Depends on how you want to live.

Rent on a shitty basement suite with one bedroom in a good neighbourhood is about $700-1000/month, sometimes includes utilities and sometimes doesn't.

My basic outgoings amount to about $2400/month give or take, this includes rent, utilities food, gas and insurance. I'm in a 2 bedroom townhouse with garage in a nice area. I drive a relatively frugal vehicle by North American standards and I own it, so no monthly payments on that.

I like having the ability to buy what i want, when i want/need it and have some expensive hobbies to cater for (motorbiking, skiing, ice hockey). Also TV and internet are expensive as hell

I could certainly cope on much less, and i do have a decent amount of money left at the end of the month that goes into savings.

If i was supporting a wife and kid on a single income, i'd have no hobbies and life would suck for me

On 48k, your nett take home per month (not including any Union dues or Benefit deductions) would be in the region of $2,793 - around $100 extra - but you would also get some family/child tax credits and possibly GST/HST refunds. http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/goc/gst_credit.shtml

If you were outside of Calgary the rental would certainly be cheaper (and possibly 'doable') but you would have to factor in travelling expenses. You do realise that Medicine Hat is a 300k drive away though I hope - almost 3 hours. You may want somewhere a bit nearer!

If you can find housing for $1,200 or less a month you would probably be ok, apartments will be cheaper than houses.

Hi
Don't forget car insurance if you drive
My first quote back when I first arrived in Alberta was $3000k a year
Plus $400-$450 a month in gas .........
I do drive a truck so a smaller car would use less gas maybe.
All the best

People will tend to normalise their circumstances. Someone used to living on $110,000 a year cannot imagine the depravity of living on just $100,000. The same person earning $90,000 would see $100,000 as luxury living.

I know someone who earns $125,000 who is constantly broke. I know a family of five who get by creatively on $40,000 and are happy enough (they own their own home). I don't want to do it though.

You can get by on $48,000 for the three of you but it will be very, very tight. Others do but I suspect it feels like poverty. It is only worth going to the effort and expense of emigrating if you are very positive that things will improve in the future.

Is greenkeeping a year-round occupation in Alberta?

I agree with this.

The other thing to remember is that there is not much of a social safety net here.

what the hell were you driving?

I'm still considered a "young" driver, and my insurance on my Honda truck was $1800 first year here, then dropped to $1400 this year

its about $80 to fill and sees ~600km to a tank, which will last me about 10 days (3.5 V6 4WD, roughly 11L/100km or 25mpg)

I bought a 2 yr old f-150 truck 5.4l when I arrived in Canada
Just bought a brand new f-150 3.5l Eco which does use a little less gas than 5.4 did
I live Springbank SW Calgary its rural so need the truck and work near the NE near Airport but we just have the one vehicle so my OH uses the truck to get her self to work some days as well. I have a company vehicle whilst I'm at work during the day. We very rarely use less than $100 bucks a week in gas even in the new truck. My insurance is lot less than what they wanted when I arrived in Alberta. 1/2 ton trucks don't run on fresh air sadly but its nice to have one.

i see, makes a bit more sense now!

We use the gfs 1994 VW Beetle it uses 200 pesos a week on gas about $16,my gas guzzling 98' Ford Explorer which I drove down from Winnipeg sits in the driveway all week ,only use it to go to the beach,I know life is hard

Would like an old VW beetle myself as second run around
Really like the old VW campers as well.

Yes, I could not but strongly agree with this too.

Firstly, consider if your circumstances have the potential to improve. I cannot understand why someone would move so far to be in the same (hand to mouth) position, unless it was a very temporary condition.

And no, green keeping cannot possibly be a year-round job. The tarpaulins go on the greens by November, the irrigation is blown out, and only animal footprints can be seen in the snowy layer until end of March. A sheltered course might be open by end of April. Would you have a back up option for the winter?

Re: the reference to 100K - IrishGuy I made that reference because accommodation is very expensive in Calgary and hard to come by ... if you were living somewhere else it might be possible to live on a lot less. For example, I live on 30K in London, Ontario at the moment - but it doesn't leave a lot left for socialising by the time I've paid my bills (rent, utilities, food, medical bills) - the downside is that there are very few jobs here - but if you move to where the jobs are, then the rental costs etc are much more.

I would think you would have to have a back up plan for the Winter as others have pointed out .. maybe you could do snow clearing? I don't know how much snow they get in Alberta - they get quite a bit round where I am but it does vary from year to year.

I like somewhere like Medicine Hat would be a good place for Irishguy in Fife or Lehbridge,I know people who live in Calgary and they tell everyone is in debt!

I drive to work everyday from an acreage outside of High River to Calgary. $40 in gas lasts me a week and a half. I travel when most others don't so I am able to keep a relatively constant speed until I hit downtown. If I was travelling from the SW to the airport, there is no way that a truck would be my vehicle of choice, if I was concerned about the cost of travelling.