george toni

Seems to be a few this is crap that is crap points flying around here so in with my views.

We have been here five years now. When we first came with our UK pounds we couldnt help but be impressed with how cheap it all seemed.How wrong were we!

after the initial settling in period we soon woke up to the true cost of things here.

That really kicks in when you earn a kiwi wage and have to pay kiwi prices using just that and not your pommy pounds!

so were to start.

well food shopping here is not cheap with prices being kept high down to lack of real competition, our weekly shop for a family of six is about $300-$350 and includes feeding the kids ,dogs,pack lunch for school and sundries.

That isnt alot and it would be very easy to spend another $200 a week on top of that.I would say if you are a ready meal luxury liking type then that extra would go in a jiffy!

Car running cost. Well I drive a triton ute petrol 2.6 and to fill it costs about $100 that lasts me about a week, bear in mind its used for work.The family mazda 626 costs about $60 to fill and that lasts us a couple of weeks doing shop run kids to school etc.

House running costs are dominated by the electric bill.We have four heat pumps in a five bedroom house,all our hot water is on an emersion system (you know the type you only use in an emergency in the uk!) and thats common in id say 80% of all houses here,we have four daughters who have on average 20 showers a week (what can I say they are bloody girls!) our cooker is electric,we use energy saver lightbulbs. Our monthly electric bill is between $300 in summer $400 in the winter.This will change as we will get solar, and instant hot water in kitchen,bathroom in order to loose the water cylinder. They turn off your hot water cylinder at night using a thing called a ripple meter this then lets the water cool down so that when they turn it back on its cold again and you have to pay to re heat it! I kid you not!

We used to use our woodburner but the price of wood is stupid and we were getting through more than $80 a week just for that as the 'new' clean burn fires dont let you keep it going all night and burn through it real quick!

Doctors.Well despite the moans from some on here I think the system here is great.Sure it costs me $40 to visit him but I call get an appointment asap.the waiting room is plesant and is not filled with tossers waiting to see a doctor for a splinter or a sore throat. It is subsidised for those in need.The children cost $20.The difference with it here is that as you are paying you get a really good appointment and not a GP stressed out and overloaded.A full 15 mins more if needs be. So I reckon its a good way to go.

Dentists are another story and cost a packet here as they do Iif you can get one) back in the uk.Braces for the kids well forget that as its totaly not funded so my girls will have to put up with crooked teeth or pay themselves later at $10k a pop!

Ambulances can cost you if you call them out about $75 I think.But this is not charged if its a genuine emergency as ACC will cover it so again its not like you cant call one if you need it and again stops the tossers calling for a sore knee.

TV .well we have sky+ here and although not as many channels here I reckon there is heaps on,if you are a tv addict then you might be dissapointed but if you come home and watch just the normal amount with sky + and the ability to record id say plenty to offer.we pay $50 a month for all the channels.

Telephone is about $100 a month for the family phone and broadband plan all up.

Holidays abroad yeah right! they havnt happend as we thought they would but thats because ther are six of us so the cost to get to aussie is a bit much at the moment.Again might seem cheap on the ponds but not the dollars. Having said that we are blessed in Dunedin as most are all over NZ with plenty to do here.We live 10 mins from the beach 20 mins from a great river and the list goes on!

all in all we find living here more expensive than we did on the uk and we dont live rich!

having said that we really would not move back to the UK for all the tea n biscuits.

NZ does have its flaws sure and it can be a real struggle.I really dont know how families do it on a basic wage with kids here,they do somehow by being cold and damp and eating chips from the take a way most nights.

Crime here atleast in Dunedin isnt a patch on the uk.its here with murder,muggings and all the resy but cut right down.I cant remember the last time I heard a police car siren where as in london it was every 10 mins!

Entertainment such as the cinema isnt to bad for a couple and a family pass is about $40 2+2 cheaper at times.

