What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Jan 29th 2021, 9:14 am
#61
Sidecar Falcon
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,504
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
You don't usually need to clip them. Imagine those pamphlet things you often see in UK supermarkets or with newspapers covering their latest offers for that week but then all compiled together and delivered to where you live every week. That's essentially what I had dropped off every week in the lobby of my building. They called it a saver bag. The Shoppers Drug Mart was literally a 2 minute walk away from my door so picking up those offers when they started every Saturday was quick and easy and I could just buy breakfast from a nearby coffee shop on the way back.
Tbh urban life in some Canadian cities can be very comfortable and convenient even when compared with living in a smaller and more centralised country like the UK. I didn't live downtown back then either. I lived in what is called midtown which is often quieter, leafier and sometimes cheaper so that could be another good option for you. If you compare it with Manchester then downtown would be the city centre and midtown would be somewhere like Media City, West Didsbury or Chorlton.
Tbh urban life in some Canadian cities can be very comfortable and convenient even when compared with living in a smaller and more centralised country like the UK. I didn't live downtown back then either. I lived in what is called midtown which is often quieter, leafier and sometimes cheaper so that could be another good option for you. If you compare it with Manchester then downtown would be the city centre and midtown would be somewhere like Media City, West Didsbury or Chorlton.
Last edited by DigitalGhost; Jan 29th 2021 at 9:17 am.
Jan 29th 2021, 9:16 am
#62
Sidecar Falcon
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,504
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Your mobile would definitely cost a lot more than that if you really need that amount of data. Your home broadband might cost a little more than that when you factor in tax but not by much and UK broadband seems to be getting more expensive all the time.
Jan 29th 2021, 9:29 am
#63
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 60
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
We've been here over 50 years, came originally because OH got a good job offer, we were young marrieds, and thought it would be fun. We found our "forever" home.
We came "blind", OH came for an interview of 3 days duration, I came with him as I had a close friend already living here ............. I was more interested in seeing her for what might be a very long time than I was in looking around. But the position was only supposed to be for 2 years, then it was extended to a permanent. It meant that we had 2 years in which to look around and really see all the lumps and bumps.
We've never lived anywhere except Vancouver, but have visited every province plus the Yukon, some more than once and at different times of the year.
Some things to remember ....................
People have lived in Canada for hundreds of years, they are used to living in very cold climates during the winter and hot ones in summer.
Almost all apartments and condos, and nearly all new houses have air conditioning installed, retrofitted air conditioning in many older houses.
BC is only "moderate" on Vancouver Island, along the southern part of the mainland coast and for about 100 km inland in the very southern portion. Otherwise it is much the same as the rest of Canada.
In general the winters are drier than the UK (except in southern BC!), and it never feels as cold as it does in the UK.
People are used to, for example, driving and going about their normal business, even if 3' of snow has fallen .............. I always have a laugh when I read online about "heavy snowfall" in the UK, and you can see grass showing.
As a matter of interest, I grew up on the edge of the Pennines, not far from Manchester, and we had some really heavy snowfalls when I was a child. I was still expected to go to school even when the overnight snowfall had reached halfway up the front door and Dad had to clear the path to the street before we could get out. That is what happens here.
Winter clothing here is much better than you would wear in the UK, no need to go out and kill yourself by slipping on ice. Boots and shoes have super ridged non-slip soles, plus you can buy "grippers" that are fixed to your shoes or boots and have usually metal grips. You just slip them on and off as needed.
Thermal underwear is generally pretty cheap, or you can buy lined jeans and trousers.
Hot weather in the summer is common, and you treat it as you might do in warmer areas of the UK or Europe, although NOT holiday-type wear.
My experience over the last 20 years during which we have regularly travelled across Canada in both winter and summer has been that winters are generally warmer and shorter than they used to be. There has been less snow around on the Prairies, in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax etc during the last few years. Summers seem to have been warmer, certainly here in Vancouver.
When we lived in apartments, and when my daughter did so more recently, the joint laundry facilities worked on a system of time slots, you booked one that suited you, and that stayed "yours". Then there would be some free slots when you could use the washer/dryer if you needed to.
