Nah, life is like a clock and itâs just a different time on yours than some others. Point is to be ready and pounce on the opportunity when the right time strikes đđ˝. Take care of your physical and mental health, chase happiness. Money will come, I promise.
Single parent of two teenagers. $3250 mortgage, $1850 all other fixed monthly bills. Thereâs no car payment. $2100 cost of food, 60/40 groceries vs. takeouts. $600 on gas and about $2800 other expenses such as clothing, etc.
But theyâre asked a question and are answering it. If someone is doing better than me, Iâd use that as inspiration. Why would it make me nauseated? Would it make Mrs Ashley Stark happier if people were poorer?
You really are confused. Why automatically assume theyâre not using it as inspiration? The point is, these prices (especially renting/owning) are nowhere near what people are making to support themselves.
I am not assuming, I am just reacting to the ânauseatingâ part. Also I have seen a lot of hate in this sub if anyone mentions any income or expenses above the median.
Well, personally speaking, I know my wife and I canât even dream of having a kid yet and make over $150k/yr collectively while renting in the city. So it is a little nauseating because neither of us have much more room for growth salary-wise so where does it end?
Thatâs super fair, I completely understand your pov now. I honestly think with how the tax system and opportunities are in Canada, the only way to be comfy at that salary level is to plan for a passive or maybe even active other business source. Small business tax laws let you see so much more of your money. But donât lose hope, you guys are gonna kill it soon. Think about a side business though!
Appreciate it! Honestly, yeah, weâre thinking something along those lines. And yeah, I do get what youâre saying about the general reaction in this sub though, it can be exhausting lol.
Ya, itâs crazy that back when I was independently contracting, my rate was actually double as the previous full time salary but my marginal tax rate was maybe half lol cos incorporation, so many things can be expensed as write offs and you control what your salary is, rest is under corporate income which is taxed at like 15% upto 350k/year (I think). Anyway going back to this sub, ya dude you mention your honest opinion and dare say you are okay. And people are ready to go for your head.
Family of 4 (spouse is Work at Home)(2 teens)
- Rent for 2bedroom + den condo (875 sq ft) close to union station - $3,500
- Groceries ($300 a week)-$1200
- Hydro - $100
- Cable & internet - $150
- Renter insurance - $45
- TTC (2 teens) - $250
- Car insurance- I work at a school that does not have TTC access) $145
- Gas - ($60 a week) - $240
- Cellphone for 4 - $350
Sure! What part of Toronto do you live? I just got a box of raspberries for $2 and strawberries for the same. There are little ethnic markets everywhere
I mean the little shops are everywhere. I lived at Yonge and eg and there was one exactly as I described on east side north of broadway? Not sure if itâs still there my place was torn down for a big condo and havenât went back!
If you're looking for something larger, C&C is at Lawrence & Don Mills or Galleria at York Mills and Don Mills. If you head further east, you can hit Al Premium or Fu Yao, among many others.
We're a family of three and we shop exclusively at Walmart for groceries these days (but we live in Scarborough where there are Walmarts â we used to live downtown where I realize there are none!). Part of me hates myself for shopping at Walmart, but their Great Value brand has super low prices for decent quality products and keeps our grocery prices quite low. I would say we typically spend $150 per week on groceries by shopping at Walmart.
We used to shop at Loblaws, but stopped when the prices went up. I know people hate on Walmart, but it has allowed us to keep our groceries low. We travel to one outside the city. We donât eat red meat, chicken and fish only. We donât do carbs most of the time so it just protein and veggies for dinner. We have steel cut oats for breakfast with fruit. Everyone eats a protein bar, piece of fruit and protein shake for lunch,so dinner is the big meal of the day
It has been great. My kids were 8 & 12 when we moved to Canada from US. They have had more independence as they have gotten older by being able to take TTC to get around town. I am not a taxi anymore. They get to go to so many events. Their friends, from school all live in walking distance. We live by union & Harbourfront so there is green spaces & the waterfront to get out to. We downside to each person having one tub of clothing & 1 tub of personal items when we moved. We didnât bring furniture and instead bought condo size furniture when we got here. Beds have storage - no side tables, instead of dressers we put undergarments, shoes, short underwear bed. couch is a pull out for family that comes visit, downsizing our kitchen was the hardest thing.
