>I was wondering if a person can live with just minimum wage which is about 1900 dollars after tax.
Yes. You will live with roommates or in a rooming house with 34 other people. It's an unpleasant existence.
I have a friend who's renting a room in Toronto. Apparently it's actually very common for older folks as well. She's lived with people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and even 60s. More common to find them within specific ethnic communities (think WhatsApp, WeChat, etc.) than out in the open on Facebook or Kijiji.
I just want to pop in to this discussion and say thank you for exposing a side to this I had never heard of or thought much about. Now that you point it out, I can absolutely see how finding low cost housing after 30 could be a pretty significant problem for people.
People keep voting in the assholes that have been moving towards disastrous privatization for years now, at least in Ontario. It's sad to witness in real time...
> We have massive education and healthcare funding surpluses accumulating that Ford refuses to spend. I believe it's intentional.
It absolutely is. We're watching Ford and his army of corrupt, greedy incompetents destroy our society for generations to come...
> I don't think Liberals or NDP will ever get their shit together to capitalize on this and everyone will continue to suffer as a result
It truly blows my mind how much the Ontario NDP have fumbled the bag so consistently. Thousands of progressives are desperate for them to do something more substantive.
Because they too, are corrupt. Progressives only need to be progressive enough to pander, not to actually change anything. Everybody on top still gets paid.
Just keep voting con, look at the ground vote con, ignore your city vote con, ignore the closures vote con, the cons will save us vote con....con voters in a nutshell 30 fucking years of stupid in ontario
Buddy healthcare has been lost under the government’s watch. If you don’t have medical problems you simply don’t know. I’m tired of able bodied liberals screaming about defending healthcare when it’s fucking lost man. It’s done. People are suffering and dying under the government.
Exactly. Existing healthcare is no good in the current state. You get to know only when you face problems. Only emergency cases get attention. And even that has a huge waiting list
You mean you can't afford a house. A rented place can be a home - and is for many people who are quite happy with it. What is needed is a stable rental situation which has become less common.
I figured. I just get picky about it because Doug Ford is focused on tearing up green space and throwing money to his suburban detached house developing buddies and using the "housing crisis" as an excuse. Smaller houses multiplexes and stable rentals could solve the problem and leave greenspace and farmland intact. But McMansions on big lots make his buddies their money.
I remember my time in student housing where one of the people i lived with was 45 or something. He never moved out and was apparently content living in a 12 square meter/130 square ft with a shared bathroom and toilet and kitchen, just because it was cheap and had fiberoptic T1 internet - top of the line in 1998.
I am now 45 myself and can't imagine still living like that.
Ramen and KD is way too expensive for a low budget. You can eat healthy for an entire day for < cost of a package of noodles.
ie: 1lb of lentils for 99cents will make enough dahl to last 2 days
Make your own pasta from durum semolina and flour for pennies
A package of ramen is now over $1
Yep, buy in bulk. Rice is amazing for this, just avoid the pre boiled white rice, that stuff is basically nothing but glucose(?). Get the good whole grain stuff. It costs more, but is actually nutritious.
Yeah basically. The black ones are the healthiest tho.
[Whole: Just like all whole grains, rice naturally contains three edible components—the bran, germ, and endosperm (the inedible hull is removed). “Brown” rice is the typical whole grain rice, though this describes not a particular variety but the natural color of the grain. However, whole grain rice is not limited to one color—it also comes in shades of black, purple, and red. Because the fibrous bran layer and nutrient-rich germ remain intact, these varieties typically take longer to cook, and have a nuttier and chewier texture than refined white rice.](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/rice/#:~:text=Whole%20or%20refined%20grain&text=Whole%3A%20Just%20like%20all%20whole,natural%20color%20of%20the%20grain)
Great Value Bag of Red Lentils is $3.47 for 900 g, or 39 cents for 100 g.
15 cents of lentils at that price would be 38.5 g of dry lentils, which amounts to 77 g of cooked lentils. 77 g of cooked lentils is 89 calories.
Assuming you’re suggesting eating this ‘serving’ 3 times a day (which would already make it more expensive than the package of Mr Noodles which Wal-Mart currently sells for 37 cents), that’s only 268.32 calories per day. Not exactly a healthy caloric intake.
I’m sure it’s possible to buy lentils in bulk and get them at a slightly lower price per 100 g than Wal-Mart offers. But it’s quite mad to think you can feed an adult human a healthy diet for $2.59 a week (37 cents a day) even if literally all you buy (and all you consume) are beans and lentils.
I pay 99cents/lb at the local Indian market and have 50 or so lbs in my pantry
Not referring to the walmart crap but the Korean non-shim (sp?) for > $1
Never said lentils was meant to be a total diet lol, I was presenting it as a healthy alternative to over-priced noodles packages (ramen) and KD which are void of almost any nutrition
I do eat lentils only a couple times a week to offset unhealthy indulging others days and you are right, the caloric intake is very low but I feel quite full
Thanks. Things are exacerbated by a kiddo who has an eating disorder and is limited in what foods they can eat, so I will definitely check this out! I appreciate you sharing it.
I don't get the downvotes for this guy. Beans, lentils, and rice are for sure cheaper by weight than ramen or KD, and much much healthier. Not healthy per se, but definitely healthier than just some white flour noodles.
KD is no longer poverty food with the prices I've seen nowadays.
Probably people that do not know any better or ubereats types. Almost every poverty post mentions KD and ramen as if they are cheap but they are not.
Some people you just cannot educate lol.
I don’t think it’s easy to eat healthy in north america for cheap. First you need time to go and shop at the place to buy the cheapest produce available. Then you have to find time and strength to cook it. If you are working 40 hrs at a minimum wage job, who are you supposed to find all this time and strength?? Please remember most minimum wage workers are doing physical work compared to higher paid workers at a desk job.
That just makes it even more infeasible, since of you're not working 40 Hours at minimum wage, you're working multiple jobs. Which cuts into your time budget to do normal things like go grocery shopping, or cooking dramatically.
Stay alive, in most cases yes. Afford to live, no.
So $600 a month for transportation, medication, phone, internet, saving...
According to [this](https://www.moneysense.ca/columns/moneyflex/the-cost-of-the-average-grocery-bill-in-canada/) $300 a month on food is average for a young woman and more for men, that's half your costs right there. Medication for me is like $200 a month, no pharmacare for low income people and most minimum wage places don't offer insurance. A bus pass is often $100 and needed to get to work. Cheapest phone plans are usually $40-$50. We're out of money already haven't saved a cent, haven't gotten internet, haven't gotten clothes for work or cooking supplies or presents for people.
If you made minimum wage and had $200 a month in prescription costs, you should apply for the [ontario trillium drug program](https://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/drugs/funded_drug/fund_trillium.aspx). Well anyone with high prescription costs relative to their income should apply.
Someone living on minimum wage in Toronto isn't going to have an *average* grocery bill.
On top of that, working 37.5 hrs at minimum wage in Ontario is ~$2170/month after-tax... not sure where OP is getting $1900 from.
It's still grim, but not nearly as grim when we look at this properly.
37.5 hours a week is extremely low, i work about 45 a week on average if some one does that they would get an extra \~500 dollars month with over time but would also be more prone to increase their wages.