We came "blind", OH came for an interview of 3 days duration, I came with him as I had a close friend already living here ............. I was more interested in seeing her for what might be a very long time than I was in looking around. But the position was only supposed to be for 2 years, then it was extended to a permanent. It meant that we had 2 years in which to look around and really see all the lumps and bumps.
We've never lived anywhere except Vancouver, but have visited every province plus the Yukon, some more than once and at different times of the year.
Some things to remember ....................
People have lived in Canada for hundreds of years, they are used to living in very cold climates during the winter and hot ones in summer.
Almost all apartments and condos, and nearly all new houses have air conditioning installed, retrofitted air conditioning in many older houses.
BC is only "moderate" on Vancouver Island, along the southern part of the mainland coast and for about 100 km inland in the very southern portion. Otherwise it is much the same as the rest of Canada.
In general the winters are drier than the UK (except in southern BC!), and it never feels as cold as it does in the UK.
People are used to, for example, driving and going about their normal business, even if 3' of snow has fallen .............. I always have a laugh when I read online about "heavy snowfall" in the UK, and you can see grass showing.
As a matter of interest, I grew up on the edge of the Pennines, not far from Manchester, and we had some really heavy snowfalls when I was a child. I was still expected to go to school even when the overnight snowfall had reached halfway up the front door and Dad had to clear the path to the street before we could get out. That is what happens here.
Winter clothing here is much better than you would wear in the UK, no need to go out and kill yourself by slipping on ice. Boots and shoes have super ridged non-slip soles, plus you can buy "grippers" that are fixed to your shoes or boots and have usually metal grips. You just slip them on and off as needed.
Thermal underwear is generally pretty cheap, or you can buy lined jeans and trousers.
Hot weather in the summer is common, and you treat it as you might do in warmer areas of the UK or Europe, although NOT holiday-type wear.
My experience over the last 20 years during which we have regularly travelled across Canada in both winter and summer has been that winters are generally warmer and shorter than they used to be. There has been less snow around on the Prairies, in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax etc during the last few years. Summers seem to have been warmer, certainly here in Vancouver.
When we lived in apartments, and when my daughter did so more recently, the joint laundry facilities worked on a system of time slots, you booked one that suited you, and that stayed "yours". Then there would be some free slots when you could use the washer/dryer if you needed to.
Jan 29th 2021, 9:31 am
#64
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 60
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
I use my mobile plan as backup for days when there are issues with the home broadband. I dont think I use more than 4GB on my mobile plan in a normal month. I can use up to 10GB if we have interruption to the home broadband supply. I will definitely have to go for a lower plan if we move to Canada. I just did a quick search and it would cost about $145 per month to get close to 100GB on the mobile plan. That is way too much.
Jan 29th 2021, 10:15 am
#65
Sidecar Falcon
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,504
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
I use my mobile plan as backup for days when there are issues with the home broadband. I dont think I use more than 4GB on my mobile plan in a normal month. I can use up to 10GB if we have interruption to the home broadband supply. I will definitely have to go for a lower plan if we move to Canada. I just did a quick search and it would cost about $145 per month to get close to 100GB on the mobile plan. That is way too much.
https://www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones...G&tab=postpaid
Jan 29th 2021, 10:45 am
#66
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,363
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
10GB is likely far more realistic where Canada is concerned. You can get a 10GB package for as little as $25 p/m.
https://www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones...G&tab=postpaid
https://www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones...G&tab=postpaid
Jan 29th 2021, 11:10 am
#67
Sidecar Falcon
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,504
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Our family members have between 2 gb and 5 gb per line and we never go over. I assume if we used public transit a lot and were constantly streaming youtube on the bus etc it would be different. I use data most for Waze in the car or reading emails while stuck in a line
Jan 29th 2021, 11:18 am
#68
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,363
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
The problem with that is that mobile data doesn't even really work on the subway in Toronto anyway so unless you're just a frequent user of buses or trams, paying for a massive data allowance just to stream media is pointless. You would be better off just downloading it from home ahead of time.
