The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

Hi all,

Just a quick question regarding the cost of living in Ontario.

(I understand this will have been covered many many times) But previous posts arent always specific and always seem to descend into babble!

Ok, so I know Ontario is MASSIVE. So my wife and I are looking at Barrie.
Does anyone have any opionions on the general cost and standard of living here?
Is it a decent area to raise a family?

(If anyone has any links to official comparison / cost of living website would be appreciated :thumbsup: )

Would a Firefighters wage ( approx $70,000) and a Nurse (Part-time wage unknown as of yet :o ) be enough to support a family of 4. In a modest sized house, good area etc

Am I living in cookoo land thinking these jobs will give us the security to live the Canadian dream with a white picket fence in leafy suburbia, a basement for granny on long vacations from Scotland, and a porch with a swinging chair?!! :lol:

All reality check replies welcome!

Cheers all

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

Do you have a firefighters job arranged?

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

Nope

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

Reality check number 1:

My friend just moved from teaching to become a firefighter. It took him over 2 years of voluntary work before getting a full time post. It's extremely competitive so I think you'll need another line of income for at least the first few years.

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

That is the tricky bit. The professional firemen I know live well. Most have at least two jobs. One as a fireman, the others in the more ... er ... grayer areas of the economy during their time-off from fire fighting duties.

There is usually a long, long line up of people applying for paid positions. Large parts of the country operate with volunteer firefighters. I have no idea about Barrie.

Nurses are usually paid better in Canada than in the UK.

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

Guys,

I'm a firefighter here in the old country.. it took me a good few years to get in so i know how sought after and competitive it is. Here and in Canada.

My thread is geared towards trying to found out if the standard of life will be better in canada, compared to what we have, and based on what jobs we see ourselves in, IF we get over...

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

Caveats: that I have never been anywhere near Barrie, I don't know how you live now, and you get the jobs you expect.

You will likely have a family income comfortably over $100,000. Most people think this provides for a pretty decent material standard of living.

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

I appreciate you wanting to know about cost of living, however, you stated 'as a firefighter' and others are trying to point out to you that your chances of gaining full time employment as a firefighter are slim at best.

Here is the link for applications for Barry Firefighter jobs: http://www.barrie.ca/City%20Hall/Emp...cruitment.aspx

You could also look here: http://www.recruitfirefighter.com/

As to your wife working in nursing, will she have to retrain or take exams before registering with the Ontario College of Nurses? http://www.cno.org/become-a-nurse/ne...se-in-ontario/

If you can't obtain employment in your designated fields then asking if you can live on the salaries for those jobs is a bit pointless!

Barry would be cheaper to live than other areas further south (Toronto etc) and with a theoretical combined income of $110k+ it would, imo, be sufficient to live on. Nursing staff are paid well here and are in demand, perhaps your wife applying for PR and working full time would work better for you.

:)

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

Reality Check No. 3
I know Barrie a bit. It has a passably decent frontage on to the lake in and around the downtown area, but in general it is miles and mile of soulless tract housing occupied by a mixture of the type of person you would cross the street to avoid and by unfortunates who commute to the GTA because they can't afford to buy anything there.

There are no leafy suburbs and (thankfully) very few white picket fences.

Porches, with or without swinging chairs, are a possibility.

siouxie beat me to it with the link to the recruitment pages for Barrie fire fighters, and I concur that getting such a job requires more than ability and experience. It requires your uncle, father and grandfather to be or have been in the same job locally.

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

However seeing yourself in a job and getting it can be two entirely different things. Not getting it could seriously impact your lifestyle between having a job in the UK and not in Canada. I know of highly qualified people who flipped burgers for a few years on minimum wage.

There are those who have come in the hopes of living the dream and high expectations for jobs and gone back. I had a buddy came out of the military as an airfield firefighter and jumped straight into a job at a major airport fire dept. His skills were very specialised.

Come with your eyes open and a plan b thnigs may work out. If you can survive on a $10 an hour job until something comes up in firefighting you may be OK. You amy also want to think about not limiting yourself to a town to live and looking for a job to finding a job and living there.

I started out at Calgary (not my desired location), finished up in Vancouver, with a few others in between. Up north was the most fun, but damn cold in winter.

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

Here you go - it is a general comparison though. Input the towns of choice and currency.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...ayCurrency=GBP

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

That's a rather fun site siouxie. I did a Richmond Hill vs Newcastle comparison which, although not entirely convincing, suggested that (almost) everything is cheaper here.

I then did a Toronto vs London look and found, not unsurprisingly, that London is eye-wateringly more expensive.

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

You should have plenty of spare cash to live out in Barrie. If you land a 100 grand a year job between you quickly. I would 100% rent because that place may not tick all your porch swingers fence garden ideal place in Canada to live boxes.

Then again it just might?

But if you can only get shelf stacking or burger flippin work, then it maybe still affordable to live in Barrie.

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

But why on earth would you?

Re: The 'cost'/reality of living the dream..
 

I wouldnt. But if you guna fight fires for fun, until some one decides its worth paying you, then you may need a bitof cash to get some microwave meals and pay the rent man.

Edit. And buy a pick up. You will get frownd upon without a beater of a pick up in Barrie.;)