Round 2 Nesters Market, I go their for cereal and meat as they have better prices for both and better brands for cereal.

Kashi Organic Simply Maize 3.97 (on sale normal price 6.89*)

Envirokidz cereal 2.97 (normal price 4.49)

Stewing meat bison 4.43 (bison is cheaper then beef these days, beef was 7 something for the same size pack.)

Chicken Drumsticks $6.48 (8 in total in the package)

4 packages of sandwich meat 0.99 each (normal price 1.98 each)

Sausages tomato and basil 5.98

* I would never pay 6.89 for cereal, if not on sale, I won't buy it.*


Based on what I bought today combined with what is left in the kitchen, can go a couple weeks, we tend to just eat dinner and the rest of the day just have some cereal or oatmeal or some eggs, dinner is really the only proper meal we tend to make and eat.

My local (meat and everything else) store sells chicken leg 'pieces' which are essentially drumsticks but without the handle part of the bone.

They're two-thirds of the price of the usual drumsticks which actually makes them about half price because you're not paying for the extra bone.

Very wise. There's always some sort of cereal available cheap. It's one of those things that are often cheaper in the drugstores than other places.

I've not seen anything like that here with Chicken, interesting. I am not a huge fan of drumsticks and prefer the breast meat, but the price of chicken breasts are insane now, pushing 20+ dollars for a package with 3-4 breasts, so I've switched to drumsticks since they are cheaper.

I also buy pork chops when on sale, but no sales worthwhile this week for pork.

I often buy cereal at London Drugs, they can have some decent cereal sales.

I didn't say all groceries, but when I worked it out mathematically it is a mixed bag. Some things are cheaper, some things are more expensive but as I recall one of the main things is that items are larger in Canada presumably because people have larger refrigerators so you have to take that into account when making a comparison.

However given the drop in the dollar I wouldn't be surprised if at this moment you're paying more here.

The other thing to remember is that the same items subject to VAT in the UK are subject to GST here, so if you live in Alberta, that's automatically 15% less on those items. Or more accurately, a 15% markup that isn't applied.

anyone have any 2016 updates on 'how much do you spend' - cost of living, expenses - or to the percentage of household income?

Other than the fresh veggies going up, gasoline rocking up/down, the only real increase has been in the property tax, utilities & the about to be Ontario seniors prescriptions deductible that increased 75%.

Much everything is the same as before for me & the missus.

My car insurance bill fell below $500/month but the saving has been wiped out by the fierce escalation in cauliflower costs.

Grow your own car insurance.

If only.

Ours has changed a bit. Some debt no longer exists which helps and we recently lowere our cell from 75 to 35 by getting rid of data and going with chatr.

Rent 900
Tenant insurance 40
Car/ins/gas/misc car stuff 620 avg
Hydro 40 month
Misc payment 150
Food* 300
Dog costs 100
Cable/internet 100

Total: 2,250 month

*we have been able to increase food due to wifes new job.

Our monthly income varies, higher from end of Feb to end of October then we lose disability until end of Feb.


So while my wife makes more we lose disability earlier in the year so total yearly income wont actually go up.

However we have free cash during the early half of the year to save for the back end of the year so we can stay afloat.

Even looks like we might have 100 or so left to actually save each month.

This year is better then last year, no real income increase but a debt decrease helped a lot.


Now if I could fine a job that pays 30k a year we would actually be well off
minus owning a house of course.


Now if there condos dow town Vancouver to rent for 1000 a month that were not crum holes, we would prefer to live downtown and walk most everywhere and ditch the car.

But out here a car is essential so its one of those things you dont want but have to have due to poor transit.


Please note misspellings are due to using a phone with a tiny key pad that is a pain to type on.

Just throwing this out there
So...if you could replace the rent and hydro of $940 with rent and hydro of $720, that would save $220. ($350 if you didn't mind being in a small apartment building)
By living downtown with virtually everything including doctors, hospitals, supermarkets, government offices, shopping mall, 10-20 mins walk you'd not need the car so a further $620 saving, making $840 ($970) available every month to put towards costs of flying to the states or saving for a deposit.

(obviously if disability money was lost completely, then this makes a big difference)

The $100 for cable/internet could be switched to uncapped fibreop TV/Internet.

