Realistically, How much money is enough to for early days?

[sheikhfahad103]

Dear All,

I am moving to Canada in the coming months, and have been questioning myself the title of this thread. Therefore, asking here from the people who are already there or the ones who recently moved/planning to move in a month or two. How much are you going to carry for your early days in Canada? How much is enough realistically to comfortably live through a couple of months, may be 3 to be on a safer side.

We are family of 4 with 2 children (none is school going). Do you think 30K+ CAD will be enough to get through the early days, especially when living in Toronto, Ontario.

Looking forward for your feedbacks.
Thanks!

 

[scylla]

Dear All,

I am moving to Canada in the coming months, and have been questioning myself the title of this thread. Therefore, asking here from the people who are already there or the ones who recently moved/planning to move in a month or two. How much are you going to carry for your early days in Canada? How much is enough realistically to comfortably live through a couple of months, may be 3 to be on a safer side.

We are family of 4 with 2 children (none is school going). Do you think 30K+ CAD will be enough to get through the early days, especially when living in Toronto, Ontario.

Looking forward for your feedbacks.
Thanks!

$30k is fine for 3 months.

 

[Naturgrl]

That should cover 3 months. If children are not in school, then look into childcare when you arrive if both of you will be working. Childcare waiting lists are long. Factor in childcare once you start working. Toronto is one of the most expensive cities for daycare and you pay per child.

 

[canuck78]

Dear All,

I am moving to Canada in the coming months, and have been questioning myself the title of this thread. Therefore, asking here from the people who are already there or the ones who recently moved/planning to move in a month or two. How much are you going to carry for your early days in Canada? How much is enough realistically to comfortably live through a couple of months, may be 3 to be on a safer side.

We are family of 4 with 2 children (none is school going). Do you think 30K+ CAD will be enough to get through the early days, especially when living in Toronto, Ontario.

Looking forward for your feedbacks.
Thanks!

Would personally suggest only one person initially come over to find housing, get basics set up, etc. especially with young children. As an adult it’s easy to camp out somewhere with minimal furniture, have long days trying to find an apartment, get things set-up, etc. Not having a car with kids is tough as well. Will you be arriving with a job? The biggest issue will be housing. Without a job you may be required to pay multiple months in advance to secure a place. Not unusual for people to pay 6 months in advance.

 

[sheikhfahad103]

Would personally suggest only one person initially come over to find housing, get basics set up, etc. especially with young children. As an adult it’s easy to camp out somewhere with minimal furniture, have long days trying to find an apartment, get things set-up, etc. Not having a car with kids is tough as well. Will you be arriving with a job? The biggest issue will be housing. Without a job you may be required to pay multiple months in advance to secure a place. Not unusual for people to pay 6 months in advance.

I will have to do the job hunting once I am there but considering that I am a software developer specialising in business apps, I hope it won't take long. I am mentally prepared to offer 6 months rent in advance if I can find a decent 2bhk in the city or in a suburb like Mississauga.

 

[scylla]

I will have to do the job hunting once I am there but considering that I am a software developer specialising in business apps, I hope it won't take long. I am mentally prepared to offer 6 months rent in advance if I can find a decent 2bhk in the city or in a suburb like Mississauga.

You shouldn't have any issues finding a job in this field.

 

[Pure Soul]

Its a big decision to move to Canada without a job and with a family, Even if your chances of getting a job are high, it may take several months before you land an offer. Why not try to secure something remote or low paying as a survival job.

Anyway, I would try to give you a breakdown of bare minimum you need-
- Rent- $2000-2500 depending on type of apartment
- Utilities (like electricity, phone bill, internet etc.)- $200-300
-Transports (public/no taxi)- 50-100
-Groceries (no outside food)- $500-700
- Others- medicines/shopping/travelling depends on you

In total about $3,600 per month without any luxurious activity.
*the estimate is from my personal observation from friends.

 

[YVR123]

I will have to do the job hunting once I am there but considering that I am a software developer specialising in business apps, I hope it won't take long. I am mentally prepared to offer 6 months rent in advance if I can find a decent 2bhk in the city or in a suburb like Mississauga.

You can also consider starting your job search before you land. If you are landing as PR, then you can work soon after you landed.
Many tech jobs are still conducting their interviews online. You maybe able to secure a job before you come.

 

[yourfather]

Would personally suggest only one person initially come over to find housing, get basics set up, etc. especially with young children. As an adult it’s easy to camp out somewhere with minimal furniture, have long days trying to find an apartment, get things set-up, etc. Not having a car with kids is tough as well. Will you be arriving with a job? The biggest issue will be housing. Without a job you may be required to pay multiple months in advance to secure a place. Not unusual for people to pay 6 months in advance.

This advice sounds about right. I would personally recommend not bringing the entire family right away. Instead find a decent room mate accommodation which could cost between $700-$1000 (all incl) in Mississauga or DT Toronto and find a job. Both cities offer good transit, so a car wont be really necessary. Currently the tech market is not as good as it used be a few months ago. All top brands such as Amazon, Google, Meta etc all have sent out an automated email about hiring freeze till mid 2023.

So you can test the waters for the next 3-4 months, keeping all expenses within $1500/month. Also you can do the research parallelly for the ideal place to raise your family. If you bring your family right away then your options will be less and forced to take whatever is available.

 

[steaky]

This advice sounds about right. I would personally recommend not bringing the entire family right away. Instead find a decent room mate accommodation which could cost between $700-$1000 (all incl) in Mississauga or DT Toronto and find a job. Both cities offer good transit, so a car wont be really necessary. Currently the tech market is not as good as it used be a few months ago. All top brands such as Amazon, Google, Meta etc all have sent out an automated email about hiring freeze till mid 2023.

