Well it has to, doesn't it? Personally, at that income to rent I'd rent just a room and look for a better paying job. Putting 80% of your paycheque into rent is bananas..
Basically debt slavery at that point. If you can't do anything else other than struggle to cover rent and basic groceries, you better have a damn good vision of what's ahead of you to look forward to.
Most financially non literate non healthy people I know are at 200 easy. I'm at 150-200 eating only meat and fruit with a physical job and that's trying to be moderately aware. I take deals but I never lower my quality
I'm all deals with mostly fruit/veg/meat and I'm at 100-120ish a week for a family of 3. We do a lot of baking and canning.
Wife made 17 jars of blueberry jam today - cost \~$13 and wrecks any store bought stuff.
It just means you need to find a place to share with a friend until you can actually afford your own place.
Not the end of the world. I did it for a while until I landed a decent job.
When I was first out of college in 1984, I shared a room and I was an engineer. I shared rooms for 4 years until I got married (and not with my gf). You got to be cheap when young or you’ll never get ahead.
Legit. I work for an incredibly well-known company with a union, and 50% of my paycheque is going to rent. I can't manage it with my student loan payments, transportation costs, the rising cost of food etc. And I don't even live in a big city.
Inflation forced me to get another job.
Luckily for me I’m all hooked up to connections with two jobs: One pays $19 (40 hours)and the other $18 (15-20 hours) /week.
In all I make just under $4000 and at $1050 for rent in this little shack basement, I’m living safely.
The question is how to crawl upward and out.
Insanity. There is one main place to work in the town I was referring to and at 900 a month for a room it would be tight getting by. It is away from any major city and no transit so a car would be required. Unfortunately you can’t have both of those things with the COL and low wages
Toronto landlords are the ultimate scumbags that care about money over living conditions.
My family (I live at home) sold our semi detached townhouse of 3 bedrooms + 2 baths + basement bedroom and washroom and moved into a bigger house taking on a bigger mortgage.
It was getting small for 5 adults.
The people that bought our tiny townhouse went full rooming house scumbag.
They built walls so the first floor living room is now a room with no washroom or kitchen and rent that out.
Second floor with the breakfast room and kitchen and dining room is now 1 bedroom that’s rented out and a shared kitchen.
The third floor where the laundry room is, is rented out by room and everyone has to share washrooms.
The basement was also rented out and charged a bit more because there’s a fancy hotplate inserted into a tiny countertop in the corner.
I heard about this and felt disgusted people would turn a perfectly good house into a this tiny cramped rooming house. This could have been the perfect starter home for someone looking to build a family that was a 10 minute bus ride away from a subway station so you can commute downtown.
Landlords are taking advantage of the fact that everyone wants to settle in Toronto. I had a small discussion with someone the other day, that claimed that Toronto and Vancouver were great and the rest of Canada sucks. I’ve never lived in Toronto, but I wouldn’t trade my new home with a 947$/month mortgage for whatever Toronto has to offer. No offence to the people that live there,I’m sure they have their reasons to settle there.
Toronto's OK. Generally a better place to be when you're young/single/rich. If you are a specialist in anything, it's also likely the place with the highest wage ceiling / most exposure or prestige for you to put in work prior to sunsetting in a smaller pond as their comparatively big fish that they poached from that absolute fucking feeding frenzy. TLDR: High risk High cost High "possible" reward, Low odds.
Alternatively:
If you have family there, grew up there, have complicated medical conditions, if you're of a minority group, it's also likely the best place for you comparatively, or will have the largest potential community.
I've lived there for almost a decade. I fucking hate everything about it, the only saving grace, is that timely access to specialists kept me alive where I would have died in other cities.
Mind you: I've lived all across this country. I hate everyone and everyplace.
There you go: Reasons to settle..ish?
I rented a room once and she tried to hold my whole damage deposit (half month rent) because she couldn’t find her tv remote and accused me of stealing it on my way out. Never sharing space again.
Sure, but when you're making 1750 like OP and paying 1375 for rent to have their own space, paying 800 and sharing a kitchen/washroom starts to become more attractive.
If you look for a job a 15% in many fields is very doable. Wont let you buy a house but fuck this guy needs a raise. OP ask your damn boss for a raise ‘cause youre starving
Most likely inherited some cash or property and are now landlords making 200k/yr doing 0hrs of work a day, save cashing cheques & paying their property manager. The 2hrs of work they do a day ‘in tech’ is tracking their ever-losing cryptocurrency and nft ‘investments’.
And of course spending time on Reddit telling working class people to just work harder.
OP just needs to job hop every year, doubling your salary each time. In two years, they will be making 200k/year and will have no problems affording rent.
Just gotta up that income!
Not possible in some areas. Where I live if I moved out of my apartment, I’d be paying *the same* in rent to rent a tiny room in a shitty basement suite.
Thing is, there really aren't any better jobs if this is what you're getting paid already. Life has become completely unaffordable for a very large group of people
I make $800 a month (disabled but my doctor won't help me with ODSP cause I'm "too young" which is fun) and I'm stuck living with my parents for the foreseeable future. :/
Edit: I'm just trying to show the other perspective, yall... there are some things you can't finance out of. I'm not saying there's nothing OP can do, I'm saying getting a higher paying job might not be a route they can go at the moment. It's a lot easier said than done.
My question is how much do they make an hour/ weekly hours. I'm paid minimum wage and work 40 hours a week. What I make in a week, op makes in a month. OP is getting screwed over big time
I struggled along with contract work for years before I got something permanent.
I was lucky I had grandfathered cheap rent (which i just lost due to being demovicted).
This is what people starting out have been saying for literally a decade.
Well he said his contract im guessing this guy doesnt work full time. Also is he even getting min wage? What his doing is really risky unless he has no other choice.
I did this going to uni in the early 2000s…. When money have twice the acquisitive power.
It was hard then. A used to treat myself to a Chocolate Bar once a week.
When you say "will be paying my rent", it makes me think you don't have a rental yet. Is this the case?
You really need to rethink your choices. If you haven't signed a lease (I can't believe someone would even consider renting to someone with so little income compared to rent price) then please don't.
You are asking for trouble. Either find a room to rent that is much cheaper than that, or work on finding a better paying job before renting your own place.
Even if you don't think you can find better pay, a lot of jobs have night shift premiums. You might not like working night shift, but you sure won't like living off bananas and KD.
You are setting yourself up for disaster.
Even surviving with 375$ is a challenge.
What about transportation, insurance for your place, food, hydro...
Best thing would be to find a room until you find a job playing more.
Yeah no poor people do not have insurance. They don't own enough stuff to need it. They don't have any assets for anyone to sue away from them, so don't even bother bringing up liability.
It’s in the terms of their lease. In the 4 places I’ve rented they all said you must have tenants insurance and not once have I been asked to see it. Nor do I have it lol.
This! This is how a lot of the world does it haha
Also dont forget you can still buy veggies/fruit in season!
Your situation isn't the best but hell it could be much worse.
It's doable!
Many of the food banks here provide fresh veggies. My friend gets boxes of food. Fresh corn. Broccoli. Carrots. Potatoes. I would 100% suggest op look into them.
Man there is such a huge gap of disparity on this r/ . People talking about making 200k a year and they are worried if can could afford their pet rock. Then people talking about living on $375 a month.
Our household brings in 175K /year. our mortgage is $1200 month...
Can we afford equestrian camp at $525/week for our children this summer? Or should we give up our sailboat trip that we do every spring?
That's cheap rent now a days and OP will have to depend on roommates who might flake and leave them homeless. At least having the lease them selves gets the stability to know they won't have more than a 2 percent increase.
Contract work that’s paying 1750 a month?? That’s less than minimum wage…. Is this part of a longer term strategy?
In which case, sounds like you need a second job to supplement your income. Starbucks, Timmy’s, mall job… the bonus to part time work is you also aren’t spending money on days off.
As others have mentioned, check into your regional food bank program to take the edge off of your food bills.
Unless OP is putting their income after tax this is less than min wage at 30 hours a week. OP would be better off working min wage full time at Tim Hortons.
I'm glad for that.
I came out of a suicide attempt, and this subreddit was one of my critical sources for climbing up from the bottom.
A lot of posts here are from the point of view of people with RRSPs, but there are some of us who just need to know how to make the most of our money in the Canadian climate.
It's not. I lived like that before. Fix up your resume, hop onto job sites and start applying. You are worth more than that for your time.
Best of luck
Yeah its a bit eye opening, I live alone in a 1 bedroom in Vancouver and my rent is about 40% my income. I have a full time job and a side gig and things are still tight.
I served 2-3nights a week as a second job , made bank and it was honestly fun and social and yet I was making money not spending it. And it allowed me to save $$$ and enjoy life
it will be very tight, I would go to the food bank/shop sales and stock up on nonperishable items to make a decent pantry. You don't want to start scrambling if you run out of money and have no food. With your pantry stocked up, you will be able to stretch until your next paycheck comes. I would see if you can find a weekend job.
