deanonlisa

Hi, I was wondering if anyone living in Alberta could enlighten me into the costs i woill need to budget for when we emigrate. We are a family of four (two pre school kids) and will more than likely be running two cars.

Obviously we know the cost of mortgages and taxes but would be interested in seeing what a similar size family spends per month on things such as groceries, services, car/house insurance etc.

Any assistance will be gratefully received

Judy in Calgary

Hello, deanonlisa.

See the thread entitled How much to live, cost breakdown.

In particular, look at post #28 by Steve_P, as he lives in Calgary. It's just him and his wife, so that won't be an exact guide for a family of 4, but it will be a start.

There is useful information elsewhere in that thread too.

For more information about Calgary, see post #8 that I typed in the thread entitled calgary.

Hope that helps.

rabrol

Hello Deanonlisa. We live in Edmonton, AB. Here are our main costs. We have 3 kids (3, 5 & 7). Of course some prices change considerably given the temps of -30 in Winter to +30 in Summer.

Food - $200-250 per week
Natural Gas - $50-200 per month
Electricity & Water - $80-170 per month
Car Insurance - about $100 per month for 1 vehicle (although we pay yearly)
High Sped Internet (5Mb), Cable & Phone service - $98 per month
Pre school for 1 child - $800 per year for 2 afternoons per week
Bank - $0-20 per month depending on which account you go with.

When you move into a house there is also a connection fee associated with most of the utilities, and some will ask for a deposit for 12 months as you have no Canadian credit rating. That said, only the Electric & Water provider asked us for a deposit when we first moved. After 12 months it was credited to our account.

HTH
Rob

deanonlisa

Judy and Rob,

Tremendous, thank you for your time and help its much appreciated. Time to update my budget now.

Thanks a lot

Deano n Lisa

rae

hi, if you go onto the police bit under working abroad on the forum home page, i started a thread called expenses, just to list the very basic day to day stuff folk might like to get an idea of, i'm just north of edmonton, all the best.

deanonlisa

thank you!