ya i saw that too and thought they implied that it was for 1 person as well. read it again and if it's a family of 4 the food cost is about right. that's around what we spend with our family of 4

I'm very interested in this childcare place that can take care of 2 kids for $1242 a month.

It's hard enough to find a place to take care of ONE kid for $1242 a month!

$200/week on food for 2 adults/2 kids...

Ain't nobody got time to clip coupons or hunt the flyers for sales in Vancouver. :troll:

feels bad for the parents without in-laws/parents to take care of their kids during the day

The place my GF works at charges;

Fees / Investment
5 Days a week - $1200
3 Days a week - $900
2 Days a week - $650

The 3 - 5 Program is open from 7:30am - 5:30pm

The infant toddler program is a tad more $$

They're probably making $1300~ after tax/group ins/etc

Might as well quit and spend time with the kids and become a youtube star at home and make money while taking car of your kids :)

I'm older then the average RS member and almost every single one of my friends have at least one kid. I know one couple who's wife works part time afternoon/evenings and they get away without it and my brother in law who has 4 kids has his wife stay home because it wouldn't make sense for her to work. I don't have one friend that has inlaws look after their kids and almost all of them have 2 people working and use daycare.

I honestly think it's culture thing. I'm Caucasian as are many of my friends, we tend not to live with our extended family. Daycare is a huge cost when you have kids, it's the main reason I stopped at one kid.......well that and I waited so long that once we got past diapers and crying I didn't want to go there again. :)

Transportation $486
Seems pretty cheap for 2 people to have vehicles, gas, bridge tolls, insurance

https://www.brandsaver.ca/en_ca/coupons/

I love this site. It's chump change in terms of savings, but they do add up. :)

Once an article starts throwing numbers that represent the spending of a mass population, you know it's a dumb article.

Everyone spends differently with different lifestyle and diets.

Value Village used to be cheap. I remember back in the day getting t-shirts for like $0.50 and jeans for $1. Now t-shirts are like $5-10 and jeans are at least $20. I can go to the mall and get clearance priced shit for the same price or MAYBE $5 more. And it's not all stretched to shit. Hell, fuckin Old Navy is cheaper than VV.

That does seem pretty overly optimistic. :suspicious:

Lowest monthly payment Yaris 5dr hatchback lease for 60 months: $159/month (This is for a family of 4, and both parents better learn how to drive stick because auto is another 13 bucks per month more)
Gas for the month for entire family use: $80/month (Laughable especially with having to freight kids around and gas prices going up)
Insurance: $100/month

At least one transit pass for one parent to get to work: $91 (one-zone) $124 (Two-zone)

Without considering maintenance, parking or bridge tolls, that's pretty dire. at the most conservative it's $430 just to run at the very minimum simple budgetting.

I went to Fable the other night and it was $100 for the BEST organic dining I've ever had!!!

Food $1000
Clothing $200
Housing $2,150
Transportation $500
Liquor and drugs $500
MSP premiums $0 LOL don't pay
Gym $60
Education $0
Savings $0
Phone $80
Servers $300
Internet $100
Hydro $50
Biz software $60

5k+ month in overhead...

500 in booze and drugs? Shit man, you aren't as party as I thought. I used to spend that per week!

My partner and I spend around 450-500/month on food with a cheap meal out every couple of weeks (e.g. Sushi at a local dive, or ethnic take-out). We shop at Costco and local Chinese grocers and do a lot of our cooking in bulk (slow cookers, dutch ovens) with whole ingredients. We don't buy organic, unless the prices are close. We also get freebie deli meat and stweing beef from family who work at a local butcher on ocassion. We do enjoy things like salmon, cheese, and baked goods (she's a wonderful baker and uses specialty flours and butter) which I would consider as modest luxuries. Sure, you can eat really cheap, but most of the cheap stuff is processed junk which will hurt you in the long-run. Produce, even if it's non-organic, can add up even if you shop at Chinese grocers such as Donald's or Red Apple. Rotisserie chicken is great once in a while, but wonder why Costco's chicken tastes so good? It's loaded with salt.

The little things do add up. We stopped buying coffee out on a regular basis. I bought a bargain-basement Saeco espresso machine and buy Lavazza espresso-grind coffee for $3.50 a pop. I make double-shot Americanos for the both of us which cost a fraction of the price of coffee from Tim Hortons or McD's. I probably come out ahead of Keurigs and Tassimos and I can control the strength of the shot. We treat ourselves to French press coffee on the weekends. I buy beans from Costco and grind them on the weekends.