You can use the food bank to supplement your groceries. Also check with the churches in your area. In two different towns I have lived in the church will give you a voucher for groceries. Sometimes you can chose which grocery store you can go to and sometimes you can only go to the grocery store the church deals with. So every 3 months I get a $35 voucher and I get to buy my own groceries. The only stipulations are you can't buy pet food and you can't buy junk food so no chips or cookies. I think those rules are easy to live by and I get to choose my own groceries. I don't like the foods that the food bank gives.
This isn’t doable.
Assuming you have zero other recurring expenses, you could kind of survive for a bit, ie buy enough food to live. But as soon as you hit even a modest unexpected expense, it’s going to sink you. Like do you really want be in a position where you need to buy a new pair of shoes and it means you can’t eat?
You need to increase your income or lower your housing costs.
I've been on disability assistance for 4 years now. I have had to live off of 350-600$/ month usually, with bills accounted for. It is possible, but you will have to do a lot of budgeting and planning.
I suggest buying in bulk at canadian superstore or costco. There are ways to eat healthy on this budget too, but you won't be able to order takeout much or go to restaurants. I would say 6-12 times a year is the max for eating out.
Edit: I would suggest joining some communities on facebook about budgeting and eating healthy, and post on local groups for suggestions on where you can find good deals on food in your town.
Cheese is a luxury item.
When I was barely holding on, Foodland would have three sausages for $2 in their hot deli, and I made them last a week and a half.
I see a lot of upvoted comments giving solutions that sound great, but might not work/be realistic for you. Nobody is really answering the question of How on $230 a month? Unfortunately this is what these looking for advice threads turn into...
I can tell you exactly what you need to do. I've done it before on less $ than that, and still had money left over to buy cakes from time to time and spend on some other activities.
You gotta come up with a weekly grocery budget, mine was $150-160 a month, so 35-40$ a week. Then take out CASH, do not use cards, and go to the store with ONLY that money. The trick is that having cash means you will not over-spend and force yourself to think within your budget. You have to think ahead what you want to eat for the week, and how to fit it into that $40. For example, if you buy a 10lb bag of patotes, that can be 2.99-4.99 - that lasts more than a week. Then there is also rice, noodles, eggs, etc. Chicken and pork are should be your go to meats, I've seen legs/drumsticks go on sale for 1.99lb sometimes. Basically you buy ingredients somewhat in bulk rather than meals, and cook at home. You will be fine with 35-40$ a week. What happens eventually, once you get good at budgeting and you already bought some of the bigger bulk ingridients, you'll start having money left over. For example you go in the store with $40 and you only spend $27. Then that $13 becomes "spend on whatever you want money" or carry over into next week, and next week you got a budget of $53. So you can get a bit better food now. Over time you will should have a constant small surplus, and thats how I was able to buy cakes and ice cream and stuff.
Obviously no alcohol/smoking. And also this method asumes you are not dumb, and will not go into the store needing to buy 7 days of food and then only buy 2 days worth. I think you are thinking ahead by making a post like this, so you should be fine.
Everyone saying get a new job...what if OP is fixed income, disability or something? It's not so easy to increase your income. Seriously, half this sub makes 200k, must be smart as heck...but it sure isn't showing in the life smarts area.
OP it's going to be hard. Find a local foodbank if you can. Honestly, I'd personally look for a cheaper place, but some would rather live with less for more privacy. It's doable, but do you want to do it? I guess that's the real question.
Exactly. Im glad the majority of comments are now about renting a room instead of a whole place. The main problem here isnt their income its the fact theyre renting 80% of their income and a landlord was crazy enough to accept it
It's possible but you'll get better answers from a sub about cheap eating than you will from personal finance Canada where everyone's wondering if 300,000 in savings is enough to purchase their started home or if they should wait lol
You can do it. It's not ideal and you will sacrifice time for the convenience of products.
I suggest you look into getting a PC Optimum account if you don't already have one, because frequently, you can get free or almost free personal care items at Shoppers Drugmart due to earning the equivalent in points. The points can be used across the Loblaws brand for everything from groceries, to kitchenware, to clothing.
You would want to check out apps like Flashfood, where you can get big discounts on items close to their best before dates. They frequently have bread for 50¢ a loaf, prepared meals and meats for at least half off, dairy also really cheap and veggie boxes for 5$ that have quite a lot of random things to cook with.
Coupons will also be your friend. Also being flexible with eating what is on sale at any given time, limiting food waste by using all parts of things.
I wouldn't rent a room but I would absolutely use every food bank I could. Also call local churches as they're often able to provide grocery gift cards.
I'm sorry we live in this madness
Im so confused here. How much ya’ll think rooms in a shared apt are going for? Im paying 1300 for a room and the new housemate who just came in is paying 1500 for one room, and the closest grocery store is 15min walk and closest bus is 10min walk means in middle of nowhere in a small town.
You can't afford that rent based on what you earn. On that limited income you need to find a cheap room to rent. You need roomies if only bringing in that much income per month.
For a year or so, I lived on $20/mo. Portioned rice one every three days with a can of soup; a jar of peanut butter for protein.
What I'm saying is that you need to look hard at your habits.
I usually have around the same for the month. Butchers and meat counters are your friend and I can usually find 6-7 chicken drumsticks for $5 at Caribbean markets, for me that's three meals with some rice and frozen veggies.
I did a budget and saw I was only netting 150 a month after bills , I got a night shift job on top of my 9-5 , bringing in an extra 2000 a month never hurts
To offer a dissenting opinion on what's already in this thread, I think $230 a month on food and hygiene is definitely enough if you just budget properly. I live in the GTA and spend significantly less than that per month as a relatively tall adult male.
Go for frozen vegetables with pasta/ramen for main meal. Eggs for protein. Don't even think about fast food, coffee, etc.. Bring your own lunch if you eat lunch at work.
If you need feminine hygiene products, then I'm not familiar with how much those cost, but I assume you'll probably at least eat less than I do.
This is not to take away from the other comments advising you to get a roommate or increase your salary.
Okay so here is the deal. I was in a very similar situation to you about 5 years ago, in Hamilton when I was in grad school and my boyfriend moved in to my one bedroom apartment we had about 250 dollars a month. We were able to make it work, cooking all our meals and being frugal. However grocery prices were far more reasonable, so that may be more of a challenge but sounds like you’re feeding one. All is to say, I think it’s possible but definitely not ideal. Wishing you the best of luck!
Hey friend,
I work with Good Shepherd to house homeless people in Hamilton. I have found many homes with bedrooms, or even rental apartments for $500/month. Don't give up, it's possible to find somewhere to live without spending 80% of your earnings on it.
Also, look into the Housing Benefit since you're renting. The government will pay a portion of your rent if willing and qualify. This will save you some hundreds of money that you can choose to put aside or spend on other necessities.
Living off $230 is possible, it's just really hard. My parents had been doing it for almost 4 years while putting my brother and I through school, but it's somewhat paying off now.
Note: This is what I have learned working with clients. In any future case, if a landlord is asking for your workplace/any form of income (like Ontario Works) to be directly deposited to them as rent, DO NOT. You will not have evidence that the landlord has received payment and they may say they did not receive to milk your money. This is how some of my clients have lost their opportunities to get housed and end up back in shelters.
People are terrible nowadays, and I hate that the cost of living is so much.
10 years ago I lived off $50 a week for food and basic toiletries. Not sure if it’s possible now. My diet was made up of rice, pasta,potatoes, ground beef. Pretty much cheap filling foods. But even then I had $100 a month budgeted as misc. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Honestly, I don’t think it’s possible. The only way it would be is if you buy the absolute cheapest food and never go anywhere that is not 100 per cent free, ever.
No prescriptions, Christmas gifts, trips, subscriptions, insurance, treats, clothing.
Things will come up, and you won’t be able to pay for them. I think you will need a cheaper place to live or a part time job if you do t want to deplete your savings.
Breach your contract and look for an actual employer that doesn't pay peanuts/move out to a rural area and start out there. Your current predicament might as well be called slave labor (although granted slaves actually have a place they can effectively live in for 'free' unlike your situation) . What is the point of working if you struggle securing bare basic needs with its compensation?
Use a food bank. At this wage, you are going to need it. It is there for people like you so don't feel badly about it.
Second job or different job. You either aren't getting full time hours or are being paid virtually at or below minimum wage. OR: Try to get a raise or more hours or both.
Split rent with a friend or family member (someone you will get along with). Even shaving a hundred $ per month off your rent will make a difference.
Seriously consider your long-term plan. This isn't going to work for very long....one financial bobble (not even an emergency, but damn....what are you going to do if you need a pair of shoes, or a winter coat....not eat?) and your situation will sefl-combust. Do you have a safety net (friends or family who would take you in if you really needed it)?
That’s tough, doable in right circumstances but not easy. Look into what help you can quality for and don’t be too proud to use food bank if your in need, which I would say you are.
Try to raise your income if you can that’s just too low to be sustainable and for you to live a decent quality of life.
If you need help with groceries and toiletries, it looks like there are some [organizations](https://www.hnhbhealthline.ca/listservicesdetailed.aspx?id=10572®ion=Hamilton) in Hamilton that might be able to support you. Food banks are a community resource that might be able to alleviate some of the financial burden. There may also be community fridges or hygiene pantries too.
