“I’m just paying the interest”: How much a family medicine resident makes, and how she spends it
Who: Julie Caron, 31
What she does: A family medicine resident at The Scarborough Hospital. After she completes her residency, she plans to work in Nunavut. (“You can make mad cash up there.”)
What she makes: She nets around $4,000 monthly, plus occasional extra money from call shifts she picks up at the hospital.
Some of how she spends it: Her share of rent on the two-bedroom apartment she shares with her partner, near Yonge and Eglinton: $830 monthly. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario license renewal: $319 annually. (“We have so many licensing expenses and renewals.”) Interest on a $56,000 OSAP loan: $400 monthly. Interest on $275,000 in other personal debt, mostly related to schooling: $600 monthly. (“I’m just paying the interest.”) Cleaning service: $50, occasionally. (“We have four cats...so sometimes it gets overwhelming.”) Cellphone: $90 monthly. Donation to the Canadian World Education Foundation for a child in Tanzania: $1,500 annually. Gas for her Hyundai Elantra: $100 monthly. Cat food: $300 monthly. (“Our cats have to eat this, like, special vet diet...We spend more on cat food than we do on groceries.”) Groceries: about $250 monthly. Charitable donations to an animal protection organization: $15.22 monthly. (“They showed me a picture of all these cute little animals, and I’m like, ‘Ugh, fine.’")
Some of what she bought in one week: Postal expenses: $25. (“I did some stupid Facebook, like, ‘Mail a book to two random addresses and they mail you a book back.’") Granite Brewery, dinner and tip: $15. Bottled water from a hot dog vendor: $1. Books at Indigo: $34.57. (“I buy too many books, probably.”) Beyonce’s Lemonade on iTunes: $17.99. Parking for a global health talk in Markham: $16. Three tickets to a play: $75. (“It was put on by a Jamaican mono dramatist and dub poet.”)
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