Inflation and Cost of Living in Vancouver

Still working on getting that downpayment.

Have looked into childcare in more depth... This scares the bejesus out of me.

I thought, with savings, I could afford a nanny, which would allow me to continue the irregular job hours that I have now. But... with doing it above the table, and accounting for travel time to and from work? That's ten hours a day of nanny I need. One nanny would be four working days of work... But then I would also need a second nanny for that last day, including vacation/insurance/benefits etc for THAT nanny, and I'm done.

I don't have the financial base to be realistically thinking this can happen with this job.

Even if I lucked into a public daycare space, that's still $1300 now, and likely $1500 or more in a few years with the average 4% inflation each year.

So.

Do I think about taking another job, somewhere with a lower cost of living? That most likely would be a pay cut due to the loss of seniority inherent in moving location. A more rural location would increase the difficulty of finding childcare that can work around shift work and such that would also be built in to a new locale. I would have more access to wilderness to expose the children to though, and a more relaxed lifestyle with fewer opportunities to spend money I won't have. It may be seven years though, before I get another steady, defined hour set job. I would be in my late thirties. That's a negative.

Yes, I could just dive into it all, and hope for the best. But.... I'm a realist. I don't want to put myself and my family in a position of me not being able to feed or cloth my children. Having a mortgage will increase my housing costs for the next ten years... That's a fact. I could not buy, but then there is that whole aspect of uncertainty I would HATE hate hate in fearing being kicked out for having multiple pets and a child, or not being able to afford the rental increase.

<Side note:> One of the reasons I'm so set on buying is simply looking at inflation for rent prices, here in Vancouver. It's not like salaries are going up, but in ten years, rent will anywhere from 30% to 40% more than it is now (assume 2.5-3.5% inflation allowed, as per the last five years). That would make a two bedroom minimum $1600 (instead of today's $1200), not including utilities. That would be a huge chunk of cash for not-a-mortgage, leaving very little for food and necessities, let alone childcare.

Ten years from now, what costs will be like, assuming minimum wage and average increase in public care:
         Nanny                                                                              
So.... $2000 Childcare (nanny #1)
          $740  Childcare (nanny #2)
         $1600 Rent
         $ 400  Food
         $ 100  Electric and Phone
         $ 100  Internet
_________________________________
         $4200 MINIMUM after tax income

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....
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That would mean I would have to be earning a MINIMUM of $40/hour.

This is so disheartening. No wonder some moms just choose to be on social assistance until their children are old enough for school.... One can't afford to work, or do anything other than just scrape by until the daycare isn't needed.