Hi guys

Am getting worried now. i am due to arrive in 2 weeks. My starting wage will be $50,400. I am coming alone with 2 pets. Headed for BoP. Am aware i will have a shortfall to start with, but my money should increase as I pass NZ training courses. Rent does appear to be an issue. i had only budgeted $280 per week and only a few of the properties I have seen include some form of heating. Have I bitten off more than I can chew - wouldn't have been such an issue had UK house sold, but it hasn't and I had to make a choice of lose employment and not come, or risk it. Evidently I have risked it. Done now. Just gettin last minute panics!!

Cheers HH

Don't get too hung up on heating. Most of the houses we looked at in Auckland area had no form of heating and the winter climate is a lot milder here than in UK. If you're buying, then investing in decent heating is worthwhile, but if you're renting, heating necessary rooms with portable heaters is a realistic option, especially as a sole occupant. You're only going to get a nasty bill surprise if you think it's a good idea to heat every room in your house to 22C 24/7.
The average NZ household income is around $75k, so as a single person on $50k, you're not too badly placed especially if you have realistic prospects of improving on this

Get dehumidifiers. Buy an 'Oasis' by Mitsubishi or 2. Get them 2nd hand off www.trademe.co.nz. New they are c$1000..2nd hand around $350. They give off an ambient heat, will make your environs easier to warm by removing the moisture from the air and will also reduce the condensation on your windows. They mainly need to be run at night. They are only around 400watts a unit and if you can ask your landlord to change you over to Genesis electricty you will be able to hook up for half price leccy betwixt 11pm-7am. I save a super huge amount this way as I run many things overnight. I run 5 dehumidifiers for a start..one for each humanin the house!! Only draw back to night time tarrif at gen Elec is the 5% loading they put on your day tarrif..small price to pay what?

HHBoP,

I wouldn't worry too much about your renting budget if you are still heading to Whakatane. It is significantly cheaper there than elsewhere in the BoP to rent. Have you looked on Trade Me for rentals in your preferred area?

I strongly advise against using portable calor gas heaters as they give off quite a "damp" heat and may well introduce more condensation problems. I agree with Genesis, get a dehumidifer and maybe some oil fired/electric fin heater to take the edge off the cold in selected rooms. People also swear by electric blankets, but I can't stand them!

That may be true where you live, however the same tariffs do not apply across the country. I've been making investigations about changing our meter and the day part of the the variable day/night rate (with Genesis) will be slightly cheaper than the single anytime rate we are currently on.

hi you will be fine, we lived in tauranga in 07 went though one winter all we had was three frosts it did get a bit cold , you can buy gas heaters from just about any where but they only do mainely small bottles think they were 9kg so only last about two weeks on one bar unless you can find a bigger bottle on trademe if you buy 6 or 12 bottles you get one free i used to go to the one down newton street, your be surprised how far you money gos when out shopping pak & save are normally petty good

i will be earning 60k before tax, does anyone know if this is good enough for a family of 3 to survive, until hubby gets work? we will be renting to start with, hope this is enough!!!!!

60k is 2.5 times minimal wage so I would say you will be ok. Congratulatiions!

many thanks for your reply

I don't think it's 2.5 times!

60K you'll need to be careful and keep your rent/mortgage costs low. Will you be bringing any equity? It's quite doable without but you won't feel like you're on 2.5x the national average, lol!

"Minimum wage" and "national average" should be different things surely, which do you mean?

Whatever!! National average, smaverage, who wants to emigrate to live on the national average or minimum wage? Some people can manage quite well on dole money as well. I doubt many people on this forum would find that prospect an appealing lifestyle choice though.

$50k is fine for a single person and $60k is fine for a family of three short term, furthermore it's not bad at all if you are living outside of Auckland in terms of housing costs. If you have the opportunity to increase this with partners expecting to find work then living on $55 to 60k is absolutely no hardship for a short while. We managed on $46k and some backup savings for a good few months (a good while ago) whilst one was looking for work, however I would not recommend it to others and it would never have been sustainable for the longer term.

Rest assured there's a considerable difference between $45k and $55k in terms of disposable income and I would still say to anyone thinking of coming here absolutely NOT to do it for a sole income of $45k

Oh yes, you're right- I was confusing minimum wage with average! I don't think we'd survive very well on either though!

No-one is saying they do, I'm just trying to clarify whether 60k is 2.5x the minimum wage or national average as there should be a big difference - 2.5x average should put that income somewhere between "comfortable" and "affluent" I guess....but as it has been clarified as 2.5x minimum it clearly isn't.

I found that by searching Google for a cost of living calculator there are various available, one worked out what you need for your individual standard of living on each of many categories and then added income tax to this to work out your required salary. (I did put a link the last time I posted this but my post was removed so I am assuming that was not allowed). I am just starting the process so have no idea how accurate this calculator is but it suggested that $61k would just suffice for a family of 4.

I hope this helps