Craig1987

I know this thread is about the differences between the UK and the US, but having spent the past 6 months in Toronto, I realize that so many of the things I buy on a regular basis are much more expensive. My two main vices, Cigarettes and Red Bull are shockingly expensive... At first, I thought it was just those inner city convenience stores, but after much searching, the prices stay relatively the same.

Was a big shock at first. Returning to the uk next week and I'm looking forward to it. I love Canada, I had a great time here, but some things have just been a bit of a shock. Will need to give up the smokes as I'm planning on getting married soon and want to save a bit of cash. Luckily, my wife to be doesn't want a special ceremony, which should leave me more money to go towards rent and maybe guitars...

A lot of things in the uk are just way out of my price range though. Driving is just out of the equation though.

The only thing that worries me is that my fiancee is Japanese. She'll be coming with me to meet my family and prepare for our "fiancee visa" application. Which means we'll need to live in a nicer area of Glasgow. I don't want to live in a cheaper area, only for her to be subjected to constant racial abuse.

alicat26

I found the cost of optical exams in the US to be way higher than in the UK.

Case in point: cost of Wal Mart eye exam = $75 (46 pounds), cost of UK eye exam = 15 pounds (I remember getting one for 10 pounds once!)

NHS also gives free eye tests to those who qualify :-

http://www.opticalexpress.co.uk/eyec...titlement.html

Not sure about the price of glasses and contacts in US in general they seemed high but can't think of any direct comparisons right now......not bought frames in a while!

Mallory

Wal-Mart regular eye exam around $50. Contact exam around $80.

http://eyeexamcoupons.org/walmart-vi...eye-exam-cost/

Joe B

Yesterday we got a letter from our local hospital where we had our son over two years ago they are suing us for extra payments when they said we were fully covered.

Honestly we have been screwed since we got here and don't even get me going on the crazy people we have met.

Looking forward to moving back home, real fish n chips and hols in the med.

alicat26

Guess it varies by location. My last test was 75$.
at walmart.

Jerseygirl

It's probably because some of the opticians are owned by Walmart...some are not they belong to another company and are renting space within the Walmart store.

Mallory

Costco is rated the best place to get eye exam and glasses. Should check there!

Sally Redux

Do they give any free ones, which seemed to be the point alicat was making?

Mallory

She lives in Florida. She was complaining about the cost of a vision exam at Wal-Mart. I was trying to be helpful with telling her it might not be that expensive at some WM stores, and I even supplied some coupons. I also suggested that she could try Costco as it has a good reputation.

She didn't say she was looking for free eyeglasses? If so, then I misunderstood. The Lions Club gives out free eyeglasses if she is desperate.

Sorry, I must have been confused.

Sally Redux

I would say you wilfully misunderstood rather than got confused.

alicat26

No I was just commenting on the noticeable difference in price between US and UK. Im not going to have to worry about finding a cheap eye exam soon!

Mallory

http://www.allaboutvision.com/eye-exam/free-exam.htm


FYI

HappyChap

Interesting thread. Having lived in both countries my gut feeling says that it'd be hard to make a fast, concrete comparison. But many here have made good points that the UK's cost of living can be surprisingly cheaper in the case of many variables.

There are several annual country cost-of-living surveys that seem to get significant coverage in the press. However, most of them rely on converting prices, salaries, etc into a common currency, usually the US dollar. Once the dollar weakens then the cost of living in those countries outside the dollar's influence tends to rise. Prices dont have to change. In fact they can even fall in a non-US country, but they are still high relative to the US dollar.

I tend to enjoy those evaluations that look at how much work (literally hours) does it take for an average employee to buy a beer, or a pizza. That's really putting your money where your mouth is, and you can certainly relate to the concept.

But even then, it's difficult to claim that consumables like pizza and beer are standardized products that can be compared internationally. I'd gladly work an extra hour for my pint of frothy Guiness.

It hasn't been updated recently, but for several years the amount of work required for purchasing an 8 gig I-Pod (ie. a common, uniform product) was used as an index. Check out the story here.

Several US cities (New York, LA, Miami), beat out London. Wonder if that would still be true today?
HC.

bigals

Canadians are always telling me its soooooooooooo much cheaper in the USA and complain they are being ripped off,,So that means Canada is way way dearer than the UK
And i just got told to go home last when i said to a Canadian it is cheaper in the UK.
which is what i am going to do as soon as i have sold everything here

Boy d

wages are also higher / cost of living is cheaper