peppi

Been here 3 months and I tend to shop in Woolies and I worked out I am spending about £10 Uk more a week on shopping for food, esentials are dearer but the meat quality is beyond comparing...so much less fatty for a start... Spud Shed is cheap veggies and salad stuff but I found not so fresh unfortunately and oddly...Or should I refrase that and say it didnt keep as long....I am still waiting for a few more house hold bills to come in to be able to compare them,but I will have to take into consideration Im running a much bigger house with a pool pump on everyday for the lecy bill for a start... I have to say I think so far its on a par to Uk (I lived in Devon) And the internet charge...well dont get me on that one...! I refuse to have broadband because i think its dear and I wont be paying more for going over download levels...whats that all about...! Get it sorted australia...it came down in the UK so lets hope that idear catches on over here...not so many useing it I suppose and not so much competition...

woodyinoz

We have been here for 2 1/2 years and yes cost of living is more... Especially food. I have tried to shop around for cheaper but unless you fancy spending a whole day jumping in and out of the car for a bargain and spending a small fortune on fuel it aint going happen. Then of course you have to spend the next day trying to eek it out enough for the week and home bake everything..

Not a problem for me as I don't work but how those that work full time with kids manage I don't know. Guess most live on take outs and that's why Australia's kids have such a high obesity level

Looking forward to Tesco and part time work in 07

DunRoaminTheUK

You coming back to the UK?

woodyinoz

We think so

Maybe just for a few years before we make up our minds where home is

We love where we live though so it would be great to keep our little hut! A friend is interested in leasing it.

I was hoping to go back next year but the family all want to come out again

DunRoaminTheUK

It's surprising how many people are thinking of returning to the UK, from Australia.

My wife is having doubts about leaving her Mum in the UK and at the moment, whether we are going or not is still very much undecided (I wanna go though).

A lot of my wife's indecision revolves around our 7 month old boy, who is his Grandma's (wife's Mum) first grandchild. It's just that we (well, I for the most part) worked so hard for our visa (and we have validated) that I can't help thinking we would be wasting a rare opportunity.

Oh well.....I've already done this issue to death on here and merely thinking aloud again.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

BTW, it's freakin freezing here at the moment.

blairdoesntcare

Yes you are correct - The Aussies have no idea about cars! They think Diesel is dirty...I think the amount of flies in the country is dirty!!!

Got the new (For Australia) Audi 2.0TDI Ambition DSG - I agree this engine is a great thig to have in Oz - especially when there is a purple UTE on your bank bumper and you drop a gear to give the "Bogun" a lung full of diesel smoke!!!

I have managed 4.6Litres / 100km - which gives a tank range of 1050kms!

Only fill up twice a month - imagine if you had something stupid like a Ford Territory !

Good luck

Buzzy--Bee

Brilliant!!!! very encouraging. Hopefully Jaguar in Oz start importing the diesel Jag - guess if Audi are doing it won't be long before the other luxury car makers start following suit. May I ask how much your Audi was and whether the insurance is horrendously expensive?

(and guys - please don't start saying I should stay in the UK if I'm worried about what car etc etc - I love the Jag because it's comfortable over long distances, transports my 2 babies in total safety with all its safety features and above all it's cheap to run (why do I feel I have to justify this FFS?))

Cheers

Buzzy

ugez009sumi

I
I think it depends on where you are from in UK and the type of lifestyle you leave, if you live in central London, the most expensive city in Europe, probably one of most in the world, Aus will be cheaper. I work in the city, I bought a sandwich, a bag of crisps and can of coke for 8 pounds today….London is crazy, and last night I bought 2 drinks 10 pounds (2 vodka sodas).

If you live in Wombwell, Barnsley (for example) and shop in Iceland you will find Aus expensive

What any one says to me, no where can be more expensive than London in Aus….

Dinnie

I guess that's it really. I live in Manchester (also lived in London) and find nearly everything extortionately priced. I feel like I'm on the wrong board sometimes for I want to say how much cheaper Australia is in so many other ways. How can you possibly compare the cost of living in Australia to that of the UK?

I've spent the last 6 years justifying what I perceive to be the crazy things the Brits do or the maddeningly bad customer service or the over crowded public transport or the endless snarls on the roads by telling myself it is because there are nearly 60 million people squeezed into a space only marginally bigger than Victoria!

