ABCDiamond

I agree 100%, and the size of house, how many daughters having long showers, how long the pool pump and heaters are running etc.

I know that my own Electric bills are twice that of others in my area.

Officer Dibble

Perhaps you should get off the computer and start looking at ways to lessen the carbon footprint of yourself and your frowsy daughters.

coolshadows

coolshadows

I wonder if our UK (electric) power shower was more energy efficient than the rheem one we use here.

I know it used less water (we didn't have to wait for it to heat up!).

pomtastic

And yet SA will give you Govt grants to help you get on the housing ladder if you earn $66K and less and have 2 kids. Even SA thinks $66K is a low wage!!

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=674187

BadgeIsBack

53k is certainly not 30GBP is my main point.

I knew secretaries that got 53k in Sydney. That was in 2002. Someone in their second job might get that - grads would probably get it too.

Alfresco

We're in Fetcham, Surrey, just outside of leatherdead.

Pollyana

Its gone up since you left. So has tuna

jad n rich

In the spirit of hysterical ramblings I should add the govt said families under $100,000 a year were low income. Frankly I would say $200,000


BTW I just love the word 'Frowsy'

DeadVim

$200,000? Can you run a Prado/Landcruiser AND an air-conditioned McMansion on that these days?

jad n rich

The classic dream of the new arrival from Brum or Bognor

Seneca21

Yes, it is cheaper than it was, but still not cheaper relatively. This is because Labour crashed the currency. I did try to explain this upthread with some patience but as usual just got abuse for it.

For those people struggling to understand this, I will put it one more time. When a government crashes a currency by a third and you happen to live outside that jurisdiction, everything within it suddenly looks really cheap. Now, this is not magic, but currency devaluation, and it is a clumsy and dangerous economic tool, usually used by Labour governments that have bankrupted a nation. It is not a good thing, because it could lead to a deflationary debt spiral, and then nasty people called bond traders will no longer invest in the nation, the economy will collapse like in Greece, and there will be very high unemployment for a very long time.

bcworld

What you don't seem to understand is that many people are NOT using the exchange rate as a basis for comparison - this discussion has been had MANY times before, and the merits or not of considering the exchange rate have also been discussed ad nauseum. Thanks for your explanation though, seems more to serve the political axe you have to grind (in this thread & others) than any discussion on the COL in Australia vs UK.

Seneca21

I know all the debates very well thank you. Wage/COL usually shows nothing different. The one area where I would agree is probably the tradesmen who in the UK earned preposterous sums of money that are not replicated here in Aus, and they would certainly notice a decline in SOL. But that is more to do with the criminal prices they go away with in the UK than any deficiency in Australia. I'll add that those days are over though, in the UK, because the economy's one way trip down the pan will not sustain the kind of prices they charged before the crash.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

How do you know these debates "very well". You have only been here 5min.