What's your approx property budget Pea, I'm sure you'll get a flood of interesting and whacky ideas from people on BE, as people live all over the country (and seem to have time on their hands ). Do you prefer town or rural or semi-rural?

In Canada the property (council) tax & utility bills are at least double what you paid in the UK IMO

Petrol per month cost will be the same as the UK because we tend to travel further to get things, more to see etc.

Medical insurance not working under 65 add at least another $200 - $300/mth - after deductibles or limits depending on how much you pay for the coverage.

plug in your details & get a quote http://www.coverme.com/products/flex...ns.jsp?MKT=W9G after selecting the province then click on 'combo plus enhanced' plan.

I punched in some data for medical, prescription & dental coverage for a couple aged 55 - the premium is $285.90/mth. coverage is is 90% on the prescriptions 80% dental.

In our situation our all in utility bills in Toronto flat across 12 months is approx $400/mth. Utilities include Electricity, Gas, water, land line phone (no cell phone), Cable TV, internet - with the service BS charges & HST included its expensive.

Our car & house insurance combined with CAA runs us $130/mth for basic third party insurance on our 13 year old vehicle - $1000 deductible on each of the house & car

Our petrol bill is around $160/mth - we drive a lot, go across the border 4x per year, we are over 65 retired so no to work traveling

Our grocery bill is minimal, we don't entertain, rarely if ever eat out, take in the odd movie. That's us, basic retiree living in Canada

Added expenses would include house & car repairs/maintenance, clothing, gifts for the children & any out of country trips/vacations - budget $$$$$$

Same here, we pay roughly $130 a month and the vast majority is delivery charge etc. Back in the City we paid the same amount every other month.

Have a look at Picton, ON and the Quite Region. Or around Kingston,ON. Nice areas, at Lake Ontario and not too far from Toronto. It's not the sea side but if you don't know you could convince yourself it is. It even has tides and waves
Not sure about the property prices though.

On the basis that you're living in a house not an apartment, I'd be interested if you could also add & comment on your all in utility costs flat across 12 months similar to what I did in my last post?

Utilities include - Electricity, Gas, water, phone, Cable TV, internet

As well, what are you paying for house & car insurance per month?

Of course property tax is another issue & one that pi$$es me off royally

I don't think we would want to spend more than $300 000 so we have savings to fall back on and preference would be semi-rural.

It really helps to get a good idea of living costs so thank you for taking the time to reply not2old. I'm interested to see what our medical cover will cost so I'll check that link out later.

Our approximate bills per month now in $ for 3 bedroom house are
Council Tax $215
Gas & elec $210
water $50
phone $82 This includes unlimited broadband as I work from home & TV
petrol $580 G commutes which is why it is so expensive
car & house ins $75
TV licence $20
mortgage will be paid off when we move so that won't be an issue.

Apart from medical cover and the service BS charges & HST, is there anything else we should be aware of?

Thanks I'll add those to my list!

I think we've covered most of the major costs

On the medical coverage, I plugged the numbers for you already for a couple aged 55 the premium as stated in my edited post is $285.90/mth

Your basic living costs for what you put in living in the UK for some items are comparable, others are way off

I'll have a run at that as we live in a semi-rural setting, comparable to that contemplated.

Monthly (averaged).

Electricity - $150 as above
Gas - $200 (stove, furnance, clothes dryer)
Firewood - $80
Phone - $200
Cable TV - $0, none installed
Internet - $60
House insurance (farm policy, includes equipment and equine liability) - $75
Car insurance (equivalent of TPFT) - $275
Property taxes - $300

Water, none, well. Sewage, none, septic. Beware that the actual cost is something like $15,000/30 years and $25,000/30 years so, in the year of replacement the potential bill is huge.

Sure no probs:

So we live in rural Almonte, Ontario 2 adults, 3 children (5,3,2) and a dog

Property tax $200/month

Mortgage $1400/month

Electricity $130-$150/ month ( depending on my usage of the air con )

gas (liquid Propane tanks), the gas company fills it up ever so often and we get the bill, so in summer it's next to nothing and in winter it'll be much more. This is a winter estimate $150/month. We just pay $100/month all year long and the summer credit will cover the winter debit

No water/sewage costs as we live on a well and all water is ours We need to get the septic tank emptied every 2-3 years which I was told costs around $300-$500. Which if I spread that cost monthly would take me to $13/ month. As dbd33 said it get's costly when it needs replacing.

Phone/internet/TV around $250/month

Mobile phones (smartphones with data plan) $100/month for both all incl

House and 2 cars insurance (a 6 year old Nissan Versa and a new Dodge Grand Caravan both fully comp) $280/month

Food about $600/month (some shopping done in the States)

Fuel for both cars(OH is commuting to Ottawa every day, I stay at home and do some babysitting here and there) $300-$400/month

Obviously we are a family of 5 and spend a lot of money on the fuel for OH's trip to work every day. I guess if we were retired and didn't have the kids living with us anymore we could reduce the fuel by half and get rid of the Dodge = less insurance. So probably safe around $300/month.

I think our living costs here are less than they were in the UK. We have lower property tax than our council tax was in the UK (by a LOT). We have a well and septic field, so apart from maintenance and 3 yearly pumping out - no cost. Internet and TV about $75 per month (that's with 50mbps). No 'phone as all VOip. $120 per month annualised oil furnace bill. I pay $600 per year for 3 cords of wood (the rest comes from the yard). Fuel costs I dread to think but with gas costing almost half the UK price it has to be less. My season ticket for the train alone in London was something like £3600 a year if I remember rightly! That's about $6000!!!! from already taxed income too!!

We have a modest lifestyle here but we definitely find it - overall - to be cheaper.

based on the cross section of four responses OP, you can see for a retired couple approx $1200/mth average fixed running costs - excludes any mortgage, health insurance & groceries.

With $2000/mth (~£1200) all in basic living (includes health insurance & groceries) for two retirees aged 55 you should be OK, nothing fancy, definitely less than UK living

Just budget $1000 as mad money to do whatever

Rural BC property tax for seniors is way way less than living in Toronto

I agree. Just to add - car insurance is more for us here, but house insurance is less. No MOT to pay for, no TV licence, cell 'phones more if you're on a plan, but as retirees (word?), you could be on PAYG plans which might only cost $100 per year each (and you don't loose your credit each month).

Holy shit, that house insurance is cheap

And why wouldn't it be? Services provided are probably way less than in Toronto.