Jan 29th 2021, 11:43 am
#69
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 60
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
10GB is likely far more realistic where Canada is concerned. You can get a 10GB package for as little as $25 p/m.
https://www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones...G&tab=postpaid
https://www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones...G&tab=postpaid
Jan 29th 2021, 11:56 am
#70
Sidecar Falcon
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,504
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Home broadband data usage caps used to be a real issue in Canada but that's not really the case anymore.
Jan 29th 2021, 12:53 pm
#71
Oscar nominated
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: Moncton, NB, CANADA
Posts: 50,821
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
There are coupons of course but they're mostly piddling amounts not worth bothering with.
The supermarkets are far less competitive than they are in the UK and subsequently Canadians tend to shop a bit more frugally than we do.
Very often one store's flyer has a great deal and then the other store does exactly the same. Maybe it's a spy at the printer who sees the price on something and alerts the rival. 
Just sit down with a couple of flyers for supermarkets that are convenient to you - and that's not necessarily just near home or work, it might be somewhere else you have reason to go like a medical appointment, a friend in another part of town or whatever.
Write down the standout prices like between a third and two-thirds off. If you can see one store stands out, shop there that week. If there are 9 great deals in one and one great deal in another, can you include the other store and get all ten great deals? Maybe someone else in the household can drop into that shop. Perhaps you need to go to a mall for clothes and there's a different supermarket there. It's only one item.
You're essentially shopping with a list, but it's a targeted list and you spend less time there when you know where everything is.
You soon get used to how often the great deals come around, so when chicken is cheap buy a couple. Then next week when beef's cheap buy a couple of those and so on.
Buy a giant water melon for $4, don't get one when they're $8 but get whatever fruit is half price that week instead.
It's enormously satisfying when every $100 worth has only cost you about $65 for 5 minutes on a list and maybe 10 minutes extra shopping time.
Of course it might not be feasible if you have limited options and they are nowhere near each other. But very often you might be passing one to get to another or it's only a two minute detour.
Jan 29th 2021, 1:08 pm
#72
Sidecar Falcon
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,504
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
I was about to say that it's not really clipping, but I see you came back to that.
There are coupons of course but they're mostly piddling amounts not worth bothering with.
I think you're right about the competition. Sometimes I think they even have spies (industrial ones?) in each others camps. Very often one store's flyer has a great deal and then the other store does exactly the same. Maybe it's a spy at the printer who sees the price on something and alerts the rival.
Just sit down with a couple of flyers for supermarkets that are convenient to you - and that's not necessarily just near home or work, it might be somewhere else you have reason to go like a medical appointment, a friend in another part of town or whatever.
Write down the standout prices like between a third and two-thirds off. If you can see one store stands out, shop there that week. If there are 9 great deals in one and one great deal in another, can you include the other store and get all ten great deals? Maybe someone else in the household can drop into that shop. Perhaps you need to go to a mall for clothes and there's a different supermarket there. It's only one item.
You're essentially shopping with a list, but it's a targeted list and you spend less time there when you know where everything is.
You soon get used to how often the great deals come around, so when chicken is cheap buy a couple. Then next week when beef's cheap buy a couple of those and so on.
Buy a giant water melon for $4, don't get one when they're $8 but get whatever fruit is half price that week instead.
It's enormously satisfying when every $100 worth has only cost you about $65 for 5 minutes on a list and maybe 10 minutes extra shopping time.
Of course it might not be feasible if you have limited options and they are nowhere near each other. But very often you might be passing one to get to another or it's only a two minute detour.
Those big pharmacies are consistently the cheapest for basic dairy stuff, soft drinks, cereals, toiletries too.
There are coupons of course but they're mostly piddling amounts not worth bothering with.
I think you're right about the competition. Sometimes I think they even have spies (industrial ones?) in each others camps.
