It's Official - Canada is a Mustachian Nation

[Milkman666]

Well... according to this anyway:

http://www.moneysense.ca/2012/11/06/frugal-is-the-new-black/

[KC]

I think they are using the term frugal meaning "pay less for the stuff you don't really need", not exactly mustachian.
It's nice to see that people want to spend less money though!

[strider3700]

This article isn't really about people spending less money.   It's pointing out that canadian retailers have been taking a pounding.  A lot of this is because the high canadian dollar makes shopping in the states a  way better deal then buying things back home.   I know people that make a weekly trip across the border to buy pretty much everything they are shopping for.  Gas and groceries included. 

Even here on the island  People get together in a group, take the biggest van/suv they can get and then split the cost of the gas and Ferry to do an overnight shopping trip to Washington.  They're mostly buying clothes and electronics.  I've been offered a seat on 3 of these trips in the last couple of months as people are doing their christmas shopping this way.

The Canadian retailers are being forced to cut prices to compete.

[Matte]

Canada, bc is very anti mustachian! Sky high real estate, stupidly complacent retailers, large suburbs with poor roads, transit, services yet are still expensive.  Canadians are worse for consumer debt then Americans most studies say.  It is a hard place to get ahead, 400k willl buy you a small condo in a crummy area with 600 per month strata fees and 3500 dollar property taxes and regional transit levies on every bill you can think of.  Your only choice is a 400k house in a distant suburb with no job that pays a double digit wage. So commuting is pretty much forced.  Commuting is horrible since we don't believe in freeways, or limited access highways, they even put a red light for a tim hortons drive through exit onto a main Highway.  Bus trips from the burbs are 2 hours or so, our skytrain system skips all areas of importance (universities, colledges, hospitals ect) and more or less connects a bunch of shopping malls (that all contain the same overpriced stores) They force bike helmets making riding a pain in the ass, il stop my rant, besides that I am close with my family who lives here I have very strong feelings of negativity towards my home city and province.  I just bitterly resent the policies and idiocy, it seems all aimed at raising home prices to keep the baby boomers spending their home equity lines of credit on redivuliusly priced goods and services.  Everybody who has owned a house for 20 years or more has made at least 200k free money (although countless keep tapping this equity)

[Milkman666]

This is why I left Vancouver for Ottawa in 2007.

[kdms]

This is why I left Vancouver for Ottawa in 2007.

Hear hear....we made the same trip in 2009.  BC doesn't stand for British Columbia - it's short for 'Bring Cash'.

[Matt K]

This is why I left Vancouver for Ottawa in 2007.

And Ottawa is mustachian??? I suppose if your point of reference is sufficiently out of whack anything can look sane ;)

I just want to clarify that BC is not Vancouver. Just as Ontario is not Toronto. I have a lot of family in BC, and some of them are exceedingly Mustachian (second generation hippy looks pretty mustachian from where I sit). You just have to get out of the big cities. The islands, the interior, lots of great affordable places to live, with strong diy sensebilities. Just not many jobs.

[strider3700]

I'm on vancouver island.   It's not impossible to be mustachian here  but housing is making it difficult.  My current house has doubled in price in the last 10 years....  Nothing like Vancouver though. That place is nuts. 

[Matte]

Yea, I know the island and interior are better minus the very few jobs with pay, mining or pulp mill  Even the housing prices there seem quite out of whack.  I guess there is always the far north.

[Milkman666]

This is why I left Vancouver for Ottawa in 2007.

And Ottawa is mustachian??? I suppose if your point of reference is sufficiently out of whack anything can look sane ;)

That's it exactly! My wife, who was born and raised in Ottawa, cracked up when we first started looking to buy a house here because I was very excited about the half-price houses. She had to remind me that they were still pretty ridiculously priced!

Matt K: You're right, of course, other parts of BC are more sensible, but as you pointed out, there is a real lack of well-paying jobs available in those areas.

[BPA]

I live in the 'burbs of Hamilton and make a monthly trip by GO to see friends in Toronto.  They'd never dream of living here, but I feel that Hamilton provides a happy medium.  For $20 round trip (and a ride to and from the GO station via my trusty bike), I can hang out in a place with fabulous entertainment options and then come home to my "half price" house in my quiet, livable neighbourhood where I live far more inexpensively than they do.  I am also fortunate to work in the community where I live which isn't possible for a lot of people.

I was really glad to land a job in Hamilton.  I graduated from U of T when the job market for teachers was pretty scant and was worried that Toronto would be the only place I could find a job.  I can't imagine what life would have been like if I had to work in Toronto.  There'd be no working part-time or early retirement for me then.

My brother just moved back from 17 years in Montreal and Vancouver and he can't believe how much cheaper things are here than there.

The Hammer may not be "cool," but it works just fine for me.

[Gerard]

The Hammer may not be "cool," but it works just fine for me.

I spent a day in Hamilton for the first time in ages recently and really liked it. Housing there is drastically underpriced by any rational metric (or drastically overpriced everywhere else). I honestly think the only thing stopping people from moving there is that it's Hamilton. The reputation, in other words. Good on you for benefiting from other people's irrational prejudices.

[Sparky]

Canada is the opposite of Mustachian nation... Awful transportation options outside of owning a vehicle for long distance journeys, more expensive food compared to the US, taxes from hell and a large pool of lower income earners that have a really hard time making it from high cost of living.

[BPA]

Canada is the opposite of Mustachian nation... Awful transportation options outside of owning a vehicle for long distance journeys, more expensive food compared to the US, taxes from hell and a large pool of lower income earners that have a really hard time making it from high cost of living.

Socialized medicine more than makes up for all of that for me.  I've never owned a car and have had plenty of good experiences using mass transit.  Via Rail.  GO.  Greyhound.  Westjet.  I spend two months of the year 1,400 km from home and I've never had a problem.  Food prices are a little higher and taxes too, but really when I am retired, I will pay very little in income tax.

Not sure where the "large pool of lower income earners" is the case compared to the US.  I make almost double here what I would in the States in my profession.

[BPA]

The Hammer may not be "cool," but it works just fine for me.

I spent a day in Hamilton for the first time in ages recently and really liked it. Housing there is drastically underpriced by any rational metric (or drastically overpriced everywhere else). I honestly think the only thing stopping people from moving there is that it's Hamilton. The reputation, in other words. Good on you for benefiting from other people's irrational prejudices.

Thanks, Gerard.  I was born and bred here, and so I have never had an issue with its reputation.  That said, I hate the humidity in the summers and flee to PEI.  Love it there too.  You eastern Canadians are pretty fun to hang out with and extra nice to boot.  I think the reputation Canadians get for being friendly must be from people's experiences down east.  :)

[Peter]

The friendliness and courtesy of easterners is not to be underestimated. Once stood on the edge of a 4 lane road in Halifax waiting to J-walk. All 4 lanes locked em up and backed up the road 50+ metres to let me cross!

[BPA]

The friendliness and courtesy of easterners is not to be underestimated. Once stood on the edge of a 4 lane road in Halifax waiting to J-walk. All 4 lanes locked em up and backed up the road 50+ metres to let me cross!

lol  Once I was walking across a parking lot in Summerside and nearly got hit by some idiot who was driving too fast and not paying attention.  I thought, "WTH?  I feel like I'm back home."  And then I noticed the guy had Ontario plates.  :)