jad n rich

Are you still in UK? can you do an update when you get back, cheers

JayDeee

Yep I am I still have another 3 weeks, I'l do an update when I get back for sure.

So far all I have done really is shop and eat curry, it is soooo cheap here and the supermarkets are HUGE. I wont nick this thread and will do my own when in the next couple of days letting you know what I think of the place after a year away, but I will say I am calling Oz, even Geraldton would you believe it home.

Kala

Sandra

I agree with everything

couple of minor points only - This this assuming one car and public transport for 1 person for work. Wemanaged for two years like this but with teenagers found we needed 2nd transport means hubby has bike now.

Phone $45 - one mobile already bought ? these are the call charges a month?
Again teenagers we have four mobiles on plan - $140 per month.

Where are the kids expenses? School gets more expensive - school lunches/excursions/book list

I also think the clothing is low, two mens decent business suits, shirts and 1 nice outfit including shoes for the lady a year you only have enough left to cloth the kids. So if you like clothes shopping (and Melbourne has very nice shopping) you might need to up this. Again sodding teenagers and our expenses for jeans trainers and the cool tshirts (opps nope that is hubby with all his quicksilver and billabong)

You are not going to have a pool in your nice house - pool maintenance can cost a little bit

As I said only minor points

cheers

phoenixinoz

Looks like a good summary of costs however what about annual dentist check-ups and do you also plan on having any pets as these would need vet fees too.

The other thing is if you pay rent [as opposed to mortgage]then normally land rates are coverd within the rent. The same applies to water rates i.e. there is usually a water consumption allowance within the rent and only anything over the allowance is paid for by yourself.

The other thing to bear in mind is that a rental of $400 per week is likely to cost you more if you were to buy the same quality house in the same area i.e generally it is more expensive to buy than rent in Aus [unlike UK where it is generally cheaper to buy than rent]. In other words the minute you buy as opposed to rent you are more than likely to pay more each week in mortgage payments for the same quality house in the same area. Not sure if it's the same Aus wide, but this is what we have found to be the case.

Vanessa

I think the problem with this type of question and putting down your budget is that everyone has a their own standard of living and can therefore survive on a different salary. Only you know what you can live on and what is important to you. Could you live on the equivalent in the UK? I think that if the answer to that is no then it is probable that you couldn't live on it here or more importantly want to.

I think when you are younger you are more willing to make sacrifices in your standard of living but as you get older and more comfortable you are less willing to do this. Most of us 'older' ones have been through the scrimping and scrapping stage and I for one certainly wouldn't want to go back to that again.

It is difficult enough leaving friends, family, your home and everything that is familiar to you without the added burden of feeling that you are just getting by in a new country. This exacerbates the feelings of 'what have we done' and the doubts start. As I said only you know what type of lifestyle you live and what makes you happy or sad for that matter.

Sandra

Vanessa I totally agree with your statements, as some of the 'older' ones when we came over 37 ish. We understood we needed to start over in some areas and it would take time. Two years living here on much less than we were used to in the UK, while we established ourselves in terms of employment and housing we started to get back to a more comfortable balance. It did give me an unsettled feeling and the 'what have I done' factor was huge for me, especially where it concerned the children not doing or having what they had before the move.

The change and adventure was our pull to Aus not the bigger better car and house or getting away. We have enjoyed for the most part the getting out of our old rut and creating a new one here It is just nice to reline our rut with some comforts

Cheers

brisnick

i would agree with most of that, except i think your personal spending is a bit low. i budget myself $300 per fortnight, and i've always spent at least that, so that's around $8000/yr

stevereed

A point to make

We are renting, and the rates, house insurance etc costs are usually included within the rental package, contents insurance will be your own expense though.

So you could take a fair bit out for that.

Before we came I did the spreadsheet budget bit, and we NEVER achieve the weekly budget.

depending on where you live $400 should get you a mansion, we pay $170 pw for a 3 bed house on a 40 acre farm, it's not luxury but it's pretty good, we were lucky however. $250-300 is more realistic.

To earn over $100000 p.a you've gotta be going some unless you are highly skilled, particularly out of the metro areas.

webgum

We've found it hard since we arrived. Or should I say, different. Its been our first experience of only one of us working, although Ed is earning more that he did in the UK. We find we are down to the few dollars at the end of every month - and can't work out why, because we don't have the children in paid childcare here. I do a spreadsheet etc to work out if we are throwing it away, which we're not. I suspect it's more to do with the one salary, rather than a new country and us slowly adjusting.

I think the 'start up' costs have been more than we anticipated, and although we did bring a 20ft container's worth, we still are needing to buy stuff every month to make the home "our home".

It will come right in the end, especially when I can work (I have to take exams to transfer my qualifications here). I could get a job, I know, but I am really enjoying being at home with the kids - its made me feel very settled, very quickly. No complaints at all - I'm loving it. Just wouldn't mind going out to buy some new clothes for the impending summer!!

Utilities are more expensive here (less competition?); fuel is, of course, cheaper; food is more expensive in some areas, cheaper in others; eating out is cheaper, wine is cheaper (this requires some shopping around to find a good drop at a good price - I struggled at first and found myself spending far more than I would in the UK).

Its swings and roundabouts, really, isn't it?!

The costings I worked out in the UK have been fairly accurate. Maybe fuel is a bit more (due the recent price hikes), lecky has been a bit of an eyewaterer (to do with having a pool and reverse cycle aircon), but most other things have been on my mark.

Good luck!

eintracht

You guys are seriously beginning to worry me now. I'm starting to think I've got my calculations completely wrong and I'm starting to think about whether we should be going now.
We are quite lucky as we've managed to pay our mortgage off over here so have a solid base to start in Aus. However, I was hoping to buy a 2nd property over there and rent it out and I would live off the income from that.
The wife is planning on getting a job, but rather than the sweatshop she works in now was looking for a change of career to do something she wants to do. We were hoping to live off $45k - $15k from rental income and $30k from the wifes salary but I'm starting to think I'm going to be back in the depressive atmosphere of office work which is cancelling out one of the main reasons for going.
As you can see its 5:30 in the morning here, so I'm not managing to sleep to well with all this going round in my mind !!!!

ELLJAY

Yeah - worryin me too! I'm up also at this unearthly hour!!!

But sometimes i think you can analyse things a bit too much - and then you'd never do anything! I recall all the charts for how much it costs to have a child! If you followed them and waited till you could "afford" children - then you'd never have them ! (we've got 3)! So i'm going for the change and excitement and experience. Not the bigger house, car etc.

Call me naive but "u only live once"!

eintracht

Don't get me wrong, we are going to get away from the Rat Race and all this I've got a better car than you sh*t too. But we also want to live a less stressful life and part of that for me is to give up office work with all the politics and back stabbing etc.
I just want to get up each morning and sit in the sun in the back garden and read a book or something....is that too much to ask !!!!!

ELLJAY

Yeah - i know what you mean. No i don't think that's too much to ask.
Gotta go - get ready for work Urgghhhh.

I'll be knackered come 2pm!

Can't make a habit of these 4am wake-ups!

Still...it's handy cos you can MSM people in Oz

diddy

At the end of the day you'll live within your means. The more you earn the more you spend and vice versa.

Come here and give it a go. You''l make the finances work. Everyone else does.

ELLJAY

Thanks for that.

We certainly will

I don't want much in life really.

Just for the kids to have doors on their bedrooms would be nice! :scared:

l-j x