Moley_88

Well Pomtastic the reason im asking these questions is because i dont know anybody who has emigrated over to australia or one i know can tell me the cost of living, thats the reason i signed up to this site so i can ask people who have been there and got the t shirt and can tell me based on their experiences how id cope, how am i suppost to know these things? Im not a psychic mate. i earn the equivalent of that over here and its considered a good wage as im only 22 but didnt realise it was such a poor wage over their. Maybe australia isnt for me then but thank you everyone for your comments, you have been very helpful

Sandra

Pomtastic was just giving another point of view - do not take it to heart

You are doing the right thing asking questions and finding out what the possibilities are. Also the more information you have you can consider asking your company the right questions about things like LAFHA and whether they would consider extra support.

I moved over on a company transfer eight years ago and it was to Sydney and working in an expensive area. My wage in the UK was considered decent but they did some jiggery pokery and I seemed to end up with less money because they arranged a salary conversion at 1.8 when at the time the exchange was 2.5.

Because of this site and other information I was able to ask the company to confirm LAFHA and organise further support for the school fees I had to pay (local comps but the NSW 457 fees at $4000 a child). I also went on to ask for relocation costs and received over $20K which helped pay for flights transfer of household goods and a furnished rental for 6 weeks. All this made the transfer much easier.

I will agree with other replies, the money you are talking about is not lots Family assistances will help but after you work out the basics and have a look at the practicality of the change.

I transfered because my husband really wanted to come, I treated the whole thing as an adventure and did not plan on it improving my life in anyway other than experience.

Eight years on I am stuck here with a family who pretty much enjoy it and want to stay, we have a fabulous life which we have all worked dammed hard for. I travel home every year and would move back in a heartbeat. Life is not all about money.

So you need to know what you are looking for (which at the moment) is information but also look at what you want to get out of it and the feelings of your wife.

Enjoy the gathering of information.

Deancm_MKII

Just because you might not want to struggle like that or can't do it doesn't mean it can't be done. There are many families (in Sydney) that struggle to make ends meet on less than $800 a week. To say it can't be done implies that there a no families in Sydney that earn less than $800/wk, which is plainly untrue and they have to live somewhere. So, where do they live?

snurse42

Hi, we moved here in April because of a very similar situation and we love it. However we could never have managed on the wages you are looking at. We live in Melbourne with OH working and me looking after our 2 boys.
We had no prospects in the Uk and were lucky enough that the company paid all our moving costs. If you are still considering coming over on a 457 ensure that you have LAFHA set up with your company before you sign the contract.
Good luck whatever you decide to do.
Sonia x

Moley_88

Well im definately in two minds about it now but i have got a one on one consultation with one of the main blokes from oz so il ask about lafha and where id be likely to be posted. I Definately dont want to go to the over side of the world if it means struggling worse over there than i will do here but ill ask them for some sort of reassurances. Anyway once again thanks guys youv been a great help

pomtastic

Don't get sidetracked or disheartened by what I or others say - just go for it! There are postives and negatives, if you are resourceful and work hard then you'll find a way. You are very young and have a lifetime of change ahead of you, so plenty of time to change course if need be.

If you have an itch - then scratch it!!!!

All I can say is that if you don't try it then it will be a niggling 'what if' in your life forever - you can always go home if it doesn't work out as expected and nothing's lost. Don't forget, once you get here, you may decide that perhaps your chosen career path might not be the most lucrative and you may have an opportunity to change, like many folk do. I've lost count of the people who have excellent skills in various jobs who have given it all up to work in the mines here in Perth for $150K+.

pomtastic

I'd say they would be in shared accommodation, living with parents/relatives or 2 incomes. Of course, it can be done but unfortunately stuff like unexpected bills and other costs will come and mount up over time. FYI, I've had to have 3 unexpected medical scans in the last 2 weeks, personal cost with medicare rebate was circa $300. If one of our cars needs repairing or breaks down then we'll be looking at a $1000 - 2000 bill, not fun when you're earning $800 a week and with little room to save.

It's like going camping, great for a couple of weeks but not something I'd aspire to for longer than that.

pomtastic

And there you have it - a recent wet behind the ears migrant who agrees with my views.

Bermudashorts

Well the conversation about LAFHA definitely needs to happen, but you should take the rest with a pinch of salt. It is possible that you will get a biased point of view in order to persuade you. Earlier on you mentioned that people had told you that you would have a "better lifestyle" and be able to offer your son a "better life" but I did wonder if the people that had said that to you had tried to bring up a family on $700 a week.

In a nutshell, only you can really decide if you can manage on this income, I think you can reasonably expect to spend at least half of that on rent, so could you live on a few hundred dollars a week? Well could you live on a couple of hundred quid a week in the UK - if yes then perhaps such an Australian salary is not a huge issue to you. (Before I am shot down in flames and bombarded with statistics, this is obviously just a crude assessment of general standard of living expectations).

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Having just been faced with a bill of just under two grand for a new set of tyres I can wholeheartedly agree with that line !

I did manage to find some cheaper tyres, but even then, the tyres added to the service of the car as well, came in at a eyewatering $1679

brissyb

We came here with just about $ 8000 in our pocket, after our house sold in the uk, we did expect to have more but the local coucil ripped us off, when we sold our ( right to buy house ), we were devasted, but my sis who already lived here offered to put us up for a few weeks until we found our feet, hubby found a job about 3 weeks after we got here, sparky, he then enrolled onto the sparky course he needed , money out of our pot already, we then found a rental for $340 per week, brought all the furniture we needed, lot less than we had in the uk good area, very small house, for 4 of us, he got around $800 in his pocket after tax, we shopped at aldi, and our shopping came to around $140 per week, not special meals, but loads of meals containing sausages or poataoes lol, yes a struggle , but we did have weekends out to the free parks, cheap local swimming pools, and the weather was great to be able to take the kids on many of the lovely parks, and cycle tracks,... we were told , which was the best piece of advise from my sis before we came, to expect at first to start all over again as you did when you were younger, and boy did we do that, after my hubby finished his course, aroung 6 months later, his wages went up, we moved to another house, i found a job, stacking shelfs at the local supermarket and things improved fastly, we did also recieve fam assistant payments too, which helped, for the first year we didnt have medical insurance, couldnt afford it, had a car that cost us just over $ 3000, but we coped, and still enjoyed aus for what it is, things have changed vastly from then, i now work full time, have a home with a pool, hubby has a great job that takes him all over australia, and his wages have tripled and have a new car....so depends on how we all cope and how our circumstances change when we are here

Moley_88

Its really nice to hear that, having the money is a great help but if you are determined enough the skys the limit aint it. And as for the new tyres OUCH!!!!!! lol

brissyb

Thats right, we didnt go through all the visa stress to get here and let things and cirrcumstances take us back, in our case any way we turned we've have to start over again, we just kept in our minds on why we came here: for the weather, the kids and the beautiful coast, it is hard, We do Know that for sure, but patience has paid off for us, we did get home sick, but so glad we stuck it out, and are now enjoying, (but did from the start) all this beautiful country has to offer