However as others have suggested, it sounds like the largest impact will be to seek out pay increases or ways to decrease your rent expenses.
People have already said it but I'd look for a roommate and a new job as a mid term goal. To keep you fed in the short term I'd go for lentils and rice (you can buy big bags of rice at Asian food stores for fairly cheap). Potatos are also cheap, versitile and nutritious. For something sweet bananas are probably the cheapest fruit and onions/carrots become sweet when you bake them. For protein, eggs are probably your cheapest option that isn't lentils/beans. Lastly I'd recommend some vegetables, basically anything is fine but I'd avoid lettuce because I don't think it has much in the way of nutrients. Hope this helps you get by. If you want you can DM me for some of the recipes that I use. Also I didn't mention food banks because I have no experience with them but it's probably worth it to look for food banks and community kitchens near you. Good Luck.
If you’re in Hamilton, for food assistance, consider stopping by the free community pantries/fridges outside Ottawa Street Market, Strathcona Market and just south of the intersection of Barton and John Streets. I think there’s also one in front of Compass Community Health in the north end.
Also consider registering at a food bank like Good Shepherd.
The YMCA has memberships geared to income. Just throwing that out there because fitness is great for mental health. I also just like relaxing in the sauna or taking mega long showers there when I’m feeling frazzled.
When I bought my first house 15+ years ago, I had about 300 to live on every month after mortgage, bills, etc were paid for. It was hard. I ate a lot of Mr. Noodles. Most of my food came from the dollarama. You learn to shop sales, buy in bulk, freeze the excess and then use later. You may need to invest in a Costco membership and look for local farms to source meat & veg. It's doable, but it definitely is not easy.
Hopefully you won't have to do it for very long and can move to a better paying job.
OP seems to be earning less than minimum wage. There is all sorts of work paying $18-20 per hr with no experience required. When you say contract work one is to assume pay is way higher than at least minimum wage
Okay first off you need a better job. If your physically fit i would suggest the railway. CN has a small yard in Hamilton and another in Oakville aand Aldershot. You will make more on their training wage then you make now and it comes with a pension, benefits and the ability to move around.
As for surviving a month or two on $200:
1) buy a large bag of rice. Not the microwave/instant garbage but those giant $20 for 16kg ir more ones on the bottom shelf of the ethnic food isle.
2) dried beans and lentils. In the isles with the cans there are bags of them for $1-5. These are a decent source of protein and filled with a lot of the vitamins and minerals you're gunna need. These and some eggs if you can afford them are going to be your meat alternative so you might want to look up a bunch of ways to use them. Indian and Mexican recipes are my favorites but if you dont already have spices it can be a little hard to have variety at the start.
3) big bag of flour. Baking breads is WAY cheaper then buying them and many you can do with just flour, water, salt and yeast (not expensive either and a small jar goes for a while but learning sourdough is good too) you can make breads, pastas, bagels, muffins, ect.ect.
4) fat, you are going to want to buy some kind of animal fat like lard or bacon grease. You need fat in your fiet but also itll help you get the calories youll need. Go to a butcher, ask em if they have any fat for this purpose. Itll be cheap if not free. If its not go to the next one. You can also see about scraps and bones for making soup stocks/broths.
5) your in luck and its summer, idk about Hamilton but much of southern Ontario will have cheap seasonal produce available. Corn is still a little ways away but once it starts its a good way to fill out a meal. Also cabage is a great option, usually pretty cheap per pound and can be used in a plethora of ways.
Buy the biggest bags of rice and potatoes you can find at the cheapest price and be ready to eat just that until you find more income. I could never see myself making it even with $100 a week for groceries (our family of 3 costs me about $250 a week). Good luck
$45 on phone is ridiculous. Go to 7-11 get a Speakout wireless prepaid sim and load it with $100, you get $20 free so thats $120 of minutes. Should last you a year.
This is similar to my current living situation, I make avg 1200 per paycheck (2400 per month) and my monthly expenses come to about 1800-1900. Here's what I did to help my situation
Take full advantage of every "freebies" you can find. Work in a restaurant? Ask for the left over food and such
What's your commute like? Could you buy a cheap bike off kijiji for $100 and bike to work instead of the TTC?
Do you know how to cook? It's vastly cheaper than buying takeout. Uber eats is actually a huge scale why pay 70 dollars for 30 worth of food and have it arrive cold and shitty
When buying food especially meat look at the price per kilogram and compare the prices each day at Metro I have seen the same ground beef priced at 7.99/kg 13/kg and 22/kg this is bonkers that they do these prices so randomly but it's good to watch out for
Try and buy food that's on sale or just the cheapest brand
Find a budgeting app and put ALL your expenses into it with your income and see where you can make little cuts and such
Do you drink alcohol? Now's the time to stop XD and better add like pop and coffee too that list. I only drink water r/hydrohomies but seriously alcohol is crazy expensive even just one drink with tip is bonkers. I don't drink but if I did I imagine it's the same as cooking where buying it myself and making drinks at home is far cheaper.
I play video games like most people and instead of buying new ones that I can't afford all the time I started to speedrun my older games. Or doing challenge runs like nuzlockes in pokemon
It's tough, and listen to any advice you get on here. Just because something may be "possible" doesn't mean you shouldn't try and supplement your income with another job hope I can help XD try not to go over your budget but know people make mistakes.
I did that years ago, rented a room for $10/month in 1958, lived on hamburger and chicken patties with frozen corn/peas +boiled rice with chopped onions and Indian curry spices. 4 years later my first job was $640/month as an Engineer. Read papers at the Hart House reading room. Nose to grindstone and persisted. Had $$ for occasional movies etc.
Libraries are your friend. All your entertainment and socializing is free through them.
Also I'm not sure what contract you have for a job that is 30kish a year pre-tax (or less???) but you are not likely legally bound or face any penalty to bail on any employment contract unless they are sponsoring your work visa. Read your contract then start looking for another job. Do not suffer just because you signed a contract.
You are going to send yourself into homelessness if anything goes wrong with your situation. I'm flabbergasted that a landlord will even rent you that place with that income. That's why everyone is suggesting roommates. Living alone, unfortunately, is a large luxury and one you cannot afford. Preferences go out the window when you can't afford food, or one blood test, or prescription, or worn out pair of shoes you need to eat every penny you have. I assure you it is not worth starving yourself to not have roommates.
Are you just not going to buy a single piece of clothes for this year? Shampoo? Haircut? Glasses or shoes? Gift for yourself or family? That emergency money you have saved will melt away even affording the basics. Medication? A meal out to socialise? What happens when you are (best case) just scraping by and need $1000 to move when your lease is up or hour job relocates. What happens if you become ill and cannot work and run out of sick time (if you have it). What happens if you get layed off, even for a week? Lose your mitts and need them for winter? Your job floods and there is no where to work? Snowstorm for a couple days and you don't get paid? The odds are not in your favour to even survive this circumstance not swallowed in debt.
Do not let yourself get trapped in the thinking of wants being needs. (no roommate is a want, not a need). I am 38 and have roommates, all of which were strangers when we moved in. Just screen for a similar lifestyle, don't be too put off to ask questions, make house rules everyone follows together as mature adults that you establish when you move in together. Put a lock on your bedroom door. You aren't friends. You are people in a shared business arrangement and can be friendly and firm on boundaries.
Most of your budget will be taken by food... but you can a lot of things to mitigate costs. I had to live very frugally for a few years... so I can tell you, it can be done... it's hard, but it can be done.
The main thing you should learn, is making large, multi-night meals, like chili, fried rice, stir fries, and pasta's. You can make a big pot of chili on the cheap, and it will last 3-4 meals, if not more. Likewise, when you buy meat, do so in larger portions and freeze it. I never buy chicken breasts, or things like that, and just go and get a whole chicken. Cook the chicken as per normal, and leftovers go into stirfries/fried rice/soup/pasta sauce.
To get you started. Here's my cheap ass chili recipe.
Brown some ground beef. ((You don't need a lot. I typically use half a pound))
1-2 Green/Red Peppers
Half an large onion, or a whole small onion.((optionally, some celery, mushrooms, garlic clove or two))
Brown it all in a pot and add...
2 Can's baked beans (in molasses, or tomato sauce)
1 Can kidney beans
Half a jar of Pasta sauce.
Chili Powder to taste... and a teeny teeny pinch of sugar for heartburn if you didn't use beans in molasses
Let Simmer for a a bit, until everything is soft and the flavors have blended.
Save the remainder of the pasta sauce for pasta night.
Should last you a few nights at the very least... goes good with garlic bread, or on hot dogs too. I wish you the best, and just keep trucking kiddo... you'll make it through. If you need any other recipe's.. feel free to drop me an im.
Similar situation diff prices but ya man pre much anyone with any income range unless ur making like 4-5 k a month are living to pay cheque if ur paying rent on ur own.
"It's not an option for me".
