Buy Local? LOL. I make $60K a year and can barely afford to buy electricity and water for my 2 BR. Fuck off with buy local – maybe concentrate your efforts on raising the standard of living around here so that people can actually affford to support you as opposed to asking them to rob Peter to pay Paul (I.e. you). —Get your Buy Local Heads out of your Buy Local Ass
This article appears in Jun 20-26, 2013.
If you’re making 60k and you can’t pay your bills, you are shit at managing money.
There was a time in my life i made half that and did just fine.
you’re living way beyond your means op. I bet you don’t even have any kids.
I think your anger may be misdirected, OP.
Live within your means, OP. It’s jackasses like you who helped crash the economy.
$60k? Damn, that’s decent money. You’re doing something wrong on the budgeting front.
With a wage like $60gs, you shouldn’t be hurting so badly. Sounds like you’ve either got major money managing problems or you’re paying alimony – there are people who would give their left elbow to make a salary like that and survive quite nicely.
This buy local balagan is risible, time we went back to seasonal produce like it used to be in the old days. Strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes etc in the summer, not year round, treated with fuck knows what to make it look yummy.
There’s some good businesses around Halifax that provide the local produce directly to you, as opposed to through a store. You make weekly/monthly payments, and once a week/month you just pick up a box of fresh produce (different produce every week). I’ve been eating the GF’s boxes 😀 they’re delicious, and also super cheap. She pays less than $15 a week and gets more veggies than she can finish herself before the next pick-up.
Heat and lights for a 2br does not burn up a 60k salary, it’s our taxes and more taxes that kills us. Shopping local sucks, i hate buying milk at mafia prices.
Buy Local? LOL! But my BMW was made in Germany.
(I’m pretending to be OB, I own a Cobalt)
Captain – you’ve been eating the GF boxes, you mean she has more than one minge?
The problem is that if they WERE living outside their means and realized it a little too late but now have got things in line, they’re screwed. The hole’s been dug and now there’s no way out. Interest is mowing down on that salary like a mofo.
Jesus Christ I was paying all my bills and going to the theatre every week on 42k. What the hell are you doing, snorting it?
One box isn’t enough to satisfy The Captain’s appetite. As luck would have it, I discovered a lady with many! >;D
This local nonsense has gone far enough. I visited the Farmers Market, both the new location and the old filthy one. Nothing but body odours and horrible unedible vegetables. Not a surprise to find out, but Sobeys and the Superstore only stock local as well. They just don’t charge you an exorbitant amount of hard earned money for it.
blipblip hasn’t been back to the farmer’s market since seh tried to buy a brace of healthy west african males with strong backs and narrowly escaped with her life. Hey, step into the 21 st century, paula deenk.
My partner and I have saved a shitload of money buying local via CFA type things and we can hardly even finish all the produce we get for only 30$. Tons of seasonal veggies and fruit. Lasts us about 2 weeks.
And we live way below your means.
http://www.lolomgwtfbbq.com/wp-content/upl…
yuck.
Meat is pricey.
The I Heart Local thing is getting a little overdone. Local for the sake of local is a good indicator that the critical mass of it as a marketing tool is losing it effectiveness. Shit, even Keiths has a ‘hophead’ beer(but not really, I imagine).
Well, I must agree that $60K is a decent salary and OB, you should be able to live off of that.
To add to the anti-local argument, I have to say that local producers are gouging consumers as a result of the whole buy-local campaign. I was driving along the Bedford highway and stopped at a local stand selling local strawberries. The vendor was selling the smaller green pressboard cartons (they hold less fruit than the wooden ones) which were not completely filled. She wanted $6.50 each…
I can go to a neighbouring shop selling local foods, but why again is it $35kg for sausages…?
Yes, we can go on and on about saving our blessed Mother earth, etc. But – when push comes to shove – we are going to think with our wallets, not our souls. We can’t live on good will, wishes, hopes or dreams.
60K a year once taxes, pension and benefits are deducted … you’re lucky to take home 1500 dollars every two weeks.