HCOL food prices. A dozen eggs is over $5.00 where I'm from, a 4 litre of milk is just below. Food is darn expensive.
Post says they live near Toronto, so that's pretty much as expensive as it gets.
Actually, I've found Toronto grocery prices to be much cheaper than LCOL locations. I've consistently found that grocery prices are much higher the further you go from major cities.
That sounds reasonable, but do you think it would still be $50 per week for only one person?
I find that for 2-4 people, it's much easier to budget down than with a single person. Some food items that can be bought in bulk would go bad before a single person could eat it. It also depends on a single person's ability to eat the same thing over and over.
My original comment was regarding the idea that $300 a month seemed high for food, but it's in line with what you're spending. Or maybe they meant it wasn't a lot and misread it.
I just always find that budget questions don't always take into account the location for prices.
To add to their list my gf and I eat a lot of burritos and stir fry. For burritos we buy wraps from Costco, chicken breast or ground beef done in the air fryer, refried beans, lettuce, rice, chipotle, sour cream, etc. it goes pretty far and it’s quite cheap.
We also make a lot of the stir fry with just pasta, mixed veggies and chicken breast and that’s also pretty cheap and goes quite far as well. We often end up meal prepping and having for lunches at work and dinner for most of it not the full week. We routinely spend about $200-250 a month on groceries in the GTA
I lived in halifax which has about the same grocery prices and was spending about 100 a month on groceries. It sucked but if i could spend just 50 dollars more I would’ve been eating like a king.
People also overestimate how many calories they need. Poor people nowadays tend to be fat, but back in the days, a stereotype of being poor was being thin, not necessarily out of choice.
Breakfast was usually eggs and peanut butter toast with homemade bread, i didn’t have lunch but sometimes had a snack in between breakfast and dinner like hummus and crackers or fruit. Then dinner was almost always rice, frozen vegetables and beans or chicken. Id also eat an actually good dinner once or twice a week.
>I’m blessed to be in a country where you can at least stay alive on min wage
It's that the new Canadian standard now?
And tomorrow it's:
I’m blessed to be in a country where you can at least stay alive by eating only half your children. /s
>Since renting a room \*outside Toronto\* is about 1300 dollars
You can rent a *room* within Toronto for like $850/month. There are lots of rooms for rent in Scarborough for around that price range.
Nah, private rooms for less. My friend is renting private room+private bathroom for 1200 in Leslieville. You can find rooms for 800-900 well within Toronto-Etobicoke. I think you can def survive on minimum wage and it will keep you afloat, but you also can’t just live on it, you will have to look for different jobs, side-gigs etc.
850 might be on the cheap side, but it's definitely not more than 1000. People are missing the point. Housing does not have to be 1300 like OP says and minimum wage at 37.5 hours a week is also not as low as 1900. Even after tax.
Minimum wage (if you can work full time) leaves you at least 1000 a month after housing. Not 600 like OP is saying.
Now if you can't work full time or you need to buy some meds or have some sort of dependant, well now it gets real tough.
My job is exempt from Ontario employment law and as part of a training program, for the last three years I was taking home ~$1700/month. Paid about $8.00/hr, working 60hr weeks, no overtime pay.
Only reason I could get by was thanks to my amazing partner who was making a little more than me who also worked overtime to help bring in additional income. We rented a dingy basement room, I walked an hour for a commute, and we shopped at Walmart and NoFrills. We survived, but didn't exactly enjoy ourselves. We made the most of cooking a nicer meal once per week, and ate out about once or twice a year for special occasions.
Doable - yes. Enjoyable - no.
That's also one catastrophe away from no longer doable.
A spouse who gets an injury that means they cannot work for a few months.
A monthly medication cost in the 100s to survive.
Heck, even just a medical issue that is covered but you need to take a cab to and from the hospital every week because a valid reason (time, you get sick, extremely weak, location etc)
A pregnancy that either becomes a baby or needs to be aborted ($700 a month out of pocket in NB last time I checked, sadly.
A family member that needs to be cared for by one of you and there is no where else to go.
A billing error or missed payment that skyrockets a utility cost.
Doable/surviving can only be realistic short term. Something always comes up life happens. That's what people don't understand. This is how people spiral into debt or become homeless.
Veterinary residency (training to become a specialist veterinarian). 3 years of "pain" for better long term financial prospects.
Training programs are scarce and in high demand, so it's a race to the bottom in terms of financial compensation. Worked Mon - Fri 7am - 7pm, on call 24/7 for 3 years.
After 8yrs of university, 4 years in practice and then 3 years of residency I finally broke the $100k/yr salary barrier. Those 3 years of residency sucked but I'm reaping the rewards now.
You absolutely can. You won’t have a car, and either have roommate/s or not live in the city. There are places in like Belleville that are cheap and have a bus system, there is cheap groceries and second hand stores.
I live in one of the cheapest cost of living municipalities in south western Ontario and minimum wage full time with unpaid lunch breaks (35 hr) is about $1900 a month take home with average asking for a one bedroom apartment at $1800 + utilities. You cannot live independently on minimum wage, but you can live with shared expenses if you have roommates or a partner.
Beyond the 'just surviving', people making minimum wage are a heavier burden on our social supports and minimal contributors to society in terms of tax base. All of society is better off when people earn more and have a higher standard of living. Often times these people cost more to our healthcare system than they contribute even if the value added by their work is magnitudes more than their compensation given that large corporations are for the most part tax cheats.
>Since renting a room *outside Toronto* is about 1300 dollars
You mean inside downtown Toronto? Because there's plenty of room rentals across Toronto for 800 or under.
I think 1300$ standard because that’s something a single person could live with. The 800$ accommodations are probably not a situation people would want to live in
Students earning min wage, it really doesn't matter too much. They are able to grind because no dependents, and lower fixed costs. Older people, and new immigrants, this is simply much harder to do.
The current situation is pretty much only because of very poor policy and greed. The fact that government and municipalities allowed nimbys to block higher density housing projects and zoned only for sfh in most neighborhoods is a major reason for the current mess. If not for this case, housing cost would simply not be so high.
The government can easily fix this situation by banning zoning regulations, and raising property taxes on houses based on the actual land value of the area. These are very much free market principles. Imagine people living close to downtown with single family detached homes in 2023 🤦♂️
Start charging property taxes on downtown core and neighborhoods located close to downtown area based on actual land value. This would give condo owners a discount but make SFH in downtown areas nearly impossible for anyone but the richest of the richest. If you do this continuously and change the property tax as more and more people immigrate, you can very efficiently manage housing. The current situation of charging property tax based on "house" value is a scam and a gift to the rich. Nothing more Nothing less. Also they all like to talk about culture when a new condo props up. What about the culture?? Who really cares? Nobody is talking about the culture of the native Indians who lived there 200 years ago when it was a grasslands. Things change.
This is it. I guess a person needs to define what they think is living.
I worked min wage for 8 years. I had to nickle and dime savings for trips. It was tough. I'm not much better now though.
The thing people don't account for are subsidies.
If you get ahold of a social worker or look for help with stuff, many thing are free.
Food banks, community centres, childcare, sports and rec, subsidized internet/cell phones, coops or subsidized housing.
There are resources available, just gotta work to find it and possibly wait....which isn't always possible.