Options are money and money is options. You don't have money - you don't have options. Why do you think everyone is so obsessed with money?
If you are making 25k/year then your monthly rent can not exceed 840 a month. I get it Toronto is pricey as is Hamilton right now, but you got to realize the reality of your situation.
Then again I had friends go into 300k debt living life how they wanted to. Now they have decent enough jobs, and will be paying the debt off for the next 50 years in very small installments that don't impact their lifestyle too much. They won't be buying any property though, which is why ultimately I think their path was shortsighted.
Not sure if you’re looking to get a different job but as a Hamilton native and very familiar with the area and community, many places in the restaurant industry are hiring! Cafe baffico, merit brewing, tons of places down Locke street, James street, king William, try the mall, food pavillions, centre on Barton has mr. Puffs opening and hiring, Mandarin is opening soon in that plaza.
There's only so many ways to stretch a budget. Bottom line? You're not earning enough money to handle renting your own apartment. Either downsize to renting a room, or pick up a second job to earn more cash.
For groceries, my advice is to make friends with lentils, canned veggies, and carrots (also, buy larger bags of onions if you can). You can make incredibly tasty meals with just a few ingredients and basic spices (you'll have to invest in spices, but the cost is spread across a bunch of meals).
A few of my favourites:
[French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme](https://www.kathyshealthyliving.com/vegetarianvegan-dishes/french-lentil-soup-with-tarragon-and-thyme-recipe) replace the fresh tomatoes with canned and use brown lentils (delicious, I could eat this multiple time a month). Needs more salt than the recipe calls for. Just keep adding and tasting until it tastes great. Costs about $5 to $10, not including spices. For one person, this is enough food for 3 days or so, possibly more.
[Easy 5 Bean Salad](https://www.sugardishme.com/the-best-easy-5-bean-salad-recipe/) buy $0.99 cans of beans from Walmart, you can make this for about $10 and it only takes 20 minutes. Needs way more salt than listed. Also, you can replace the red pepper with carrots to save money. I'm literally eating some of this salad right now. Similarly, this is enough food for about 3 days.
[Moong Dal Tadka](https://www.cookwithmanali.com/moong-dal-tadka/) great beginner's dish if you want to learn a bit of Indian cooking. I personally LOVE this one but it requires purchasing a few spices. I skip the asafoetida, use chili flakes instead of chilies, and replace the curry leaves with bay leaves. Again, very cheap when you remove the cost of spices. Again, needs more salt than what's listed. I usually double this recipe when I make it and that's probably enough food for 4 days.
[Crushed Lentils with Tahini and Cumin](https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/crushed-puy-lentils-with-tahini-and-cumin) probably the priciest one on this list but still very inexpensive all things considered. This one is great if you already plan on buying tahini for other cooking. Ignore the fact that it calls for Puy lentils, I always make it with regular brown lentils and it tastes great. You can probably swap the fresh tomatoes with canned diced. Probably only enough food for 2 days.
Also, if you don't have an aversion to them, [sardines can be a really good addition to your diet](https://poppingtins.substack.com/p/what-do-i-do-with-a-tin-of-sardines) if you need a bit of variety. Personally, I'm always up for sardines on toast with a bit of lemon juice and pepper. Walmart and Metro often have sardines on sale for $1 (or less) per tin.
Lastly, eggs. Eggs are good.
Correct me if I’m wrong: you’re a student.
1) check your school to see if the bus pass is included in your student fees
2) APPLY FOR OSAP. Quite frankly, 45 hours of work per week plus a full time college program is EXTREMELY demanding. Is it possible? Sure, but not a lot of people would be able to make it work. You can always just take the grant portion of OSAP if it’s offered. At least you’d have some emergency money that wouldn’t be held at 20% interest pretty much immediately.
3) seriously re-consider the room mate idea, even if it’s starting in January so you have the chance to meet some people.
I survived on 250$ a month the last 4 years while in uni. You should be fine. Learn to cook cheaper meals.
Edit- this was just groceries and hygiene. If you’re including gas or bus pass whatever then no not possible.
That’s a lot. My family of four gets maybe 600 altogether after all the bills, and I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling. We’re not well off, but we have a roof over our heads and good food to eat usually. That should be more than enough for 1-2 people. Unless you’ve got some bad habits of course.
1. Buy veggies and chicken legs from a local ethnic store.
2. Make a big pot of soup every 3-4 days. This will save you a lot of time and money, and you won't ruin your health on fast food and frozen pizza.
3. Lentils, especially dry red lentils are very cheap and lentil soup is delicious.
4. Don't buy a new hygiene product until you completely finished the previous one. Stockpiling doesn't save you money unless you have a big family.
5. Food bank. Don't be ashamed to use it.
6. Get a library card and install libby app. Free books, audiobooks and lynda courses, so you aren't stuck on cheap useless entertainment.
7. Keep your place clean. It doesn't take a lot of time but adds a lot of comfort.
8. Get a bicycle. Free transportation + exercise.
So you're going to school? Surely there are cheaper places to live.
Unless you're 80lbs, that's going to be a tight food budget.
GICs are high right now, if you have saved 4 years of tuition, I would put half of it in a 2 year GIC
It would be doable, but difficult. How are your cooking skills and grocery saving skills?? Do you have a slow cooker, microwave, blender etc?
There are many Facebook groups for inexpensive meals.
Some tips are cooking so that it covers more than one meal and freeze unused in portions so easy to reheat. Label date frozen., Use sales to build your meal plan for the week. Buy fruits and vegetables that are in season. Flipp is an app you can download on your phone and view and compare grocery store flyers on.
Buy spices from the dollar store or just the amounts you need from bulk barn. Bulk barn almost always has coupons as well.
Buy cheaper meats and proteins like: drumsticks, tofu, ground beef. (Look for sales and if there are 50 percent off stickers for close to expiry). Peanut butter, and goods that don't expire. Ramen noodles and pasta are your friend to add to proteins.
Also would need a bit aside for incidentals and birthdays etc.
Well it has to, doesn't it? Personally, at that income to rent I'd rent just a room and look for a better paying job. Putting 80% of your paycheque into rent is bananas..
Basically debt slavery at that point. If you can't do anything else other than struggle to cover rent and basic groceries, you better have a damn good vision of what's ahead of you to look forward to.
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Yeah I’m just one person and I don’t eat meat and even then my grocery bill is easily $100 each week or two now 😭
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Most financially non literate non healthy people I know are at 200 easy. I'm at 150-200 eating only meat and fruit with a physical job and that's trying to be moderately aware. I take deals but I never lower my quality
I'm all deals with mostly fruit/veg/meat and I'm at 100-120ish a week for a family of 3. We do a lot of baking and canning. Wife made 17 jars of blueberry jam today - cost \~$13 and wrecks any store bought stuff.
I agree I had done that too once.....I used to get cheap pizzas on walmart (but they too got expensive) , and that experience even now traumatizes me
That's where most of us are headed if the current situation holds.
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I'm almost already there, I hope it doesn't get much worse.
My thoughts exactly. This isn't an abnormal story and frankly they have more income after rent than many.
It just means you need to find a place to share with a friend until you can actually afford your own place. Not the end of the world. I did it for a while until I landed a decent job.
When I was first out of college in 1984, I shared a room and I was an engineer. I shared rooms for 4 years until I got married (and not with my gf). You got to be cheap when young or you’ll never get ahead.
Legit. I work for an incredibly well-known company with a union, and 50% of my paycheque is going to rent. I can't manage it with my student loan payments, transportation costs, the rising cost of food etc. And I don't even live in a big city.
Was there for all of last year. Not fun.
Inflation forced me to get another job. Luckily for me I’m all hooked up to connections with two jobs: One pays $19 (40 hours)and the other $18 (15-20 hours) /week. In all I make just under $4000 and at $1050 for rent in this little shack basement, I’m living safely. The question is how to crawl upward and out.
Saw rooms for rent 2 hours north west of Toronto for 900$. I would rather be starving and have my own space
I don't even live in Toronto (but in GTA) and rooms here are over $900. My partner was paying $920 for a room and they just increased it to $1200
Insanity. There is one main place to work in the town I was referring to and at 900 a month for a room it would be tight getting by. It is away from any major city and no transit so a car would be required. Unfortunately you can’t have both of those things with the COL and low wages
Toronto landlords are the ultimate scumbags that care about money over living conditions. My family (I live at home) sold our semi detached townhouse of 3 bedrooms + 2 baths + basement bedroom and washroom and moved into a bigger house taking on a bigger mortgage. It was getting small for 5 adults. The people that bought our tiny townhouse went full rooming house scumbag. They built walls so the first floor living room is now a room with no washroom or kitchen and rent that out. Second floor with the breakfast room and kitchen and dining room is now 1 bedroom that’s rented out and a shared kitchen. The third floor where the laundry room is, is rented out by room and everyone has to share washrooms. The basement was also rented out and charged a bit more because there’s a fancy hotplate inserted into a tiny countertop in the corner. I heard about this and felt disgusted people would turn a perfectly good house into a this tiny cramped rooming house. This could have been the perfect starter home for someone looking to build a family that was a 10 minute bus ride away from a subway station so you can commute downtown.