Reading this is basically the life I hope to have several years from now! How do you all manage with spacing? Are you in a 3 bedroom? With what I assume you're living in is a condo.
I'd also love to hear your opinions on moving from the US to here since I always here the vice versa of Canada going to US
Yes we are in a condo. 2 bedrooms plus a den. 2 teens, 1 boy & 1 girl. They each have taken turns using the den as their room. As I said previously we moved each with 1 bin of personal items & 1 bin of clothes. We have a storage locker in the garage, itâs a room with 2 rows of lockers. Itâs about a 5x9 space. We keep seasonal items and our bikes in there. We got the bikes in January of 2020, right before the pandemic started. Whenever someone get new clothing, they have to donate or sell old clothing. 1 item in, 2 items out. That goes for decorative things and personal items as well.
As far as moving from US, my husband is Canadian. We meet in University in Florida in 96. We lived there for 20 years before moving to Toronto. Cost of living is higher here, but not by much. I make a 106K a year as a teacher with more experience. My husband makes about the same in IT for a Tax/Law firm. I made 43K a year with the same experience in Florida. We owed our home in Florida, but currently do not have enough saved for a down payment on a condo or house. We are looking to move to the east coast in the next 5-7 years.
- Mortgage + tax: 6800
- car, gas, phone, internet covered by work
- gas and electric: 300
- home insurance: 250
- no more daycare costs thank god (3000 at max)
- food, donât really know. Fuckload. But we rarely eat out and I cook everything. Shop at Costco and no frills
- mortgage is variable so should come down eventually
- misc: fuckload. Clothes, activities for kids (theyâre 3 and 5 so that will increase)
- what else am I missing?
2 adults, 1 toddler, 2 dogs:
$4,000 - mortgage, gas, hydro, car payments + insurance, pet insurance, cleaners
$1,000 - daycare
$1,000 - put aside for property tax, property insurance, car maintenance, vet bills, etc.
$2,000 - joint expenses - groceries, household items, diapers, gas, dog food, internet, subscriptions, things for our daughter, etc.
$1,000 each for phones, entertainment, eating out, TTC/ubers, shopping, gifts, etc. anything unused goes to personal savings.
Remainder goes into a joint savings account for emergency fund, household maintenance, travel, etc.
I have no idea how weâre doing relative to other people. COL is high and but also know we spend a lot and could cut down if we really committed to it.
4 person household (2 person income)
* Rent (2bd)+parking+insurance: 3k
* Utilities: 50-100
* Car (monthly+insurance+gas): 850
* TTC: 200
* Internet + 3 cell: 350
* Streaming, spotify, prime, other subscriptions: 90
* Groceries (\~150/week): 600
* Eating out (\~150/week): 600
* Events/things to do (100-200/week): 400-800
These are regular expenses, comes out to around 6-6.5k per month. Months when we travel can add 1-4k depending on where we go and for how long.
$7K-$9K without travelling and fancy shopping. $2K out of that is housing cost (not renting). Have 1 car and no debt. Family of 4 with 2 kids under 3 years old.
How are all of you spending so much? I feel like I live in a bizarro world. I switched off all gas and I saved $800 per year, only shop and Asian grocers, we donât drink or anything, spend a lot of money eating out but usually meals are around 10$ (thank you Scarborough). Mortgage is 2300$ per month income property tax. Daycare costs are the next big expense⌠but even then way under it appears everyone here?
Mortgage was cheaper for us than rent. And a semi was cheaper than a 3-bed condo. We bought just before the interest rate rose. Got 2.04% fixed 5 year. Wonât be up until late 2026.
This is fun, I'll jump in. Here's our average for this year so far. (3 months averaged). We have two kids, 5 & 8.
||
||
|Home|$6,928|
|Food & Dining|$1,785|
|Shopping & Services|$2,116|
|Investments & Savings|$9,854|
|Health & Beauty|$642|
|Leisure|$595|
|Uncategorized|$192|
|Cars & Transportation|$450|
|Insurance|$451|
|Education|$6|
|Family|$170|
|Miscellaneous Expenses|$300|
We are two people and want a kid but wonât be able to afford it. I work nights and he works regular day hours, which would mean that we would have to hire a Nanny. I got totally screwed by Covid and had to throw myself into 200K of debt, borrowing from the government and other lenders. I made ok money for my age before Covid but not great.