Rent on a 2 BR is about what – 12-1300 dollars here in the city? Mortgage in the burbs about the same…
Electricity runs about 150 a month, heat averages close to 400 a month on a house…. thats almost 2K of your 3K a month gone. Buy some food, another 150 a month conservativly… if you need a car for work, thats easily another 300 per month gone in lease or finance payments for a cheap ass car, throw in some gas, insurance and maintenance and there, you’ve pissed away 60K a year.. hardly living a lavish lifestyle. God forbid if you own student loans or want to save a few dollars…
Shouldn’t local cost less because it isn’t being trucked in from california? the beef isn’t frozen? the wine isn’t shipped from france? Oh, right, its just THAT much better…. (in actual fact, tho, some local wines are pretty darn good and free range beef melts like butter)
I am getting a little tired of all these hobby beer factories popping up, though. Band wagoneers!
op i’m going to assume that you have major debt and managing that is what’s sinking you.
This is… well SHOULD BE an edge case. And if it’s debt sinking you, then you need to speak with a credit counselor asap. They can find loopholes, ways of consolidating your debt under one low-interest loan. They can show you how to take your life back.
Is it your own fault that you borrowed against your future and mortgaged the hell out of it? ABSOLUTELY but lots of people make that mistake. And everywhere there are mistakes being made, there is someone willing to capitalize on getting you out of it.
Sorry op. Your numbers don’t add up otherwise so forgive my assumption. If you have no debt, you’re living like an idiot.
ustwess, you must have electric heat or ‘growing something’ to be burning through a $300 bi-monthly power bill.
Rent isn’t quite that much unless you’re talking peninsula. Otherwise you have to factor in a bus pass or the insane cost of parking if you work downtown. If not, hey sweet.
And $150 a month on food…. holy god. Some of us eat 3 meals a day… not 1.
30 meals on $150 is 5 bucks a meal. That’s what.. kraft dinner, a can of tuna and a cup of milk to sustain you for 24 hours. I’m guessing you’re freakishly twiggy.
Figures may be somewhat off, but the end conclusion was still the same. Everything adds up and you’re living paycheque to paycheque
Not much room for savings in there.
Sobey’s on Windsor had local strawberries for $3.99, I’ve just had some as dessert in one of those little spongey things with a big gob of vanilla ice cream on the fuckers, they were delicious.
Funny how OP submarined his whole bitch with his $60,000 sentence. The point of the bitch is the high cost of local produce (in his opinion) not how he manages his money. I buy local not to support the local economy so much as not to give my money to the mega farms in California and their legions of illegal immigrants exploited with slave wages.
try those delicious local strawberries (absolutely fantastic crop this year) with a dollop of sour cream or Balkan yogurt for dipping, then a second dip into darkest brown sugar.
sounds weird, but the combination explodes in your mouth, you’ll want to bathe in it.
I try to buy as much local as possible, because it’s a good thing to do. for everyone. 100 mile rule. eat seasonally. freeze stuff for off season. I don’t buy $3 cups of coffee EVER, so I have lots of money to buy actual food. lobster. fresh haddock. st marys salmon. fiddleheads. homestead feta. cow meat that actually saw sunshine and birdies before it died to make my steaks.
buy local because it tastes better, it wasn’t trucked 2000 miles sucking highway fumes the entire way. some of those ‘markets’ are pricey just because they’re the ‘in’ place. go elsewhere. go placidly, the universe is laughing behind your back.
in terms of buying local, yes. It’s incredibly expensive. Especially if you consider the confusion behind the fact that locally made products shouldn’t have any shipping costs.
However they’re also not made en masse. They tend to use higher quality products. They tend to last longer and that costs money to produce in the world we’re living in. And furthermore, they’re made LOCALLY which, by op’s very POINT, means that they’re made by someone who is ALSO trying to make a living in this very expensive country. It is far more expensive to live in canada than even the USA – my boyfriend is american, I’m canadian and we’re constantly skirting the border so we’ve experienced this quite regularly. He lives in canada and hates the cost of living. When I go to the states, I save a fair bit of money.
