dbd33

$850/month at Hydrokids, last time I knew but that was years ago. Note that the waiting list was several years.

http://www.toronto.ca/children/dmc/w...gcreg1702.html

Dashie

We're in SW Ontario, here's a rough list, we are a family of 4, kids are very young:

Mortgage $1000
House Insurance $90
Property Tax $180
Car Insurance $170 (No car payment as we paid it off, but that was $500 for a basic Dodge Journey)
Gas for the car $300
Maintenance/yearly licence thing average $100
Food $800 (although we buy mostly organic/higher welfare food, so you can eat cheaper if that is your preference)
Hydro $90
Gas $90
Internet/Cell Phones $120 No TV or landline

Obviously we have other expenses, as would you, but they would be person specific and very variable, such as clothing, going out etc.

jwtimmon

I'm a bit shocked at all these rents and mortgages being quoted, looking around Regina SK you'd be doing very well to house a family of 4 or more for less than 2200 and generally be paying in excess of 2500 a month plus all bills on top, no subsidies at those prices.

If you want a 4 bed house in a nice area think 3000 a month.

John

Dashie

We live in a cheap area of a cheaper city. Our purchase price was under $200k. You're right, it would be near impossible to do that in Toronto. Property taxes will likely also be higher.

Maybe look at houses on realtor.ca then at mortgage calculators and rates on any of the major bank websites.

fizzyo2

Hi

We are in Guelph near Toronto and totally agree with the poster who mentioned $80K- $100K a year. Biggest shock for us was cost of activities for the kids (aged 12 and 6) which were way more expensive than UK

Shard

Any examples of kids activities prices?

Collie

By coincidence I worked out yesterday how much the 2 of us are spending a year in Ontario. No rent/mortgage, 1 car (paid for). The answer is about $36000 for a fairly modest lifestyle - we rarely eat out, go to the theatre etc. Hope that helps.

Siouxie

There are grants available in the Guelph/Wellington area for funding towards the cost of activities for children (income based).

http://www.childrensfoundation.org/grants

I am sure similar grants are available in other areas and there is also the tax credit to help defray the costs.

http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/credit/catc/index.html

jwtimmon

My back of a napkin calculations reckon 80k as 5K a month after tax, less 2K rent/mortgage, less 1K food/toiletries/etc for a family of 5, less 1K utilities/car costs/etc leaving 1K a month for kids activities, savings, holidays, incidentals.

Reasonable living but by no means living the high-life or figuring the most efficient means of squirreling away all your unspent cash

One of my biggest hurdles looking for work in Canada was not wanting to live hand to mouth in a foreign country with harsh winters, no immediate family or support group. I can do that in a much more temperate environment thank you very much

Atlantic Xpat

THIS ^^^^

[comments below not aimed at the poster I just quote but are general!]

Too many people expect to come to Canada and live the life of riley. The fact is you are going to earn, if you are lucky, around about what you earn doing whatever you do in the UK. Of course there are exceptions - teaching if you can get into it - but IMHO thats a good rule. You might have a bigger house, you might have all the toys and the HP payments to match, but if you are living hand to mouth in the UK then it's naive to expect that you'll be much different here. In general terms, Canada is no cheaper and for many things, more expensive than living in the UK.

So do it for the adventure, do it for love/sex, do it because you have a desire to live in a foreign but a little bit familiar country. Don't immigrate to Canada however and expect your lot to change markedly financially. It likely isn't going to happen.

Mikeypm

edincan32

superb, could not have put it better myself.

Thanks again for all the posts, still doing the figures but will post them in the next couple of days

Ugo51

very useful thread!
thanks

jwtimmon

The original OP posted about cost of living so I was answering in that spirit.

However IMHO while I agree with the above comment from Atlantic Xpat I do feel it misses the point somewhat in terms of quality of life as a function of financial security.

The much used (abused?) expression "you can't eat the scenery" applies here. As a married man responsible for supporting a wife and 3 children my primary concern is their welfare and comfort. I'm not going to be very happy if they are not being cared for in a manner I feel is appropriate.

Secondly I'm from Ireland where our cost of living is not much different from Canada, we are taxed into poverty and are being crushed by austerity. Our levels of unemployment are huge and job security is gone the way of the dodo.

So Canada offers some huge advantages from a career and household income perspective. Even their taxes are lower, I'll pay less in income tax in Canada than I would in Ireland and get free health care as opposed to free healthcare you cant use so you have to take out private health insurance and have the worst of both worlds, taxed to cover healthcare and also pay out for insurance. Even the Canadian mobile phone charges look reasonable to us Irish. Well, OK not reasonable but livable.
Either way my perspective on Canada's cost of living is very different to someone from the UK.

I think the comment "living the life of Riley" is over egging the cake a bit. How does the comment read if it was "Too many people expect to come to Canada and live comfortably"? Unreasonable? I don't think so.

And I do think that people should be cognisant of the fact they will be living in a foreign country, in harsh winters with no immediate support network. Due diligence I would have thought?

So yes do it for the love of the thing, but I guarantee if you are living on the breadline in Canada, you're not going to find it much harder to be happy than the next person living in financial security.


John

P.S. I don't think money is the be all and end all but it is a factor and a reasonably large factor at that.

Shard

I found AX's "life of Riley" comment apposite, as I do think there is a contingent of Brits that assume that Canada or Oz is somehow low-cost easy living. There is often an assumption that you can exchange a shoebox house in Britain for a mansion in Canada. Of course that is possible if you're moving from inner London or some other expensive area to a less expensive area in Canada, but if it's "apples for apples", prime Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver is not much more affordable than Britain. Oddly, Brits don't seem to make the same "life of Riley" assumption when moving to the USA. I suppose it must have something to do with the former colony mentality.