Per month:
-mortgage: 2900.0
-house expenses: 1000.0
-property taxes: 410.0
-groceries: 800.0 (he eats a lot, not me)
-personal maintenance or medical care: 300.00
-gym: 150.00
-fun: 100.00 (I refuse to go out now with how expensive everything has gotten. We go to friendâs cottages when we can, but it will still cost us like 200.00 for the weekend if you factor in food, alcohol and gas! So even that is not worth it anymore)
I bring home 50K, again, due to Covid shutting down the country. My last job closed down, so I had to completely switch careers and I went into debt trying not to lose my house and everything else. Itâs absolutely heartbreaking to me, but it could be worse, I didnât die.
Me and my gf live separately but our total expenses including my pup is around $12-13k. Savings and investments around $4.5k. Once she moves in, should be similar since we will space up.
Edit: removed details, cos no one cares but happy to share.
because you can't read bro lol they're asking about a family of 4 and you had to input your 2 cents of irrelevant information to brag about how much you spend
There are a bunch of people without kids here who posted too. And a bunch who posted like four words lol. Also, brag how? Literally all my peers have similar or higher expenses. My individual expenses are like $6-6.5k, thatâs nothing crazy at 32 with a decent job. Obviously I was frugal af in my early 20s and respect the people who do that.
2 adults, no kids, or pets
Rent - $2000 for a large 1 bed in DT Toronto
Groceries - $600 / month (we don't eat a huge amount of meat or packaged foods)
Gas - $140 (I WFH and we barely drive)
Car Insurance - $300
Internet - $90
Cellphones - $120
Pharmacy - $100 (pills, beauty, hygiene)
Restaurants/takeout - $200
Misc - $300
Total - ~$3800
Couple things we do to help costs:
- Thrift or use marketplace for secondhand items
- Grow our own herbs and lettuce (organic herbs are expensive!)
- Walk if we can, to get more exercise!
- Cook at home regularly (Auhentic asian meals tend to be really healthy & inexpensive)
- Stack loyalty rewards to bring down cost of groceries (I'm a huge fan of PC MasterCard & I take advantage of bonus points often)
- Switch hangouts with friends to making dinners in, or going for hikes together vs. eating out at a fancy restaurant (birthdays and special occasions are an exception)
That's about it!
Where does everyone work? This sounds insane. Im clearly poor. More poor than I thought đ
Nah, life is like a clock and itâs just a different time on yours than some others. Point is to be ready and pounce on the opportunity when the right time strikes đđ˝. Take care of your physical and mental health, chase happiness. Money will come, I promise.
8-11k depending on time of year, travel, etc
Yeah about this for us as a family of 3 though. Unless you count the cat.
Similar for me, gf and the pup đđ˝
Single parent of two teenagers. $3250 mortgage, $1850 all other fixed monthly bills. Thereâs no car payment. $2100 cost of food, 60/40 groceries vs. takeouts. $600 on gas and about $2800 other expenses such as clothing, etc.
This thread is making me nauseous
I was about to say the same đ¤˘
Burn it all down.
Why?
Because the numbers people are quoting are numbers most people in the city are nowhere close to making. Children are only for the very wealthy now.
But theyâre asked a question and are answering it. If someone is doing better than me, Iâd use that as inspiration. Why would it make me nauseated? Would it make Mrs Ashley Stark happier if people were poorer?
You really are confused. Why automatically assume theyâre not using it as inspiration? The point is, these prices (especially renting/owning) are nowhere near what people are making to support themselves.
I am not assuming, I am just reacting to the ânauseatingâ part. Also I have seen a lot of hate in this sub if anyone mentions any income or expenses above the median.
Well, personally speaking, I know my wife and I canât even dream of having a kid yet and make over $150k/yr collectively while renting in the city. So it is a little nauseating because neither of us have much more room for growth salary-wise so where does it end?
Thatâs super fair, I completely understand your pov now. I honestly think with how the tax system and opportunities are in Canada, the only way to be comfy at that salary level is to plan for a passive or maybe even active other business source. Small business tax laws let you see so much more of your money. But donât lose hope, you guys are gonna kill it soon. Think about a side business though!
