Immigrants are strongly advised to keep a budget. Everyone will have a unique budget depending on their needs, tastes and size of their family. An example of one monthly budget for a family of four  (in Canadian Dollars) could be as follows:

Budget Item	Amount ($)
Life insurance for two adults	70
Rent	1200
Clothing	100
Cable TV	30
Telephone	60
Cell phone	25
Food	700
Gasoline	160
Other public transport	100
After school care for children / daycare (kids under 12 years)	200
Savings for post-secondary studies	100
Haircut	30
Total	2775

Also remember that there are other costs such as:

• vehicle licenses
• driver training

Immigrants also have to save for:

• times of possible unemployment (there is Employment Insurance which pays the unemployed a certain wage every week - but this is about 50 - 60% of a persons wage), and
• holidays (if you get paid per hour / if you work on a contract basis).