Antony’s Personal Opinion

One of the questions that may pop up in our mind when we relocate to a new place is “how much is the living cost?” Before moving to Vancouver, Canada, I have done a small research too. However, after arriving here, I was very surprise. The living cost is higher than what I expected. I would like to share my monthly living cost in Vancouver, Canada.

• Apartment rental: C$ 975
• Food and groceries: C$ 300
• Public transportation: C$ 70
• Telephone: C$ 50
• Television and Internet: C$ 85
• Entertainment: C$ 50
• Clothing: C$ 50
• Others: C$ 50

If you sum up all of the costs above, you will get the total of C$ 1630. What do you think? Is it quite normal for one person living in one-bed room? Starting from this month, my living cost will be higher because I have a wife now. It would be even higher when I have applied for mortgage and have bought a car already.

Just to let you know, I have a simple lifestyle. I don’t have a car because I don’t have a driving license yet. I rarely eat in the restaurant; most of the time I cook myself. I don’t really like shopping; usually I buy new clothes when I really need them.

Ok, now let’s do some comparisons. I have lived in Germany for a couple of years too and here is my monthly living cost there:

• Apartment rental (including television): EUR 300
• Food and groceries: EUR 250
• Public transportation: EUR 45
• Telephone: EUR 50
• Internet: EUR 30
• Entertainment: EUR 40
• Clothing: EUR 50
• Others: EUR 50

The total is EUR 815 or about C$ 1140. May be it is not that fair to compare this with Vancouver because I lived in a studio while in Germany and now I live in a one-bed room apartment.

Next, I will try to compare with the living in cost in Singapore. I have lived in Singapore for quite some too and here is my monthly living cost there:

• Apartment rental (including television): S$ 900
• Food and groceries: S$ 350
• Public transportation: S$ 75
• Telephone: $S 50
• Internet: $S 60
• Entertainment: S$ 50
• Clothing: S$ 50
• Others: S$ 50

The total is S$ 1585 or about C$ 1135. May be it is not too fair either to compare this with Vancouver because I lived in HDB while in Singapore. What is HDB? HDB, shorts for House Development Board, is a government subsidized apartment. It is cheaper than private apartment, but the condition is usually not that nice.

What makes my living cost in Canada so much higher? Mostly, it is because my apartment rental is very expensive. However, even if I rent a cheaper apartment (let’s say $700/month), the cost is still quite high.

The cost above does not include yearly trip to my home country, Indonesia. Once a year, I go back to my home country to visit my family. If I include the flight ticket, then the cost in Canada is even much higher. Here is the comparison of flight tickets between Germany, Singapore and Canada to Indonesia:

• Germany - Indonesia: EUR 750 ~ C$ 1050
• Singapore - Indonesia: S$ 500 ~ C$ 360
• Canada - Indonesia: C$ 1500

This entry was posted on Friday, February 17th, 2006 at 8:46 pm and is filed under Life in Canada. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.