Misconception on cost of living
Aug 1st 2006, 1:00 pm
#256
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by Covenant
inevitable you will want to move into an environment that you can feel safe and comfortable in.
Aug 1st 2006, 1:06 pm
#257
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Joined: Dec 2005
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by iaink
UK or BC?? 
UK - although summer has been excellent this yr. just had hottest july on record.
Aug 1st 2006, 1:14 pm
#258
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by marsaday
UK - although summer has been excellent this yr. just had hottest july on record.
Aug 1st 2006, 4:24 pm
#259
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by Buchan6
Couldn't agree more. There also also misconceptions in the amount of "space" people have. I live in the GTA. The traffic is up there with the UK. The 401 is the busiest highway in North American (source Wikipedia) and housing is very densely built especially new development which seem to be on every availble piece of land.
I only moved here because this is where my husband is from and he didn't want to move away. Personally, I would much rather be living somewhere else that isn't so cramped and crowded.
Aug 1st 2006, 4:32 pm
#260
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by sysclp
Here it seems they try to put houses as close together as humanly possible and still be able to lay the bricks on the outside of each and call them detached. There must be a really hot job market for skinny bricklayers.
.Space and house sizes are relative things, and as this is a British Expat site, I would guess most Brits are probably pretty happy with the extra space here. But the GTA does remind me if the UK with all the new ticky tacky houses shoehorned together.
Aug 1st 2006, 4:42 pm
#261
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by g_is_for_canada
Having been in BC coming up for a year, I have to say that one thing I was not prepared for is the cost of living. There are lots of posts on this forum saying that salaries are lower here, and cost of living is much lower, so your standard of living is overall better. This is certainly not my experience.
General overheads are very costly, and I fail to see how some people manage to make ends meet on the salaries quoted on this site. Don't be under any illusion that you can survive on half the salary you'd get in Britain, for example. Not in BC - it's not going to happen. The reality is that most jobs pay far lower than Britain, many at approximately half the rate.
The reason I mention this is that I was at a function recently, and speaking to a Brit who'd just arrived. He was going through the usual tired old banter about how wonderful it is here, and how everthing was so much cheaper than 'the UK', and of course so much better. This is not the case.
This does seem to be what people expect and having just arrived, they see the most obvious savings (e.g. petrol). But when you've been to the dentist a couple of times, and some utility bills start hitting the doormat, it does make me wonder how the hell Canadians afford to live here, let alone people who've emigrated from Britain.
What concerns me is that there's very few posts raising this issue. Probably because by the time people realise this, they're working their nuts off so damned hard to pay the bills, they don't have time to discuss on here. Many people regard this forum as fairly objective and I'd like to warn anyone who thinks this, to more thoroughly investigate the cost of living, and avert your ears to sweeping generalisations about how it's so much cheaper.
Moving half way across the world, to find that you cannot afford to stay, could set you back years, financially, and even make moving back to Britain an expense you cannot endure.
General overheads are very costly, and I fail to see how some people manage to make ends meet on the salaries quoted on this site. Don't be under any illusion that you can survive on half the salary you'd get in Britain, for example. Not in BC - it's not going to happen. The reality is that most jobs pay far lower than Britain, many at approximately half the rate.
The reason I mention this is that I was at a function recently, and speaking to a Brit who'd just arrived. He was going through the usual tired old banter about how wonderful it is here, and how everthing was so much cheaper than 'the UK', and of course so much better. This is not the case.
This does seem to be what people expect and having just arrived, they see the most obvious savings (e.g. petrol). But when you've been to the dentist a couple of times, and some utility bills start hitting the doormat, it does make me wonder how the hell Canadians afford to live here, let alone people who've emigrated from Britain.
What concerns me is that there's very few posts raising this issue. Probably because by the time people realise this, they're working their nuts off so damned hard to pay the bills, they don't have time to discuss on here. Many people regard this forum as fairly objective and I'd like to warn anyone who thinks this, to more thoroughly investigate the cost of living, and avert your ears to sweeping generalisations about how it's so much cheaper.
Moving half way across the world, to find that you cannot afford to stay, could set you back years, financially, and even make moving back to Britain an expense you cannot endure.
The biggest problem is that the Canadian immigration establishment, i.e. immigration specialists and consultants, need you to come here in order to make money.
Most people who come here spend a fair amount on advice, etc....but no one ever tells them how hard it is to get employment, and how low salaries really are, and how high the cost of living is.