Very often one store's flyer has a great deal and then the other store does exactly the same. Maybe it's a spy at the printer who sees the price on something and alerts the rival. Just sit down with a couple of flyers for supermarkets that are convenient to you - and that's not necessarily just near home or work, it might be somewhere else you have reason to go like a medical appointment, a friend in another part of town or whatever.
Write down the standout prices like between a third and two-thirds off. If you can see one store stands out, shop there that week. If there are 9 great deals in one and one great deal in another, can you include the other store and get all ten great deals? Maybe someone else in the household can drop into that shop. Perhaps you need to go to a mall for clothes and there's a different supermarket there. It's only one item.
You're essentially shopping with a list, but it's a targeted list and you spend less time there when you know where everything is.
You soon get used to how often the great deals come around, so when chicken is cheap buy a couple. Then next week when beef's cheap buy a couple of those and so on.
Buy a giant water melon for $4, don't get one when they're $8 but get whatever fruit is half price that week instead.
It's enormously satisfying when every $100 worth has only cost you about $65 for 5 minutes on a list and maybe 10 minutes extra shopping time.
Of course it might not be feasible if you have limited options and they are nowhere near each other. But very often you might be passing one to get to another or it's only a two minute detour.
Those big pharmacies are consistently the cheapest for basic dairy stuff, soft drinks, cereals, toiletries too.
It's really just a case of when in Rome though. I love crumpets and have done since I was a kid however whilst a pack of crumpets can be bought for 25p in the UK, I used to pay $1.75 for them from Metro. All that meant was that I would buy them less often and have them as an occasional treat rather than a daily staple and when they were on offer (e.g. 2 packs for $2) then I would buy them and freeze a packet. Canada is quite good in that you can still get a lot of British products from the supermarket that you would need to buy from a specialist place in the US. Orange Pekoe tea is pretty decent and the large Indian population means you'll never run out of Patak's curry paste, hob nobs or rich tea biscuits.
The UK has that kind of retail espionage too. Back in my youth I used to go out with a girl who worked in a place called The Bear Factory. It was a smaller UK chain that essentially stole Build-A-Bear's idea before BAB was really a thing in the UK. She told me that several times a week they would have to kick out Americans in suits who would just walk around the store taking pictures and making notes and avoided eye contact with the staff at all cost. Eventually they were bought out by BAB though.
Last edited by DigitalGhost; Jan 29th 2021 at 1:21 pm.
Jan 29th 2021, 3:44 pm
#73
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2016
Location: Ontario
Posts: 192
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
I will appreciate if you could give me a list of things that you need to pay for over there and estimated cost for say a family of 4. 2 adults and 2 children. My current list includes: hydro(electricity?), gas, water, waste management (depends on bin size?), mobile phone plan (seems pretty expensive), car insurance, petrol (gas) and house internet plan (seems expensive for the lowest of speeds). Worst case rent cost for a nice/comfortable 2 bed in the greater ontario area (e.g. hamilton, oakwille, brampton) should be maybe $2000?
Not to forget childcare for at least 1 child but hopefully we can avoid this if my 4 year old can go to school. I read that Toronto has pre-k.
Did I miss anything?
Thank you.
Average rent in our small town in Ontario is about $2,000 for a 3 bed house but very few available and they get snapped up very quickly. Same with apartments, very unusual to see them listed for more than a week.
We pay about $250 a month for our two mobile phones, both have unlimited texts, calls, data.
Broadband is around $100 a month.
Car insurance is around $1,200 a year per vehicle with a few adjustments here and there for age, location etc. I'd imagine your costs would be a lot higher as you don't yet have any years of NO claims.
Gas is about $1.08 a litre at the moment, has been as low as 80 cents a while back.
Home insurance, we pay about $1,000 a year, that's for buildings and contents.
Property tax is about $3,000 a year for our property, this goes up or down depending where you are. For this, they collect the garbage and plastics once a week.
Hydro is about $100 a month, only two of us in our property.
Propane (gas) for the furnace is around $70 a month, we have forced air heating.
For water we pay $100 every 4 weeks to fill our tank, it has to be delivered to us as we are off the 'city' limits.