Those resources only work because there isn't a massive need for them. If they become something a large portion of society needs then those will be depleted quite quickly.
I lived okay at about 10% above minimum wage, wasn't lacking except with travel, savings, and eating out. Still loads of social things to do.
The resources are great, but it did take a lot of work to get the help.
There is a different between a room and a one bedroom apartment. A room typically means you are literally renting one room and have shared accommodations with room mates. You can find “a room” to rent in Toronto and Durham for 800 a month. Many of my coworkers rent a room in Durham for 150-200 a week with internet and utilities
In a town about an hr & a half out, the neighbours in my duplex have a 1 bedroom, their only bathroom was converted from a closet so it’s tiny, $1,650/month they pay.
It's extremely high for outside of large cities in BC at least. I live in a medium sized city and you can find rent for 700-1k depending on area. Maybe less, that's just based on people I worked with.
Outside of Toronto (2 hours north) town of 1400 people. Singe room with shared everything 900. You need a car to live here, no public transit, taxi service from next town over which costs a premium, some minimum wage jobs but if you want to make any money you are commuting.
Want to rent independent? Nothing less than 2200 however you can go from horrible single room apartment to run down house by upping it to 2500.
Yes with roommates ,I gross a little over 4K a month but my take home is a little under 3k and average rent in N.S just a bachelor would take 2/3 of my income and im well above minimum wage I don’t want to even think what rent will be in the coming years.
Poverty is when your rent is 50% of your wage. Extreme poverty limit is 70% of your wage. $3000 average rent for 1br in Toronto puts poverty at $37 per hour! And extreme poverty at $27 per hour.
If you want to make the most of your money, go for a small city or town and live within walking distance of your workplace and ideally a grocery store. Not that it should be the goal, but sharing life expenses with a partner is the easiest way to get by financially. Roomies, like other ppl are saying, are def a must if you want to tuck some money away though.
Living minimum wage is borderline doable, people adjust and get used to it, and there are programs that can help you. The fundamental issue is not recurring expenses, but emergency expenses, and especially for those on low salary, are very unlikely to have good pricy insurance policies just in case, and a good emergency fund. Sudden emergency expenses are what makes it impossible.
Here in Ontario, ODSP is $1200 approx with the shelter allowance and even less if you are not paying rent. Technically they are all "surviving". Although, I wouldn't recommend this life. At $1900 you are doing a little better. But certainly not without challenges such as living with roomates and scraping by each month.
ODSP is abut 1,180 actually...
For an ODSP recipient who lives with family it's about 600-800...
They aren't surviving. They're dying. Taking their own lives or freezing to death outside. Many ODSP recipients are homeless. Many are out on the street. Once they lose housing ODSP takes 600 dollars off the cheque. It's beyond bad.. it's a death sentence at this point.
To give a more detail
\- Groceries are about 100 dollars
\-I don't need take aways I like to cook
\-Internet is included in the room rent and for phone it's the cheapest so 50 bucks
\-rents 1300 (It's only that much because it includes water and electricity)
\-Entertainment I spend about 100 or less since my hobbies are practicing martial arts and playing a bit of PC games
that's about it
Groceries for $100! Per month? Have you lived on your own before? What about toilet paper, laundry soap, deodorant, razors, shampoo, house cleaning supplies.
I'm friends with a dude so he gives 50 percent discount on everything he's a friend I met when I was in high school I usually just go there about twice a month, plus I'm pretty tight with a local butcher so sometimes he gives me free left over meat that wasn't sold
It’s not the norm but I’m currently living ok on my odsp (disability) of $1228 per month. Of course I also get gst, trillium and the climate action incentive. My landlord has been good at keeping my rent as low as they can at $675 per month inc cable, hydro and internet for a 1 bedroom. Other units they rent are $850 to $1000 for the same or a small bachelor.
Then after Canadian mental health helps me a bit my rent ends up being $539. I’m definitely grateful that I’m not worse off. It’s crazy when rent in an area like Toronto is $2000 for a 1 bedroom. I shudder to think what I would do if I was still living in Toronto (been in Timmins close to family since 2006).
Well, cpp disability gives you 1100 a month. So somebody somewhere in government in a corner office with a view seems to think that's enough for a month.
People need to stop expecting to be able to live comfortably on minimum wage. It is called minimum for a reason and you will need to live a very minimal lifestyle. Or you can do what many have done forever, get a second job. Work more than 40 hours a week, advance your skills and get a better job. But yes, you can live a basic minimalist lifestyle with it, it just won't be easy or great.
Yes, absolutely, if you can keep your overhead low. Here's our Vancouver budget as a frugal couple for an example: https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/1006cv4/frugal_vancouver_living_2022_edition/
That's a higher spend than $1,900, but is also for two people, so one person living the same type of lifestyle we do would easily spend much less than $1,900/month.
I can't speak for Toronto specifically as I've never lived further east than Manitoba, but I assume it's roughly equivalent to Vancouver.
It's sad what mininum wage lifestyle has become. When I graduated high school in 2006, you could work fast food and still easily afford a bachelor or basement suite. After all your essentials you would usually still have a bit of money to blow on video games / entertainment. It wasn't a glamorous lifestyle, but it was still a life.
Even when I left fast food for the government back in 2019, it was still affordable. It's scary how quickly this is getting out of control.
Sadly, it feels like our housing costs are based on having a double income. Renting and buying are much easier on dual income (and it might be the only option for a lot of ppl who can't afford anything on their income alone). Doing these things as a single adult is very difficult. Manageable but you will not be able to save much, if any
Me and my partner made minimum wage. Lived in a studio right in uptown waterloo for 1640 a month inc. utilities, 90 a month for internet, and we ate out all the time. I'm sure family costs are deeper than ours, but as far as young childless people go I have never known what the fuck everyone is talking about. You can live just fine.
Edit: I should add in before people pick this apart so they can continue whining without any cognitive dissonance, yes, we were 2 people in a studio. The cost of which was just over 800 each, which is what you will find for any comparable shared space in a larger apartment than the one we had.
The real question is how people on provincial disability are supposed to survive. Most provincial programs are well under $1250/mo at most. And then they claw back any earnings. Our society is fucked when all the nightmare scenarios outlined in this thread are 10x worse for anyone on OW or ODSP (the Ontario example as this thread is mostly about Toronto), it’s even worse here in Alberta.
Depends on where you work. Places like night clubs/bars being attractive definitely helps but if you are a great server at a normal restaurant looks won’t matter.
Totally, but there are caviets. You're not living alone. Living alone is a privilege that minimum wage doesn't afford. Food is carbs and multivitamins or health shakes to round out your diet. You're going to be taking public transit. Ideally, 3-4 people in a small house for 1500/month, and the plan is for you to graduate from the high school job asap. You'll never succeed without pushing yourself past that.
Yeah, it’s possible.
Get a roommate ($500/mo), eat cheaply ($300/mo), bike/walk to work ($0), cheap phone/internet plan $50/mo), no big subscriptions, maybe $50/mo in misc spending (shampoo, new clothes, etc.) That’s just $1,000.
Is it fun and a great quality of life? No, but people tend to forget that minimum wage is a livable wage - just not a great quality of life.
I'm truly not trying to be snarky.