We're American, and partner has had an open work permit for almost two years. He never found a job. He had left a pretty nice position back home in the USA, because we thought Canada was a little more tolerant, etc.
Most people come here with less money in savings than we've spent in the past two years, just paying rent, utilities, food, petrol [gas] etc.
Fortunately, we're not totally broke and we're going back to the USA and my partner has already found a project to work on in the USA.
I've been slammed left and right in many immigration forums for posting info on the difficulties of making it work out as a Canadian immigrant [or temporary resident with a work permit as in our case]
I just came here out of curiosity to see what people were posting on the British forums about Canada.
Again, if you have a prearranged position, it might work, but you have to be aware of fuel costs and other costs, food etc especially.
Thank god we didn't try to buy a house here, or else we'd be totally bankrupt by now!
Also, I've noticed that it costs even more to fill the car up here than it does in the USA.
Oh well.
Good luck everyone.
D in BC
Aug 1st 2006, 4:46 pm
#262
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by 2006can
but no one ever tells them how hard it is to get employment, and how low salaries really are, and how high the cost of living is.
Also, I've noticed that it costs even more to fill the car up here than it does in the USA
Aug 1st 2006, 5:50 pm
#263
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by iaink
You obviously never visited this forum!
I here am new! LOL.
I mean in general, on other forums....such as expatforum.com the Canadian Immigration forum section. People there blast anyone who says it is hard to make it in Canada.
You wont get much sympathy from a british readership on that front.
I here am new! LOL.
I mean in general, on other forums....such as expatforum.com the Canadian Immigration forum section. People there blast anyone who says it is hard to make it in Canada.
You wont get much sympathy from a british readership on that front.
Aug 1st 2006, 5:54 pm
#264
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 15,883
Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by 2006can
How expensive is gas per litre in England? It's horrible how much gas has gone up since the start of the misguided Iraq war.
Aug 1st 2006, 6:00 pm
#265
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by 2006can
How expensive is gas per litre in England? It's horrible how much gas has gone up since the start of the misguided Iraq war.
Aug 1st 2006, 6:09 pm
#266
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by Liana
I can't move from here because this is where our work is and my house is lovely but only 4500 sq ft and of course the taxes here are maybe peculiar to this city only, but my house is probably just below a million in value but nowhere near the 1 to 2million pound properties my family have in London or the $2 million properties owned by relatives in Australia - they are all beautiful houses and mush cheapere to maintain.
I must appreciate my own scrawny hovel a little more
I actually think that post was a wind up
Rich.
Aug 1st 2006, 7:31 pm
#267
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by iaink
All the really skinny ones are employed in the UK .
Space and house sizes are relative things, and as this is a British Expat site, I would guess most Brits are probably pretty happy with the extra space here. But the GTA does remind me if the UK with all the new ticky tacky houses shoehorned together.
.Space and house sizes are relative things, and as this is a British Expat site, I would guess most Brits are probably pretty happy with the extra space here. But the GTA does remind me if the UK with all the new ticky tacky houses shoehorned together.
Aug 1st 2006, 7:35 pm
#268
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 15,883
Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by sysclp
My point was more if you really want space and cheaper prices for houses, you are looking in the wrong place if you come to Canada unless you are willing to live out in the boonies.
It would all depend on how you define space.
Aug 1st 2006, 7:43 pm
#269
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by sysclp
I realize this is a British site, but I have been coming here for several years now. My point was more if you really want space and cheaper prices for houses, you are looking in the wrong place if you come to Canada unless you are willing to live out in the boonies.
Last edited by oceanMDX; Aug 1st 2006 at 7:45 pm.
Aug 1st 2006, 7:50 pm
#270
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Re: Misconception on cost of living
Originally Posted by sysclp
I realize this is a British site, but I have been coming here for several years now. My point was more if you really want space and cheaper prices for houses, you are looking in the wrong place if you come to Canada unless you are willing to live out in the boonies.
I would maintain that 95% of prospective immigrants get no further than looking at Toronto or Vancouver, and recently Calgary, and really have no idea what the boonies have to offer in the way of "real" jobs for engineers and other skilled workers in the nearby smaller towns and cities. Canada is a huge country and there are certainly far cheaper places to live than you can find in the UK.My point was that the shoebox houses of the GTA seem large and spacious to someone coming from an average UK home. And as property prices are nuts in the UK (from a Canadian perspective) the cost of housing in the GTA doesn't seem as excessive to a UK buyer as it would to someone from small town USA (or Canada)