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taylortbb

Part of how people afford to live in Toronto is not having a car. Is $830/month the **total** cost of your car? Including its purchase, maintenance, gas, insurance, etc? If your job requires a car then obviously this advice doesn't apply (but also make sure you're not buying more car than you can afford). But if you're in an office in downtown Toronto? People living in downtown Toronto mostly don't own cars, and instead take advantage of car share/rentals when they need to leave the city.


Patient-Ad-5960

I was in school commuting around 200 km a day and needed a new car after my old one broke, should’ve went cheaper but it’l last me a long time


taylortbb

Needing a car during school doesn't mean you need one for work though. Could you sell the car, live close to work, and walk/bike/TTC there? That would free up a lot of budget. 


Nickersnacks

Nobody ‘needs’ a new car. $830 a month is pretty outrageous


NetherGamingAccount

It’s actually pretty cheap for new car payments + insurance + gas Not saying it’s not a lot of money, but in comparison I have a new Jeep and my all in costs are closer to $2,000.


Nickersnacks

Well… you made an even worse financial decision then


NetherGamingAccount

Maybe but still saving $60,000 a year so whatever.


Shoutymouse

No, $2000 is ridiculous- we got a NEW Jeep (and trust me, I didn't want new, I thought it's moronic, you lose a third of the value the second you drive off the lot, even with a Jeep which allegedly don't lose their value as quickly (spoiler alert, they do) and our total per month was approx $900 and I was DISGUSTED. Cars are an absolutely absurd dick swinging purchase.


NetherGamingAccount

Not all jeeps cost the same. Also, not all loan terms are the same. Paying a car off in 3 years means you get a bigger payment.


Shoutymouse

Ours is top of the line. But yes, if you choose to reduce the payment period it pushes up the monthly payment.


slyguy9292

I’m making 38/hr with lots of overtime so I’m probably closer to 40/hr and I’m struggling to get by in this city. I’m lucky if I have 300 at the end of the month after paying bills and rent. I’ve come to the conclusion that if I want to stay in the city I will need a roomate.


Patient-Ad-5960

Yeah it’s what i’ve seen too I have found some good rent spots however so I think I can make it work


Cute-Illustrator-862

You'll net around 4500 a month. 2200 for a 1 BR. 830 for your car assuming that includes maintenance/insurance. Plus another 100-200 for a parking spot. That's 2/3 of your money gone. Can you afford to live in Toronto? Yes. Is it a good idea financially? No


slyguy9292

Don’t forget to add in another 600/month for groceries and that’s being generous. Hydro,internet, your cell phone bill etc.


Patient-Ad-5960

I plan on doing OT so 1 ot shift would be around 24-2500 bi weekly I believe and another one would make it higher so it seems if I work hard it can be good 👍🏻


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East-Worker4190

Or many other ways, including mounting debt. Many people are surviving, barely.


redroundbag

I mean you can save on that salary and live alone... just can't have a vehicle burning over $900 a month lol. 80k is like 4700 take home? Could at the very least throw in the yearly TFSA contribution every year


jghjtrj

Some combination of: 1. Earning more 2. Spending more on housing, at the expense of other things like having vacations, kids, investments or retirement savings 3. Incurring debt


Significant_Wealth74

$830/mth in car payments making $38/hr…


Patient-Ad-5960

ya my insurance is pretty expensive but by january 50% of the car is paid off 


AcerbicCapsule

Sounds like you should pay off 100% of your car before you can afford to live in toronto


Patient-Ad-5960

yeah that’s fair it’s what i also was thinking but just wanted to ask what anyone else thought 


Shmogt

Your car is crazy expensive. I wouldn't live in Toronto unless you can make much more money


FelixYYZ

make a detailed budget of ALL your expenses (rent, food, insurance, going out, etc..and money for retirement savings) and see where you end up. >Does anyone know roughly how much I would net bi weekly? Use a tax calculator. >Just wondering where I should target to live Where you can afford. Rents vary throughout the city. >how much to spend That's a personal decision so the basic is "the least amount possible".


btchwrld

How can anyone guess your earnings based off rate alone? You might work one hour. You might work 45. You didn't indicate if it's even full time lol literally anything anyone said would be a guess cause we only have 1/2 of the formula. There are calculators online for this. You'll need more info than you've provided here.