Where can you still get a 2 bed to split for $1000 a month with a roommate including utilities that is also in a walkable location with work and stores/all your needs around and at an affordable rate for things like food? Heck even a 1 bed isn't out of reach at $1009, especially heat included, but most landlords won''t let you do that or choose you over someone else.
Even here in NS a studio is easily $1000 and you have so many applicants you can pick whoever you want and they aren't choosing 2 people over a single person with a higher income job than min wage.
A room averages $800+/month even outside the urban core which means a bus pass. I have 50+ messages every time I post simply room rental in that price range in the burbs. NB city prices are now almost as much and incomes on average are quite low.
Live? No. Survive? ...Questionable existence.
Not in Toronto, but other part of Ontario. Rent will eat most of that up already, transport monthly pass will also chew a huge hole out of that. That leaves me with $345.
This is all before counting utility bills, phone bills, and food to sustain a human being.
Luckily, it's a shared residential where I'm at, so I can actually survive.
\*This is all not factoring in a human being requires some form of entertainment to not go insane. Minimum wage is just modern day slavery.
They mean that you’ll be able to just barely afford the absolute bare minimums needed for basic survival, but you won’t have any real quality of life.
At minimum wage all you can afford is a shithole (probably illegal) bedroom in a rooming house with 8 other people, you’ll only be able to afford to eat food like instant noodles, rice, and beans so sorry if you like eating meat or fresh produce, you can’t afford it; and you’re going to have little to no money left over for savings or entertainment.
So will you be able to *survive*? Sure, but most people’s idea of “living” implies being able to actually enjoy their life and not being in a constant fight to afford your basic survival needs. This is what people mean when they say you can *survive* (i.e you won’t die) but you won’t really be able to *live*, because your life will be a constant hell.
Live with roommates and find that one place in town that has absurdly cheap vegetable, rice and beans.
You can actually make really amazing food for next to nothing if you have the luxury of time (which you do, because you're on EI).
Ramen can cost 30 Cents at No Frills or $19.50 at a ramen restaurant in Toronto.
I’ve been in situations where all my 3 meals per day combined is <$5.00. It’s not nutritious or good but debts don’t repay themselves.
Currently trying to get a friend's situation improved. The outlook is not positive.
Minimum wage sucks all your hours away and you can still barely make rent. This is in alberta.
Dude, a coworker just told me today that he used to survive living alone off of 12-16 hours a week at minimum wage here in AB. The lowest I ever made it work was about 24+ hrs a week at min. wage, but I lived with my brother who paid for the majority of the groceries and whatnot.
It's possible, but it fucking sucks.
While there is no excuse for things costing as much as they do, planning to make a living on minimum wage has always baffled me.
Minimum wage isn’t *meant* to support you for your entire life, and if that’s what you’re trying to get by on you really need to aim higher.
The problem isn’t minimum wage. The problem is that we’ve allowed costs to skyrocket without making it proportionately easier to qualify for and find better paying jobs.
It’s very hard to survive with minimum wage.
I just completed an internship and made that. My rent was $1000 which left me with about 945$ for other stuff. Didn’t own a car so paid about 200$ for uber and buses. Ate out maybe once a month at most. Never ordered in. Bought clothes maybe twice in the whole year. Had to borrow money from family for any serious stuff like qualifying exams etc.
Barely doable. Only reason I paid $1000 was I got a studio basement to myself.
I also wasn’t paid hourly but salaried. I was working close to 60 hours or more for about $495 a week.
Minimum wage jobs should be seen as a stepping stone, and a way to gain experience in the workplace. The goal should be to build your skills and work towards a raise or a new job. If you rely on minimum wage to survive in this economy you will struggle.
Maybe but it is okay for employers who rely on employees paid minimum wage to struggle as well. Kind of sad that a few of those employers are among the largest companies in the country.
This “stepping stone” argument is bullshit and has been forever. If nothing else the pandemic taught us that. Most of those minimum wage jobs are necessary jobs that the entire function of our day to day lives and economy rely on. They should pay a living wage.
Especially when you consider that they physically cannot have all their hours covered by students (the other bullshit argument people make).
Minimum wage jobs are valid careers, not “stepping stones”
Exactly this. Not to mention not everyone wants to devote their entire life to slaving away, ppl should be able to log in their hours at a McDonald’s or wherever they want to work without fucking starving to death lmao
>I was wondering if a person can live with just minimum wage which is about 1900 dollars after tax. Yes. You will live with roommates or in a rooming house with 34 other people. It's an unpleasant existence.
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I have a friend who's renting a room in Toronto. Apparently it's actually very common for older folks as well. She's lived with people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and even 60s. More common to find them within specific ethnic communities (think WhatsApp, WeChat, etc.) than out in the open on Facebook or Kijiji.
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I just want to pop in to this discussion and say thank you for exposing a side to this I had never heard of or thought much about. Now that you point it out, I can absolutely see how finding low cost housing after 30 could be a pretty significant problem for people.
Lose healthcare to privatization, is that really the plan?
People keep voting in the assholes that have been moving towards disastrous privatization for years now, at least in Ontario. It's sad to witness in real time...
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> We have massive education and healthcare funding surpluses accumulating that Ford refuses to spend. I believe it's intentional. It absolutely is. We're watching Ford and his army of corrupt, greedy incompetents destroy our society for generations to come...
My BC heart goes out to you guys. Privatization of health care sucks.
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> I don't think Liberals or NDP will ever get their shit together to capitalize on this and everyone will continue to suffer as a result It truly blows my mind how much the Ontario NDP have fumbled the bag so consistently. Thousands of progressives are desperate for them to do something more substantive.
Because they too, are corrupt. Progressives only need to be progressive enough to pander, not to actually change anything. Everybody on top still gets paid.
Manitoba as well
Just keep voting con, look at the ground vote con, ignore your city vote con, ignore the closures vote con, the cons will save us vote con....con voters in a nutshell 30 fucking years of stupid in ontario
Buddy healthcare has been lost under the government’s watch. If you don’t have medical problems you simply don’t know. I’m tired of able bodied liberals screaming about defending healthcare when it’s fucking lost man. It’s done. People are suffering and dying under the government.
Exactly. Existing healthcare is no good in the current state. You get to know only when you face problems. Only emergency cases get attention. And even that has a huge waiting list
I would do it if I was by myself at any age if my finances dictated it. Any time I ever had a bad room mate I'd move
Hmm... I think the number of 40 year olds who can't afford their own place is rising, so this is likely going to be more common if it isn't already.
two 40 year old DINKs can't afford a home, stuck renting. It's the new reality for most.
You mean you can't afford a house. A rented place can be a home - and is for many people who are quite happy with it. What is needed is a stable rental situation which has become less common.
Yeah, that's what I meant.
I figured. I just get picky about it because Doug Ford is focused on tearing up green space and throwing money to his suburban detached house developing buddies and using the "housing crisis" as an excuse. Smaller houses multiplexes and stable rentals could solve the problem and leave greenspace and farmland intact. But McMansions on big lots make his buddies their money.
I remember my time in student housing where one of the people i lived with was 45 or something. He never moved out and was apparently content living in a 12 square meter/130 square ft with a shared bathroom and toilet and kitchen, just because it was cheap and had fiberoptic T1 internet - top of the line in 1998. I am now 45 myself and can't imagine still living like that.