I wouldn't consider the estimate excessive for moderately active people. I don't lift weights as much as I used to, but I still run regularly and eat about 4-5 times a day. I'm in my early 30s and weigh about 155.

My dealer does $25 bags for when you just want to get peppy and not too fucked up

Also when I drink I do it on an empty stomach so I get buzzed harder, faster, and cheaper!!!

Yeah I work out 3-5 times a week and often do long walks (Greater than 10k) because my car is at Racing Greed, hahaha! I'm 6'3 and 240 so I know my size is almost equal to eating for 2!

Saying that student debt costs about the same per month as having two kids is fucking stupid. If you add up the child care, half the food and half the clothes is about $1700 per month which should pay off any student debt fairly quickly

WTF is "Parent's education"?

Food le gf and I are ~60-80 per week so 260-350/month, when you can buy in bulk though the cost per person goes down so they aren't exactly being budget conscious at $775/month.

Clothing goes up a bit if you have kids but 200 a month for that still seems high if you're supposed to be on a budget.

Transportation again shouldn't be that high if you buy a car instead of leasing or financing like an idiot, again if you're supposed to be on a fucking budget buy a cheaper car instead of leasing brand new.

Housing I can't comment on as I don't live down there but the tradeoff is generally the cheaper your housing is the more you have to spend on transportation.

TL;DR They write the article as if it's for people that are budget conscious but they use numbers for people that aren't worried about their budget. The title should be "Living wage required for Metro Vancouver rises to $20.10 per hour if you're an idiot who doesn't try to save money"

My new girlfriend lives the good life on the west side and her overhead is like 6k a month, eats everything organic and has a moderately luxurious life

Living like a normal person sounds... ugh

What the fuck crap food do you eat for $60-80 a week for 2 people?!?!?!

I want to see your average day of meals!!!

If you're cool they are

A lot of hypotheticals here. Yes, you can buy a used car - but generally maintenance is higher for an older car. Most people here are more car oriented, so they won't get ripped off as much by a shop, but leasing a new car might actually end up being cheaper than buying an old beater.

Clothing is expensive with kids, because they literally outgrow their clothing every 6 months. They're also dirty, so you usually have to wash them after they've worn it for a day. When you're an adult, you can buy a good set of clothing that should last you a few years.

Non MSP health care - things like Dental, Eyeglasses, Prescriptions, all add up. God forbid your child has a chronic disease.

It doesn't make sense to buy a car cash if you can finance for less then 3 percent interest. Your better off taking the cash and investing it. I know someone financing a vw golf at 0 percent.

If you hope to keep yourself relevant and marketable, it's a good idea to continue to take courses, or get certificates/diplomas. The audience for this report is definitely white-collar, but even if you're not white collar, it's always a good idea to invest in learning, regardless of the form. Maybe you want to learn how to weld? Or maybe you want to take up public speaking? Or maybe you want to learn how to run a business? Or maybe, you want to learn about investing? These things cost money.

With clothing, you have two choices: spend money upfront and buy quality pieces, or buy cheap and replace items frequently. If you're a white-collar person and want to look presentable to clients and your bosses, it's a good idea to build a wardrobe. This costs money. You can buy shitty shoes from Aldo that will disintegrate in a year at $100/pair, or buy a pair of Allen Edmonds from Ebay for $200 that will last you a decade with proper care. If you need to wear a suit, you should probably have 3-4. Amortize the cost of these over a year and it's not hard to see how clothing can be about $200 for a family. You won't get to a manager level in sales or consulting by wearing Dickies and plaid shirts.

The majority of people on RS live in detached homes, have indoor garages, and have an above-average knowledge in cars. The best bang-for-your-buck cars are Japanese cars from the 1990s and early 2000s. However, even they require maintenance in the form of timing belts, water pumps, tires, brakes, suspension components, and alternators, particularly at this stage in their lives. It still costs $1000/year to maintain such cars properly unless you do all of the work yourself and source parts from the US. Insurance, especially if you have to drive it to work, is still at least 120-150/month. And gas, even on a four-banger, is still 150-250 per month.

Not always the case, with 0% there is little room for negotiation your paying MSRP. Paying cash can save you thousands upfront.