I'd not use the word adequate here, but it really depends on your family I suppose.

We live 1 hour out of Melbourne and do not have a huge mortgage. We have 2 cars and a motorbike (which we own outright), but the costs insurance, bills, groceries, medical fees, school fees (and I'm not talking about private school), out of school activities etc all add up to a tidy sum!

Our holidays mainly consist of camping trips and you seem to have forgotten that most families will be trying to save to visit relatives who live overseas.

Things are hard, even when you are earning what is classed as a decent wage.

Most of the families that we know are in this same position.

oh indeed. 1000 is a good aussie wage is all I am saying. What I am saying is that many families have to get by on less.

It is not enough to do all the things you WANT to do as you say. Tough. Many people WANT to have a house to live in , with water etc. Its a case of priorities. We say we can save money to pay for flights for people to come to us - it is cheaper. Camping is the best vacation you can have as you can combine travel, education with a bit of character building too. Actually right now, I can't think of a better holiday for a family old and young enough to do it. We know a family - quite well off- and they have camped the whole of Australia it seems.

When I was a kid, my parents sat me down with the bills and told me they couldn't afford a car, x, y and z as they only had x cash in the bank. Myself and my brother had to stay at school when all the other kids went away with the school on holidays - eventually the headmaster coffed up for some of them. My dad saved his money and got an automatic washing machine when I was in my late 20s.He now has a new kitchen - finally - to replace the 1960s one we had when I was growing up. My mother did all the washing by hand until I was 17 when they got a twin tub, and my Dad sold their only car so they could have us - he never got another one. His driving licence expired in 1977. It was another 20 odd years when he got into my car which I bought. I respected them when they told me they refused to go into debt just so that we could have exactly what other kids had at school. The thing is we went to a half decent school and ended up doing OK. Cue the Monty Python jokes from some of you - but although we were skint we were always the 'posh' kids at school lol we defo weren't 'chavs', if that is how we seemed lol. (!)

Its all relative. I am glad I live in a house in Australia so that my wife can unload shopping and carry a baby in to the house without going up flights of stairs and not go to work. (last point is our situation - and I thank our lucky stars). All you migrants - keep things in perspective. That 'little house' you had in the UK, 2 cars, and 2 hols a year is pretty good. that house you own in Australia and the life you lead is probably not that bad either.

Badge

All I can tell you is our situation. we have been here for nearly two years, 18 months on the Sunshine Coast and recently moved to Brisbane. Some close friends live on the Sunshine Coast - he struggled to earn $25 an hour. My husband's a plumber and he earned $19-$25 an hour depending on whether he was working on a union site or not. If you can go in as a sub contractor then you'll be looking at $30+ an hour in the Brisbane area. Unfortunately my husband having done a 4 year apprenticeship and working as a plumber for 16 years was told that he couldn't set up a business on his own for 2 years! He now earns much more on a night shift in a metal working company!

We both work - 1 child of 4 and 1 child of 12. We bring in approx $1600 after tax a week and we are comfortable. How you would survive on $720 I'm not sure - bearing in mind we only have a £190K mortgage. A 350 - 450K mortgage would cost $500 - $700 a week here at todays interest rates. You do get generous top ups if you are on a low income up to a threshold (not too sure here as we don't qualify any more) but you'll only get some until you have been here 2 years. You get medicare, child benefit (equivelant), rental help and some help on child care - which is pretty generous considering you've just arrived. When we got here and I hadn't yet got a job we were claiming all we could - that worked out to $250 a week - not bad at all, but if you are only earning $800 a week that's not going to get you a big house and a trip home to blighty every other year. I guess what I am saying is that you may have to consider both working or rent until you have been here for a while and worked out what you can afford.

It is a great country with a fantastic lifestyle. There are many amazing places to visit and domestic airfares are as cheap as chips. I am sure you'll love it! - we are enjoying our time here. I wouldn't worry too much - rentals are cheap. As the property market is a bit shakey at the moment it may pay you to rent for a year or so until your hubbys sussed out a good paying job anyway. Good luck - not that you'll need it I'm sure.

This month average household debt in the UK is approximately £7,684 (excluding mortgages). You can of course debt that a lot younger people are worse off than the average since there are a lot of elderly people who tend to not owe such sums.

I see a lot of posts on this board saying that when I pay off the debts we'll be left with £xxx to come to Oz with.