Perhaps your missus can transfer her job here.

A job transfer cant happen as the place she works is only in Chillliwack. Now if something similiar exists in another province that would be a possibility.

Now if we could find something 30 to 35k a year combined it might be doable.

Only concern is what to do if one of us cant work for an extended time. My wife is bi polar and on average goes manic every 2 to 4 years. Its been 4 now and so far so good if when she goes manic takes her out of the work force for 1 to 2 year on average to recover and start working again.

I am less predicatable and have more frequent emotional ups and downs.

That is our biggest concern what would we do if work income goes away and there is no disability to fall back on.

Anyway to get an estimate on med costs? I know here without coverage hers is around 3 per pill per day for one and around 2 pill for another.

Her main med is not available generic nor is there a suitable generic.

Mine isnt bad 50 month without cover, its available generic.

The only thing I take that isnt covered is a psoriasis cream but since it doesnt bother me, isnt visible, and there is no medical need for the cream hence why its not covered. Pharmacare considers it cosmetic.

If we could just get over the disability issue, before disability I ended up homeless often or in hospital so this has brought a lot of stability to my life since being approved ditto for my wife.

Moving has never been discarded and in fact before we moved here we were looking at a small house on one of the less inhabited islands off Vancouver Island. Mortage with taxes would have been less then we pay in rent. And it was within our ability prise wise but we just dont have the necessary down payment. We would have needed 20% down to make it work.


It basically boils down to me getting long term treatment. If I was beinf treated for borderline, there is a very chance of improvement and success in life. Studies over and over show this.

Without treatment moat borderlines just barely make it in life and dont generally see success in life.

I know a girl who went from a total emotional roller coaster like me, but 20 months ago she started treatment, got a plan and therapy and guidence and now is doing very well and on the road to a nice life.

Now she comes from $$ so parent paid for her treatment.


I am just not emotionally stable enough to hold a job long term. Takes little to stress me to the point of a break down and loss of employment.

Going by your outgoings and saving $100 a month it seems you might have $2350 a month? Or $28,000 a year.

In Ontario that would cap costs at around $1400 a year (non disabled as I mentioned in the other thread, so it could be less) and in NB there would be coverage for $33 monthly each and $10 co-pay per prescription.

From a thread the other day I discovered that in BC you pay a premium for health coverage. On $28k that looks to be $70 or $90 a month for what is no fee in other provinces.

So on that $28k you'd be saving MSP of $70/$90 a month and in NB paying $66 between you for drug coverage instead and then only $10 per drug.

The formulary is here. If you look up the drug, look for a bunch of letters to the right. If there's a 'D' it's covered no problem.

Ill take a look at the link. 28k give or take is about right. We makde 29 and something all combined last year. I would have to get up and check the tax returns for exact amount.

Yes BC has premiums, but we dont pay any as those with disability status have no premium, so its not an expense to us.

I have just sat and calculated our outgoings (excluding meals out, petrol, vets/dog food and a few other little bits and bobs)

Gas (heating)143.00
Tax (home)226.00
Ins (House)226.
Internet 62.99
Telly (satellite) 129.15
Electric 108.00
Groceries 550.00 ish per month
Home phone 42.00
2 cells 120.00

Car insurance OH looks after and it's paid 3 times a year and I have no idea, so a few cars it's something like 100 per car per year, upto a 5k valuation.

I tend to put less than $50 in my car per week, but I get paid delivery mileage with counteracts that, 2 deliveries to Joffre will bring me $60 after tax. I have no idea what OH puts in his.

Ah, right.

This is where I don't like systems that go by category rather than real circumstances.

My mother in law gets her prescriptions for co-pay of $9.05 under the Province/Blue Cross Seniors Drug scheme. In fact Shoppers Drug Mart makes a seniors contribution of $4 to that so she only pays $5.05. But officially it's $9.05 and no other payment.

Her income is actually more than mine by about $3k or $4k depending on my expenses in respect of renting out. If my income went up to her level, my co-pays would be $10 under the Province/Blue Cross scheme but the premiums would be $33 a month.

And I'm the one with the housing expenses.

It's a skewed system.