are you allowed to swear like that on this site

twiglets, twliglets are a ridiculous price!

I'm flying on the 8th do you want me to throw some out of the window as I fly over you house

On the food front, I have done a direct comparison for last three months here in the Canada versus the previous three months in the Uk (we use Microsoft Money). I have spent less on groceries in Canada, but more on eating out so it seems to be almost exactly the same, give or take £30. The thing that frightens me now is that I have a separate category on our system for beers and wines. I don't like to see my monthy total in black and white. They used to be hidden in my general groceries category as the odd bottle or three found it's way into my trolley at Sainsburys and the costs were 'invisible'

a kind but futile effort!

Bedding and linen is more expensive, but we have found it to be better quality than Tesco, Argos etc where we got the cheap and cheerful in the UK.

Groceries more expensive, but eating out cheaper, so food budget balances out but with far less cooking!!!

Starbucks etc cheaper here, but that means that I treat myself to more lattes than I did in the UK, so probably spend more in total!

Asda is owned by Walmart, they are two different animals though ; even the Walmart i'd visited in the states had lots of fresh produce, but does tend to attract the blobbies in large numbers

Sushi.
Rent (but we did move from London).

Utilities seem cheaper for us, we're spending about $30 per month on BC Hydro; no gas to pay for. I think the aircon and hot water are included in the rent. Car rental seems pretty cheap at about $45 per day - certainly cheaper than it would be for us to own one.

Be careful with car hire - they get you on tax and also insurance, sp the actual price you pay is always higher than that they quote you on the website.

They are generally like RyanAir flights - the sooner you reserve a car the cheaper it is.

But, just because you have reserved a car does not guarentee that they will have one when you arrive (anyone seen that episode of Seinfeld?)

(I'm just talking about our experience in Vancouver).

That said, overall it is far cheaper for us not to own a car and jsut rent one the odd weekend we need one.

One of the benefits of having a Visa gold card when renting a car is the fact that you do not have to take the collision/loss damage insurance coverage offered by the car rental company.

Cheers
Steve