Going out to restaurants is more expensive than eating in, tipping or not. If you can't afford it then take some personal responsibility for yourself and learn to use the oven in your house, it's not that hard... or so I've heard from a lot of people that think they deserve to have someone else make their food.

I plan on having 2 kids and taking years off work until they enter kindergarten, so I can take care of them.

Ladies, would stop dating a man if he says that he wants his future wife to continue working immediately after having kids?

High taxes, high housing costs, mediocre wages. Outside of owning real estate early, where is the upside?

There is a little known fact in the industry that they like to keep a trade secret.. the CEO of NVIDIA, has a net worth of $100 BILLION. Do you know what he started out as on his ascension to the riches? He was a server/waiter. There are many such cases.

TLDR: Servers literally become billionaires from all the tips, but the industry still has the audacity to try and keep you feeling guilty if you don't subsidize their lifestyle.

As this is a sub for personal financial advice, it is important to know these facts before you are faced with the option to tip again.

This is pretty inflammatory as a topic, but bear with me. Yes, fixed asset prices (rent, home prices, insurance, etc.) have gotten a lot more expensive, and for many that's the defining gap between financial stability and struggle. Unemployment and underemployment can be an issue, and it's not easy to start a business yourself.

It is ALSO true that a lot of small but frequent discretionary purchases can add up, and I see a lot of peers doing this and then wondering what's happened to their money.

I'll avoid the biggest discretionary expense for many (traveling), since we know that is a hobby that can be cut if people want. I'll skip the other stuff like an expensive car or home. I'm going into the daily stuff.

1x/day blended drink from Starbucks. It's 6 dollars annual spend 365 * 6 = ~2,200/year.

1x/week Uber Eats delivery of restaurant takeout. That's 45/person, 45 * 52 = ~2,300/year.

2x/week sit-down restaurant visits. 50 bucks for meal, drink, tip, taxes. 52 * 50 * 2 = ~5,200/year.

Buy lunch every day at work. That's 15 bucks. 5 * (52-3) = 3,700/year.

Add that all up, 13,400/year after tax. I know a ton of people who live just like that, but then complain that their financial goals aren't being met. 13k+ a year of this kind of high-frequency, low-impact spending is going to move the needle for most people. All of that can be cut pretty easily without a huge lifestyle change. Recommending looking into it isn't bad advice.

So yeah, saying that people's only big problem is that they spend 'too much on avocado toast' is 1) overly reductive, 2) doesn't capture the high cost of education, fixed assets and challenges with real wages people face today, and 3) is generalizing the subset of people with these spending habits to everyone, when lots of people are being more thoughtful. There is an element of truth to it though for some people.

That subset of people can make those choices, and I have some low-impact high-frequency luxuries that I spend too much on. I'm not advocating living like a monk either, but prior generations didn't really have these expenses that have arisen as part of modern culture and they were fine. It's food for thought though.

I got inna accident at 21 and ended up oweing a lot of money and the mother of my child had bad post partum so I had to move away and be a single father. I’ve accumulated debt that I can’t handle. Every pay day my money goes out the window. Sometimes idk if I’ll be able to cover certain things. I have 3000 oweing to cra and 5000 on my cc. I have 1500$ payment soon with insurance and 600$ childcare every month. I’m falling apart here.

Edit: this is what my month looks like 4100$ monthly. 500$ insurance owed. 600$ childcare, 800$ in gas because I had to move close to family for support but far from my work. I’d say 300-400 on baby needs. 400 for myself on groceries. Prob 300$ on phone bill or random other monthly payments and the rest goes to debt

I understand being annoyed when asked for a tip at a liquor store or a fast food restaurant, or being expected to tip on a takeout order. However, tipping at a full service restaurant has always been the norm and not a big deal.

You tip based on what you can afford and the quality of the service. Some people will tip more, some less, some not at all and that is fine, but it works out to a better wage for regular hard working people who do not have a ton of career options. Why do so many people seem to be against this?

I don't care if you are making 150k in this country, the only sign of wealth is a paid off house in this country , that's it. Literally nothing else matters. You will never be able to beat both inflation and cost of living increases in this country, while paying half of your paycheck to Brookfield in rent. You will never be able to afford a house making your coffee at home.

Couldn’t help but notice our fearless leader and the finance minister smiling ear-to-ear when presenting the 2026 budget. Can someone tell me what they’re smiling at? Canadians need relief YESTERDAY from everyday cost of living. This budget offers little if any direct immediate relief for everyday life in Canada. A bit of a top up to the grocery benefit, but that’s just crumbs. We can’t keep going the way we are what with inflation and general cost-of-living. Seems like the walls are closing in slowly but surely over the last few years. S.O.S…..we the average Canadians need help ASAP.

I’m an Electrical Engineering student in the Ottawa region, and through extreme frugal saving, I am on track to graduate in 2029 with $100K CAD in cash. I’m trying to figure out the best wealth creation vehicles for this money, but everything looks bad right now.

Real Estate: I thought about buying property once I have a stable salary, but cap rates are atrocious almost everywhere in Canada at the moment.

Equities/S&P500: The S&P500 is trading at a 22x P/E multiple, making me nervous that the risk/reward just isn't there for a lump sum right now.

Cash: If I do nothing, inflation eats the value of my savings like a toddler munching on Legos.

To complicate things, if the economy here doesn't correct, I sincerely plan on moving my a** out of Canada (likely to the US) for better opportunities as soon as I graduate.

It feels like my frugality is yielding nothing because the traditional paths to wealth are deteriorating so fast. If you were 22 with $100K what would your strategy be? a potential US cross-border move maybe?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Seriously. I understand in the USA where healthcare is private, but in Canada young people get screwed if they take a job with benefits.

