Annual expenses for a family of three

[links18]

Survive? No. Live like kings? No.

 

[nix1]

Survive? No. Live like kings? No.

I hope you meant to say YES for survive, right?

 

[magiqhand]

This is a good topic. I have been asking myself the same question. How much is the minimum salary to get by in calgary or edmonton?
Nix I think that you can get some help from the government for having kids under a certain age. I believe it is something called the child tax credit and the universal child credit. In addition day care subsidy is available for family that qualify.
Lets try to figure out the cost for an apartment or home, TV, Internet, Water, Power, car insurance etc .........
If anybody that lives in alberta is readgin feel free to give us some numbers on the expenses.
Thanks

 

[sachinbapat]

Hi All,

I am landing in Apil 2010 as a PR in Calgary. I would like some experienced members to throw light on the kind of expenses I would incur. Initially I would be living alone & will not mind a shared living. I wanna live either in NW or SW quadrant for sure & close to downtown or University.Assuming I would not be driving a car for the first year, how much expenses per month?

Kindly respond....

Regards,

 

[low]

Might want to clarify on the CAD20K settlement fund. My understanding is that the amount is for a family of 4 based on the Immigration guide that I referred to.

 

[Tapak]

Thanks. We do not want to send our kids to day care, which means I will be working full-time and my wife may be part-time or some part-time work that can be done from home. What if we were to make only $50,000 a year as a family, can we survive in Calgary?

Yes. But don't expect any big savings. I did some quick math and field study when I landed in Calgary.
Rent for 2 bed apartment: $1300 [rent includes electricity, water and heat]. You can check bwalk, rentfaster.ca, etc.
Grocery: $500
Internet + Cell + landline: $200
Car insurance and gas expense: $250 [depends on the usage and car cost]
Personal expenses: $ 250
Average monthly expense for a couple with no kids: $2500. Annual expense ~ $30K
As a thumbrule, I assume 60% take home salary of gross income. In this hypothesis, 50K will result in 30K. Just enough for breakeven.
Some of the assumptions are rent is for condo, car is fully paid off, no lavish lifestyle.
Most likely, I am heading this summer with the above estimate in mind. Let's see, if the ground reality is different