# Household Budget ? how much does everything cost?



## lmnover (Nov 25, 2012)

Hi all,

Im just trying to do our figures to make sure our move to Saskatchewan from Ireland will be feasible money wise - trying not to look @ it through rose tinted glasses so need the cold hard facts!

Just wondering if anyone could throw a few rough figures at the costs of the following - would be huge help!!!!

We are 2 adults and 1 toddler family:

Groceries - 
Electric -
Oil/gas (whats most common way to heat houses?? - 
Landline & Internet - 
Rent - (would like a 3 bed house in a town outside Saskatoon) and will commute to work in Saskatoon
Car insurance & car tax - 
childcare - 1 child full time
Are there water charges or corportation taxes? any other specific taxes/charges I havent factored in?

Once off / Initial Costs:
Cars - will need 2 second hand cars, 1 larger one (that we ca also use at weekends) and 1 "run around" as we will both be working
House deposit - dreading asking
Furniture for House

Health care seems to be included in the package from the employers
am i forgetting something major here??:ranger:

Thanks!!


----------



## irish101 (Mar 4, 2013)

hi im in the same boat as you but i found this site today which gives a great breakdown of living expenses

www
numbeo.
com

hope this helps


----------



## dealdish (Mar 9, 2012)

hi we live in sk and from wexford. <snip>


----------



## Wexford_Ireland (Mar 6, 2012)

Child care costs are tax deductible, yes that's right if you go to work and have to pay for child care the government doesn't penalize you.

No one is willing to give an estimation of costs because no one spends the same, has the same income, has the same size family, same locations etc etc

That said I have asked in the past if people could give a ratio of monthly outgoings in Ireland v their new monthly outgoings in Canada.

I was reckoning that a family in Ireland was going to buy roughly the same amount of stuff in Canada.

Say you have to spend 3K EUR a month in Ireland to pay your mortgage, car tax, health, sky etc etc and now in SK you pay 4.5K CAD for rent hydro (ESB) etc

You can guess whatever you payout a month in euros needs to be multiplied by 1.5 to get the equivalent in Canada in Dollars

And that lets you do some sums on wages as well.

If you were earning 200 a day in Ireland and surviving but no holidays or savings then you'd need 300 CAD a day to match your lifestyle.

A lot of things are no worse or better than Ireland, gas (petrol) is cheaper but engines are bigger you travel further.
Gas or kerosene is cheaper but the houses are bigger and winters longer harsher but the houses are better insulated.
Car insurance is provided by the province at 1000 to 1300 dollars but no car tax so your annual cost will be the same.
HealthCare free and employers top it up with extras and dental but at least you don’t have to pay VHI levies.

Mandatory pension contribution but that isn’t a bad thing

Beware in your researches of UK based sites or UK based contributors, they are gobsmacked at the cost of living, taxes, motoring costs etc. unless they live in London.


For what it's worth I would say to have a substantially better quality of life you'd need to take you Irish income and cost of living and budget for 1.8 times to get CAD numbers

To match you lifestyle here which may be oppressive and barely above the poverty line take your current income and cost of living and multiply by 1.5

And no, you can't eat the scenery, lifestyle etc in Canada but it does seem to feed the soul. 

Anyone who wants to dispute my figure, I'm more than happy to be corrected with actual figures


----------



## Wexford_Ireland (Mar 6, 2012)

Average household expenditures, by household type (Couples with children)

household expenditure average in Canada is 75K CAD

In Ireland its 42K EUR



> The estimated average weekly expenditure in 2009-2010 for all households in the state was €810.61


So it looks like 1.8 is a better multiplier to use when calculating required salary/wages in Canada


But remember averages don't mean a lot, the wealth gap in Canada is a bit higher than Ireland but on the plus side its not changing unlike Ireland where lower and middle incomes are being crucified and 3/4's of Irish households couldn't keep their houses heated properly this winter. and in some cases most of winter



> over one in three households (36%) have regularly gone without heating this winter to keep their costs down.


Do that in parts of Canada and you are risking your life.


----------



## jassicajoseph75 (Jan 18, 2013)

Wexford_Ireland said:


> Child care costs are tax deductible, yes that's right if you go to work and have to pay for child care the government doesn't penalize you.
> 
> No one is willing to give an estimation of costs because no one spends the same, has the same income, has the same size family, same locations etc etc
> 
> ...


I think you are right. Child health or the health care is such a thing that can be more expensive now a days and we are simply worrying how to tackle this situation. So government should be take some proper actions to give us some sort of relaxation in the health care reforms.

