Garfielduk

Depends where you live and what you are working at. However I see you live in or near Edinburgh which I was lead to believe was an area of high employment in the last company I worked for which was a charity. As a Community Care charity we had to pay in excess of £6.50 an hour for Care Workers and that was 2 years ago so I guess that now they must be on at least £7 an hour, so there are jobs in your area for a lot more than you are earning at £6/hr

or4ngecrush

Well I work with children so no my wages are actually pretty standard (for that kind of job) and yes I have gone down the council route and there's no jobs there so I'm stuck in private. But my main problem is the cost of living in Edinburgh compared with what I'm earning.

Garfielduk

Yes, I know its comparable to the South East of England in terms of costs so am surprised your wage isn't higher. What work do you do with children ? Nursery or something similar ?

Piff Poff

Hi,

We have found some things cheaper than UK and some things more expensive. My husband brings in more dollars than he did pounds and I bring in the same as I did before (i.e. $100 per week to 100 pounds per week) but only do a part time job and my husband no longer spends his evenings working on other peoples cars to supplement our horrendous bills in UK so he now has time to do his own projects. We were fortunate enough to have some cash when we arrived and now have a 4 bed 3 bath house with more equity than mortgage, much nicer than our ex council 2 up 2 down semi

We do find we aren't able to save as much as we could before, but have now started to find what grocery shops to visit for the better cuts at cheaper prices. The price of bread and cheese does scare me, but have found that if you buy baked on premises bread it is cheaper by about 2 bucks a loaf. AND clothes seem to be really expensive (thats if I can find anything half decent of course) so I just try to buy when stuff is marked down and checking stuff in the flyers also helps for the bargains.

So when i'm on the phone to my Mum in UK and am moaning about the cost of something and she immediately converts the price to half of what it cost I just say "Yeah But MUM, I'm earning dollars not pounds" It's a hard concept to get across to people in the UK and takes about six months of adjusting (by which time your nice little nest egg is all but a figment of your imagination) to figure that out and you all of a sudden realise your not as loaded as you thought you were.

All I know is I'd rather be moaning about the cost of living here than suffering the cost of living and the decline of standards in the UK.

For all those that are just here or just about to come or even those that are old hands ENJOY what you have here in Canada, if you don't make it work just think of it as a learning experience, but accept my best wishes for your adventures into the unknown. I hope it all works out for you all.

Garfielduk

But it depends what you want to buy, same in any country; you can pay anything from £2 upto £100 for a t shirt over here. First of all depends whether you want Brands like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren or ****, etc or just don't. However, I must say we are quite lucky where we live as there is a McArthur Glen Outlet Village with over 250 shops who sell their gear from 30% upto 90% off (so you can buy labels), who cares if it was last years design or end of season stuff as in the UK the weather is so temperamental you can wear a t shirt in winter and a sweatshirt in summer
Are there these sort of Outlet Villages over there ?

That's funny, I put a label of a clothing company on line 3 and the site has changed it to four asterisks, it thought I was swearing, AS IF (Big Brothers at work)

Rich_007

Yes, they're generally called Shopping Malls.

Rich.

Butch Cassidy

in my book KFC is swearing.

IceMaiden

My son loves the humour in **** t shirts and must have almost everyone. I am not sure how that would carry across here?

OK you obviously can't say F C U K on here!

Garfielduk

Oh Okay, I just had wrongly assumed that Shopping Malls were the same as our Indoor Shopping Centres like "The Trafford Centre" or "The Metro Centre" where things are full price apart from January Sale time.

Garfielduk

That's the one I wrote, obviously the website is a bad speller

Rich_007

Oh it's the same overpriced mass-market muck aimed at fools with too much disposable, made in sweatshops by disabled 8 year old asians, major differences are that there are always sales...sales...sales...sales, and there is less focus on bling/chav wear, and more on sports/outdoor wear. Most everyone would wear a $2 t-shirt year. Jeans with rips, tears and bleached/paint effects are mostly in vogue amongst the hip and trendy here in K-Town, but it's hardly the Robson-Davie scene. More visiting-mullets-with-bulging-wallets and the size of your truck factor. Maybe a tshirt saying F C U K your momma would go down well ? Not at church though, obviously. That would have to say F C U K you, Satan.

Rich.

dingbat

They are, except there are always sales on as the prices are inflated to give the impression that "30% off" this week is actually a bargain. The only two malls that come anywhere close to the UK ones are the Eaton Centre in TO and West Edmonton Mall (which is like the one up in Newcastle, bigger, but with the same selection of shops over and over). The Pacific Centre in downtown Vancouver is utter pants, in fact the shops are not impressive anyway, perhaps apart from Holt Renfrew.

There are some outlet places - however there is absolutely nothing like the outlet places you mentioned up your way. I used to go to the McArthur Glen Ashford Retail Centre (Kent) for all the good stuff for my kids and return to Canada with suitcases bursting at the seams!

dbd33

Outlet malls are an interesting merchandising concept. Originally they sold last year's lines and/or scratched and dented stuff. Now the chains make slightly shabbier versions of their standard goods for the outlet malls. This one looks quite big from the highway:

http://www.vaughanmills.com/static/n...56q-q7L4EeD1TX

I've never been in, but then I'm a man, I don't do malls. I've never been into Square One or the Eaton Centre either.

Mystic Kazza

I see French connection UK are opening an Irish connection , the logo is apparently going to be "FCEK"

Phil

pinkpanther

I sometimes go to the outlet shops in the US, mainly for GAP stuff and baby clothes like Carters and Osh Josh, I like the selection.

I find that Canadian shopping malls are mirror images wherever you go, same Sears, Bay etc. I like Please mum for some kids stuff but mainly I stock up on things for my boys (ooh I sound like Peggy Mitchell) back at the M&S sales when I go back to the UK for my visits.

I find Sears good for cheap T-shirts and shorts for the kids but they certainly don't last the course. I'm tight and I like to make sure all my kids have a go in the same shorts ;-)