Interestingly the UK lifestyle of the house, 2 cars, 2 holidays does seem to come at a price doesnt it ? Just to put the whole starting in a new country debt free into perspective

Good to read your positive helpful post and glad you are enjoying life in Australia.

How does the $83k net income compare with your salary/ies and lifestyle in the UK? Are you now much better off? I just thought that sounded like quite a high income, or maybe I just don't have any idea how much your husband would have earnt in the UK.

I guess we are about the same - we earn slightly less here but with our place being a bit cheaper to buy (since even cheaper - but hay ho!) we are about the same. I earnt £22k a year in UK and $50K here, Paul earnt £30K in the UK and $55K here (not including overtime) - we do both work full time though. We were hoping to avoid that but unfortunately I'm not able to find a part time job in my line of work. There isn't much here in Brisbane and what there is is full time - not a winge though as I love my job and the people I work with. My youngest goes to a great pre school (he would be due to go to school in the UK in Sept anyway) and some days Paul has to fight to get him to leave at 3pm! Our elder daughter is in a school she loves. It works for us and we are happy with our situation. Things haven't always been this way and we have had to rely on one wage for a few months last year when I was looking and then this year before Paul found this job. We have got some debts because of this so it'll be a few months before we'll be see any of our wages!

u say ur husband could not set up on his own .. how do we find all this out we are looking at the sunshine coast .. do u know of any web sites we can get the info off .... also can u just work as a sub contractor or is there a clause to that aswell ..

Our friend lives in Noosa - he is a brickie. He got $25 an hour self employed - he went onto the ATO (tax office) website and got an ABN number. With an ABN no you get paid gross and pay your tax at the end of the year - self employed effectively. He had no problems working as a self employed person I reckon it is just plumbers that have that restriction in Queensland. Paul's got the night off and is in bed so haven't got the heart to wake him up! This does seem to be the country to be self employed or run our own business in - you seem to be able to claim alot against tax. I have several friends who do very well - nothing dodgy.

I should add though that our brickie friend didn't like the work out here in the heat - he also said that he was working with 'red necks' and they drove him mad! He has since set up his own pest company and seems to be doing very well.

Where are you heading for on the Sunshine Cost?

Before we moved here I remember seeing on a website about how may $'s you'd have to earn to have the same standard of living in Aus from the UK (I think it was go matilda???)

It roughly worked out that you have to earn twice as many dollars as you do pounds. I'd say that for us, that this is fairly accurate.

Now I know that most people have different view on costs and standards of living that vary, but this is just a guide!

I've never heard that before but reckon that that is spot on.

I've been trying to stay out of this as I'm not yet in Oz permanently but have read all threads with interest and ended up depressing myself by thinking hubby and I would have to work even longer hours than we do now for less money and still not be able to afford to eat !!

However, I hold tight to the fact that Ozzies manage to live there AND eat, so why can't we ? We don't have any debt but we are unique - all of my friends have debts ranging from £5k to £40k on top of a mortgage ! We have one car and a work van, one holiday a year - would love to camp but you can't plan that in the UK due to weather and, if you did get away the traffic jams mean that it takes two hours to drive 5 miles ! Our mortgage is for £170,000, payment for which equals my salary.

Today we went out for the day to a wildlife place - £20 to get in, our zoo is nearly £40 for a family of 4 plus parking fee and the one free event we had - a hot air balloon festival - the parking was £8 !! I calculated that, in a week off, taking the kids out, it costs me over £100. We don't have parks as such and the beach consists of traffic jams should the sun peek out.

Basically, I guess what I'm saying is that - Oz is definitely NOT the cheap haven it's portrayed on the 'reality' programmes but you must prioritise what's important to you. We have a 4 bed detached house here but I'm quite happy to get a 2 bed on a biggish plot and build on/up if and when poss. As for hols, hubby will be self-employed, so no work no money, so would be very happy with a number of weekend camping trips in different and interesting areas, as opposed to my current one week on a sunlounger by a pool in Greece. My main aim is to give up work and, if so, will be able to grow fruit/veg to cut on costs, maybe work evenings if needed. I just want to be the wife and mum I want to be and can't be in the UK. Until the kids leave home we'll always struggle financially and I'd rather do that in the sun that the grey drizzle here.

you took the words out of my mouth

You seem to have a wonderful attitude to your move Best of luck with it.

Thanks - just hope I can keep the same attitude when the credit card is taken away and a tiny handful of dollars given back !! Will have to print put my post and frame

Totally off thread, but just notice you arrive in Brisbane the same day as us!!.. good luck!!

Julie