I think thats enough for now as I think of more I will post it.

needless to say this isnt the place to move for material living or if you are a things person, its a great place to raise the kids (despite the doom and gloom child abuse stories which are mainly all in one region)

sure we have our bad points but compard to the 60 million plus in the uk the 4 million here make it spacious,easy going and freindly again Dunedin based im sure those in other areas would dissagree.

cheers

george

MnB

Ta for this post George......shame OH not a sparkie otherwise would be replying to your other thread good luck with plans
B x

Mudplug

Food for thought I think, the cost of living reading your post is about what we pay here, but paying for all that on a kiwi wage........hmm.........not sure. Thanks tho

mickey_d

You can't get ALL the channels for $50 a month. We have Std. package + Movies (no Sport) & that is $70. We don't have Sky+ either, which adds another $15 for the privilege.

george toni

sorry mickey-d made an error there cheers for that.

basic pack for us is $40.61 (via telecom disscount)
add movies and sport is another $33.72 p/m
add sky + at $15 a month

total

$89.33 pm or ($89.33x12 divided by 52) $20.61 a week or $2.94 a day less than a packet of cigs and we dont smoke so I say all good value to me but horses for courses!

cheers for that

george

mickey_d

No Probs

mickey_d

Doctor's around here are easy to get appointments with & generally don't seem to busy, but this is probably due to the folk that use the free hospital emergency department where my OH works, stretching it to & beyond it's limits

spankysparkle

great thread George. thanks!

Perry Groves

Very informative thread George, thanks. We are currently having a rethink after hearing about the cost of living over there. Maybe for us, the U.K. is where we belong, material things do matter somewhat to us and mend and make do culture may not suit us. At the moment, after our own research and reading postings on here, we are 50-50.

RobDon

We have been here nearly 4 months and for us it was the right decision to come.
Yes the wages are lower than the UK but currently our outgoings are lower than what we paid out in the UK, so for our family we are better off living here.
These negative threads make pretty depressing reading for those of you about to make the move. but dont make any rash decisions, most of us who have made the move recently would not come back anytime soon and are loving our new lives over here.

garfield250

After four years here we are still certian that we mde the right move and would not go back to the UK, however I think there is a word of caution to be had, the posts which may at first seem negative regarding the cost of living are not meant to be depressing but rather a reality check for anyone thinking NZ is the land of milk and honey.
We came over when the exchange rate was really good (3.35GBP to the dollar) and we felt rich for the first 6 months or so, the 'honeymoon' period. Eventually though reality hits home and it is expensive, having said that though we live within our means and the only major expense is our mortgage.
We have the land to grow our own fruit and veg, we have some chooks for the eggs and we do have a couple of cattle on the land (apologies to the vegetarians and the squeamish).
I am in a reasonably well paid job, and have no big boys toys and my only two indulgencies are hunting and fishing.
We are better off here that the UK but as I have said it is expensive here.
But that is a small price to pay for the lifestyle we have here.

george toni

nice one garfield250

I think you have hit the nail on the head there.

We too felt that very same pound note rich feeling and again that shit we have spent all our pound notes! to boot.

I wouldnt say that we are better off financialy than the UK although things are getting better for us.

But as you have said the lifestyle as a whole we now live is far far better than the one we had in the UK.

This cant be priced up on here in a money sense but when I look at my four daughters 20,17,11 and 9 and see what they do and how happy they are it makes all the hassle getting here worth it.

NZ does have its problems and even though I say it again I can only talk about Dunedin here. Auckland and Christchurch seem to have heaps more crime and problems but then pro rata to the population I would say still a fraction of a place of a similar uk size.

So if you want a country that isnt as P.C. as the UK still calls a manhole a manhole not an 'inspection cover' encourages fitness at school how ever big or small you are and is full of on the whole freindly people then over you come.

George

Kija

Thank you george, very informative post indeed. Excellent

Perry! Nooo, you're reconsidering? What about the parrots?

Perry Groves

Sorry to disappoint my feathered friends, but I am starting to feel that the U.K. may be a better bet for me. Life here is not so bad.....

Jobry01

george

could i ask how your kids coped, i think mines will cope but you never know
i have two boys 19 & 16 and a girl of 13 we hope to come over next Nov

j