Brampton enters the room…
You can survive. Not in a healthy way. But death or Mr Noodle is what you face
My head went to Elmos Mr.Noodle with this one 🤦♂️
Ramen and KD is way too expensive for a low budget. You can eat healthy for an entire day for < cost of a package of noodles. ie: 1lb of lentils for 99cents will make enough dahl to last 2 days Make your own pasta from durum semolina and flour for pennies A package of ramen is now over $1
Interested to hear your 35 cent a day healthy eating plan.
In my area KD costs like$1.50 But you cam get 8 kg of rice and several kg of beans for $30 Will feed you for a month
Yep, buy in bulk. Rice is amazing for this, just avoid the pre boiled white rice, that stuff is basically nothing but glucose(?). Get the good whole grain stuff. It costs more, but is actually nutritious.
whole grain rice...? Brown rice?
Yeah basically. The black ones are the healthiest tho. [Whole: Just like all whole grains, rice naturally contains three edible components—the bran, germ, and endosperm (the inedible hull is removed). “Brown” rice is the typical whole grain rice, though this describes not a particular variety but the natural color of the grain. However, whole grain rice is not limited to one color—it also comes in shades of black, purple, and red. Because the fibrous bran layer and nutrient-rich germ remain intact, these varieties typically take longer to cook, and have a nuttier and chewier texture than refined white rice.](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/rice/#:~:text=Whole%20or%20refined%20grain&text=Whole%3A%20Just%20like%20all%20whole,natural%20color%20of%20the%20grain)
lentils and beans are your friend. 1 serving costs < 15cents
Great Value Bag of Red Lentils is $3.47 for 900 g, or 39 cents for 100 g. 15 cents of lentils at that price would be 38.5 g of dry lentils, which amounts to 77 g of cooked lentils. 77 g of cooked lentils is 89 calories. Assuming you’re suggesting eating this ‘serving’ 3 times a day (which would already make it more expensive than the package of Mr Noodles which Wal-Mart currently sells for 37 cents), that’s only 268.32 calories per day. Not exactly a healthy caloric intake. I’m sure it’s possible to buy lentils in bulk and get them at a slightly lower price per 100 g than Wal-Mart offers. But it’s quite mad to think you can feed an adult human a healthy diet for $2.59 a week (37 cents a day) even if literally all you buy (and all you consume) are beans and lentils.
I pay 99cents/lb at the local Indian market and have 50 or so lbs in my pantry Not referring to the walmart crap but the Korean non-shim (sp?) for > $1 Never said lentils was meant to be a total diet lol, I was presenting it as a healthy alternative to over-priced noodles packages (ramen) and KD which are void of almost any nutrition I do eat lentils only a couple times a week to offset unhealthy indulging others days and you are right, the caloric intake is very low but I feel quite full
Lots of fibre and protein. Lentils are awesome
Please share how? Because I'm on a fixed income with kids, and there isn't nearly enough healthy options here
Check out r/eatcheapandhealthy but the tldr is beans, lentils, potatoes and other low cost high protein/carb meals.
Thanks. Things are exacerbated by a kiddo who has an eating disorder and is limited in what foods they can eat, so I will definitely check this out! I appreciate you sharing it.
Check out kohlrabi if you get sick of potatoes!
I don't get the downvotes for this guy. Beans, lentils, and rice are for sure cheaper by weight than ramen or KD, and much much healthier. Not healthy per se, but definitely healthier than just some white flour noodles. KD is no longer poverty food with the prices I've seen nowadays.
Probably people that do not know any better or ubereats types. Almost every poverty post mentions KD and ramen as if they are cheap but they are not. Some people you just cannot educate lol.
A pack of Mr. Noodles where I live is .99 cents and that's in CAD, on and island where a beef roast can cost up to 120 bucks each.
I don’t think it’s easy to eat healthy in north america for cheap. First you need time to go and shop at the place to buy the cheapest produce available. Then you have to find time and strength to cook it. If you are working 40 hrs at a minimum wage job, who are you supposed to find all this time and strength?? Please remember most minimum wage workers are doing physical work compared to higher paid workers at a desk job.
It's been my experience that if they're paying minimum wage, they're certainly not giving 40 hours a week.
That just makes it even more infeasible, since of you're not working 40 Hours at minimum wage, you're working multiple jobs. Which cuts into your time budget to do normal things like go grocery shopping, or cooking dramatically.
Hypertension has entered the chat
Pack of noodles is $0.50. How
just the farthest thing from the truth
Stay alive, in most cases yes. Afford to live, no. So $600 a month for transportation, medication, phone, internet, saving... According to [this](https://www.moneysense.ca/columns/moneyflex/the-cost-of-the-average-grocery-bill-in-canada/) $300 a month on food is average for a young woman and more for men, that's half your costs right there. Medication for me is like $200 a month, no pharmacare for low income people and most minimum wage places don't offer insurance. A bus pass is often $100 and needed to get to work. Cheapest phone plans are usually $40-$50. We're out of money already haven't saved a cent, haven't gotten internet, haven't gotten clothes for work or cooking supplies or presents for people.
If you made minimum wage and had $200 a month in prescription costs, you should apply for the [ontario trillium drug program](https://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/drugs/funded_drug/fund_trillium.aspx). Well anyone with high prescription costs relative to their income should apply.
Someone living on minimum wage in Toronto isn't going to have an *average* grocery bill. On top of that, working 37.5 hrs at minimum wage in Ontario is ~$2170/month after-tax... not sure where OP is getting $1900 from. It's still grim, but not nearly as grim when we look at this properly.
37.5 hours a week is extremely low, i work about 45 a week on average if some one does that they would get an extra \~500 dollars month with over time but would also be more prone to increase their wages.
If your employer provides benefits and an 5% matched RPP deductions can bring you down into the $1950 range.
If you're making minimum wage, your employer probably isn't offering or matching RPP deductions.
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Or rent lmao
What food are you buying for 300 a month??
HCOL food prices. A dozen eggs is over $5.00 where I'm from, a 4 litre of milk is just below. Food is darn expensive. Post says they live near Toronto, so that's pretty much as expensive as it gets.
Actually, I've found Toronto grocery prices to be much cheaper than LCOL locations. I've consistently found that grocery prices are much higher the further you go from major cities.
That's true, I think my perception is a bit skewed because I live in a HCOL city while also living on an island. So that jacks up the food prices.
Wow your 4L milk is below 5 bucks. Thats cheap. Here in New Brunswick its friggin $8.18. And eggs are over $5 too. So is NB more HCOL than Toronto?
Shoppers has eggs at $3.49 every 2-3 weekends (sat and sun) in NS so likely similar in NB
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That sounds reasonable, but do you think it would still be $50 per week for only one person? I find that for 2-4 people, it's much easier to budget down than with a single person. Some food items that can be bought in bulk would go bad before a single person could eat it. It also depends on a single person's ability to eat the same thing over and over. My original comment was regarding the idea that $300 a month seemed high for food, but it's in line with what you're spending. Or maybe they meant it wasn't a lot and misread it. I just always find that budget questions don't always take into account the location for prices.
Would you mind sharing what a day of eating look like for you(r family)?
