Canadians 'drowning in debt': 47% will borrow to cover costs, survey says

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

So you've never tried sushi? It's great!

Was out in Vancouver last week for 7 days. 3 days too long. It's so damn gloomy out there. It rained 6 of the 7 days and the day it didnt rain it felt like we were in the matrix. I think we saw the sun for a total of 3 hours.

Great place to visit, just for the food alone but living out there... Unless you own your house, paying $2k/month rent for a condo doesn't really seem like living. Was in a brand new 950sq ft condo airbnb for the entire trip and by the end of it with 2 kids it felt so cramped. Calgary is definitely a way better city to raise kids. Even in Whitehorn!

Dang, I love the rain out here. Green year round. I love it. I realize I am in the scant minority here though.

The food out here is unreal. If you have the income, and budget well, you can really live the best possible life.

That said, my partner and I have a bit of a rental unicorn - around 900 sq feet for $1750 in an oldish building. If we lose that, we will move. Some of our friends pay $3000 (!!!!) for two-bedrooms. I couldn't do it.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

After I left Calgary it was amazing to me (when I come back into town) how much people still try and keep up with the Joneses. That mentality was very much baked into the city culture during the early 2000's and it still persists today. Nice cars, fun toys, big vacations . . . Let's be clear this happens in most other cities in Calgary too but it seems to be very prevalent in my hometown just watching family and friends.

I used to see a luxury sports car on the road and ask what I was doing wrong to not have that, but then I slowly realized that half of them on the road were probably bought with money the owner doesn't have and are leveraged up to the tits.

this, and...

I blame fb. The only reason it exists is for people to show food pics and show off their vacations, 2nd homes in Palm Springs and Kelowna, vehicles, houses and everything else that makes them look better than others.

Then others need to keep up with the Joneses is they are going to continue to post to fb.

[Hemi-Cuda]

To me, stagnant wages are the primary culprit, but when I look at how much food delivery services have exploded over the last few years there has been a definite shift in society as well. McDonalds now has dedicated lines for delivery pickups in some locations because so many people use it. How the hell can you be so lazy as to not drive yourself to the nearest McDicks when there's one every few kilometers? You're now paying over $20 for that big mac meal, and I know people that use Skip and Uber eats several times a day

I've never used a dedicated food delivery service because I could never justify the cost. But I realize now that I'm in the minority in feeling that way

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The rise of the two-income professional household has reshaped what people think of as middle-class. A household with one adult earning 130k and another earning 90k has a household income of $220k. A household with one adult earning 90k and another earning 60k has a household income of $150k.

Individually, the salaries aren't so far apart that the couples in question would see each other as belonging to different socio-economic classes. But collectively, that $70k difference in household income is huge.

So when family A has two new vehicles at 45k each, and has their kid in an elite sports team that costs 8k a year for fees and travel, family B just sees that as normal middle-class standards and follows suit.

I would wager that those families feel equally strapped. I read a study recently (looking for the link) that found that people at almost all income levels found it challenging to meet their ‘basic’ needs. Obviously expectations are different about basics.

I know I would be embarrassed to share my family income vs spending despite not living a lavish lifestyle and having most things paid off.

[Fuzz]

V-

Yeah, of course I have life insurance. But I don’t have a cable package, I don’t have a data plan, I don’t have car payments, I don’t have student debt, I don’t travel for vacation. I don’t spend thousands on Christmas and birthdays. We don’t eat out. Ever. That list right there has to be worth, what, almost 1000 bucks every month? It probably sounds like hell to some people, but I think that’s part of the problem.

It's nice to know I'm not alone! I was told this was a NEED.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

To me, stagnant wages are the primary culprit, but when I look at how much food delivery services have exploded over the last few years there has been a definite shift in society as well. McDonalds now has dedicated lines for delivery pickups in some locations because so many people use it. How the hell can you be so lazy as to not drive yourself to the nearest McDicks when there's one every few kilometers? You're now paying over $20 for that big mac meal, and I know people that use Skip and Uber eats several times a day

I've never used a dedicated food delivery service because I could never justify the cost. But I realize now that I'm in the minority in feeling that way

I've used those services once or twice when extremely hungover, and two takeaways - 1) you can normally get a list of restaurants offering free delivery; and 2) they have opened up a gateway to an entire world of food that does not travel well and is not suitable for delivery.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Weitz

If you are not doing this 3-4 times a week you already have a problem IMO.

I agree, and this is what I do, but it has taken a conscious decision to make this the case. When I first left university and started working tasting "real money" for the first time it was easy for a consumer lifestyle to hang it the background. Not in any big way, but it was little things like buying coffees, or monthly subscriptions to services like DAZN or Netflix, buying a book instead of taking one out from the library, or paying to drop in for hockey, paying for a bus pass instead of walking. ie the micro transactions of life.