So local producers have to inflate their prices enough to not only continue producing, but to put produce on their OWN tables. This isn’t something they’re doing as a favour to us. They have to make a living. This is their livelihood so of COURSE they charge more than it’s actually worth. So they can eat.
Combine that with the unfortunate TREND of buying locally. it’s a hot ticket to buy locally right now. And what does that mean? It means that greed can still be profitable, driving prices up even more. Locally made goods are better because we DEEM THEM TO BE.
It really is that simple (stupid).
There are a whole lot of factors you need to consider when you start going on about buying locally versus the cost of buying locally.
Marketing works! You saw it here first!
“Local”, Organic”, “Free Range” are just gimmicks to sell stuff at 2-3 times their worth.
Bro Tim – the hookers don’t seem to use those terms, Local, free Range and Organic on Windmill Road.
This is further to my post of yesterday – I’d already had a few bevvies before trying the strawberries in spongey things with ice cream, when I had a beer induced brainwave – poured Baileys onto the spongey thing, placed the strawberries on top, a gob of Cool Whip and trickled more Bailey’s on that – spectacular.
“Poured Baileys onto the spongey thing, placed the strawberries on top, a gob of Cool Whip and trickled more Bailey’s on that”
(Drooooling)mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. lol
Here’s wishing all my bitch buds an awesome long weekend! ^_^ I’ll be out of town for most of it, but I promise to spare a thought or two for you guys. <3
You won’t be missing much… except a shit-ton of rain and gloom.
I wonder when the fireworks rain date is…
Rain and gloom… Your two favorite things, amirite dear zed 😉
I just turned the heat back on in the house, crikey. inside of the car has been damp for a week. welcome to Vancouver east. at least I know it will end eventually.
everyone keeps your dogs safely inside during any possible kind of fireworks. this weekend is the WORST for the lost dog network.
http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2013/…
GDM, you must be crazy. Don’t you know we are suffering from Global Warming? David Suzuki and Al Gore say so. If you are cold, it must be your imagination.
I have to agree with the majority on this one. No way in hell 60k should leave anyone unusually tight unless they’re living above their means and/or dragging along some serious debt.
I’m in that range and yes, things can sometimes be a little tight on the entertainment budget, which would mean no going out for a few weeks, but that’s because I’m a bit of a nutjob and save damn near half of what I get post-taxes for the long term and big trips abroad every year or two.
I try to buy local, seasonal food.
There’s a secret to getting ‘summer’ veggies and fruit in the winter.
It’s called a big freezer.
Crayons, true, the cost of living in the US can be quite a bit lower. Minimum wage is also ludicrously lower so this might have something to do with it. ($2.13/hr for ‘tip’ jobs? wtf?)
Anyone who thinks $200/month for power is a lot obviously doesn’t pay their own bill. It’s pretty average for a 2-3 BR house or duplex.
I’ve had $600 (bimonthly) bills recently. All CFL’s, oil heat, oil hot water, etc. etc. NSP can’t even explain it. They say I’d have to have at least one more person in the house to plausibly use that much.
I’ve been waiting 3 months now for a meter check.
They don’t mind billing me for it in the meantime though.
As far as people complaining that the OB should be better at managing their money, etc.. Get a grip.
60k/year is about $1700 biweekly after tax. It’s also 10k more than the average national salary.
It means you shouldn’t have to live in a bachelor apartment and use the bus.
Assuming they rent a small house or duplex, even out in Sackville;
Rent: $1200
Power $200
Water $50
Student Loan $500 (Extrapolating my 2 years at StFX)
Car payment $170 (Half decent used car)
Insurance $150 (for said car)
Gas $120
Bridge $50
Internet/Phone/TV $150
Oil Heat $80 (averaged over year)
There’s $730 left.
You can eat half decently on $350/month from sobeys, or $420 (Assuming 20% *OMGLocal* markup)
That’s $380 left over, or $310 if buying local. Not exactly a shit ton of money. All of these numbers are low estimates. It’s a mediocre life. Nothing lavish at all. And still basically paycheque to paycheque if you clothe/bathe, other necessities of life.