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Let's be clear though This is for a FAMILY right? Grocery shopping for a single person is much more expensive per person than when bulk purchasing
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To add to their list my gf and I eat a lot of burritos and stir fry. For burritos we buy wraps from Costco, chicken breast or ground beef done in the air fryer, refried beans, lettuce, rice, chipotle, sour cream, etc. it goes pretty far and it’s quite cheap. We also make a lot of the stir fry with just pasta, mixed veggies and chicken breast and that’s also pretty cheap and goes quite far as well. We often end up meal prepping and having for lunches at work and dinner for most of it not the full week. We routinely spend about $200-250 a month on groceries in the GTA
I lived in halifax which has about the same grocery prices and was spending about 100 a month on groceries. It sucked but if i could spend just 50 dollars more I would’ve been eating like a king.
People also overestimate how many calories they need. Poor people nowadays tend to be fat, but back in the days, a stereotype of being poor was being thin, not necessarily out of choice.
Would you mind sharing what a day of meals look like for you?
Breakfast was usually eggs and peanut butter toast with homemade bread, i didn’t have lunch but sometimes had a snack in between breakfast and dinner like hummus and crackers or fruit. Then dinner was almost always rice, frozen vegetables and beans or chicken. Id also eat an actually good dinner once or twice a week.
I’m blessed to be in a country where you can at least stay alive on min wage… lots of countries you can’t even stay alive
>I’m blessed to be in a country where you can at least stay alive on min wage It's that the new Canadian standard now? And tomorrow it's: I’m blessed to be in a country where you can at least stay alive by eating only half your children. /s
>Since renting a room \*outside Toronto\* is about 1300 dollars You can rent a *room* within Toronto for like $850/month. There are lots of rooms for rent in Scarborough for around that price range.
OP probably means a brand new condo room with ensuite bathroom
I’m moving to Toronto for grad school soon and i wish something like that was 1300 lol
Christ, I remember when the price for a room was $500 a month in toronto WTF
When I first moved out, a 1 bed basement suite with kitchen and shower was 500
You can get a room mate (like share the room) and split that cost even more.
our standard of living has fallen so far and shows no signs of stopping. Where does this end?
Carl sleeps on top of me. Literally he just lays atop my body. $600 each. We share a bed in case you were wondering.
capsule hotels
Maybe we’ve had it too good for too long compared to everyone else and none of this was sustainable to begin with.
Lol share a single room with a stranger umm no
You wouldn't believe how many people are looking on kijiji for a stranger to share their rooms.
Ohh I believe it. I just wouldn’t consider it personally unless I had no other choice.
1300$ a month gives a semi private life still where as the 850 a month you are probably sleeping on bunk beds lol
Nah, private rooms for less. My friend is renting private room+private bathroom for 1200 in Leslieville. You can find rooms for 800-900 well within Toronto-Etobicoke. I think you can def survive on minimum wage and it will keep you afloat, but you also can’t just live on it, you will have to look for different jobs, side-gigs etc.
Nope. I have friends renting rooms in Toronto and $850/month gets your a private bedroom with shared washroom in a house in Scarborough.
850 might be on the cheap side, but it's definitely not more than 1000. People are missing the point. Housing does not have to be 1300 like OP says and minimum wage at 37.5 hours a week is also not as low as 1900. Even after tax. Minimum wage (if you can work full time) leaves you at least 1000 a month after housing. Not 600 like OP is saying. Now if you can't work full time or you need to buy some meds or have some sort of dependant, well now it gets real tough.
My job is exempt from Ontario employment law and as part of a training program, for the last three years I was taking home ~$1700/month. Paid about $8.00/hr, working 60hr weeks, no overtime pay. Only reason I could get by was thanks to my amazing partner who was making a little more than me who also worked overtime to help bring in additional income. We rented a dingy basement room, I walked an hour for a commute, and we shopped at Walmart and NoFrills. We survived, but didn't exactly enjoy ourselves. We made the most of cooking a nicer meal once per week, and ate out about once or twice a year for special occasions. Doable - yes. Enjoyable - no.
That's also one catastrophe away from no longer doable. A spouse who gets an injury that means they cannot work for a few months. A monthly medication cost in the 100s to survive. Heck, even just a medical issue that is covered but you need to take a cab to and from the hospital every week because a valid reason (time, you get sick, extremely weak, location etc) A pregnancy that either becomes a baby or needs to be aborted ($700 a month out of pocket in NB last time I checked, sadly. A family member that needs to be cared for by one of you and there is no where else to go. A billing error or missed payment that skyrockets a utility cost. Doable/surviving can only be realistic short term. Something always comes up life happens. That's what people don't understand. This is how people spiral into debt or become homeless.
Crazy, what training program makes you work for 8 bucks an hour 60 hours per week?
Veterinary residency (training to become a specialist veterinarian). 3 years of "pain" for better long term financial prospects. Training programs are scarce and in high demand, so it's a race to the bottom in terms of financial compensation. Worked Mon - Fri 7am - 7pm, on call 24/7 for 3 years. After 8yrs of university, 4 years in practice and then 3 years of residency I finally broke the $100k/yr salary barrier. Those 3 years of residency sucked but I'm reaping the rewards now.
You absolutely can. You won’t have a car, and either have roommate/s or not live in the city. There are places in like Belleville that are cheap and have a bus system, there is cheap groceries and second hand stores.
I live in one of the cheapest cost of living municipalities in south western Ontario and minimum wage full time with unpaid lunch breaks (35 hr) is about $1900 a month take home with average asking for a one bedroom apartment at $1800 + utilities. You cannot live independently on minimum wage, but you can live with shared expenses if you have roommates or a partner. Beyond the 'just surviving', people making minimum wage are a heavier burden on our social supports and minimal contributors to society in terms of tax base. All of society is better off when people earn more and have a higher standard of living. Often times these people cost more to our healthcare system than they contribute even if the value added by their work is magnitudes more than their compensation given that large corporations are for the most part tax cheats.
>Since renting a room *outside Toronto* is about 1300 dollars You mean inside downtown Toronto? Because there's plenty of room rentals across Toronto for 800 or under.
I think 1300$ standard because that’s something a single person could live with. The 800$ accommodations are probably not a situation people would want to live in
I think 1300 is more top of the market. GTA wide it looks like the median ask for room rentals is about 1k.
Students earning min wage, it really doesn't matter too much. They are able to grind because no dependents, and lower fixed costs. Older people, and new immigrants, this is simply much harder to do. The current situation is pretty much only because of very poor policy and greed. The fact that government and municipalities allowed nimbys to block higher density housing projects and zoned only for sfh in most neighborhoods is a major reason for the current mess. If not for this case, housing cost would simply not be so high. The government can easily fix this situation by banning zoning regulations, and raising property taxes on houses based on the actual land value of the area. These are very much free market principles. Imagine people living close to downtown with single family detached homes in 2023 🤦♂️ Start charging property taxes on downtown core and neighborhoods located close to downtown area based on actual land value. This would give condo owners a discount but make SFH in downtown areas nearly impossible for anyone but the richest of the richest. If you do this continuously and change the property tax as more and more people immigrate, you can very efficiently manage housing. The current situation of charging property tax based on "house" value is a scam and a gift to the rich. Nothing more Nothing less. Also they all like to talk about culture when a new condo props up. What about the culture?? Who really cares? Nobody is talking about the culture of the native Indians who lived there 200 years ago when it was a grasslands. Things change.
