this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2023

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Vet technician, 33, is scraping by in a small city Ontario house her parents paid for: ‘It’s a lot of guilt’ (www.theglobeandmail.com)

submitted 2 years ago by sbv@sh.itjust.works to c/canada@lemmy.ca

49 comments fedilink hide all child comments

“It feels like I’ve been working harder and harder and sliding backwards down the scale,” she says.

Making $50k in a small town and still "scraping by" is scary. Maybe I'm just old, but I'd hoped that kind of income would be enough for some kind of comfort.

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[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 51 points 2 years ago (5 children)

What an incredibly out of touch comment. Do you live in Canada and do you pay for telecoms? Those are the going rates. Good luck getting an internet and phone plan for less than $200/month.

It’s not feasible to switch to small carriers like public mobile because they only have cell coverage in major cities. The moment you leave and go towards suburbs or rural you’re on roaming.

I’d like to see you suggest to someone in real life who’s living in Canada that they should use their bike in the winter to do groceries. The fact is, having a car in Canada (unless you live downtown in a city) is mandatory.

Also I know for a fact you have never done groceries in Canada because $400/month is BELOW average for households. In my house we always buy the basics and we spend around $650 per month. That’s with the cheapest versions of every item and we don’t buy processed foods.

Troll somewhere else.

[–] SapientLasagna@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 years ago

Public mobile is Telus's discount brand. They have service everywhere Telus does. The other major carriers have their own discount branded services. You don't get much (or any) data, but it's a lot cheaper.

[–] LeafTheTreesAlone@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago

I pay $112 for bell fiber internet and $42 for virgin 20gb after taxes. No bundles. Phone is paid for. I live in a small town 45mins from the 401? You can certainly get cheaper internet/phone than $200 a month. Although between the 2 of us, we average more than $100 person/week. We certainly don’t buy the cheapest we can but we budget where we choose.

[–] liverpoolbutter@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago

Public Mobile is owned by Telus, there shouldn't be the problems you describe. I live in the middle of nowhere with Lucky Mobile. Text and talk with no data is $15/month.

But that's not what is normal amoung my peers. The expenses look reasonable to me, but could be optimized further. Normally, optimizing your expenses that much wouldn't be your part time job, but with the current wage situation, that's where we are at.

[–] frostbiker@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Good luck getting an internet and phone plan for less than $200/month.

My own bills:

Internet (Beanfield): $40/mo including taxes.

Cell (Freedom): $34/mo per phone, incl taxes.

Beanfield may not be available everywhere, but Teksavvy has similar plans.

[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Beanfield is only available to some condominium users in major downtown cities. It is not an available option to most Canadians, especially the vet tech in this article.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 years ago

It is not an available option to most Canadians, especially the vet tech in this article.

It's a shame that the article doesn't specify which town, but it does say University town.

If I were to guess, especially since she's a vet tech, is that she lives in Guelph or Windsor. Other vet universities in Ontario are in much larger cities.

If that's the case, she has quite a few of options for phone and internet.

[–] frostbiker@lemmy.ca -4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Beanfield may not be available everywhere, but Teksavvy has similar plans.

Teksavvy is available nearly everywhere and I know they have similar plans because I was a customer.

[–] PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Definitely not the case. They serve suburbs and cities. I live semi rurally and they are not a possible option.

[–] frostbiker@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 years ago

She lives in a college town. The vast majority of people in Canada live in urban centers. So, for most single people in Canada, spending less than $200/mo in Internet+phone is trivially simple.

[+] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca -7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

What an incredibly out of touch comment. Do you live in Canada and do you pay for telecoms? Those are the going rates. Good luck getting an internet and phone plan for less than $200/month.

All my life. Perhaps you haven't looked for savings in these areas?

FYI: Public Mobile (my provider for years) has unlimited calling and text w/ 1gb data and ongoing perks for $25 / month. Even $40 would get you 30GB of data and 5g... not sure why you'd want anyone to spend double that when they are struggling financially.

Internet isn't as easy, but all these companies can offer discounted rates. She needs to get internet that fits her needs (I pay $84 tax in for Bell TV and 1GB fibre to my home). $135 is crazy.

It’s not feasible to switch to small carriers like public mobile because they only have cell coverage in major cities. The moment you leave and go towards suburbs or rural you’re on roaming.

LOL. She lives in a University town, and you're saying she won't get cell service from a company like Telus? Give me a break.

I’d like to see you suggest to someone in real life who’s living in Canada that they should use their bike in the winter to do groceries. The fact is, having a car in Canada (unless you live downtown in a city) is mandatory.

Oh boy. She doesn't have to get groceries in the snow by bike... but if she can offload some of her driving to bike (for any reason), she'll save money.

It also doesn't suggest that she's commuting out of town, so biking in a "small town" should be simple for anyone.

Also I know for a fact you have never done groceries in Canada because $400/month is BELOW average for households. In my house we always buy the basics and we spend around $650 per month. That’s with the cheapest versions of every item and we don’t buy processed foods.

Have for decades... sounds like you need to figure stuff out on your end.

Troll somewhere else.

Amazing how someone can take actual advice based on personal experience, and consider it "trolling".

Learn more about how to be frugal, and perhaps you'd agree with my suggestions. Or continue to overspend.

This woman is obviously struggling, and there are very easy fixes for most of her spending habits.

[–] frostbiker@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Amazing how someone can take actual advice based on personal experience, and consider it “trolling”

This is the biggest problem, isn't it? I understand somebody not knowing how to live frugally, but at the very least they should be open to learning from people who do.

Don't worry, those of us who how to budget minimally know that you are speaking the truth.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I appreciate that. I've struggled for years before I really started looking at my expenses and saving wherever possible.

Most of the time, it requires no sacrifice, but a few minutes of effort.

The car insurance was a huge money saver for me. We were spending thousands a year on car insurance, whether we used the car or not. Switched to pay-as-you-go and started biking, and my insurance is like a few hundred a year at most.

The cell phone plan was another big saver. I was spending over $150 for three people a month, and now it's less than $50 for the same service!

Food is probably the most challenging, but only if you aren't willing to look at other options.

In any case, it's too easy for people to say that they aren't making enough money when it's their spending habits that really hurts them.

*** I do still think that people should be paid a livable wage, don't get me wrong, but if getting paid more means that someone will overspend more, then they will still be in the same situation. ***

[–] frostbiker@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

In any case, it’s too easy for people to say that they aren’t making enough money when it’s their spending habits that really hurts them.

Yup. It happens at all income levels, too. There are surgeons out there with nice homes, new cars, vacations and everything, but still living paycheck to paycheck. If you don't prioritize saving, guess what? You don't have savings.