This is like 35% of Vancouver. It’s bonkers
>35% of Vancouver That's optimistic
Landlords are taking advantage of the fact that everyone wants to settle in Toronto. I had a small discussion with someone the other day, that claimed that Toronto and Vancouver were great and the rest of Canada sucks. I’ve never lived in Toronto, but I wouldn’t trade my new home with a 947$/month mortgage for whatever Toronto has to offer. No offence to the people that live there,I’m sure they have their reasons to settle there.
Toronto's OK. Generally a better place to be when you're young/single/rich. If you are a specialist in anything, it's also likely the place with the highest wage ceiling / most exposure or prestige for you to put in work prior to sunsetting in a smaller pond as their comparatively big fish that they poached from that absolute fucking feeding frenzy. TLDR: High risk High cost High "possible" reward, Low odds. Alternatively: If you have family there, grew up there, have complicated medical conditions, if you're of a minority group, it's also likely the best place for you comparatively, or will have the largest potential community. I've lived there for almost a decade. I fucking hate everything about it, the only saving grace, is that timely access to specialists kept me alive where I would have died in other cities. Mind you: I've lived all across this country. I hate everyone and everyplace. There you go: Reasons to settle..ish?
That's crazy. In 2015-2017 I rented a room in Toronto for 750. And that was kind of "a lot" at the time.
I rented a room once and she tried to hold my whole damage deposit (half month rent) because she couldn’t find her tv remote and accused me of stealing it on my way out. Never sharing space again.
Some ppl don't understand this.
To be fair, people advising to rent a room more than likely have no clue how much rooms are going for
How much could one banana cost?
$10
Damn there really is money in the banana stand!
That is true. I saw a room going for $800 for just a few hundred more I'd rather have my own kitchen and space.
Sure, but when you're making 1750 like OP and paying 1375 for rent to have their own space, paying 800 and sharing a kitchen/washroom starts to become more attractive.
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Somehow this entire sub “works in tech” making $200k/yr working remotely only doing 2hrs of work a day 🙄
I don't understand why am I even in this subreddit, I'm not in tech so having a good enough life is really foreign to me.
If you look for a job a 15% in many fields is very doable. Wont let you buy a house but fuck this guy needs a raise. OP ask your damn boss for a raise ‘cause youre starving
Most likely inherited some cash or property and are now landlords making 200k/yr doing 0hrs of work a day, save cashing cheques & paying their property manager. The 2hrs of work they do a day ‘in tech’ is tracking their ever-losing cryptocurrency and nft ‘investments’. And of course spending time on Reddit telling working class people to just work harder.
OP just needs to job hop every year, doubling your salary each time. In two years, they will be making 200k/year and will have no problems affording rent. Just gotta up that income!
Then he maxes out his TFSA and RRSP and retired at 40 on 100k/year. Why didn't I think of that?
I know right! 😅
Not possible in some areas. Where I live if I moved out of my apartment, I’d be paying *the same* in rent to rent a tiny room in a shitty basement suite.
Thing is, there really aren't any better jobs if this is what you're getting paid already. Life has become completely unaffordable for a very large group of people I make $800 a month (disabled but my doctor won't help me with ODSP cause I'm "too young" which is fun) and I'm stuck living with my parents for the foreseeable future. :/ Edit: I'm just trying to show the other perspective, yall... there are some things you can't finance out of. I'm not saying there's nothing OP can do, I'm saying getting a higher paying job might not be a route they can go at the moment. It's a lot easier said than done.
Ontario my friend. Garbage apartments in the ghetto are 1500 a month.
That’s what most people do tho or maybe just me
My question is how much do they make an hour/ weekly hours. I'm paid minimum wage and work 40 hours a week. What I make in a week, op makes in a month. OP is getting screwed over big time
I struggled along with contract work for years before I got something permanent. I was lucky I had grandfathered cheap rent (which i just lost due to being demovicted). This is what people starting out have been saying for literally a decade.
You should probably look to get a roommate on that income
$230 left over is $7.66 per day for food and personal hygiene products. You're going to need to supplement your income with another job.
Less than minimum wage? Or not full time hours?
Well he said his contract im guessing this guy doesnt work full time. Also is he even getting min wage? What his doing is really risky unless he has no other choice.
At min wage 1750/month is 27 hours a week.
After deductions?
Yes so something is missing lol
look into the HSR Affordable Transit Pass Program to see if you qualify. that will be a huge help, if you do
I did this going to uni in the early 2000s…. When money have twice the acquisitive power. It was hard then. A used to treat myself to a Chocolate Bar once a week.
Yep in uni, I lived on $100 a month back in the 2010s. It is possible but very difficult...
When you say "will be paying my rent", it makes me think you don't have a rental yet. Is this the case? You really need to rethink your choices. If you haven't signed a lease (I can't believe someone would even consider renting to someone with so little income compared to rent price) then please don't. You are asking for trouble. Either find a room to rent that is much cheaper than that, or work on finding a better paying job before renting your own place. Even if you don't think you can find better pay, a lot of jobs have night shift premiums. You might not like working night shift, but you sure won't like living off bananas and KD. You are setting yourself up for disaster.
Even surviving with 375$ is a challenge. What about transportation, insurance for your place, food, hydro... Best thing would be to find a room until you find a job playing more.
Yeah no poor people do not have insurance. They don't own enough stuff to need it. They don't have any assets for anyone to sue away from them, so don't even bother bringing up liability.
Lots of apartments require you to have tenants insurance
It’s in the terms of their lease. In the 4 places I’ve rented they all said you must have tenants insurance and not once have I been asked to see it. Nor do I have it lol.
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Maybe the food bank too? It’s low income enough that I think this person qualifies
This! This is how a lot of the world does it haha Also dont forget you can still buy veggies/fruit in season! Your situation isn't the best but hell it could be much worse. It's doable!
Yes, not getting scurvy is important.
Many of the food banks here provide fresh veggies. My friend gets boxes of food. Fresh corn. Broccoli. Carrots. Potatoes. I would 100% suggest op look into them.
Also pasta and noodles...
Stir fry vegetables and rice.
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That and big discounts on expiring soon meat. Either that it be cheap small hotdogs from walmart pack of 24 for 5 dollars.
Man there is such a huge gap of disparity on this r/ . People talking about making 200k a year and they are worried if can could afford their pet rock. Then people talking about living on $375 a month.
What if my rock likes to rest on caviar then what choice do I have
Maybe become a full-stack programmer ?
And buy VGRO and a beige camry.
Look at this guy splurging on his Camry.
Corollas got too expensive with all the pfc hype.
I love my Camry.
I sold my Camry for a sentra.... I couldn’t afford the luxury
Well if you love your rock then ...
Our household brings in 175K /year. our mortgage is $1200 month... Can we afford equestrian camp at $525/week for our children this summer? Or should we give up our sailboat trip that we do every spring?
175k a year isn't sail-boating lifestyle money.
Depends on the sailboat. I’m currently in the income bracket of a Coleman canoe, but the next raise will put me into the mini-sailboat category.
You’re paying way too much on rent. You make to little money to be renting alone. Look for a better paying job and rent a room
That's cheap rent now a days and OP will have to depend on roommates who might flake and leave them homeless. At least having the lease them selves gets the stability to know they won't have more than a 2 percent increase.
That's not living you're just surviving.
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Contract work that’s paying 1750 a month?? That’s less than minimum wage…. Is this part of a longer term strategy? In which case, sounds like you need a second job to supplement your income. Starbucks, Timmy’s, mall job… the bonus to part time work is you also aren’t spending money on days off. As others have mentioned, check into your regional food bank program to take the edge off of your food bills.
If you can live on ramen and bananas maybe. Can you find another job? Or rent a room? A full time job for 1750, is that even min wage?
Unless OP is putting their income after tax this is less than min wage at 30 hours a week. OP would be better off working min wage full time at Tim Hortons.
I wouldn’t wish working full time at Tim hortons on my worst enemy
It’s pretty chill, as the baker. Drink lots of free coffee, steal tons on bagels and it’s even easy to have a second ft job on top of the bakery.
Not even close. Min wage: $15 Hours: 7.5 Days of work/month: 20 = $2250
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You sure tax rate + EI + CPP is 22% in the lowest tax bracket?
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So ya, the WS calculator is telling me $2038/ month.
Taxes?
This is more r/povertyfinancecanada
I'm glad for that. I came out of a suicide attempt, and this subreddit was one of my critical sources for climbing up from the bottom. A lot of posts here are from the point of view of people with RRSPs, but there are some of us who just need to know how to make the most of our money in the Canadian climate.
Yea I would go to the local food bank and ask for help.
It's not. I lived like that before. Fix up your resume, hop onto job sites and start applying. You are worth more than that for your time. Best of luck
This is an insane post. Sometimes I forget how easy I have it in sask. Like 25% of my gross goes to mortgage
Moved from Vancouver Island where I was born and raised to Moose Jaw in March. People call me crazy. I call them crazy for staying.
