Ain’t nothing going on but the rent

  

 Do you rent your home? I did. For 10 years, and have resided at 10 DIFFERENT addresses during that time.  

And you know what?  Every dime was worth it. You will hear ‘naysayers’- you know – the ones with an astounding sense of entitlement – tell you that rent is a waste of money. Putting a roof over your head is not a waste of money, friends. Having a place to call your home – a place of peace and satisfaction is essential to human wellness.

Financial columns once boasted advice with implicit haughtiness, wrote to the so called ‘wealthy middle class’; palatable only to those with a long career history, padded retirement savings and from a long list of familial property owners. More currently, we hear cries re: ‘the Middle Class Crunch” and why ‘You might never own a home’. There are people paying $2500 in rent – shocked that they cannot afford to own a home. Well of course they can’t! How much money would the ‘average’ citizen have left over each month after dishing out that kind of cash?  (for more on what the average citizen earns see ‘The Canadian All Wealth test ‘ link) 

Let’s talk about us. ‘Average’ Torontonians, gta citizens, Peel people, Markham men, York folk etc. Let’s talk about how much we have left after employment related taxes, car insurance, life insurance, property insurance, transportation (gas, car payments, car maintenance, parking , parking tickets, license renewals, drive clean testing), Heat, Light, Water, Cell phone, Home phone, internet, cable, childcare, school fees (pizza day, samosa day, trips, magician day, sell chocolate day – buy a raffle ticket day..the list goes on), and oh yes…that other thing….FOOD!

Did I mention student loans, miscellaneous loan (s), visa bills, department store card bills, retail tax, interest on funds due, and for those with mortgages; mortgage, mortgage interest (I count this as a separate bill because it is not eligible for tax credit in Ontario ) property tax and of course – rent, for those applicable.  

Please – if I have forgotten something – enlighten me.  

What’s that you say… I forgot savings? I’m sorry I’m not familiar with the term.  

And will somebody tell whoever is buying houses in Toronto that the joke is over? We get it .Ha Ha. You have more credit than we do. Fabulous. Well now that you have set the standard by buying out every overpriced square inch of dust left,  everything is going UP except our salaries.  I beg your pardon? Go back to school –spend all the money I’m going to make over the next 4 years, and get the same pay I have now?  Maybe we can talk about it after I find enough money to scrounge up for January’s (yes that is this past month) newly increased $1180.00 rent payment.  

Because as Jack Black said, ‘The Legend of the rent is way hardcore”.