Cost of living - please help.?

Question

... Cont.... East which is one of the cheaper areas of the country, the cost of living in the UK is too high compared to our wages, so we now feel it is the right time to begin the immigration process and get our asses out of this country before it gets worse. Can you give me a rough or accurate cost of living for what you pay to live in Saskatoon??? thank you in advance for your help x

Answer 1

Hi! We're in Saskatoon. Currently the city is in a really big "boom" because of our resources, and therefore the biggest cost which has risen here is housing. It's literally doubled in the past two years.

That being said, we are still renting! Now we are very lucky, we've lived in the same duplex (semi detached house) for 13 years - we have over 1,000 square feet - 3+ bedrooms and developed basement, and our rent is only 550/month. This is unheard of!! Like I said, we are just lucky. Most places would be double that for rent.

There are three of us - me, my husband, and 16 year old son - just so you know where the costs come from. All are PER MONTH.

Gas - 110- only for heating

Electricity and water/sewer - 120 - electricity is about 85 of that

Internet - by cable, highspeed light - $30

Cable tv - basic cable - 29 (we have cable and internet from same company, so get a bundled deal)

Phone - landline - $28 - but that includes name and number display

Food - about 350 a month - only home cooking and baking - we do take out just once a week (both husband and son eat like horses!)

Clothing costs are very reasonable and good - there are a wide variety of stores, etc.

Gas for car is currently 1.31/litre (very high for here)

Oil change - $30

Car - insurance costs are reasonable, compared to neighbouring provinces. For example, husband has 1999 minivan, pays $80/month.

Drivers license - 25/year

Bus passes - very good transit system here - I don't know the adult cost, but high school bus passes are $48/month. Adults I think are 2.50 per ride.

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This city is just crying out for any workers in anything related to the construction/building industry. Our provincial government has some special programs for getting more immigrants -

http://www.immigration.gov.sk.ca/

Scroll down on this site -

http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=38cefaa...

Some Saskatoon info -

http://www.saskatoon.ca/

http://www.tourismsaskatoon.com/

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Long answer to a long question!

I check back on here a few times a week, so if you post again, I'll try help you out! I'll bookmark this, too.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I'm on Vancouver Island. It surprises me that most of your monthly bills are quite similar to mine on the whole, and comparable to what you'd pay in much of BC, though the proprtions will vary according to where you live. In some parts of the country, your heating bill would be much higher because of the cold. We don't pay a TV or radio licence in Canada. You might have trouble finding rent that low for a house in most parts of Canada. It sounds like food is cheaper in Britain. I'm single and pay pretty close to that for just me, though I'm not trying hard to save money on food. Nights out--well, it depends how fancy you want to go and how much you drink!  A decent mid-range restaurant will cost about $50-60 for food, and probably at least $30 for a drinkable bottle of wine, as a minimum.

If you can get work in your usual occupations, you'll live pretty comfortably. Engineers often have to go where the work is, in Canada. We don't have the population density here in most parts for work like that to be steady, and the distances are great enough that working in one place and living in another is difficult, inconvenient and expensive. Your work and his may not appear in the same place, but yours sounds like it could be adapted to a number of fields.

You may find a car cheaper to run here, depending on your driving patterns. Many areas don't require annual testing though some do. There is no road tax as such. All you pay to run a car is your registration fee(very small), insurance, and gas. I have about the most basic insurance possible, it costs me $60/month with a 40% discount for having a good driving record. As 'new' Canadian drivers you will pay more. But you are likely to find yourself driving much greater distances( a 40-mile round trip commute is common) and aside from that, things are farther apart and you could easily drive 30 miles just doing your weekly shopping. In many smaller places, public transit is very poor or non-existent. Most cars here are somewhat larger than in Britain though that is changing. Many people keep larger and 4WD vehicles just so they can cope with the snow.  

Oh, there's health insurance. Here in BC for a single person it's $54/month, other provinces are different. That pays for most medical services but not dental care, drugs, or glasses. If you're working, most employers have extended health care plans for dental and other things.