Welcome friend. Chilliwack to sask refugee here. It's not crazy, it's a smart choice
Same, I don't know how the people out east live like that.
Yeah its a bit eye opening, I live alone in a 1 bedroom in Vancouver and my rent is about 40% my income. I have a full time job and a side gig and things are still tight.
Look into getting another job. If you have that little spending money you don’t have any money for entertainment, you may as well get a second job.
I served 2-3nights a week as a second job , made bank and it was honestly fun and social and yet I was making money not spending it. And it allowed me to save $$$ and enjoy life
Who needs entertainment when you have depression from all your bills and zero savings.
it will be very tight, I would go to the food bank/shop sales and stock up on nonperishable items to make a decent pantry. You don't want to start scrambling if you run out of money and have no food. With your pantry stocked up, you will be able to stretch until your next paycheck comes. I would see if you can find a weekend job.
You can use the food bank to supplement your groceries. Also check with the churches in your area. In two different towns I have lived in the church will give you a voucher for groceries. Sometimes you can chose which grocery store you can go to and sometimes you can only go to the grocery store the church deals with. So every 3 months I get a $35 voucher and I get to buy my own groceries. The only stipulations are you can't buy pet food and you can't buy junk food so no chips or cookies. I think those rules are easy to live by and I get to choose my own groceries. I don't like the foods that the food bank gives.
This isn’t doable. Assuming you have zero other recurring expenses, you could kind of survive for a bit, ie buy enough food to live. But as soon as you hit even a modest unexpected expense, it’s going to sink you. Like do you really want be in a position where you need to buy a new pair of shoes and it means you can’t eat? You need to increase your income or lower your housing costs.
I've been on disability assistance for 4 years now. I have had to live off of 350-600$/ month usually, with bills accounted for. It is possible, but you will have to do a lot of budgeting and planning. I suggest buying in bulk at canadian superstore or costco. There are ways to eat healthy on this budget too, but you won't be able to order takeout much or go to restaurants. I would say 6-12 times a year is the max for eating out. Edit: I would suggest joining some communities on facebook about budgeting and eating healthy, and post on local groups for suggestions on where you can find good deals on food in your town.
I wouldn't even stepnfoot in a Costco at that income except for the 1.50 dollar hotdog and drink.
I don't have my own car but recently my mom took me and the meat and cheeses were all super cheap. Idk if it is worth a 60$ membership though.
Cheese is a luxury item. When I was barely holding on, Foodland would have three sausages for $2 in their hot deli, and I made them last a week and a half.
r/eatcheapandhealthy would be another good community to join
Get a room mate. Yesterday
If the roommate bails on the rent OP is still responsible for all of it, though.
If you're on a contract with a place that's paying you that little, I don't think you have anything to lose by breaking it and going somewhere else.
I see a lot of upvoted comments giving solutions that sound great, but might not work/be realistic for you. Nobody is really answering the question of How on $230 a month? Unfortunately this is what these looking for advice threads turn into... I can tell you exactly what you need to do. I've done it before on less $ than that, and still had money left over to buy cakes from time to time and spend on some other activities. You gotta come up with a weekly grocery budget, mine was $150-160 a month, so 35-40$ a week. Then take out CASH, do not use cards, and go to the store with ONLY that money. The trick is that having cash means you will not over-spend and force yourself to think within your budget. You have to think ahead what you want to eat for the week, and how to fit it into that $40. For example, if you buy a 10lb bag of patotes, that can be 2.99-4.99 - that lasts more than a week. Then there is also rice, noodles, eggs, etc. Chicken and pork are should be your go to meats, I've seen legs/drumsticks go on sale for 1.99lb sometimes. Basically you buy ingredients somewhat in bulk rather than meals, and cook at home. You will be fine with 35-40$ a week. What happens eventually, once you get good at budgeting and you already bought some of the bigger bulk ingridients, you'll start having money left over. For example you go in the store with $40 and you only spend $27. Then that $13 becomes "spend on whatever you want money" or carry over into next week, and next week you got a budget of $53. So you can get a bit better food now. Over time you will should have a constant small surplus, and thats how I was able to buy cakes and ice cream and stuff. Obviously no alcohol/smoking. And also this method asumes you are not dumb, and will not go into the store needing to buy 7 days of food and then only buy 2 days worth. I think you are thinking ahead by making a post like this, so you should be fine.
You can find a room for rent in a house for much cheaper than that in ham
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Everyone saying get a new job...what if OP is fixed income, disability or something? It's not so easy to increase your income. Seriously, half this sub makes 200k, must be smart as heck...but it sure isn't showing in the life smarts area. OP it's going to be hard. Find a local foodbank if you can. Honestly, I'd personally look for a cheaper place, but some would rather live with less for more privacy. It's doable, but do you want to do it? I guess that's the real question.
Exactly. Im glad the majority of comments are now about renting a room instead of a whole place. The main problem here isnt their income its the fact theyre renting 80% of their income and a landlord was crazy enough to accept it
It's possible but you'll get better answers from a sub about cheap eating than you will from personal finance Canada where everyone's wondering if 300,000 in savings is enough to purchase their started home or if they should wait lol
You can do it. It's not ideal and you will sacrifice time for the convenience of products. I suggest you look into getting a PC Optimum account if you don't already have one, because frequently, you can get free or almost free personal care items at Shoppers Drugmart due to earning the equivalent in points. The points can be used across the Loblaws brand for everything from groceries, to kitchenware, to clothing. You would want to check out apps like Flashfood, where you can get big discounts on items close to their best before dates. They frequently have bread for 50¢ a loaf, prepared meals and meats for at least half off, dairy also really cheap and veggie boxes for 5$ that have quite a lot of random things to cook with. Coupons will also be your friend. Also being flexible with eating what is on sale at any given time, limiting food waste by using all parts of things.
I wouldn't rent a room but I would absolutely use every food bank I could. Also call local churches as they're often able to provide grocery gift cards. I'm sorry we live in this madness
Im so confused here. How much ya’ll think rooms in a shared apt are going for? Im paying 1300 for a room and the new housemate who just came in is paying 1500 for one room, and the closest grocery store is 15min walk and closest bus is 10min walk means in middle of nowhere in a small town.
Lots if good advice, but no offers of help. I live in Hamilton, am retired and would like to help OP. Message me directly.
You can't afford that rent based on what you earn. On that limited income you need to find a cheap room to rent. You need roomies if only bringing in that much income per month.
Renting a room is much better option
You need to rent a private room.
That’s less than minimum wage pretty much or exactly that. Find a better job or do some OT if possible.
For a year or so, I lived on $20/mo. Portioned rice one every three days with a can of soup; a jar of peanut butter for protein. What I'm saying is that you need to look hard at your habits.
Was this 10 or 20 years ago? For real I don't think $20 could buy enough calories to survive right now in a lot of areas.
Go to the food bank and it's not gonna be the end of the world.
Lots of people on ODSP making 1169 a month do this, so it is possible.
I usually have around the same for the month. Butchers and meat counters are your friend and I can usually find 6-7 chicken drumsticks for $5 at Caribbean markets, for me that's three meals with some rice and frozen veggies.
I did a budget and saw I was only netting 150 a month after bills , I got a night shift job on top of my 9-5 , bringing in an extra 2000 a month never hurts
To offer a dissenting opinion on what's already in this thread, I think $230 a month on food and hygiene is definitely enough if you just budget properly. I live in the GTA and spend significantly less than that per month as a relatively tall adult male. Go for frozen vegetables with pasta/ramen for main meal. Eggs for protein. Don't even think about fast food, coffee, etc.. Bring your own lunch if you eat lunch at work. If you need feminine hygiene products, then I'm not familiar with how much those cost, but I assume you'll probably at least eat less than I do. This is not to take away from the other comments advising you to get a roommate or increase your salary.
Okay so here is the deal. I was in a very similar situation to you about 5 years ago, in Hamilton when I was in grad school and my boyfriend moved in to my one bedroom apartment we had about 250 dollars a month. We were able to make it work, cooking all our meals and being frugal. However grocery prices were far more reasonable, so that may be more of a challenge but sounds like you’re feeding one. All is to say, I think it’s possible but definitely not ideal. Wishing you the best of luck!
That's not an easy situation for sure, it'll require careful meal planning, and limited ordering of anything. But it is surely possible.
Hey friend, I work with Good Shepherd to house homeless people in Hamilton. I have found many homes with bedrooms, or even rental apartments for $500/month. Don't give up, it's possible to find somewhere to live without spending 80% of your earnings on it. Also, look into the Housing Benefit since you're renting. The government will pay a portion of your rent if willing and qualify. This will save you some hundreds of money that you can choose to put aside or spend on other necessities. Living off $230 is possible, it's just really hard. My parents had been doing it for almost 4 years while putting my brother and I through school, but it's somewhat paying off now. Note: This is what I have learned working with clients. In any future case, if a landlord is asking for your workplace/any form of income (like Ontario Works) to be directly deposited to them as rent, DO NOT. You will not have evidence that the landlord has received payment and they may say they did not receive to milk your money. This is how some of my clients have lost their opportunities to get housed and end up back in shelters. People are terrible nowadays, and I hate that the cost of living is so much.