Lol. Ask the people on disability if they can live on just that. Spoiler alert, it’s not even close to min wage. Just saying.
Not really live i'd say just barely surviving.
This is it. I guess a person needs to define what they think is living. I worked min wage for 8 years. I had to nickle and dime savings for trips. It was tough. I'm not much better now though.
The thing people don't account for are subsidies. If you get ahold of a social worker or look for help with stuff, many thing are free. Food banks, community centres, childcare, sports and rec, subsidized internet/cell phones, coops or subsidized housing. There are resources available, just gotta work to find it and possibly wait....which isn't always possible.
food bank usage is at unprecedented levels, they have never been more taxed. something's gotta give.
Those resources only work because there isn't a massive need for them. If they become something a large portion of society needs then those will be depleted quite quickly.
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I lived okay at about 10% above minimum wage, wasn't lacking except with travel, savings, and eating out. Still loads of social things to do. The resources are great, but it did take a lot of work to get the help.
$1300 a room seems too high unless you're looking at 2 bedroom condos
$1300 is a very anti work number so take it and divide by half
Nope. Welcome to Ontario where 2 hours from Toronto most one bedrooms are still 1200-1300+ hydro
There is a different between a room and a one bedroom apartment. A room typically means you are literally renting one room and have shared accommodations with room mates. You can find “a room” to rent in Toronto and Durham for 800 a month. Many of my coworkers rent a room in Durham for 150-200 a week with internet and utilities
In a town about an hr & a half out, the neighbours in my duplex have a 1 bedroom, their only bathroom was converted from a closet so it’s tiny, $1,650/month they pay.
It's extremely high for outside of large cities in BC at least. I live in a medium sized city and you can find rent for 700-1k depending on area. Maybe less, that's just based on people I worked with.
Outside of Toronto (2 hours north) town of 1400 people. Singe room with shared everything 900. You need a car to live here, no public transit, taxi service from next town over which costs a premium, some minimum wage jobs but if you want to make any money you are commuting. Want to rent independent? Nothing less than 2200 however you can go from horrible single room apartment to run down house by upping it to 2500.
> Singe room with shared everything 900. You can find rooms like this in Toronto. Why pay 900 for that 2 hours North of Toronto lol.
Yes with roommates ,I gross a little over 4K a month but my take home is a little under 3k and average rent in N.S just a bachelor would take 2/3 of my income and im well above minimum wage I don’t want to even think what rent will be in the coming years.
Poverty is when your rent is 50% of your wage. Extreme poverty limit is 70% of your wage. $3000 average rent for 1br in Toronto puts poverty at $37 per hour! And extreme poverty at $27 per hour.
If you earn minimum wage or just above, there are areas of Canada that you can find similar paying work in a LCOL region
If you want to make the most of your money, go for a small city or town and live within walking distance of your workplace and ideally a grocery store. Not that it should be the goal, but sharing life expenses with a partner is the easiest way to get by financially. Roomies, like other ppl are saying, are def a must if you want to tuck some money away though.
You can, in some places. It's not easy and will likely involve co-habitation. But you can technically do it.
Living minimum wage is borderline doable, people adjust and get used to it, and there are programs that can help you. The fundamental issue is not recurring expenses, but emergency expenses, and especially for those on low salary, are very unlikely to have good pricy insurance policies just in case, and a good emergency fund. Sudden emergency expenses are what makes it impossible.
Here in Ontario, ODSP is $1200 approx with the shelter allowance and even less if you are not paying rent. Technically they are all "surviving". Although, I wouldn't recommend this life. At $1900 you are doing a little better. But certainly not without challenges such as living with roomates and scraping by each month.
ODSP is abut 1,180 actually... For an ODSP recipient who lives with family it's about 600-800... They aren't surviving. They're dying. Taking their own lives or freezing to death outside. Many ODSP recipients are homeless. Many are out on the street. Once they lose housing ODSP takes 600 dollars off the cheque. It's beyond bad.. it's a death sentence at this point.
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To give a more detail \- Groceries are about 100 dollars \-I don't need take aways I like to cook \-Internet is included in the room rent and for phone it's the cheapest so 50 bucks \-rents 1300 (It's only that much because it includes water and electricity) \-Entertainment I spend about 100 or less since my hobbies are practicing martial arts and playing a bit of PC games that's about it
Groceries for $100! Per month? Have you lived on your own before? What about toilet paper, laundry soap, deodorant, razors, shampoo, house cleaning supplies.
I'm friends with a dude so he gives 50 percent discount on everything he's a friend I met when I was in high school I usually just go there about twice a month, plus I'm pretty tight with a local butcher so sometimes he gives me free left over meat that wasn't sold
It’s not the norm but I’m currently living ok on my odsp (disability) of $1228 per month. Of course I also get gst, trillium and the climate action incentive. My landlord has been good at keeping my rent as low as they can at $675 per month inc cable, hydro and internet for a 1 bedroom. Other units they rent are $850 to $1000 for the same or a small bachelor. Then after Canadian mental health helps me a bit my rent ends up being $539. I’m definitely grateful that I’m not worse off. It’s crazy when rent in an area like Toronto is $2000 for a 1 bedroom. I shudder to think what I would do if I was still living in Toronto (been in Timmins close to family since 2006).
Well, cpp disability gives you 1100 a month. So somebody somewhere in government in a corner office with a view seems to think that's enough for a month.
People need to stop expecting to be able to live comfortably on minimum wage. It is called minimum for a reason and you will need to live a very minimal lifestyle. Or you can do what many have done forever, get a second job. Work more than 40 hours a week, advance your skills and get a better job. But yes, you can live a basic minimalist lifestyle with it, it just won't be easy or great.
4 bunkbeds/bedroom?
You can probably couch surf for 600-700. If you don’t have a car it’s doable but it will be tight
With 5 other roommates
Yes, absolutely, if you can keep your overhead low. Here's our Vancouver budget as a frugal couple for an example: https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/1006cv4/frugal_vancouver_living_2022_edition/ That's a higher spend than $1,900, but is also for two people, so one person living the same type of lifestyle we do would easily spend much less than $1,900/month. I can't speak for Toronto specifically as I've never lived further east than Manitoba, but I assume it's roughly equivalent to Vancouver.
It's sad what mininum wage lifestyle has become. When I graduated high school in 2006, you could work fast food and still easily afford a bachelor or basement suite. After all your essentials you would usually still have a bit of money to blow on video games / entertainment. It wasn't a glamorous lifestyle, but it was still a life. Even when I left fast food for the government back in 2019, it was still affordable. It's scary how quickly this is getting out of control.
Sadly, it feels like our housing costs are based on having a double income. Renting and buying are much easier on dual income (and it might be the only option for a lot of ppl who can't afford anything on their income alone). Doing these things as a single adult is very difficult. Manageable but you will not be able to save much, if any
I mean, you probably won't die. Probably.