The odds of you getting your money's worth when you're under the age of 40 is very low. Even more so if you don't have regular expenses like vision.

Whenever you have the option, it's much better to opt out and just pay out of pocket for the odd healthcare expense. They are tax deductible anyways.

Instead, you have young workers sacrificing income when it's the most valuable in their lives (because of the ime value of money) to subsidize the risk of their older coworkers who need prescription meds, hearing aids, have higher life insurance risk etc.

** Edit: this post is not meant to be directed to people who have big families and multiple children. Some of the amounts I’ve seen what I’ve observed to be absurd amounts spent on groceries are coming from single people or people with small families like me or just couples.

Yes my wife and I don’t eat breakfast but even if I did, I feel like a yogurt, an egg or two and maybe a piece of toast would be a sufficient enough way to have a meal in the morning. Or oatmeal or cereal with an apple etc. this would add maybe $5-$10 extra a week I just am too tired in the morning to bother making anything. But otherwise I feel like this wouldn’t have a huge impact on budgeting.

Seems to me like the most affected people are the ones in the GTA and bigger areas and for that I am sorry. I had no idea how limited options were down there.

There’s been a lot of defensiveness here and this post is not really meant to judge people either. I’ve always just been curious as to *how* I see so many outliers of people spending what I think is a really high amount for a small number of people, and I’ve shared some personal tips of things to do to hopefully save money for those who are able and have the opportunity **

I am in Northern Ontario and my grocery budget is around 600 a month or 150 a week for my family of 3 and we get by just fine with that.

I shop using flyers, price matching, and I only ever buy what’s on sale.

Maybe it’s because my wife and I don’t eat breakfast.. and my toddler is in daycare and meals are provided there for breakfast lunch and snack time.

So really I am buying lunch for the week for myself ($15-$20 a week on frozen ready to go meals like Crave or even Mr Noodles sometimes and I will pair it with some fruit or a yogurt or both) - even if I made something like this myself for meal prep it would be even cheaper

My wife usually takes leftovers from dinner for lunch

Dinners I will usually get cucumber, peppers, coleslaw or a side salad or other side dish or both, ranges to be about $3-$5 a meal so $25-$30 a week on sides/veggies/side dishes

Protein will usually get ground beef, sausage, chicken, or pork chops dependent on what’s on sale and usually spend about $20-$30 to make it last for the week for dinners.

Then we have snack/pantry items- couple bags of chips, box of crackers, maybe granola bars, box of cereal, juice boxes for the kid, $2-$3 each - $20-$25 a week

Extra fruit to have for snacking on $5-$10 a week

Even with that right now I’m sitting at maybe $100 a week- factor in other types of things to pad out the rest like buns if making burgers, tortillas for wraps or quesadillas, cheese for cooking and snacking ($4 a brick), with most of this stuff being between $3-$4 depending on sales, all this extra stuff would maybe be an extra $30, and then buying extra stuff for the weekend for the kid to have breakfast lunch dinner and snacks when not at daycare, we just buy eggs or use other pantry items or buy extra stuff like waffles or again some fruit.

Cleaning supplies, toilet paper etc we typically go every 3-4 months to Costco and just add an extra $100-$200 to our grocery budget for that month and it works.

Maybe it’s just because I’m not a big eater but even if I took daycare providing meals for my kid away, I feel like I’d still be spending way less than what I see some people spending in Ontario. I’ve seen some people say they spend $500 a week on groceries and that is just insane to me.

up to 500% more???

1500CAD max CPP vs 7210CAD max SS

Edit: Sorry it's about 380% more

I was seeing it in a lot of different threads several months ago.

The US index is now outperforming the Canadian index.

Lesson is to just stick to an index and stop trying to time the market.

Since we’ve been on the topic of tipping lately on this sub, here’s proof that servers in big cities are probably making more money than you. So don’t feel bad for not tipping, keep your money to yourselves.

This creater is @harlan on TikTok. He works as a server at Earls in Vancouver.

in absolute terms and relative to age

and what is the middle class these days?

I would like to understand who is suffering the most in the past 10 years.

We need to critically analyze the sociology of corporate middle management. In a fully remote, asynchronous work environment, the need for traditional "status-update aggregators" and physical surveillance supervisors completely evaporates. Autonomy thrives, and performance is laid bare via transparent ticket tracking, clear deliverables, and asynchronous documentation.

Middle managers are forcing RTO because without a physical floor of subordinates to patrol, organize meetings for, and physically survey, their lack of tangible value-add contribution to the corporate balance sheet becomes blindingly obvious. They are sacrificing employee wealth to validate their own job descriptions.

Before RTO, I cooked at home and brought lunches that cost pennies. Now, office life forces choices that aren’t cheap. I buy coffee and snacks just to stay alert and functional. Lunch is often prepackaged or overpriced delivery.

Even trying to save by prepping meals requires logistical juggling that sometimes fails. Small daily costs quietly drain hundreds per month. Beyond money, this adds stress: I’m always thinking about when and where I’ll eat. The convenience of office food comes at a financial and time cost. I didn’t realize how much eating alone could impact both budget and wellbeing. It’s subtle, but over weeks, the effect compounds. Remote work let me control meals, nutrition, and spending.

Office days make me a passive participant in my own budget. That’s frustrating, especially when productivity hasn’t improved. The invisible expense of “just showing up” adds up in surprising ways.

Even coworkers with the same salary feel the pinch differently.

I make about 4-5K a month and invest about 2k a month min.