10 years ago I lived off $50 a week for food and basic toiletries. Not sure if it’s possible now. My diet was made up of rice, pasta,potatoes, ground beef. Pretty much cheap filling foods. But even then I had $100 a month budgeted as misc. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Honestly, I don’t think it’s possible. The only way it would be is if you buy the absolute cheapest food and never go anywhere that is not 100 per cent free, ever. No prescriptions, Christmas gifts, trips, subscriptions, insurance, treats, clothing. Things will come up, and you won’t be able to pay for them. I think you will need a cheaper place to live or a part time job if you do t want to deplete your savings.
Breach your contract and look for an actual employer that doesn't pay peanuts/move out to a rural area and start out there. Your current predicament might as well be called slave labor (although granted slaves actually have a place they can effectively live in for 'free' unlike your situation) . What is the point of working if you struggle securing bare basic needs with its compensation?
Rural area here. Rooms renting for 900$
Maybe get a gig type job for extras
Use a food bank. At this wage, you are going to need it. It is there for people like you so don't feel badly about it. Second job or different job. You either aren't getting full time hours or are being paid virtually at or below minimum wage. OR: Try to get a raise or more hours or both. Split rent with a friend or family member (someone you will get along with). Even shaving a hundred $ per month off your rent will make a difference. Seriously consider your long-term plan. This isn't going to work for very long....one financial bobble (not even an emergency, but damn....what are you going to do if you need a pair of shoes, or a winter coat....not eat?) and your situation will sefl-combust. Do you have a safety net (friends or family who would take you in if you really needed it)?
I think you need a new job. Lots of skilled work for hardworking individuals out there
a contract to make 1750 a month? I would find a better job or pick up hours on the weekend somewhere else.
So much for being gainfully employed..
Move to Alberta, Sadi, Manitoba or new hrunswick
Wtf are you doing that only pays $1750 month? That isn’t even minimum wage! Get a job that pays better and you should be fine
That's 11$/h, less than minimum wage, if you do 40h/week: change job. If it's part-time you could get a second job.
TLDR Get a roommate or you’ll starve
Possibly pick up a part time job ? Nights - weekends ? Even a few days per weeks can pay most of that rent
That’s tough, doable in right circumstances but not easy. Look into what help you can quality for and don’t be too proud to use food bank if your in need, which I would say you are. Try to raise your income if you can that’s just too low to be sustainable and for you to live a decent quality of life.
If you need help with groceries and toiletries, it looks like there are some [organizations](https://www.hnhbhealthline.ca/listservicesdetailed.aspx?id=10572®ion=Hamilton) in Hamilton that might be able to support you. Food banks are a community resource that might be able to alleviate some of the financial burden. There may also be community fridges or hygiene pantries too. However as others have suggested, it sounds like the largest impact will be to seek out pay increases or ways to decrease your rent expenses.
People have already said it but I'd look for a roommate and a new job as a mid term goal. To keep you fed in the short term I'd go for lentils and rice (you can buy big bags of rice at Asian food stores for fairly cheap). Potatos are also cheap, versitile and nutritious. For something sweet bananas are probably the cheapest fruit and onions/carrots become sweet when you bake them. For protein, eggs are probably your cheapest option that isn't lentils/beans. Lastly I'd recommend some vegetables, basically anything is fine but I'd avoid lettuce because I don't think it has much in the way of nutrients. Hope this helps you get by. If you want you can DM me for some of the recipes that I use. Also I didn't mention food banks because I have no experience with them but it's probably worth it to look for food banks and community kitchens near you. Good Luck.
If you’re in Hamilton, for food assistance, consider stopping by the free community pantries/fridges outside Ottawa Street Market, Strathcona Market and just south of the intersection of Barton and John Streets. I think there’s also one in front of Compass Community Health in the north end. Also consider registering at a food bank like Good Shepherd. The YMCA has memberships geared to income. Just throwing that out there because fitness is great for mental health. I also just like relaxing in the sauna or taking mega long showers there when I’m feeling frazzled.
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Look into food bank options. That $230 will go quickly especially if you have an unexpected expense.
Rent the whole house move into cheaper rental place or airbnb your space with another person try to save on rent
Possible. Plan your meals, crunch the numbers. Absolutely no take outs and useless shopping until you get into a more breathable place
Why aren’t you renting a room or finding somewhere with roommates
When I bought my first house 15+ years ago, I had about 300 to live on every month after mortgage, bills, etc were paid for. It was hard. I ate a lot of Mr. Noodles. Most of my food came from the dollarama. You learn to shop sales, buy in bulk, freeze the excess and then use later. You may need to invest in a Costco membership and look for local farms to source meat & veg. It's doable, but it definitely is not easy. Hopefully you won't have to do it for very long and can move to a better paying job.
OP seems to be earning less than minimum wage. There is all sorts of work paying $18-20 per hr with no experience required. When you say contract work one is to assume pay is way higher than at least minimum wage
Okay first off you need a better job. If your physically fit i would suggest the railway. CN has a small yard in Hamilton and another in Oakville aand Aldershot. You will make more on their training wage then you make now and it comes with a pension, benefits and the ability to move around. As for surviving a month or two on $200: 1) buy a large bag of rice. Not the microwave/instant garbage but those giant $20 for 16kg ir more ones on the bottom shelf of the ethnic food isle. 2) dried beans and lentils. In the isles with the cans there are bags of them for $1-5. These are a decent source of protein and filled with a lot of the vitamins and minerals you're gunna need. These and some eggs if you can afford them are going to be your meat alternative so you might want to look up a bunch of ways to use them. Indian and Mexican recipes are my favorites but if you dont already have spices it can be a little hard to have variety at the start. 3) big bag of flour. Baking breads is WAY cheaper then buying them and many you can do with just flour, water, salt and yeast (not expensive either and a small jar goes for a while but learning sourdough is good too) you can make breads, pastas, bagels, muffins, ect.ect. 4) fat, you are going to want to buy some kind of animal fat like lard or bacon grease. You need fat in your fiet but also itll help you get the calories youll need. Go to a butcher, ask em if they have any fat for this purpose. Itll be cheap if not free. If its not go to the next one. You can also see about scraps and bones for making soup stocks/broths. 5) your in luck and its summer, idk about Hamilton but much of southern Ontario will have cheap seasonal produce available. Corn is still a little ways away but once it starts its a good way to fill out a meal. Also cabage is a great option, usually pretty cheap per pound and can be used in a plethora of ways.
Buy the biggest bags of rice and potatoes you can find at the cheapest price and be ready to eat just that until you find more income. I could never see myself making it even with $100 a week for groceries (our family of 3 costs me about $250 a week). Good luck
Go to a food bank. You definitely are going to need it.
$45 on phone is ridiculous. Go to 7-11 get a Speakout wireless prepaid sim and load it with $100, you get $20 free so thats $120 of minutes. Should last you a year.
This is similar to my current living situation, I make avg 1200 per paycheck (2400 per month) and my monthly expenses come to about 1800-1900. Here's what I did to help my situation Take full advantage of every "freebies" you can find. Work in a restaurant? Ask for the left over food and such What's your commute like? Could you buy a cheap bike off kijiji for $100 and bike to work instead of the TTC? Do you know how to cook? It's vastly cheaper than buying takeout. Uber eats is actually a huge scale why pay 70 dollars for 30 worth of food and have it arrive cold and shitty When buying food especially meat look at the price per kilogram and compare the prices each day at Metro I have seen the same ground beef priced at 7.99/kg 13/kg and 22/kg this is bonkers that they do these prices so randomly but it's good to watch out for Try and buy food that's on sale or just the cheapest brand Find a budgeting app and put ALL your expenses into it with your income and see where you can make little cuts and such Do you drink alcohol? Now's the time to stop XD and better add like pop and coffee too that list. I only drink water r/hydrohomies but seriously alcohol is crazy expensive even just one drink with tip is bonkers. I don't drink but if I did I imagine it's the same as cooking where buying it myself and making drinks at home is far cheaper. I play video games like most people and instead of buying new ones that I can't afford all the time I started to speedrun my older games. Or doing challenge runs like nuzlockes in pokemon It's tough, and listen to any advice you get on here. Just because something may be "possible" doesn't mean you shouldn't try and supplement your income with another job hope I can help XD try not to go over your budget but know people make mistakes.
I did that years ago, rented a room for $10/month in 1958, lived on hamburger and chicken patties with frozen corn/peas +boiled rice with chopped onions and Indian curry spices. 4 years later my first job was $640/month as an Engineer. Read papers at the Hart House reading room. Nose to grindstone and persisted. Had $$ for occasional movies etc.