So you can test the waters for the next 3-4 months, keeping all expenses within $1500/month. Also you can do the research parallelly for the ideal place to raise your family. If you bring your family right away then your options will be less and forced to take whatever is available.

Have you ever drive in both cities (especially with perishables and heavy load)? I mean if I take public transit in Mississauga or Toronto from one place to another, it can take me more than an hour (including waiting bus time) versus it took much less time (say 5 to 10 minutes) if I travel by car.

 

[steaky]

Just to add, say from Eaton Centre to the water taxi pier for the islands, it's better walking than take public transit or drive.

 

[yourfather]

Have you ever drive in both cities (especially with perishables and heavy load)? I mean if I take public transit in Mississauga or Toronto from one place to another, it can take me more than an hour (including waiting bus time) versus it took much less time (say 5 to 10 minutes) if I travel by car.

I cant take public transport anymore for groceries, I live in the suburbs now and got used to driving for the past few years. But when I landed in 2018, I sold my car in the US and moved to the Manulife center building at the Bay/Bloor area in Toronto. I never had any issues with groceries, LCBO, goodlife, subway as they were all available in the same building that I lived. I planned well ahead and chose the building only due to the amenities and the fact that I wont have a car, I paid around a $1000 for the master suite in a large condo. Could be almost double now, but $1000 for a room was considered on the higher side back then. But the point is to plan well and with a little bit of research/local help a similar place could be found in Mississauga or Toronto at a competitive market price. I do commute to Toronto very often for work, I use GO train. I guess no car can substitute GO train's practicality.

 

[GandiBaat]

Dear All,

I am moving to Canada in the coming months, and have been questioning myself the title of this thread. Therefore, asking here from the people who are already there or the ones who recently moved/planning to move in a month or two. How much are you going to carry for your early days in Canada? How much is enough realistically to comfortably live through a couple of months, may be 3 to be on a safer side.

We are family of 4 with 2 children (none is school going). Do you think 30K+ CAD will be enough to get through the early days, especially when living in Toronto, Ontario.

Looking forward for your feedbacks.
Thanks!

Few things.

1. OHIP does not make you wait, so thats a plus BUT to apply for OHIP, you need some documents to prove your residency like utility bill etc. You will not have it for a month atleast. So, you need some kind of additional cover before your OHIP kicks in otherwise, private health care pros will ask you fee etc. And that may get expensive really fast. So... get a cover for a month or two.

2. These days, flu and virus season is in full swing in Canda. Depending upon when you arrive here, your kids will get sick due to exposure to new strains of viruses (NOT covid but likes of flu, RSV and common cold virus). Trust me, its not fun to seek health care in Canada as a new comer while searching for a job.

3. You will be doing a lot of paper work where you may need to wait in a line like getting a sinful SIN. Its better to sort it out for yourself without having 2 kids in your tow -- especially if you are doing it for first time.

4. House hunt is not fun. Trust me on this one. House hunting with 2 kids in stroller is not my idea of fun. It makes your life hard. So do it before hand by arriving few months before your family.

5. Job search is easier if you do not have two kids to feed for. You get some quite time to review those questions on leetcode. Eg.
Quick, tell me, what data structure will you use find two numbers in an array that add up to a given number, if you wanted to do it in in constant additional space? What if you wanted a linear time solution? If this took you more than 5 seconds then you need to brush up your coding interviews. You will need some quite child free time for that. Just a week or so.

6. You may want to stretch your 30K to cover 6 months. These days job market is a bit hard and will keep on getting harder due to less money going around. What you thought may take you 2 weeks is taking one month now. So keep plenty of buffer.

All of these suggest, you need to first arrive alone, sort out basic documents, job and house. Bring your family in then. Hope it helps.

 

[steaky]

I cant take public transport anymore for groceries, I live in the suburbs now and got used to driving for the past few years. But when I landed in 2018, I sold my car in the US and moved to the Manulife center building at the Bay/Bloor area in Toronto. I never had any issues with groceries, LCBO, goodlife, subway as they were all available in the same building that I lived. I planned well ahead and chose the building only due to the amenities and the fact that I wont have a car, I paid around a $1000 for the master suite in a large condo. Could be almost double now, but $1000 for a room was considered on the higher side back then. But the point is to plan well and with a little bit of research/local help a similar place could be found in Mississauga or Toronto at a competitive market price. I do commute to Toronto very often for work, I use GO train. I guess no car can substitute GO train's practicality.

So driving becomes a necessarity over time. That's the point.

 

[canuck78]

Its a big decision to move to Canada without a job and with a family, Even if your chances of getting a job are high, it may take several months before you land an offer. Why not try to secure something remote or low paying as a survival job.

Anyway, I would try to give you a breakdown of bare minimum you need-
- Rent- $2000-2500 depending on type of apartment
- Utilities (like electricity, phone bill, internet etc.)- $200-300
-Transports (public/no taxi)- 50-100
-Groceries (no outside food)- $500-700
- Others- medicines/shopping/travelling depends on you

In total about $3,600 per month without any luxurious activity.
*the estimate is from my personal observation from friends.

2-2.5k for a rental for a family of 4 in the GTA is very difficult to find these days and you also have to furnish the property. If providing nutritious meals and buying diapers groceries for $500-700 for a family of 4 is unrealistic. When you initially move you don’t have a pantry filled with basics that you accumulate over time so have to spend more initially. Would add that hiring picks up again in mid January but given the current state of tech sector I would remain flexible until you find employment. There may be better opportunities in Ottawa, Montreal or Kitchener/Waterloo on the East coast and wouldn’t limit myself to the GTA.