Unless your job has dental coverage insurance, which most do. Orthodentists take the piss though. Braces seem almost compulsory over here, and that will suck up a grand or three for a few years, even with insurance coverage as its usually a Co-pay. One of the few Hummers in town is owned by the Orthodentist! My Dentist has a Corvette Convertabe, his (ex) business partner a Porsche. I'm in the wrong business!

I would include RRSP contributions and life insurance in the basic expenses. The state isnt going to do much for you in your old age. I would also budget at least $2k for oil, its not going to get any cheeper.

I tell you, in Ontario the Hydro bill is the single most overcomplicated thing you will ever see.

Frankly Ive no idea how much im paying for what. The cost of hydro is split depending on how much you use (higher users pay more for excess consumption, which is fair enough I suppose, although in practice any family will exceed the 750kWh threshold), then there is the ludicrous "debt reduction" charge, and you pay for transmission charges seperately, and then they factor in transmission losses on top of the amout you actually use ,then there are regulatory charges (???) and fiddle factors gallore. Its nuts. I figure only about half what I pay is actually for the electricity I use. There is no way anyone in Ontario is paying the figures you quote, its just not possible.

Some examples of dental costs. A former lover of mine knocked a front tooth out falling down (unassisted !), replacing it with a false one and the attendant bolts and bridges came to $11,000. (When she left I *so* wanted that tooth back). My children had imperfect tooth alignment, not so bad that anyone in the UK would even notice, but now they have teeth good enough for the USA. Cost : $500/year each for routine maintenance, $5000/year for five years per child for alignment and whatnot slowing to about $1,000 each now for, I suppose, annual confirmation that the teeth are still straight. The one dental bargain was emergency wisdom tooth pulling at $62/tooth.

One helpful thing with the dentist is that they'll pre-bill in December for work to be done over the next year. This matters as the medical bill tax deduction is a percentage of income, it's best to have a lot of bills in a few years rather than a steady trickle. Something unfamiliar to people from the UK is the idea of shopping around for medical procedures but it can really pay, it's certainly worth hauling the x-rays around to a few orthodontists before agreeing to a quote. You can also barter, we paid for one set of braces by automating the dental office billing system and I've had the past few filings free as a commision for referring people with really bad teeth.

Don't forget clothing, entertainment, TV, sat. renewal of appliances, housing maintenance costs. School add on costs,

Our Toronto Hydro bill is $150/month in the summer and $180 in the winter, not very far from the $1800/year quoted. Admittedly, that's for a small three bedroom house with no air conditioning and a gas stove, occupied by two and a half people who are out a lot. I assume it's more in the winter mainly because of the need to use the clothes dryer.

Gas is on some bizarre unequalisation plan, it's $200-$275/month. We use a about $500 worth of wood, for heat, in a winter and a $1,000 worth of charcoal, for cooking, in a summer.

Water (tap water, not drinking water) is $75 every two months.

Property taxes are $410/month.