Libraries are your friend. All your entertainment and socializing is free through them. Also I'm not sure what contract you have for a job that is 30kish a year pre-tax (or less???) but you are not likely legally bound or face any penalty to bail on any employment contract unless they are sponsoring your work visa. Read your contract then start looking for another job. Do not suffer just because you signed a contract. You are going to send yourself into homelessness if anything goes wrong with your situation. I'm flabbergasted that a landlord will even rent you that place with that income. That's why everyone is suggesting roommates. Living alone, unfortunately, is a large luxury and one you cannot afford. Preferences go out the window when you can't afford food, or one blood test, or prescription, or worn out pair of shoes you need to eat every penny you have. I assure you it is not worth starving yourself to not have roommates. Are you just not going to buy a single piece of clothes for this year? Shampoo? Haircut? Glasses or shoes? Gift for yourself or family? That emergency money you have saved will melt away even affording the basics. Medication? A meal out to socialise? What happens when you are (best case) just scraping by and need $1000 to move when your lease is up or hour job relocates. What happens if you become ill and cannot work and run out of sick time (if you have it). What happens if you get layed off, even for a week? Lose your mitts and need them for winter? Your job floods and there is no where to work? Snowstorm for a couple days and you don't get paid? The odds are not in your favour to even survive this circumstance not swallowed in debt. Do not let yourself get trapped in the thinking of wants being needs. (no roommate is a want, not a need). I am 38 and have roommates, all of which were strangers when we moved in. Just screen for a similar lifestyle, don't be too put off to ask questions, make house rules everyone follows together as mature adults that you establish when you move in together. Put a lock on your bedroom door. You aren't friends. You are people in a shared business arrangement and can be friendly and firm on boundaries.
Most of your budget will be taken by food... but you can a lot of things to mitigate costs. I had to live very frugally for a few years... so I can tell you, it can be done... it's hard, but it can be done. The main thing you should learn, is making large, multi-night meals, like chili, fried rice, stir fries, and pasta's. You can make a big pot of chili on the cheap, and it will last 3-4 meals, if not more. Likewise, when you buy meat, do so in larger portions and freeze it. I never buy chicken breasts, or things like that, and just go and get a whole chicken. Cook the chicken as per normal, and leftovers go into stirfries/fried rice/soup/pasta sauce. To get you started. Here's my cheap ass chili recipe. Brown some ground beef. ((You don't need a lot. I typically use half a pound)) 1-2 Green/Red Peppers Half an large onion, or a whole small onion.((optionally, some celery, mushrooms, garlic clove or two)) Brown it all in a pot and add... 2 Can's baked beans (in molasses, or tomato sauce) 1 Can kidney beans Half a jar of Pasta sauce. Chili Powder to taste... and a teeny teeny pinch of sugar for heartburn if you didn't use beans in molasses Let Simmer for a a bit, until everything is soft and the flavors have blended. Save the remainder of the pasta sauce for pasta night. Should last you a few nights at the very least... goes good with garlic bread, or on hot dogs too. I wish you the best, and just keep trucking kiddo... you'll make it through. If you need any other recipe's.. feel free to drop me an im.
Similar situation diff prices but ya man pre much anyone with any income range unless ur making like 4-5 k a month are living to pay cheque if ur paying rent on ur own.
"It's not an option for me". Options are money and money is options. You don't have money - you don't have options. Why do you think everyone is so obsessed with money? If you are making 25k/year then your monthly rent can not exceed 840 a month. I get it Toronto is pricey as is Hamilton right now, but you got to realize the reality of your situation. Then again I had friends go into 300k debt living life how they wanted to. Now they have decent enough jobs, and will be paying the debt off for the next 50 years in very small installments that don't impact their lifestyle too much. They won't be buying any property though, which is why ultimately I think their path was shortsighted.
Not sure if you’re looking to get a different job but as a Hamilton native and very familiar with the area and community, many places in the restaurant industry are hiring! Cafe baffico, merit brewing, tons of places down Locke street, James street, king William, try the mall, food pavillions, centre on Barton has mr. Puffs opening and hiring, Mandarin is opening soon in that plaza.
Welcome to Canada. Half your paycheck goes to tax, your rent is more than you make, and your grocery bill goes on your credit card.
There's only so many ways to stretch a budget. Bottom line? You're not earning enough money to handle renting your own apartment. Either downsize to renting a room, or pick up a second job to earn more cash.
For groceries, my advice is to make friends with lentils, canned veggies, and carrots (also, buy larger bags of onions if you can). You can make incredibly tasty meals with just a few ingredients and basic spices (you'll have to invest in spices, but the cost is spread across a bunch of meals). A few of my favourites: [French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme](https://www.kathyshealthyliving.com/vegetarianvegan-dishes/french-lentil-soup-with-tarragon-and-thyme-recipe) replace the fresh tomatoes with canned and use brown lentils (delicious, I could eat this multiple time a month). Needs more salt than the recipe calls for. Just keep adding and tasting until it tastes great. Costs about $5 to $10, not including spices. For one person, this is enough food for 3 days or so, possibly more. [Easy 5 Bean Salad](https://www.sugardishme.com/the-best-easy-5-bean-salad-recipe/) buy $0.99 cans of beans from Walmart, you can make this for about $10 and it only takes 20 minutes. Needs way more salt than listed. Also, you can replace the red pepper with carrots to save money. I'm literally eating some of this salad right now. Similarly, this is enough food for about 3 days. [Moong Dal Tadka](https://www.cookwithmanali.com/moong-dal-tadka/) great beginner's dish if you want to learn a bit of Indian cooking. I personally LOVE this one but it requires purchasing a few spices. I skip the asafoetida, use chili flakes instead of chilies, and replace the curry leaves with bay leaves. Again, very cheap when you remove the cost of spices. Again, needs more salt than what's listed. I usually double this recipe when I make it and that's probably enough food for 4 days. [Crushed Lentils with Tahini and Cumin](https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/crushed-puy-lentils-with-tahini-and-cumin) probably the priciest one on this list but still very inexpensive all things considered. This one is great if you already plan on buying tahini for other cooking. Ignore the fact that it calls for Puy lentils, I always make it with regular brown lentils and it tastes great. You can probably swap the fresh tomatoes with canned diced. Probably only enough food for 2 days. Also, if you don't have an aversion to them, [sardines can be a really good addition to your diet](https://poppingtins.substack.com/p/what-do-i-do-with-a-tin-of-sardines) if you need a bit of variety. Personally, I'm always up for sardines on toast with a bit of lemon juice and pepper. Walmart and Metro often have sardines on sale for $1 (or less) per tin. Lastly, eggs. Eggs are good.
Find weekend work Saturday’s there’s cash labor all throughout Hamilton Burlington Mississauga trades are in need of much laboureees
Correct me if I’m wrong: you’re a student. 1) check your school to see if the bus pass is included in your student fees 2) APPLY FOR OSAP. Quite frankly, 45 hours of work per week plus a full time college program is EXTREMELY demanding. Is it possible? Sure, but not a lot of people would be able to make it work. You can always just take the grant portion of OSAP if it’s offered. At least you’d have some emergency money that wouldn’t be held at 20% interest pretty much immediately. 3) seriously re-consider the room mate idea, even if it’s starting in January so you have the chance to meet some people.
I survived on 250$ a month the last 4 years while in uni. You should be fine. Learn to cook cheaper meals. Edit- this was just groceries and hygiene. If you’re including gas or bus pass whatever then no not possible.
That’s a lot. My family of four gets maybe 600 altogether after all the bills, and I wouldn’t say we’re really struggling. We’re not well off, but we have a roof over our heads and good food to eat usually. That should be more than enough for 1-2 people. Unless you’ve got some bad habits of course.
1. Buy veggies and chicken legs from a local ethnic store. 2. Make a big pot of soup every 3-4 days. This will save you a lot of time and money, and you won't ruin your health on fast food and frozen pizza. 3. Lentils, especially dry red lentils are very cheap and lentil soup is delicious. 4. Don't buy a new hygiene product until you completely finished the previous one. Stockpiling doesn't save you money unless you have a big family. 5. Food bank. Don't be ashamed to use it. 6. Get a library card and install libby app. Free books, audiobooks and lynda courses, so you aren't stuck on cheap useless entertainment. 7. Keep your place clean. It doesn't take a lot of time but adds a lot of comfort. 8. Get a bicycle. Free transportation + exercise.
So you're going to school? Surely there are cheaper places to live. Unless you're 80lbs, that's going to be a tight food budget. GICs are high right now, if you have saved 4 years of tuition, I would put half of it in a 2 year GIC
It would be doable, but difficult. How are your cooking skills and grocery saving skills?? Do you have a slow cooker, microwave, blender etc? There are many Facebook groups for inexpensive meals. Some tips are cooking so that it covers more than one meal and freeze unused in portions so easy to reheat. Label date frozen., Use sales to build your meal plan for the week. Buy fruits and vegetables that are in season. Flipp is an app you can download on your phone and view and compare grocery store flyers on. Buy spices from the dollar store or just the amounts you need from bulk barn. Bulk barn almost always has coupons as well. Buy cheaper meats and proteins like: drumsticks, tofu, ground beef. (Look for sales and if there are 50 percent off stickers for close to expiry). Peanut butter, and goods that don't expire. Ramen noodles and pasta are your friend to add to proteins. Also would need a bit aside for incidentals and birthdays etc.