Fwilkin

Thank you for all the info.

with regards to rent I had prepared to pay 6 months up front if needs be.

food wise, we had a little look around the supermarkets when we visited and I noticed the high prices of perishable goods, we currently spend roughly £150gbp a week at the moment so I’m guessing we will spend a little over $300 a week there. We know we can afford to live once we are there as my husbands job would cover all of the shops/ rent it’s more whether we could afford the move/set up out there.
think I will take a look online later at local food stores and do an online shop and see what it comes too, do you use local farmers markets that sell fruit and veg, are these cheaper than supermarkets?
tia

Danny B

Do you mean buying a vehicle and furnishing a house with $38k ? If so, yes, I think it is possible.

whytrigg

Yes, I do shop at local farmers markets, we have plenty of them in my area - although they close down in Oct and don't start up again until April/May time. There are also Hutterites that sell produce around here, and many people that have acreages in my area that raise cattle and let you buy a side of cow off them.

If you buy direct from the farmer at a market, its MORE expensive than buying from the shops/costco. I blame the hippsters for creating this environment.

The Hudderites are ruthless mercenaries that will see you coming a mile off. You can get a reasonable deal from them, but you have to put the work in and barter like you are possessed to do so.

The people on the acreages usually raise extra livestock to make a few extra bucks selling it. It's seen as fresher, organic and you know the history of the meat and you are supporting local... so they charge more than the stores as well.

Another thing I didn't mention before which is a huge deal here is food waste. It's not like the UK supply chain, this country is massive and the food comes from thousands of miles away. I bought meat in the UK and I could happily eat it a week later, sometimes 2 weeks later. Here, you could do your big costco shop get it all home and realize absolutely everything is on the edge of turning and you have 2 days to eat 7 days worth of food.

I rarely see a pack of meat with a useby date more than 2 days out, a pet peeve of mine is that Costco don't inspect their fruit and veg before putting it out, and its gone bad in the packaging, it happens all the time. We eat pretty well, hardly anything out of a can, jar or package and we really struggle with this and have to do multiple shops a week We've adapted now, but it takes a lot to get used to.

We are wanting to move to an acreage when the kids are a bit older, maybe 7 years time. I can't wait to rear loads of cows and sell them to all the chumps like me for astronomical prices, I'll have hoards of chickens and eggs, grow veg... it's going to be great.

Howefamily

We are a family of four in NS and if we manage to spend just $1200 a month on groceries thats a good month and we do go to Costco.

Awain

I think $300 a week is a fair estimate for Barrie. I live downtown Toronto and I've always found groceries cheaper when you leave Toronto - more choice and better quality too. Online shopping is more expensive than in-store so keep that in mind when testing your shop.

Regarding furniture etc - there are plenty of furnished properties available at the moment as the AirBnB market has collapsed. You should be able to find somewhere furnished which would save the expense until you're a bit more settled.

Having said that, our shipment was delayed and we had to buy the basics - beds, sofa, tv, kitchen stuff etc and we managed to do it for around $2000. Wayfair can be cheaper than IKEA if you look out for deals and they deliver!

Tangram

Sounds about right for us that too - family of three (plus dog).