CK2B

Hi there,

After reading a few threads regarding medical costs, household costs, etc. I'm wondering whether the Irish amongst you find cost of living in Oz higher or lower then Southern Ireland?

Here we currently pay €40 to see the doctor and then have to pay full prescription costs, last week I paid €68 for an antibiotic, a cough bottle and an inhaler for my daughter so a total of €108 in one day.

Ireland is ranked 2nd most expensive Country in Europe for food, drinks, hotels, insurance, cars, etc. so how do these things compare?

We pay about 35% tax on salaries so I'm thinking we should find settling into Oz system not such a hardship as those from UK where they are used to better medical set up, lower taxes, cheaper grocery bills, etc.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
CK

irishmolly

CK,

Hey, nothing can be as expensive than Ireland - we are being completely ripped off BIG TIME.

We pay 45EURO to see a doctor - in Oz you pay the same but are given about 35 back each visit so it only amounts to 10EURO to see the doctor !!!

I could go on but you know the score in Ireland !

No-one really understands about ripoff Ireland, reading through posting here for the past 5 months I believe Oz is at least 40% cheaper to live, plus easier tax brackets.

I'm an Irishman - get me outta here

Mr. irishmolly.

Vegemite Kids

Well not so sure about Ireland, but we used to live in germany. 48% tax and about 10-20 Eur for a standard doctors visit. Average cost of my arthritis medication was Eur 50 per month.

Australia is definately cheaper, and I havent had to take any arthritis medication during the month we've been here. Been a bit sore a couple of days but nothing that a bottle of red wine wont cure

Langer

CK2B,

I've been here about 2 months and so far have managed to avoid the doctors, my daughter needs to go in the morning so I'll let you know the cost! Still settling in and getting bits and pieces so we haven't really settled into a regular spending pattern yet but for general cost of living I find it cheaper, I could go to a supermarket in Ireland and walk out after spending E60 and spend the rest of the night trying to figure out what I'd just spent it on. Here at least I feel I've managed to buy something for that amount of money.

Not long before I moved a guy started with the company I worked for after moving over from the the UK ( to Ireland ), on an average salary as far as I know. Lasted 2 weeks and moved back to the UK, couldn't believe the cost of living.

My car insurance last year was E680 ( about $1100 ), here it was $500 and that was loaded because I don't have an Aussie licence. Eating out, there is no comparison, no need to take out a second mortgage before you go for a meal.

Most importantly I can get a slab for E16 or E17 and a decent bottle of wine for under E5, might be plonk to those in the know but it gets me throught the night !!!!


Slainte,

CK2B

Thanks for the replies, at least you''ve all confirmed my hopes that Oz should be cheaper to live in then Ireland.

Sometimes I get really p**sed off with our Government, we have this beautiful country, fantastic social scene, lovely people, etc and yet we have basically killed the tourism industry by ripping off all our visitors.

By the way Langer (what a name - bet no-one except the Irish know the meaning!) number 1 in the Irish charts this week is a song called the Langer, it's absolutely head wrecking but thought you might like the irony!! You've probably guessed it's about Roy Keane calling Mick mcCarthy a langer!!

Thanks again
CK

irishmolly

I'm sure "The Langer" song is on the www.96fm.ie website.

Everyone reading this post must be thinking "what the hell a langer is"

Mr. irishmolly - a complete langer !!!