I met a lovely Dutch girl on the internet and ...

Hi Geoff and welcome to the Forum; I shan't bother with the references to our Handy Tools section at the top of the page; but you may find the jobs link useful.

I was in the same situation as you (albeit 25 years ago), so just a few things to watch out for:

Registration.  If you haven't already done so, you need to register with the Gemeente and get your BSN number; you wont get very far without that.  The BSN number lets you register at the doctors, open a bank account and more importantly register with the Belastingdienst (the tax man) so you can work, you said you moved here 3 weeks ago (so in the 2017 tax year) which is good news as you won't be liable for the social taxes for 2016, but make sure you register with them so there are no nasty surprises.  I moved there in the December and got charged 12 month's worth of social taxes!!!

Job.  Unless your girlfriend has contacts, it won't be so easy if you don't speak Dutch - what's your skill set/qualifications?

Hi there cynic thanks for the welcome and the reply.

As for bsn I have a temporary bsn already 👍 so I am in the system.

The problem being my fiancé was living with me in London so we're both I'm the same boat.  I have savings and she has a little savings and some money from the government so we have cash for a flat etc just struggling to find anyone who will rent to us. Not that this surprises me.
For the first month we stayed in a workaway placement. This month we have rented a room at 700 euro! Pricey and if we did this for a while our money would be all but gone. So next month we will try some more to do workaway again close to Rotterdam.

As for work I was a retail manager of bicycle stores of all things. Great you say but without the language it doesn't equate to much.

But I'm not fussy I'll deliver parcels, shovel crap, be a labourer or a kitchen hand whatever gets food on the plate and a roof over my head, an start to my new life in Holland.

Geoffersmaher wrote:

Hi there cynic thanks for the welcome and the reply.

As for bsn I have a temporary bsn already 👍 so I am in the system.

The problem being my fiancé was living with me in London so we're both I'm the same boat.  I have savings and she has a little savings and some money from the government so we have cash for a flat etc just struggling to find anyone who will rent to us. Not that this surprises me.
For the first month we stayed in a workaway placement. This month we have rented a room at 700 euro! Pricey and if we did this for a while our money would be all but gone. So next month we will try some more to do workaway again close to Rotterdam.

As for work I was a retail manager of bicycle stores of all things. Great you say but without the language it doesn't equate to much.

But I'm not fussy I'll deliver parcels, shovel crap, be a labourer or a kitchen hand whatever gets food on the plate and a roof over my head, an start to my new life in Holland.

Have you tried the housing associations, your girlfriend may qualify for a rent subsidy as she is getting an uitkerring from the Government.  You'll probably struggle in the cities, but if you try the smaller towns, you may strike it lucky.  You can register with them, then ask what they have available of immediate occupancy.  My daughter got a place in Enschede within a couple of days - basically a 2 bedroom house that nobody else was interested in as it was old, small and in an undesirable district - so the locals weren't interested and no good for immigrant families as it was too small, but it gave her a start. 

Bikes - here's an idea.  A mate of mine retired from the Dutch Air Force and didn't want a proper job, but needed something; so he goes to the local Uni, schools, police and collects all the unwanted bikes that have been dumped around the town; then he fixes them up and sells them; doesn't make them new, just fixes what was wrong with them, then sells them on the internet.  It pays his mortgage and keeps him in beer and cigs.

Not sure if I've helped much, but the best of luck mate.