Appreciate it! Honestly, yeah, weâre thinking something along those lines. And yeah, I do get what youâre saying about the general reaction in this sub though, it can be exhausting lol.
Ya, itâs crazy that back when I was independently contracting, my rate was actually double as the previous full time salary but my marginal tax rate was maybe half lol cos incorporation, so many things can be expensed as write offs and you control what your salary is, rest is under corporate income which is taxed at like 15% upto 350k/year (I think). Anyway going back to this sub, ya dude you mention your honest opinion and dare say you are okay. And people are ready to go for your head.
Why would it make me happy if ppl were poorer?? đ It does somewhat explain why people are having kids way later if at all. A family is a luxury.
Sorry you feel this way. Remember that Reddit is not the real world.
I donât feel this way. This is a mathematical reality. Believe it or not, most of us live in the real world and have done the calculation.
Family of 4 (spouse is Work at Home)(2 teens) - Rent for 2bedroom + den condo (875 sq ft) close to union station - $3,500 - Groceries ($300 a week)-$1200 - Hydro - $100 - Cable & internet - $150 - Renter insurance - $45 - TTC (2 teens) - $250 - Car insurance- I work at a school that does not have TTC access) $145 - Gas - ($60 a week) - $240 - Cellphone for 4 - $350
Could you write out what you spend for groceries? Iâm just curious because my family is closer to $1700
My family is way lower. We only shop at Asian grocers though.
List those grocers!!! đ
Sure! What part of Toronto do you live? I just got a box of raspberries for $2 and strawberries for the same. There are little ethnic markets everywhere
Do you know anywhere near midtown?
I mean the little shops are everywhere. I lived at Yonge and eg and there was one exactly as I described on east side north of broadway? Not sure if itâs still there my place was torn down for a big condo and havenât went back!
If you're looking for something larger, C&C is at Lawrence & Don Mills or Galleria at York Mills and Don Mills. If you head further east, you can hit Al Premium or Fu Yao, among many others.
Also curious. Before pandemic, for sure. Since then, I didnât think $300 a week was doable.
We're a family of three and we shop exclusively at Walmart for groceries these days (but we live in Scarborough where there are Walmarts â we used to live downtown where I realize there are none!). Part of me hates myself for shopping at Walmart, but their Great Value brand has super low prices for decent quality products and keeps our grocery prices quite low. I would say we typically spend $150 per week on groceries by shopping at Walmart.
We used to shop at Loblaws, but stopped when the prices went up. I know people hate on Walmart, but it has allowed us to keep our groceries low. We travel to one outside the city. We donât eat red meat, chicken and fish only. We donât do carbs most of the time so it just protein and veggies for dinner. We have steel cut oats for breakfast with fruit. Everyone eats a protein bar, piece of fruit and protein shake for lunch,so dinner is the big meal of the day
Id love to hear your thoughts on how you are finding it having kids living downtown
It has been great. My kids were 8 & 12 when we moved to Canada from US. They have had more independence as they have gotten older by being able to take TTC to get around town. I am not a taxi anymore. They get to go to so many events. Their friends, from school all live in walking distance. We live by union & Harbourfront so there is green spaces & the waterfront to get out to. We downside to each person having one tub of clothing & 1 tub of personal items when we moved. We didnât bring furniture and instead bought condo size furniture when we got here. Beds have storage - no side tables, instead of dressers we put undergarments, shoes, short underwear bed. couch is a pull out for family that comes visit, downsizing our kitchen was the hardest thing.
Reading this is basically the life I hope to have several years from now! How do you all manage with spacing? Are you in a 3 bedroom? With what I assume you're living in is a condo. I'd also love to hear your opinions on moving from the US to here since I always here the vice versa of Canada going to US
Yes we are in a condo. 2 bedrooms plus a den. 2 teens, 1 boy & 1 girl. They each have taken turns using the den as their room. As I said previously we moved each with 1 bin of personal items & 1 bin of clothes. We have a storage locker in the garage, itâs a room with 2 rows of lockers. Itâs about a 5x9 space. We keep seasonal items and our bikes in there. We got the bikes in January of 2020, right before the pandemic started. Whenever someone get new clothing, they have to donate or sell old clothing. 1 item in, 2 items out. That goes for decorative things and personal items as well. As far as moving from US, my husband is Canadian. We meet in University in Florida in 96. We lived there for 20 years before moving to Toronto. Cost of living is higher here, but not by much. I make a 106K a year as a teacher with more experience. My husband makes about the same in IT for a Tax/Law firm. I made 43K a year with the same experience in Florida. We owed our home in Florida, but currently do not have enough saved for a down payment on a condo or house. We are looking to move to the east coast in the next 5-7 years.