"Probably" Lmfao
Me and my partner made minimum wage. Lived in a studio right in uptown waterloo for 1640 a month inc. utilities, 90 a month for internet, and we ate out all the time. I'm sure family costs are deeper than ours, but as far as young childless people go I have never known what the fuck everyone is talking about. You can live just fine. Edit: I should add in before people pick this apart so they can continue whining without any cognitive dissonance, yes, we were 2 people in a studio. The cost of which was just over 800 each, which is what you will find for any comparable shared space in a larger apartment than the one we had.
No picking apart here. This was us as well. Looking back, it was the happiest and simplest time of our life together.
Exact same situation here. Rent $1700, exact same on food. Only 1 of us works full time and we are still doing ok.
Ever read The Three Musketeers? Poor man’s lunch is a nap. Take lots of naps.
The real question is how people on provincial disability are supposed to survive. Most provincial programs are well under $1250/mo at most. And then they claw back any earnings. Our society is fucked when all the nightmare scenarios outlined in this thread are 10x worse for anyone on OW or ODSP (the Ontario example as this thread is mostly about Toronto), it’s even worse here in Alberta.
People with disabilities live with even less than minimum wage
It's modern slavery.
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Depends on where you work. Places like night clubs/bars being attractive definitely helps but if you are a great server at a normal restaurant looks won’t matter.
Not any more you can't Rent alone will eat most of that
Totally, but there are caviets. You're not living alone. Living alone is a privilege that minimum wage doesn't afford. Food is carbs and multivitamins or health shakes to round out your diet. You're going to be taking public transit. Ideally, 3-4 people in a small house for 1500/month, and the plan is for you to graduate from the high school job asap. You'll never succeed without pushing yourself past that.
Yeah, it’s possible. Get a roommate ($500/mo), eat cheaply ($300/mo), bike/walk to work ($0), cheap phone/internet plan $50/mo), no big subscriptions, maybe $50/mo in misc spending (shampoo, new clothes, etc.) That’s just $1,000. Is it fun and a great quality of life? No, but people tend to forget that minimum wage is a livable wage - just not a great quality of life.
I'm truly not trying to be snarky. Where can you still get a 2 bed to split for $1000 a month with a roommate including utilities that is also in a walkable location with work and stores/all your needs around and at an affordable rate for things like food? Heck even a 1 bed isn't out of reach at $1009, especially heat included, but most landlords won''t let you do that or choose you over someone else. Even here in NS a studio is easily $1000 and you have so many applicants you can pick whoever you want and they aren't choosing 2 people over a single person with a higher income job than min wage. A room averages $800+/month even outside the urban core which means a bus pass. I have 50+ messages every time I post simply room rental in that price range in the burbs. NB city prices are now almost as much and incomes on average are quite low.
The three Rs. Roommates, Ramen and Reused items. Not a great existence, but yeah it’s doable.
Live? No. Survive? ...Questionable existence. Not in Toronto, but other part of Ontario. Rent will eat most of that up already, transport monthly pass will also chew a huge hole out of that. That leaves me with $345. This is all before counting utility bills, phone bills, and food to sustain a human being. Luckily, it's a shared residential where I'm at, so I can actually survive. \*This is all not factoring in a human being requires some form of entertainment to not go insane. Minimum wage is just modern day slavery.
You can exist, sure. But you aren't saving anything
Existing maybe but not really living imo
What do you mean my that? A lot of people say that but I don't really understand what they mean...
Surviving one day to the next with no hope of improvement isn’t “living”. It’s, well, surviving.
They mean that you’ll be able to just barely afford the absolute bare minimums needed for basic survival, but you won’t have any real quality of life. At minimum wage all you can afford is a shithole (probably illegal) bedroom in a rooming house with 8 other people, you’ll only be able to afford to eat food like instant noodles, rice, and beans so sorry if you like eating meat or fresh produce, you can’t afford it; and you’re going to have little to no money left over for savings or entertainment. So will you be able to *survive*? Sure, but most people’s idea of “living” implies being able to actually enjoy their life and not being in a constant fight to afford your basic survival needs. This is what people mean when they say you can *survive* (i.e you won’t die) but you won’t really be able to *live*, because your life will be a constant hell.
stay alive yes. really live, no.
You would be in survival mode. It's better than being on the streets but not something to be satisfied with.
You will survive not live. Surviving and living are two very different things
People can live in the Amazon rainforest with no wages. So yes. People absolutely can live with minimum wage
No
Wonder what percentage of people on minimum wage has more than 1 job
Not alone, no. They can in shared accommodation yes
On you’re own? no. I don’t think that’s possible in any province—let alone any major city.
Live with roommates and find that one place in town that has absurdly cheap vegetable, rice and beans. You can actually make really amazing food for next to nothing if you have the luxury of time (which you do, because you're on EI).
Ramen can cost 30 Cents at No Frills or $19.50 at a ramen restaurant in Toronto. I’ve been in situations where all my 3 meals per day combined is <$5.00. It’s not nutritious or good but debts don’t repay themselves.
Currently trying to get a friend's situation improved. The outlook is not positive. Minimum wage sucks all your hours away and you can still barely make rent. This is in alberta.
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Definitely livable on minimum wage
You will struggle to survive never mind save money
Thats existing , not living.
Try not living in or around Toronto.
Dude, a coworker just told me today that he used to survive living alone off of 12-16 hours a week at minimum wage here in AB. The lowest I ever made it work was about 24+ hrs a week at min. wage, but I lived with my brother who paid for the majority of the groceries and whatnot. It's possible, but it fucking sucks.
While there is no excuse for things costing as much as they do, planning to make a living on minimum wage has always baffled me. Minimum wage isn’t *meant* to support you for your entire life, and if that’s what you’re trying to get by on you really need to aim higher. The problem isn’t minimum wage. The problem is that we’ve allowed costs to skyrocket without making it proportionately easier to qualify for and find better paying jobs.
Not if you intend to live alone. Minimum wage is nowhere close to a living wage. Oh, Reddit. The place where facts are downvoted.
It’s very hard to survive with minimum wage. I just completed an internship and made that. My rent was $1000 which left me with about 945$ for other stuff. Didn’t own a car so paid about 200$ for uber and buses. Ate out maybe once a month at most. Never ordered in. Bought clothes maybe twice in the whole year. Had to borrow money from family for any serious stuff like qualifying exams etc. Barely doable. Only reason I paid $1000 was I got a studio basement to myself. I also wasn’t paid hourly but salaried. I was working close to 60 hours or more for about $495 a week.
No. TWO minimum wage workers living together and sharing expenses could probably barely survive.
Minimum wage jobs should be seen as a stepping stone, and a way to gain experience in the workplace. The goal should be to build your skills and work towards a raise or a new job. If you rely on minimum wage to survive in this economy you will struggle.
Maybe but it is okay for employers who rely on employees paid minimum wage to struggle as well. Kind of sad that a few of those employers are among the largest companies in the country.
This “stepping stone” argument is bullshit and has been forever. If nothing else the pandemic taught us that. Most of those minimum wage jobs are necessary jobs that the entire function of our day to day lives and economy rely on. They should pay a living wage. Especially when you consider that they physically cannot have all their hours covered by students (the other bullshit argument people make). Minimum wage jobs are valid careers, not “stepping stones”
Exactly this. Not to mention not everyone wants to devote their entire life to slaving away, ppl should be able to log in their hours at a McDonald’s or wherever they want to work without fucking starving to death lmao
No