WilliamStacey

Just waiting on Vetassess before we apply for my 189 visa. The money for the visas and medicals is all sorted but beginning to worry about what money we will need when we arrive. I know we'll need a deposit for renting a house but assuming worst case scenario I can't find work for a couple of months how much will be required to rent, furnish a house and live for a bit before work comes in.

I'll be staying in brisbane and there will be my wife, 7 year old daughter and me. Worrying a bit about it now.

old.sparkles

After visas and medicals and associated costs there's flights and shipping to consider.

When you arrive, you may need to buy furniture and other house hold goods before your container arrives - or all of it if not shipping. Also, will you be buying a car?

Think it took me just over 4 months to get a job - think we went through around $20k from arriving but there's only 2 of us. Flights and shipping must have been around £6k+.

WilliamStacey

We have flights and shipping covered too, bringing very very little over, no furniture so will have to fully furnish the house. We won't be buying a car initially as my dad who is out there now will have a spare car til we are fully settled.

Hope I won't need to wait 4 months (i get bored too easily) but thanks very much for that.

quoll

They reckon you should have a buffer of 6 months salary - so say $40k as a "just in case" plus on top of that you're going to need establishment costs - car, insurances, rent in advance, bonds, school uniforms, basic household stuff, etc (a very conservative $20k - and that's with a banger of a car!). You will find you haemorrhage cash at the start - heck, I'm here on holiday and it's running out at an alarming rate and I don't have major establishment costs! Oops, just seen you need furniture - ouch. Try Freecycle to get you off the ground but IKEA might be your new friend!

goldchoccycoin

Six months living expenses for me (single person) including rent, bills, petrol, groceries etc with limited entertainment (i.e. tight budget with no set-up costs) is $20K. For the three of you I'd aim to bring at least $30K - although if you initially stay with family the rent cost is obviously not relevant so $15K might be sufficient until you start work.

I'd also consider living in a unit (flat) initially rather than a house as they are often cheaper both for rent and utilities and you don't usually pay for water or rates (council tax) as they are included in the rent - you can get a very decent two bed in a good suburb for $300 per week.

Best of luck.

KJCherokee

For furniture, if you just want low cost stuff to see you through the first year or two until you get settled then Super Amart is the place to go. Or if you don't mind used stuff then go to Gumtree

When renting you will need to put up a bond of 4 weeks rent: this is held by a government agency and you get it back when you leave unless the landlord can prove that you left the place in such a state that he needed to spend money to make it rentable again. Make sure you photograph the place both before you move in and before you leave!

rasen78

Get on the local swap, buy and sell pages on Facebook. Often freebies if not cheap furniture on there.

Bermudashorts

Not working for a couple of months is a long way from a worst case scenario. Seems more like an averaging kind of scenario to me. A worst case scenario might be more like six months to a year, there have definitely been people who. need that time to get their first break.

Maybe bringing furniture would be something to look into? It would be much cheaper than furnishing from scratch, you can try indoor camping for the short term like many of us have done before you.

It is pretty hard to estimate on behalf of someone else though, I think this is something you need to do yourself with a spreadsheet. You can look up houses rental prices where you want to live and then estimate your costs as if you were don't the same in UK. Then translating at today's rates would not be too far off the mark (you couldn't have done that a year ago as rates were very different).

WilliamStacey

Where is the best place to check rates day to day? just out of curiosity. My job is quite specialist so could be a help or hindrance but if it came to it i'd do almost anything to get money in the bank and keep a roof over our heads.

I've got a spreadsheet with estimated living costs so i think i'm prepared enough i just have my moments of paranoia

garyp

5 years ago after shipping and flights was payed for I managed with £10500 which worked out about $18000 with the exchange rate at the time. I had a starting date for a job before I left the UK but did nothing for the first 2 weeks but try and sort everything out. We were a family of 4 and I managed to buy a car,food, pay short term rental and pay the bond on a long term rental before my first pay. I take my hat off to those of you who look for jobs when you get there. I think I would have been a nervous reck spending money if there is nothing coming in.