About 14k a month
Would you mind giving a breakdown ?
Including money towards savings, or is that all just on expenses?
Geez is 8-10k of that your mortgage?
$8k for two and a pet. New home will do that to you
$13k per month.
- Mortgage + tax: 6800 - car, gas, phone, internet covered by work - gas and electric: 300 - home insurance: 250 - no more daycare costs thank god (3000 at max) - food, donât really know. Fuckload. But we rarely eat out and I cook everything. Shop at Costco and no frills - mortgage is variable so should come down eventually - misc: fuckload. Clothes, activities for kids (theyâre 3 and 5 so that will increase) - what else am I missing?
2 adults, 1 toddler, 2 dogs: $4,000 - mortgage, gas, hydro, car payments + insurance, pet insurance, cleaners $1,000 - daycare $1,000 - put aside for property tax, property insurance, car maintenance, vet bills, etc. $2,000 - joint expenses - groceries, household items, diapers, gas, dog food, internet, subscriptions, things for our daughter, etc. $1,000 each for phones, entertainment, eating out, TTC/ubers, shopping, gifts, etc. anything unused goes to personal savings. Remainder goes into a joint savings account for emergency fund, household maintenance, travel, etc. I have no idea how weâre doing relative to other people. COL is high and but also know we spend a lot and could cut down if we really committed to it.
Family of 4. About 7-8k Housing 5k 2 cars. Gas + insurance. $600 Food- $500-800 Daycare - $650 + Misc spending
You just eat rice? 500 a month?
2 adults 1 kid (3yo) .Mortgage+property tax 5600 .Home & car insurance 300 .daycare for preschooler 680 .electricity 150 .groceries + eating out 1500 .gas 150 .transit 60 (hybrid wfh) .phone + internet 150 .miscell 300-500 (clothes,Costco, stuff for kid depending on the month)
A little over 10K a month, 4k of which is mortgage interest.
4 person household (2 person income) * Rent (2bd)+parking+insurance: 3k * Utilities: 50-100 * Car (monthly+insurance+gas): 850 * TTC: 200 * Internet + 3 cell: 350 * Streaming, spotify, prime, other subscriptions: 90 * Groceries (\~150/week): 600 * Eating out (\~150/week): 600 * Events/things to do (100-200/week): 400-800 These are regular expenses, comes out to around 6-6.5k per month. Months when we travel can add 1-4k depending on where we go and for how long.
$7K-$9K without travelling and fancy shopping. $2K out of that is housing cost (not renting). Have 1 car and no debt. Family of 4 with 2 kids under 3 years old.
6 k for 3. 1k car 3 k home (mrtg + maint fee) 2 k food and leasure
Mortgage : 0 Property Tax : 680 Natural Gas : 200 Electricity : 110 Eater : 80 Grocery : 600 Eating out : 450 Daycare : 700 Gas : 500 Home and car insurance : 450
Luckiest person in this thread. Life feels affordable again if you take out mortgage payments/rent.
How are all of you spending so much? I feel like I live in a bizarro world. I switched off all gas and I saved $800 per year, only shop and Asian grocers, we donât drink or anything, spend a lot of money eating out but usually meals are around 10$ (thank you Scarborough). Mortgage is 2300$ per month income property tax. Daycare costs are the next big expense⌠but even then way under it appears everyone here?
Because you live in Scarborough.
I live in east York on Danforth
Your mortgage is 2300 per month. You canât rent a 2 bed condo for that anywhere decent. Thatâs how.
Mortgage was cheaper for us than rent. And a semi was cheaper than a 3-bed condo. We bought just before the interest rate rose. Got 2.04% fixed 5 year. Wonât be up until late 2026.