I’m close to the national average income, but still have to live in the ghetto, with a 5 year old car. Everything in this province is tax, tax, tax. You get taxed for making money, having money, spending money, and taxed for being taxed in the case of HST on road tax. There’s tax for housing, tax for power.
All said and done, about 55-60% of your income goes to tax here, unless you make under $20k.
Wow, I definitely think there’s something wrong with you duplex Evan. If you got oil heat as you say, that power bill is out of whack somehow.
Unless you got a grow op…then it’s probably low.
what is wrong with driving a 5 yr old car? sheesh.
I ditto scooter, evan your power bill is nutso. I have oil heat with oil fired hot water, 3 bed 1700 sq ft house with nasty old drafty windows and my power bill is around $100 a month. I leave lights on all the time plus use electric fire place daily. its foggy out here. something must be very wrong with your meter. even 200 would be way too much if you have oil heat & water. and if its a duplex, with one shared wall, your heating at least should be less. maybe your neighbours are running off your meter?
I actually a ’06, so 7 years old. Nothing inherently wrong with having an older car. Just using it as an example.
Yeah, I’m convinced something is wrong with the meter. Like I said, even NSP says the usage is way too high, but haven’t bothered to come check yet.
Used less power last summer with a 12000BTU AC on 24/7 than I do now after selling off minifridge, water cooler, swapping lights, consolidating two computers, replaced a old plasma with an LCD, etc.
Even when I unplug everything in the house, turn the water/furnace/blower off, the meter still spins like crazy.
The meter is on the neighbours side, I think something happened, but again; NSP needs to come out here and has been scheduled for 3 months. The meter test is a “first come, first serve” and apparently a lot of others called in for it too.
do you know your neighbours well? could you have them shut everything off while watching the meter?
once you get that power problem solved, I bet you could buy some yuppie mobile!
however I agree the taxes in ns are insane. and paying for too many politicians at both levels, making too much money and spending too much money on themselves and in corporate handouts. if they took the millions given to some out of province company who shut down the plant anyway, and divvied that money up amongst the out of work employees to seed their own businesses/relocate, we’d get far better value for the money. or offer some of that money to existing local business to expand, hire some of the newly laid off, re-train.
I prefer to buy dream-catchers in bulk from Japan or China and sell them for 500% higher at pow wows. All I have to do is remove the “Made in ______” tag and add a “Made with love by Biscuit” tag instead. Works like a charm.
@Good Dog Molly, no i don’t. Funny thing is, their meter spins slower with their stereo blasting every saturday than mine does with everything in the house turned off/unplugged.
Pretty sure that’s part of the issue, some cross wiring, but the landlord says call NSP and NSP says call the landlord.
Evan, if you’re paying $150/mo for car insurance then you either have a very expensive car or a crappy driving record. I pay about that for ALL my ins (car/property/med/dent/life).
call me j edgar, but I think your landlord is in cahoots with your neighbour and one or t’other of them has wired most of their shit onto your metre. I had a despicable landlord who had his water pump on my metre. if so, I don’t think nsp will be able to do anything. that’s inside the house past the demarc. you’re already paying thru the wahoo, how about hiring a tq’d electrician to check it.
if your meter spins with all power off, then its spinning for someone else’s usage.
and bro tim, of course I am crazy as a shithouse rat but that doesn’t alter global warming, which can make your neck of the woods cooler since the increased cloud cover, well, covers up the sun.
and zzz, you have to learn how to cook, you’ll save money. although 1 box of kd, a can of tuna and a cup of milk should only be 3$ if you buy case lot kd and tuna. leaving $2 for an overpriced cup of coffee. a bag of rice will last you a month. cook 3 cups dry at a time, freeze meal size in those little dope baggies. make a nice stir fry with a bit of meat and some cheap veggies, throw in the rice, grate some cheddar on top and douse it with soy sauce and butter. east meets cholesterol, you can do the same with a sack of potatoes.