copa

i eat lots of food .. my family actually likes to eat rice. but not every night. When living as a poor student i learnt to be frugal with grocery shopping ... because i had only a real small amount of money. i learnt some harsh lessons about living within my means.

I learnt to buy well, cook cheap, use spices, etc etc ... all while eating good, healthy and hearty food. I guess i still carry those lessons with me even though i now have a family with kids.

Hutch

That's a seriously good deal (in Australia at any rate). $100 a month for unlimited - only downside is that it's limited to 1.5Mb but with all you can eat bandwidth I think I'd cope. Wish there was a similar community telco round here that offered that sort of deal. Do you pay extra for the newsgroups or are they a bundled supernews feed?

Deancm

At least the Police have balls, which is something you are lacking.

No, I eat healthily. High protein, low carbs, low fats and exercise regularly. You do know what exercise is don't you Hutch? You know, when you drag your fat arse of the couch and get the body moving...

Vash the Stampede

nephilim

I dont like salty popcorn

Hutch

Sure. Give anyone a taser or a sidearm and they suddenly grow a pair. Big man behind a badge.

Course you do, love. You probably look like a professional darts player. You certainly have the debating skills of one.

Not a clue. See - we have so much in common.

Now, now - people are going to think you're insecure arsehole if you carry on like this. And we wouldn't want that, would we Constable Savage?

jasonlec

FIGHT!, FIGHT!, FIGHT!

avi

Its a shame that they feel so insecure in thier interlect that they have to resort to insults. Children behave.

I thought this thread was about cost of living not about who can sink the lowest.

I understand for many it is boring but for those of us who are starting the process it is interesting so can we please return from the babys play pen and at least attempt to behave like the adults we pretend we are.

Vash the Stampede

On any other forum, it would be. But here it's more like...

Ruthyman

Well and good. Assuming one person can earn $1,500 per week leaving the other free to mind the kids. (Or even 70k pcm). One child at full time nursery is approx 300pw+ (this is after ccb). Assuming you are eligible for ccb... Assuming the main carer can get a part-time job for more than $20 ph...

In perspective $1,500 is approx 750 euros a week. We easily lived on a third of that a week in France with better rental accomodation (not Paris, obviously!) and a better lifestyle overall (food, leisure time, travel etc).

We are resigned to 'student accomodation' here unless we want to spend over 500 pw.

LouiseR

My child care is $300 a week before CCB and $150 after. That's 5 days a week at an ABC Centre.

BadgeIsBack

Overall picture - Overall life is getting cheaper for us, measured by disposable income. Our mortgage is getting lower and lower, my salary has got higher and higher, I've just got a 11pc increase in salary, and banked 5 months salary. We would have at least 1200 a month left over some of which is currently going on the mortgage. If I was the Minister for Finance I might save another 500-1000bucks a month lol!

The idea was not to be rich here, but to raise a young family and then go back to 2 incomes in time for the teenage years.

We bought a 330k house with a 160k mortgage 5 years ago.

I said at the time that over the long term, we would see the mortage fall and as salary increased with inflation within 10 years we would see (and feel) the benefits.

This is starting to pan out now. 2006 was an expensive year for us - then I remembered we employed a gardener lol. when MrsB was pregnant with sprog No2

Detail:

Mortgage - $900 per month - I think we are paying as much as 500 a month over.
We spend $800 a month on groceries easy - 2 adults 2 pre-schoolers, maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more. I did once spend $520 on my own but I bought a lot of specialist sports food and meat. Like Renth, if I was in charge of food shopping we would save a lot. I bake a lot now.
Fuel - $200 a month.
Car insurance - c.$80 a month for 2 cars
Rego - c.$80 a month for 2 cars
Leccy $300-350 autumn/summer/spring quarter inc a cooker and hot waterservice and pool pump. (As I've said before, I'm a notorious tightarse at passing water through my pool - I just tend to leave it where it is most of the time). The recent trend is falling and we can't work out why..recent bill was $250 for the quarter or something ridiculous, memory fails me.