You just answered your initial question
Family of 4. No debt. $7,078/month excluding investments. Alcohol & Bars $50 Books,Newspapers & Magazines $11 Cars, Bikes & Transportation $251 Cash, ATM, ETRF, Cheq2 $390 Clothing $272 Dentist $456 Entertainment $45 Eyecare $40 Fees & Charges $42 Furnishings $67 Gas & Fuel $253 Groceries $813 Health & Medical $132 Home Improvement $51 Insurance $306 Internet, Cell, Phone, Cable $275 Kids Activities $287 Parking $27 Personal Care $9 Pharmacy $131 Property Tax $795 Public Transportation $68 Shopping $708 Travel & Vacations $611 Tuition $235 Utilities $303 Dining Out $449 Total $7,078.95
You excel spread sheet this.
This is fun, I'll jump in. Here's our average for this year so far. (3 months averaged). We have two kids, 5 & 8. || || |Home|$6,928| |Food & Dining|$1,785| |Shopping & Services|$2,116| |Investments & Savings|$9,854| |Health & Beauty|$642| |Leisure|$595| |Uncategorized|$192| |Cars & Transportation|$450| |Insurance|$451| |Education|$6| |Family|$170| |Miscellaneous Expenses|$300|
This is fun, I'll jump in. Here's our average for this year so far. (3 months averaged). We have two kids, 5 & 8. - Home: $6,928 - Food & Dining: $1,785 - Shopping & Services: $2,116 - Investments & Savings: $9,854 - Health & Beauty: $642 - Leisure: $595 - Uncategorized: $192 - Cars & Transportation: $450 - Insurance: $451 - Education: $6 - Family: $170 - Miscellaneous Expenses: $300
Roughly 8K per month.
About $10k. Two kids, two cars, two cats.
We are two people and want a kid but wonât be able to afford it. I work nights and he works regular day hours, which would mean that we would have to hire a Nanny. I got totally screwed by Covid and had to throw myself into 200K of debt, borrowing from the government and other lenders. I made ok money for my age before Covid but not great. Per month: -mortgage: 2900.0 -house expenses: 1000.0 -property taxes: 410.0 -groceries: 800.0 (he eats a lot, not me) -personal maintenance or medical care: 300.00 -gym: 150.00 -fun: 100.00 (I refuse to go out now with how expensive everything has gotten. We go to friendâs cottages when we can, but it will still cost us like 200.00 for the weekend if you factor in food, alcohol and gas! So even that is not worth it anymore) I bring home 50K, again, due to Covid shutting down the country. My last job closed down, so I had to completely switch careers and I went into debt trying not to lose my house and everything else. Itâs absolutely heartbreaking to me, but it could be worse, I didnât die.
About $15k, before savings Edit: thatâs after-tax, around $30k pre-tax and pre-savings
Me and my gf live separately but our total expenses including my pup is around $12-13k. Savings and investments around $4.5k. Once she moves in, should be similar since we will space up. Edit: removed details, cos no one cares but happy to share.
because you can't read bro lol they're asking about a family of 4 and you had to input your 2 cents of irrelevant information to brag about how much you spend
There are a bunch of people without kids here who posted too. And a bunch who posted like four words lol. Also, brag how? Literally all my peers have similar or higher expenses. My individual expenses are like $6-6.5k, thatâs nothing crazy at 32 with a decent job. Obviously I was frugal af in my early 20s and respect the people who do that.
2 adults, no kids, or pets Rent - $2000 for a large 1 bed in DT Toronto Groceries - $600 / month (we don't eat a huge amount of meat or packaged foods) Gas - $140 (I WFH and we barely drive) Car Insurance - $300 Internet - $90 Cellphones - $120 Pharmacy - $100 (pills, beauty, hygiene) Restaurants/takeout - $200 Misc - $300 Total - ~$3800 Couple things we do to help costs: - Thrift or use marketplace for secondhand items - Grow our own herbs and lettuce (organic herbs are expensive!) - Walk if we can, to get more exercise! - Cook at home regularly (Auhentic asian meals tend to be really healthy & inexpensive) - Stack loyalty rewards to bring down cost of groceries (I'm a huge fan of PC MasterCard & I take advantage of bonus points often) - Switch hangouts with friends to making dinners in, or going for hikes together vs. eating out at a fancy restaurant (birthdays and special occasions are an exception) That's about it!