Public mobile is Telus's discount brand. They have service everywhere Telus does. The other major carriers have their own discount branded services. You don't get much (or any) data, but it's a lot cheaper.

Public Mobile is owned by Telus, there shouldn't be the problems you describe. I live in the middle of nowhere with Lucky Mobile. Text and talk with no data is $15/month.

But that's not what is normal amoung my peers. The expenses look reasonable to me, but could be optimized further. Normally, optimizing your expenses that much wouldn't be your part time job, but with the current wage situation, that's where we are at.

I pay $112 for bell fiber internet and $42 for virgin 20gb after taxes. No bundles. Phone is paid for. I live in a small town 45mins from the 401? You can certainly get cheaper internet/phone than $200 a month. Although between the 2 of us, we average more than $100 person/week. We certainly don’t buy the cheapest we can but we budget where we choose.

What an incredibly out of touch comment. Do you live in Canada and do you pay for telecoms? Those are the going rates. Good luck getting an internet and phone plan for less than $200/month.

All my life. Perhaps you haven't looked for savings in these areas?

FYI: Public Mobile (my provider for years) has unlimited calling and text w/ 1gb data and ongoing perks for $25 / month. Even $40 would get you 30GB of data and 5g... not sure why you'd want anyone to spend double that when they are struggling financially.

Internet isn't as easy, but all these companies can offer discounted rates. She needs to get internet that fits her needs (I pay $84 tax in for Bell TV and 1GB fibre to my home). $135 is crazy.

It’s not feasible to switch to small carriers like public mobile because they only have cell coverage in major cities. The moment you leave and go towards suburbs or rural you’re on roaming.

LOL. She lives in a University town, and you're saying she won't get cell service from a company like Telus? Give me a break.

I’d like to see you suggest to someone in real life who’s living in Canada that they should use their bike in the winter to do groceries. The fact is, having a car in Canada (unless you live downtown in a city) is mandatory.

Oh boy. She doesn't have to get groceries in the snow by bike... but if she can offload some of her driving to bike (for any reason), she'll save money.

It also doesn't suggest that she's commuting out of town, so biking in a "small town" should be simple for anyone.

Also I know for a fact you have never done groceries in Canada because $400/month is BELOW average for households. In my house we always buy the basics and we spend around $650 per month. That’s with the cheapest versions of every item and we don’t buy processed foods.

Have for decades... sounds like you need to figure stuff out on your end.

Troll somewhere else.

Amazing how someone can take actual advice based on personal experience, and consider it "trolling".

Learn more about how to be frugal, and perhaps you'd agree with my suggestions. Or continue to overspend.

This woman is obviously struggling, and there are very easy fixes for most of her spending habits.

Good luck getting an internet and phone plan for less than $200/month.

My own bills:

Internet (Beanfield): $40/mo including taxes.

Cell (Freedom): $34/mo per phone, incl taxes.

Beanfield may not be available everywhere, but Teksavvy has similar plans.