The amount of money I spent on these things are by and large inconsequential, but the fact was that these things were perfectly normal.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

V-
It's nice to know I'm not alone! I was told this was a NEED.

Coelacanths are evidence you can survive without evolving.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by peter12

I've used those services once or twice when extremely hungover, and two takeaways - 1) you can normally get a list of restaurants offering free delivery; and 2) they have opened up a gateway to an entire world of food that does not travel well and is not suitable for delivery.

Ain't that the truth. A super soggy schwarma was a one-time mistake for me.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Ain't that the truth. A super soggy schwarma was a one-time mistake for me.

Very sad Thai food for me or pho sent over in 10 billion containers.

[stone hands]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

To me, stagnant wages are the primary culprit, but when I look at how much food delivery services have exploded over the last few years there has been a definite shift in society as well. McDonalds now has dedicated lines for delivery pickups in some locations because so many people use it. How the hell can you be so lazy as to not drive yourself to the nearest McDicks when there's one every few kilometers? You're now paying over $20 for that big mac meal, and I know people that use Skip and Uber eats several times a day

I've never used a dedicated food delivery service because I could never justify the cost. But I realize now that I'm in the minority in feeling that way

people underestimate how much everything adds up

to a lot of people, 20 or 30 bucks for a meal is just business as usual. i defy these people to get an app like mint and tell me that they would rather have memories of food eaten a month ago as opposed to thousands of dollars in their bank account today

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

If everyone listened to the most conservative advice in this thread and stopped taking on any consumer debt, the economy would be crippled, and everyone would lose their jobs or be making a lot less money. Even people who save all their money benefit from those who don't. So why are they always so judgmental on how others spend?

So what's the takeaway here? We should all spend more than we can afford to, for the greater good of the economy? Or that our economic system is built on an unsustainable house of cards, and maybe we should re-think that?

[Flash Walken]

Everyone should stop buying goods and services, surely that will fix the economy.

Everyone just take your meager earnings out of economic circulation, it's what the country needs to survive.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

To me, stagnant wages are the primary culprit, but when I look at how much food delivery services have exploded over the last few years there has been a definite shift in society as well. McDonalds now has dedicated lines for delivery pickups in some locations because so many people use it. How the hell can you be so lazy as to not drive yourself to the nearest McDicks when there's one every few kilometers? You're now paying over $20 for that big mac meal, and I know people that use Skip and Uber eats several times a day

I've never used a dedicated food delivery service because I could never justify the cost. But I realize now that I'm in the minority in feeling that way

I mean, you're assuming everyone has a car

[Oling_Roachinen]

And that people ordering McDonalds' are sober enough to drive.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

V-
It's nice to know I'm not alone! I was told this was a NEED.

No data is fine, unless you're being a PITA to somebody else.

I have this gear grinder when people call my work and ask for directions to get here. I'm like, just say "take me to XXXXX" into your smartphone. It's so much easier than "what direction are you coming from? okay, take Deerfoot to Barlow, then turn here, then turn there, then turn one more time here, go straight into the parking lot. you didn't get all that? okay, I'll say it again. no, no Deerfoot southbound. yeah, the first barlow exit off Deerfoot. no, Barlow south, not Barlow north. ugh."

Next time I'm going to tell them just to buy a paper map and unfurl it on their hood.

[peter12]

The best thing you can do when coming home drunk as a monk is DoorDash some A&W Teen Burgers.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Sliver

No data is fine, unless you're being a PITA to somebody else.

I have this gear grinder when people call my work and ask for directions to get here. I'm like, just say "take me to XXXXX" into your smartphone. It's so much easier than "what direction are you coming from? okay, take Deerfoot to Barlow, then turn here, then turn there, then turn one more time here, go straight into the parking lot. you didn't get all that? okay, I'll say it again. no, no Deerfoot southbound. yeah, the first barlow exit off Deerfoot. no, Barlow south, not Barlow north. ugh."

Next time I'm going to tell them just to buy a paper map and unfurl it on their hood.

I can't imagine every asking a business for directions. Google it. I will do it in a new community though, becuase they are either not mapped, or designed so poorly that no one considered people might want to find a location in them by following increasing address numbers(I'm looking at you, Clydesdale Way Cochrane).

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by peter12

The best thing you can do when coming home drunk as a monk is DoorDash some A&W Teen Burgers.

I'll JBC all day long before I Teen Burger.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I can't imagine every asking a business for directions. Google it. I will do it in a new community though, becuase they are either not mapped, or designed so poorly that no one considered people might want to find a location in them by following increasing address numbers(I'm looking at you, Clydesdale Way Cochrane).

It's mostly old dumb guys.