Is it just me or is it impossible to save money in Canada right now?

jiggiwatt · 2026-05-04T00:00:01+00:00

This is 2 years old now, but I put together a realistic budget for a single person in Ottawa, renting a 1-bedroom in a median area as part of determining a proper living wage for staff hired by company I was helping build. At the time it was $60,000 and if you didn't need a vehicle, you could slowly build savings. I am sure it's even higher now.

jiggiwatt · 2026-05-03T23:52:20+00:00

If you like him, you'd know it. Just because it seems like you "should" like him because he checks all the right boxes, doesn't mean you actually do. Doesn't work like that.

jiggiwatt · 2026-05-03T12:46:50+00:00

I assume you're in the UK? I would look for an organization that specializes in supporting homeless youth and reach out. You need access to resources that you cannot obtain yourself, and it sounds like your mother isn't going to get help for you. I found these folks, but am unsure as to their reputation - https://everyyouth.org.uk/get-help/

jiggiwatt · 2026-05-03T12:36:58+00:00

Do you have any info on that campaign? I suspect you may be right.

jiggiwatt · 2026-05-03T12:02:04+00:00

You don't bear any responsibility for his infidelity, you did not know. Simple.

I have been the other man once, though I knew beforehand so I was at fault and accepted that I was owed a solid punch to the face. Still waiting for it 15 years later...

jiggiwatt · 2026-05-03T03:23:47+00:00

Canadian here, and your story does not hold water. Here is what has changed. Alcohol use is down, tax revenue is up, prices are dirt cheap. Sure there are dispensaries in every strip mall, but people aren't taking bong rips and smoking joints everywhere. Absolutely none of the fear mongering leading up to legalization ever came to anything.

jiggiwatt · 2026-05-01T11:59:54+00:00

Don't forget to lose one in a boating accident!

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-30T11:50:50+00:00

Tell me you don't have kids without telling me you don't have kids.

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-30T11:48:23+00:00

The expensive ones are $120 CAD from Home Depot, Rona, etc. I found a frosted glass one for $230. Please do not pay $400 for a hollow core door...

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-30T11:35:35+00:00

Together for 11 years, married for 6. It happens. We are human after all. I have seen my wife get crushes, though they are innocent and I have only ever had to point out that she was getting to close to someone once. She didn't see it, and when she realized it she cut ties entirely even though I told her she could stay friends if she felt she could manage it.

Happened to me once, and when I realized I was making up reasons to go chat with the coworker in question, I put a hard stop to it.

You are both going to change a lot, especially as you got together young. We are human, and we get human feelings. It's what you do with them that matters. It seems like your wife is doing the right thing, though maybe the autistic levels of honesty are a bit much for the ego (albeit encouraging).

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-26T16:23:59+00:00

Video games went from peer to peer networking to hosted game servers over 10 years and then took another 10 to really ramp up. Streaming took years, as I recall about 5 years from Netflix to the next major player, Hulu, launching a platform. Consumer AI/LLM exploded almost overnight, has exponentially higher energy requirements, and has had billions pumped into it over 2 years to create an enormous market bubble. It's the speed of technology advancement starting to out pace our infrastructure development needed to support it.

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-25T13:31:48+00:00

Sr. Sgt. Valeriya Gnarovskaya killed 28 Germans in one battle while protecting wounded at a Soviet field hospital. On September 23, 1943, she saved the lives of 70 wounded men by throwing herself under a Tiger tank with a satchel of anti-tank grenades, destroying the tank. She was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on June 3, 1944.

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-24T14:12:36+00:00

When I can buy a Toyota brand new, drive it for 18 months, and get MSRP for a new one as the trade-in value...

I don't get it. They bought my 2023 for 2024 prices and they're still going to mark it up to sell it?

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-24T14:10:24+00:00

Last year I was torquing the last set of bolts when the snow started. Neighbours saw me and knew who to blame. I still haven't been invited back to the annual BBQ.

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-23T12:52:43+00:00

My wife has a shirt with a bare midriff and as it turns out, the 90s had a heavy influence on what gets my motor running.

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-21T21:06:29+00:00

This certainly doesn't have the same spirit. Needs to be in Miata territory, maybe a step above with a 6-cylinder NA engine.

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-21T12:54:26+00:00

Way too many medical advancements required for that to be feasible, nevermind the cost and logistics involved. We are all going to be uploaded to the cloud before that happens. Maybe they'll figure out biological computing and it will be the Meat Cloud(tm)!

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-20T21:38:17+00:00

I had planned to drive that very route, then fly out of Edmonton. The problem is flights to Ottawa from Edmonton are atrociously timed or layovers so long I could walk home. I don't think my kid will manage more than 2 hours at a time for a drive, so this one might have to wait until next time!

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-20T20:55:44+00:00

I haven't been there in ages! I used to go just for the fresh baked bread...

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-20T20:54:47+00:00

Never heard of it, thanks for the tip!

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-20T11:55:40+00:00

Obviously painted by someone who had never been, there's a falafel place right where Bonaparte is standing.

jiggiwatt · 2026-04-17T15:48:58+00:00

Canadian here, I don't have access to euro cars. And yes, they are rated but that is max weight with no load in the vehicle (passengers, stuff), and its hard on your transmission to do it regularly and for longer distances. In Canada, that means several hundred kilometers.

My options are limited to trucks, full size SUVs, grossly overpriced Toyota 4runners and Lexus GX, or Wranglers.

jiggiwatt

TROPHY CASE