The septic is emptied once a year, that's about $300.
Not sure how others manage to feed themselves for so little but we regularly spend $180-$200 a week on shopping.
No taxis in our town so if we go out, one of us has to drive and so NO drinking for them.
As you can see, it's not cheap, it all adds up to about $4,500 a month. I suppose you could tweak things a bit here and there but that's a rough estimate for us two.
As we used to say in my area of London, UK...About $53,000 a year before you've had a 'cup of tea'
Jan 29th 2021, 4:28 pm
#74
Banned
Joined: Apr 2009
Location: SW Ontario
Posts: 19,879
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
I have no idea about current childcare costs, been there done that many moons ago. I've heard from younger mums that it's not cheap.
Average rent in our small town in Ontario is about $2,000 for a 3 bed house but very few available and they get snapped up very quickly. Same with apartments, very unusual to see them listed for more than a week.
We pay about $250 a month for our two mobile phones, both have unlimited texts, calls, data.
Broadband is around $100 a month.
Car insurance is around $1,200 a year per vehicle with a few adjustments here and there for age, location etc. I'd imagine your costs would be a lot higher as you don't yet have any years of NO claims.
Gas is about $1.08 a litre at the moment, has been as low as 80 cents a while back.
Home insurance, we pay about $1,000 a year, that's for buildings and contents.
Property tax is about $3,000 a year for our property, this goes up or down depending where you are. For this, they collect the garbage and plastics once a week.
Hydro is about $100 a month, only two of us in our property.
Propane (gas) for the furnace is around $70 a month, we have forced air heating.
For water we pay $100 every 4 weeks to fill our tank, it has to be delivered to us as we are off the 'city' limits.
The septic is emptied once a year, that's about $300.
Not sure how others manage to feed themselves for so little but we regularly spend $180-$200 a week on shopping.
No taxis in our town so if we go out, one of us has to drive and so NO drinking for them.
As you can see, it's not cheap, it all adds up to about $4,500 a month. I suppose you could tweak things a bit here and there but that's a rough estimate for us two.
As we used to say in my area of London, UK...About $53,000 a year before you've had a 'cup of tea'
Average rent in our small town in Ontario is about $2,000 for a 3 bed house but very few available and they get snapped up very quickly. Same with apartments, very unusual to see them listed for more than a week.
We pay about $250 a month for our two mobile phones, both have unlimited texts, calls, data.
Broadband is around $100 a month.
Car insurance is around $1,200 a year per vehicle with a few adjustments here and there for age, location etc. I'd imagine your costs would be a lot higher as you don't yet have any years of NO claims.
Gas is about $1.08 a litre at the moment, has been as low as 80 cents a while back.
Home insurance, we pay about $1,000 a year, that's for buildings and contents.
Property tax is about $3,000 a year for our property, this goes up or down depending where you are. For this, they collect the garbage and plastics once a week.
Hydro is about $100 a month, only two of us in our property.
Propane (gas) for the furnace is around $70 a month, we have forced air heating.
For water we pay $100 every 4 weeks to fill our tank, it has to be delivered to us as we are off the 'city' limits.
The septic is emptied once a year, that's about $300.
Not sure how others manage to feed themselves for so little but we regularly spend $180-$200 a week on shopping.
No taxis in our town so if we go out, one of us has to drive and so NO drinking for them.
As you can see, it's not cheap, it all adds up to about $4,500 a month. I suppose you could tweak things a bit here and there but that's a rough estimate for us two.
As we used to say in my area of London, UK...About $53,000 a year before you've had a 'cup of tea'
Septic / Propane / Water would normally only be applicable for someone living outside of a City... in the wilds of the country.. you mention 'town' so I'm curious!
No property tax for rentals.. by the way, OP!
Jan 30th 2021, 12:38 am
#75
BE Forum Addict
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,363
Re: What made you decide to make the move to Canada
Internet is $48 + HST per month unlimited at 150 mb/s speed.
You need to shop around on those services, play one company off against another and threaten to leave to get the best prices.