with that tax bill - the MVA has to be at least in the million mark - about $1.25 million - $1.5 million?

well done ....

Childcare is expensive. Ours would be a little lower if the girls went to a daycare as one is in halftime kindergarten. But since we have someone come to our home (for various reasons this is necessary), we'll continue to pay her the same amount even when the eldest is in grade 1 (i.e. full time) next year.
Of course you do get a tax break on $7k per child on childcare but it's still a big expense.

Atta boy:

Gotcha. I have no idea where most places are in Ontario, just Whitby, Oshawa, Port Hope and points between there and Belleville, I am lost when it comes to any place else out that way.

We just spent $40 on two pizzas as I was too lazy to cook. Bad money management there

All of it

In the early days of "making the move" the exchange rate was around $2.30 to the £. Most of the stuff in the supermarkets looked cheaper than Bristol to me.

In later years, the fall in the £ made it seem more expensive, but most of the fall happened while actually living here.

Using my UK income as a guide that obviously made it all seem more expensive but in terms of prices, while some things have gone up a fair bit, I find an awful lot can still be bought for the same price (or just a small increase) as when we moved here (Moncton) in 2005.

Property taxes jumped $1400 to $2200
Water bills $170 quarterly, now $190.
Electricity equalised @ $240, now $256
Milk $5.40 for 4l to $6.60
The micro wave stuff for kids school lunches can still be stocked up on for the same price.
Cheapest bread was £1.69, now $1.99
TV package started at $80. We were recently paying $100 but I recently halved that as the latest minimum package is more minimalist than it used to be.
Bus fare was $1.75, now $2.25.
Taxi fares between $6.50/$10, now $7/$11.
10lb apples $4.99, now $5.99.
Mushrooms $3.49 lb, now $5.98 (luckily often 2 for 1)
Shrimps originally $9 for 900g most of the time, now lucky to see them for $15.
Pepsi 2l bottles around $1.50 rather than $1.20 but still available for 2005's $1 quite often.
1.14l whisky was around $32 now $36. Acceptable white wine $11, now $13, ditto red @ $17, now $19

One sneaky change though is keeping the prices the same but reducing the size. Loads of 2l ice cream tubs dropped to 1.89 and then 1.65.

I'm instituting a no cook dinner every Saturday I've decided...maybe it's obvious where I'm going wrong !

Hope you enjoyed- do you know I bloomin well forgot about the eclipse. I think the children were in the hot tub at that point- can't say I noticed anything unusual!

It got a bit darker and a bit more golden. I tried to take some pics but haven't downloaded them yet but I doubt any were successful.

The pizza was fine. I'd just found out that gluten free was available so I had to try it didn't i? A cheese toastie would have been more frugal.

Those are some good deal apples. I paid 6.99 for 5lb of apples yesterday and they were on sale. (normal price is 7.99)

Guess even when grown in BC they gotta charge us more....

One thing that annoys me with the grocery stores is they will raise the price on items, then put them on sale, but reality is the new sale price is only a few pennies cheaper.

Like cheese yesterday was on "sale" for 14.99 and the tag showed 24.99 as the normal price, but last week when the cheese was not on sale, it was priced at 16.99, so the actual price reduction was only 2 dollars.

I am price saavy and very aware of prices, and rarely get tricked by this.

Very irritating.. But 2 of 3 stores are owned by the same company, so no real competition, the Loblaws owned store is a joke and a waste of time.

Not to mention our stores are like 25% smaller then other regions, so we get a crap selection too.

Panago has a decent gluten free, but the price is a tad high, 16.99 or something for a medium or maybe it's a large, I forget, but not bad.

It was cloudy and pouring rain all day, so no view of the eclipse, always seems to be clouds when an eclipse happens, it was like buckets of rain though, have a lake forming down the street, deep enough now for geese to swim in, and someone just spent money planting sod and now its a lake....oops.

We are not happy about it, but Oakville prices are very high, the tax ratio is not particularly. The taxes were much lower when we bought it, we got hit badly by a reassessment after we had owned it for a few months. Note to buyers out there, if your house has had major renovations/addition then the taxes will be reassessed (and backdated) at some point. Ours were backdated for three years, that was a nasty shock.

I know exactly what you mean but I find the 'deal' is still usually good.

But they don't seem to know the "price" themselves.

Coffee on offer one week - $14 down to $8 while another week it's $9, save $3.

And those multi-purchase deals when it says buy one @ $3 get one free, those things are really NEVER sold at $3 each, but $3 for two is still a good price.

When Pepsi's on offer @ 4 for $6 ($1.50 each) it'll say "save $1.29 as if it's $2.79 normally but I've never seen it more than $1.99

Money is a bit tight. For us at the moment, so I've been meaning to sit down and do some maths regarding expenses, so this is a good practice run!

TV and internet costs $120
Food shopping probably $150 a week
Car insurance $50
We're renting so no property tax right now..
Water $35
Electricity $100ish
Oil maybe $90
Propane maybe $60
Mobiles $80 for 2
Gas $450
Rent $750

We had more income in the UK so were able to save a little, not happening here yet. We've also not paid tax yet due to being self employed without enough income! There are business expenses that I've not included - more rent, insurance, utilities and so on.

Currently, financially we are worse off. But that's because we're not earning as much as we were in the UK. Food and utilities will be more here, fuel is more because we drive further. But despite all that I'm still happier here...

Soda is like gas, the prices never seem to stay the same. One day a 2 liter will be 1.89, then down to 1.49, back up to 1.97....This is at Wal-Mart, the price is different every other week it seems.

Wal-Mart can be tricky at times, they will have 24 backs at the door on pallets, with X price. I did the math per can, and it was a better deal to buy 2 12 packs, then the 24 pack.

I find this a lot, doesn't usually pay to buy in bulk for most things. Eggs the same, not a huge difference but the 24 pack flat at Coscto came t 24 cents an egg, but 2 12 packs at Save On comes to 18 cents per egg. (regular factory eggs, the fancy free range, cage free etc are anywhere from 5 to 9 dollars per dozen. There is a difference in yolk color, the free range labeled eggs are very nice yellow yolk, the cheap eggs are a very light yellow and tiny yolk, but the prices for free range way too high.)

I never go shopping without my calculator.

How can they back date a tax on something you didn't even own?
That's like making the new owner of a car pay old parking tickets.