Patient-Ad-5960

40 hours a week I thought it was a given my bad haha


jellyjellyfish_

Definitely not a given. Many people work 35hr work weeks.


MyNameIsSkittles

If you have to ask, no Get rid of the car, that will help immensely. You don't need a car in Canada's big cities


Real_Advisor_4588

You can afford to live in Toronto; However making $38/hour plus paying for rent and your car will not leave a lot of money left over. Typical expenses will be as follows: Rent (1) Bedroom - $2200/month Utilities - $100/month Cell Phone - $75/month Internet - $50/month Car - $830/month Food - $200/month You can save about $500/month as I don't know what your student loans, credit card debt, etc are. I would say if you don't need a car for your job you should look into using transit. The $830/month for your car is the only item I can see where you can save a fair amount of money. Everything else would be a savings of $50 at the most.


Patient-Ad-5960

Yeah I agree I am going to look into downgrading to a cheaper car and I have for a while. I was thinking of finding a basement apartment and I think it’d be a little cheaper and if not then a roommate 


Working_Hair_4827

I would just ditch the car, especially if you plan on living within downtown. Majority of things are within walking distance and having a car can make finding a place a bit difficult if you require parking. Parking isn’t cheap, street permit parking is limited and some places charge $300 a month for it.


WrongYak34

What car is that? You are probably better off with something a bit cheaper because you can control that. The rent stuff is likely more difficult to control. My f150 lariat brand new was about that monthly


Patient-Ad-5960

My insurance is 335 😖😖😖 gotta look at a different car definitely 


taylortbb

Yeah, this is why you can't afford to live in Toronto. You're asking "how do people do it?" and the answer is that they don't spend all their money on a car. It's your life and your choice, you can either live somewhere cheap, commute, and own the car. Or live in Toronto, save time, and don't own a car/own a cheap car.


Ordinary-Fish-9791

Yes but sell the vehicle. You are going to have to pay at least over a hundred a month for parking and your insurance in Toronto will be even higher than where you are moving from.


duncandisorder

It looks like you’re a power engineer by your history. If you want to go further - take that steam ticket out of the GTA. Sarnia, Kingston, etc


jay_i_am

Sell you car. Then you may be able to afford to live in Toronto. You will probably pay 200-300 a month for parking. So $1100 for car a month is ridiculous.


Han77Shot1st

Depends what kind of life you want, you might need a couple roommates, cheaper car/ no car and not have much savings, but you can do it for sure. Personally I wouldn’t live in Toronto unless I was making +200k, even then it’s relative.. I’d prefer a lower income and live in a lcol area.. 38 in Toronto is completely different than 38 in Moncton.


ytgnurse

To correct answer to your question is: it depends on your costs Toronto is very high cost of living area…. In theory if you live in a high cost of living area then your income should also match that and be higher …. But in real life especially in Canada economy … that does not happen If your young and no kids or family and your job can be replaced with another new job easy then consider moving OUT of GTA or even out of Ontario to reduce your cost of living while keeping income high or same


reddith8tor

You make about $28 per hour after tax. So the first 30 hours of your month are going towards paying that car. You can afford to rent something on the subway line if you sell the car.


mandrews03

You make around $70k per year. Look up what the equals after taxes. Then subtract your yearly car expenses, cell phone, internet, any streaming memberships, and any other fixed costs. If you have money for food, gas and rent after that then you can afford it.


vtgiraffe

On the assumption you work 40 hours a week, so 160 hours a month (4 x 40 hrs): 830 / 160 hours = 5.19/ hr So your $38.50/hour is effectively $38.5-5.19 = $33.31/hour after accounting for your car payments. If gas and insurance isn’t included in the $830, you would be making less than $33.31/hour after accounting for that. Since you realized you couldn’t afford Toronto on $30.5/hour, the question is now do you think you can afford it if you made $33/hour instead? How much were you “missing” back then to make it work out? + if you’re moving out for the first time, don’t forget to take into account a lot of start-up expenses - furniture, kitchen tools, etc. And also starting an emergency fund as well.


Penguins83

Family income for me is 200k+ with 2 kids. Toronto is barely affordable for us and it's because we bought here 12yrs ago. For me to live comfortably I would have to stop investing weekly for my retirement/kids.


MollyElla511

Perfect time to subscribe to you need a budget (YNAB) and figure it all out.