, (återvinningscentral/ kretsloppscentral/ sopstation/ miljöstation) that recycle just about anything you might want to get rid of, including paint, furniture, garden waste, and white goods such as washing machines etc.

Please note that if you live in a house and have bins that are being collected, most kommuner (municipalities) weigh your rubbish and charge you by weight, so it is financially sensible as well as environmentally responsible to recycle!

When buying cans, plastic or glass bottles, a small fee is often included called pant. This fee is returned to you when you recycle the container through special machines called pantstation (www.pantamera.nu) found in supermarkets and local food stores. The pantstation machine issues a voucher which can be used against the purchase of other items in that particular store.

What you can recycle

Newspaper - here you can put all kinds of newspapers, leaflets, advertisement, writing- and drawing paper.

Paper and boxes - all kinds of boxes, washing-powder boxes, milk-, yoghurt-, egg cartons, flour bags, wrapping paper, empty toilet rolls. Items that contain food should be cleaned out.

Glass - anything made out of glass, separated into clear or coloured. Remove all metal or ceramic where it’s possible. Disposed items should be cleaned if possible.

Metal - tins, aluminum trays/ containers, foil, metal tubes, spray bottles, empty paint pots, tea lights, bottle tops. Disposed items should be cleaned if possible.

Plastic - styrofoam, polystyrene, shampoo bottles, plastic- containers, -lids, -bags, -packaging.

Batteries - can be recycled in the food store or next to some of the green recycle stations.

Light bulbs, spotlight and strip lights - should be taken to a lamp store or to a larger recycling station. The store Clas Ohlson will take them.

Paints, chemicals, spray cans, oil filters any toxic waste - should be taken to a larger recycling station.

Larger Recycling Stations

Återvinning Stockholm - Recycle stations

www.atervinningstockholm.se

Pixall - recycle anything, pick up service

www.pixall.se

Circla- recycle, pick up anything you want to get rid of.

www.circla.se

Stockholm Vatten, call 08 522 120 00 or click ‘Återvinningscentral’ at

www.stockholmvattenochavfall.se

If you live in an apartment you may have a communal laundry, most likely located in the basement. You will be given a key lock to book a time to use the machines. In some houses, they simply have a calendar to write your surname or apartment number to book a washing slot. These places are a known source for irritation between neighbors and have nothing to do with you in particular, so don’t be afraid to use them! Just book your slot, show up on time, wash within your time, clean up after yourself. With that said, other neighbours might not follow that, so you might start to feel the irritation.

Washing machines are generally front loading and tumble dryers are usually of the condenser variety - this means that there is no external vent and a pull out drawer needs to be emptied of water after each use, check drier filters regularly. For a more detailed ‘how to’, please read the link here.

Laundromats

Tvättomaten on Västmannagatan 61B www.tvattomaten.se

Elittvätten, Gotlandsgatan 59 www.elittvatten.co

Städhjälp (Cleaning Services)

There are a lot of firms that provide cleaning services, ask around for references from the members of the SPC.

www.vardagsfrid.se

www.homemaid.se

www.cleaninglady.se

It is important that the invoices/bills are made out to the person that is being paid a salary. If not you might end up with a tax bill at the end of the year. This is due to some services being subsidised, (called rot avdrag) via the tax office. For more information, visit www.skatteverket.se.

Household Electronics

The voltage in Sweden is 220. It is not recommended to bring electronics from your home country unless they use the same voltage. If you do choose to bring larger electronic equipment (computers, printers, etc.), you will need a large electronic converter in order to operate this equipment in Sweden. You should check each piece of equipment for the amount of amps required. Depending on your needs, you may be able to obtain a small converter from Clas Ohlson, or you may require larger one which can be obtained from

ELFA Distrelec, Industrivägen 23, Solna

08 580 941 00

www.elfa.se

Internet & TV

TV providers

Many of these companies offer deals for both TV and Internet. Shop around to find what best suits you.

Boxer www.boxer.se 0771 21 10 00

Canal Digital www.canaldigital.se 0770 33 22 11

Com Hem www.comhem.se 0771 18 22 10

Tele2 www.tele2.se 0772 25 25 25

Telia www.telia.se 90 200

Viasat AB www.viasat.se 0200 210 219

To watch TV from another country requires a Smart DNS or a VPN subscription.

Internet Providers

Bredbandsbolaget www.bredbandsbolaget.se 0770 777 000

Com hem www.comhem.se 0771 182 210

Tele2 www.tele2.se 0772 25 25 25

Telia www.telia.se 90 200

Universal Telecom www.universal.se 0771 85 00 00

Swedish news in English

One of the best sources of Swedish news in english is Sveriges Radio, they provide an up to date news flow on both local and international news.

www.sverigesradio.se, click ‘mer’, then ‘News in other languages’.

The Local is a web page that provides some translated Swedish news in English. Articles are added daily.

www.thelocal.se

Swedish news sites

With google translate you can get the gist of the news from;

www.svd.se

www.dn.se

www.aftonbladet.se

www.expressen.se

www.metro.se

Post Office

Look at www.postnord.se click on the globe icon in the top right corner, then ‘English’. There is also a PostNord App.

Stockholm has very few actual post offices but many other businesses offer postal services.

Select ‘Serviceställe’ (Service point) or ‘Brevlåda’ (Mailbox) to find the nearest mailbox or service center to submit or retrieve packages, purchase packages by postage or post a letter.

Post Boxes

Yellow post boxes are for national and international letters.

Blue are for regional letters with post numbers starting with 10 to 19.

Your Mailbox

Make sure you have your Surname/Last name (and your spouse’s if they have a different last name) on the mail slot, even if it is your temporary accommodation.

Small packages will be left in your mail slot if they will fit. If you receive a large parcel that will not fit, you will receive a notice (AVI) giving information on where your parcel can be collected. Collection points might include petrol stations, supermarkets and kiosks.

This is delivered almost daily. You can put a sign on your postbox with the words ‘Ingen Reklam Tack’, which literally means, No Advertising, Please.