Discussions

Hello Everyone,  
 
I recently moved to the city from British Columbia after getting a full time job here. I was contemplating about getting married and settle in Brandon (I am loving this city). Though the cost of living is considerably less than B.C.,I wonder how much should a 2/3 member family net every month to have a decent lifestyle ( with a home & car loan) ?

Probably 7-8k for what you want

Garret said "Probably 7-8k for what you want "

Not.  
 
The answer the OP, it will be difficult to answer that without knowing what lifestyle you expect and what you define as "decent lifestyle".  
 
For example, does each family member have their own car? New car or used car? Do you eat out 5 times a week, or do you enjoy cooking and eat at home?  
 
Do you want to own or rent? House or condo? Do you a brand-new, completed house or do you enjoy having projects to do around the place?  
 
How tolerant are you of debt? Do you buy now and pay later, or are you a saver, deferring most purchases until you have cash-on-hand?  
 
While 7-8K could certainly be spent easily if you owned a big house, paid someone to mow your lawn, drove multiple brand-new cars, eat out most nights, etc, you could have a "decent lifestyle" for [i]a lot[/i] less.  
 
For example, we net less than 1/2 that amount, own 2 older cars (no loans), live in a nice neighbourhood in a house that we've been slowing working on, eat out once in awhile but mostly cook our own food, own a camper (no loans), and we're 6 people. I consider us to have a "decent lifestyle" for our needs and wants.

Good luck finding a job in brandon that will bring you home 7/8 thousand a month.

We net maybe around $7,000+ (this is after pension and RRSP contributions) - live in an average neighbourhood, decent 1,300sf renovated home, one truck, one SUV (has a loan), and we live quite comfortably. If we want to eat out, we do. If we want to go on a trip, we go. If we want to buy something, we buy it. I would not say we are lavish, but we have a nice chunk of spending money with our income, and hefty savings. We are a couple with no kids. Although we are both fortunate to have great jobs and the education to back it up.  
 
I am sure we could survive on less than $7,000 a month, but I quite enjoy our lifestyle. If we dropped to one income (ie if we had kids) my wife could stay home and we could still manage all our bills on my income alone. Mind you we wouldn't have the spending money anymore.  
 
Our monthly expenses are roughly $1,300 for mortgage/insurance/taxes/heat, $700 vehicle expenses, $500 food, $300 entertainment, $200 repairs/maintenance and those are just the mandatory expenses so around $3,000. So if you're making about $4,000 a month you should be comfortable. Unless you want a house in a fancy area of town then expect your housing costs to double with higher mortgage and taxes.

answers will vary. it depends how you spent in anything: clothes, making your own meal or buy all premade for groceries, if you dine out a lot, any vacations or how many times in a year, sports, size of the house and how wise on your sales expenses. If you buy unneeded stuff.  
You can earn whole bunch of money and still end up with not much left as you can earn not too much and end up with some money.  
Similar to weight calories....what goes in and out

I know a lot of people will disagree with me but we find Manitoba very expensive compared to living in Ontario or B.C. Taxes, car insurance, food are quite expensive here. Good paying jobs are very difficult to find but the hydro is a little cheaper. Housing is more expensive than other cites and they are some reasonably priced homes but they are sparse and the often sell very fast on the market.  
Shopping is challenging and most people shop at Walmart or the Superstore. If something goes on sale the shelves will be empty. Clothing can difficult too find as well. However the summers are nice and we like the spray parks.  
 
Edited by winterstorm45, 2016-06-24 12:09:57

We're a young couple, make about $3000/month. We live in a cheap apartment that definitely could be better, but both drive nice vehicles (with loans), we contribute to rrsp's, have medical insurance, and contribute to a tax free saving account. We don't have an extravagant lifestyle at all, but we're comfortable in the fact that we can go out to eat every so often or have a night out, there's food in the fridge, bills get paid, etc. So depending on your lifestyle and what you like to do you could make very little and still be comfortable (we're not really ones for vacations or anything), or like a poster above you might need to make more to be comfortable... All depends how you want to live your life.

The original question was home and car payment. And a decent life.  
 
At 7-8k with mom and dad both working a 13 month old taking 30 dollars a day for daycare.  
 
I live in a house, have a new car payment for the wife's suv and I have a beater truck for myself. We definitely aren't rich at the 8k mark but we can buy anything we want and our life is comfortable. Someone else said they could get by with less and we are the same, but we have become accustomed to our lifestyle and I truly feel that 7-8k is the minimum for a decent lifestyle if you plan to have a kid and want to own a house that is big enough to have a kid in

My husband and I make around 4500 a month combined. We have a new car and an older car, mortgage payment, and a child in daycare at $30 a day. Our bills are paid, we are doing renovations and have savings.  
 
Unless you have a good paying job (which in Brandon would be $20 an hour it seems), you can live comfortably at $4500 a month.  
 
I sometimes wonder how some families have young kids in daycare, a brand new house, and two cars. I have a decent paying job and we'd be spending beyond our limits if we had a brand new home and two new cars.  
 
Edited by MrsZ2015, 2016-06-24 18:54:58

For my family of 4 (2 adults and 2 small children), we have a little less than $3000 coming in each month, which seems pretty small compared to others!! (Btw I'm a stay-at-home-mom) We have a good sized 2 bdrm apartment ($700/mth), all bills are payed (internet, phone, hydro, etc), we have life insurance for everyone, we have 1 car loan (good car), and we have a growing savings. It's all about planning, budgeting, and figuring out priorities. For my family, eating out isn't important (anyone with 2 children under 2yo will understand lol), vacations aren't important (refer back to age of kids lol), only 1 car is needed, and we are saving for a house. I make all meals by hand, and once I am able to have a garden, my grocery bill will be less. Again, figure out what you need and want. Before I got married I made a lot more than now but was always waiting for payday. Priorities at that time (expensive car, gym memberships, travel, expensive clothes, lots of vaca's, etc) was were not near to what they are now (diapers, morgage savings,kids clothes etc). Times changed, and so has my way of thinking. If I want something, we can afford it, but it's a matter of "do we need it", or "is it impulsive." . We could survive on less than we make now. So to answer your question, it depends on you and what you deem as "comfortable lifestyle". You've got lots of different numbers ranging from 8k to less than 3k. That's a big difference.

To my family, we are happy with little. Less bills, relatively stress free job, simple small life style. That works for us. Find out what works for you good luck and God bless

I say $4000(net) a month you should be comfortable. We make more than $4000, but comparing what our net income is. By paying the bills we are still saving money. Also we do not go mall shopping every week, nor do we eat out more than 1 time a week. We have a brand new car, a newer house and 1 child in daycare.

By decent lifestyle, I meant a 2 bedroom condo for rent, two used cars and eating out for 3 or 4 meals a month. I believe $4000 should be sufficient for this. Thanks for the inputs everyone.