- From "24 Hour AOK Emergency Room Houston"


----------



## lmnover (Nov 25, 2012)

irish101 said:


> hi im in the same boat as you but i found this site today which gives a great breakdown of living expenses
> 
> www
> numbeo.
> ...


yes this is helpful - Im sure its not totally accurate but great to compare current location to proposed new ones. for example - it looks like Saskatoon is slightly cheaper to live in than Regina and alot cheaper than Calgary.
Where are you thinking of moving to?lane:


----------



## Liam(at)Large (Sep 2, 2012)

Wexford_Ireland said:


> Child care costs are tax deductible, yes that's right if you go to work and have to pay for child care the government doesn't penalize you.
> ...
> Car insurance is provided by the province at 1000 to 1300 dollars but no car tax so your annual cost will be the same.


A few notes on the above...

Child care is income deductible up to $7000/year for children age 6 or younger and $4000/year children age 7 to 16. Rough cost for child care in Saskatoon is about $35-40/day.

There is not car tax, per se, but there is is a license plate sticker that has to be renewed yearly at a cost of about $74 (in Ontario).


----------



## pittersol (Mar 7, 2013)

*Living in Canada*

you can google to know about this.


----------



## learn ing (Feb 21, 2013)

Liam(at)Large said:


> A few notes on the above...
> 
> Child care is income deductible up to $7000/year for children age 6 or younger and $4000/year children age 7 to 16. Rough cost for child care in Saskatoon is about $35-40/day.
> 
> There is not car tax, per se, but there is is a license plate sticker that has to be renewed yearly at a cost of about $74 (in Ontario).



Hi,
Is child care tax deductible in Manitoba also?
We will be on a twp - does the class of visa / permit affect these deductions / benefits?


----------



## Liam(at)Large (Sep 2, 2012)

learn ing said:


> Hi,
> Is child care tax deductible in Manitoba also?
> We will be on a twp - does the class of visa / permit affect these deductions / benefits?


Yes, it's Federal. You claim it as an income deduction when you file your annual taxes (yes, you will need to do this on TWP) and if you have overpaid on your salary deductions you will be entitled to a refund.


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Wexford_Ireland said:


> Say you have to spend 3K EUR a month in Ireland to pay your mortgage, car tax, health, sky etc etc and now in SK you pay 4.5K CAD for rent hydro (ESB) etc



What, exactly, are you including in the monthly expenses to come up with a figure of $4500 per month, especially in Saskatchewan?


----------



## Wexford_Ireland (Mar 6, 2012)

I wasn't, the "Say you have to.." bit was just a guess.

I have no idea how much a family of x adults and y children needs to live in SK

I've asked, but no one has answered.

The point I'm making is that if someone who had a family lived for x amount of Euros in Ireland and was now living a similar life in SK for Y CAD then other people could presume that for them the x/y ratio would be similar and could make an attempt at guessing their likely monthly expenditure in SK

And yes, I am phrasing that very carefully 

Do you feel 4.5K is too much? too little? could you give us an indication of what you think a typical 2 adult 2 children family in SK would spend a month?

I'm not being awkward or narky, I genuinely do not know.


----------



## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Wexford_Ireland said:


> I wasn't, the "Say you have to.." bit was just a guess.
> 
> I have no idea how much a family of x adults and y children needs to live in SK
> 
> ...




It seems far too high. Of course every family is different when it comes to expenditures but property in Saskatchewan is not all that expensive when compared to Toronto (for example) and our family of four never spent anywhere near $4.5k per month for mortgage, food, bills (cable, hydro, gas, etc.) entertainment, etc., etc. while living just outside Toronto.


----------



## Wexford_Ireland (Mar 6, 2012)

I think you are being optimistic or neglecting to include motoring costs, transport, furnishings, recreation, alcohol and/or cigarettes, etc etc but I'm happy to be corrected by anyone actually living in SK. 

Remember I'm talking about a family of 4 or 5 which makes a huge difference.

Rents have gone through the roof in the last few years so a lot of the data available is out of date but here is my research, i think all the figures are skewed a bit high by about 10% due to the top 1% but still its indicative at least.


Candian Stats Office household budget 55,000 average family expenditure (4600 per month)
Same site for just SK 52540 (4400 per month)

BC Stats 10140-22310 Total current consumption 53,016 (4400 per month)



Globe and Mail report on costs, "Average spending by the country’s households rose 2.7 per cent to $55,151 on goods and services in 2011 from a year earlier, Statistics Canada‘s annual survey of spending habits shows". (4600 per month)



A neat calculator . Put in area as cranbrook family of 5, small house, 2 cars, 30km a day roundtrip to wokr and watch as your 108k salary leaves you with 745 dollars a year to play with
or put another way 64 k a year (5300 per month)

There is a nice interactive map at CBC News Interactive: Household spending


Ontario 76K (6300 per month)
Saskatchewan 57K (4750 per month)
British columbia 68K (5600 per month)
Alberta 76K (6300 per month)
Manitoba 60K (5000 per month)​

So I think my guesstimate of 4500 is reasonable, not exact but reasonable?:noidea:

Again anyone living in SK care to comment?


----------