In winter add $150-200 a winter for bedroom heaters plus occasional use of AC on 'heat' mode. This year we have taken a 'harden the f** up tablet' and not turned them on. Character building for the kids.
Winter wood - $350 a winter. We now get our first tonne of wood half-price - delivered from NSW! and then need another 1 ton locally sourced to see us through. Even if it was not cold, I would still light the fire as I love monging infront of it. Caveman TV.
Rates : $100 pm
Buildings/contents insurance $30 pm
No Gas
Water $45 a quarter
Phone Telstra $50 a month - we're too lazy to shop around - can't be arsed.
Mobile - $70 for 2 - 1 PAYG, 1 contract I get broadband on my phone and a 300mb limit. Claimed $600 on household insurance to replace phone after I dropped it in the pool.
Internet - $30 pm
Nappies - $aldi
Milk - gallons of it at $3/ 3l. We can't fit it in the fridge.
TimTams/Choccy biccies - packets of them. How MrsB remains so svelte is beyond me.
Public Transport $90 pm (I get half price as I get the Early Bird into city) - overall cost represents obscene value for money even at twice the price.
Hair & Beauty $20 pm for me, MrsB has long hair. It would take a fortune to fix me up.
Cats Food, etc. $20 a bag - we get a science formula which lasts several mnths - the kitty gets 1 scoop a day - doctor's orders.
Laundry - I do the ironing
Kids clothes - why buy them when people queue up to give them away, some new. Buy knickers and that's it.
Our clothes - get good ones and they last for years.
Dryclean - once in a blue moon - I've had some of my suits 15 years - drycleaned them twice lol. Wore one the other day.
Alchohol = Cask of wine for evening, a bottle here or there, spend at least 20-40bucks on each. Brew my own beer - 80 bucks a starter kit, reduced cost from thereon.
Takeaway - Once a week, or two. We're massive Thai monsters.
MrsB+girls overseas flights kitty (currently set at least every 2 years) - $500 a month at the moment. The plan is for the new sprog to go overseas for the fire season - just an excuse really. He or she would go anyway.

The real ball-breakers:
Swimming, ballet, creche, playgroup for kids. Never have known the cost of this. Govt money deals with some of it - we get Fam Benefit Part A and B as Mrs does not work. It's at least $450 a month.
Chainsaw $700
Tools - $2500+ (at the last count) in 5 years
Rideon - $1000 secondhand - I'm as tight as a duck's arse.
Timber - $hundreds lol
2x Strollers - $800 secondhand
Pool - 1800 over 5 years, but we replaced pump, and now filter, and liner, and ancils in that time frame. Pretty much a new pool...(!)less cost of establishment.
Pool Chemicals - I do it all myself so do not bear the extra costs of having a bloke tell me I need to spend money. 30-45 bucks a summer on tablets, 30 bucks a year on shock, 50 bucks a summer on floc. Let it all go - and it is more expensive to fix.
Car Maintenance - my ute needs 300-500 a year spent on it to keep it on the road. Belts, pump, fix a leak here and there. Last year it needed new shocks all round - $800.

MrsB had to spend a fair bit on her car a year or so ago - but in truth, we've over-maintained it - the cops will be buying it back I reckon. She has a habit of taking it in for a service even if it is not due or needed. Maybe there was nothing on that day?
Health - Mrs B loves organics, mosaic classes, massages, health farms, hippy-dippy courses, buying plants, and retreats. Cost - no idea...there will be a Royal Commission into it one day.

Ruthyman

Wow, but dont forget ccb is calculated on how much you earn. The less you earn the less you pay. 80-odd% discount is not bad!!

Needless to say, my centre fees are higher, but they are the cheapest in my area!

ABCDiamond

That must depend on your area...

My area... 3 bedroom house for $370 pw, not exactly student accommodation.

or a bit more expensive at $475pw (it needs a repaint outside though ! )

Deancm

Full marks for originality. How long did it take to come up with that response?