I think conversely things are done differently in Oz because there isn't the huge population that supports the fierce competition there is here for your custom at the supermarket / internet provider / car dealer etc. etc. I guess you just have to deal with where you live and try to understand why things are done that way.

I personally can not wait to go to the markets for my fruit and veg, to a deli for my cheese and sun-bloody-dried-tomatoes (and not pay £3 for a pot in Tesco!!) and to a butcher for my sausages! I don't want to buy my alcohol, clothes, electrical items and cd's from a supermarket that is increasingly cutting out competition, forcing smaller retailers out of business and turning Britain into one very big American Mall!!

End Rant.

Dinnie

ugez009sumi

You speak some sense:

The UK supermarket biz model is very unique, and envy of many companies in this sector worldwide. Companies such as Tesco have very strong purchasing power and can source goods all over the worlds very low cost. I see adverts on TV that Tesco sell Jeans for 5 quid or something and an iron for 3 pounds…all produced low cost in China.

Food is really processed in UK as well. Maybe you are better paying a little bit extra for some locally produced food than some carrot produced in the miles of greenhouses in southern spain.

However, Tesco has moved into my highstreet (small ones popping up all over London), local convience shops complain, but I am happy, I am fed up of being charged really high prices by convience stores, double tesco sometimes. They got fat and rich and now complain, they should have seen the threat coming and adapt accordingly. However I do like to go to Fruit and Veg market and support these guys.

Dinnie

The UK supermarket model is not unique - its just like the US.

Yes they have strong purchasing power which is why they sell everything from books to butter and almost below cost. Who suffers though? Britains farmers for starters. And along the food chain it goes, local retailers, local producers. Companies shipping their manufacturing over to the East where they exploit labour. Its evil is what it is.

Convenience stores are fighting to stay alive in the face of a Tesco on every corner. If this country doesn't wake up and see that in less than 5 years every unique trader and retailer will be bullied out of business and we'll be forced to buy EVERYTHING from 3 places - Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons. No competition, and remember, no competition is not a good thing.

How were small convenience stores supposed to 'adapt' exactly?

Dinnie

jad n rich

My god if you want to see lack of competition you havent seen anything till you see australila!!

Everything from food to airlines is tied up in a monopoly. Someone posted bargain UK airfares to OZ recently, the same airline from OZ to UK was double then a further slug of $360 tax on top. The only way to get cheap food is as someone else suggested have a non life of driving all over the place to source food bargains and lets be honest if you have a job do you want to spend hours a week shopping then cooking from scratch. You have to tho if you want to feed a family on aussie wages, I think thats the key you have to live on aussie wages to understand what people are saying.

Further people often compare food and car running costs, hopefully taking into account the extra klms you do here if seriously trying to compare living costs dont forget to add in medical costs for a family which are a large % here compared to UK, things like kids dental bills and prescriptions, private cover if you earn a decent wage and get extra tax if you dont have it! Plus paying for a super fund, because the pension here is means tested. Also allow for runnning costs of 2 cars, most wont manage with one.

woodyinoz

I would say that it is well worth coming out and getting the citizenship! However the new 3 years does make that hard.

We are coming back for some fun!

On a UK wage we can hit Europe, go skiing, visit Disneyland Paris for a weekend and the kids can have fun with their cousins and Grandparents. We know that in a few years the last thing that they will want is to visit family... that is when we will head back here and they can do VCE and Uni and we can go out to the CBD without the extra cost of a babysitter

As I have said Australia is a great place and Melbourne is fantastic. For us at our time of life though it's not enough but a place in the future.

merlotsmum

Funny thing is we could work less and had more cash whilst in Oz

This was 18 months ago though judging by the responses here, Oz seems to have got more expensive. We don't have kids so we did not have education/med costs to factor in for them.

We have found England VERY expensive, it was tough to settle in England as the exchange rate was lousy last March and we got bugger all for our Oz $$$. Housing ladder in the UK - don't get me on that one

We pay much more for everything here - bills, bills and bills.

Expectations in the UK to have this, holiday there is so much higher, can't abide this materialism. We found this less in Oz.

woodyinoz

I have to agree on the materialistic views. I think that we will be returning a lot stronger and hopefully a lot less caring in what people think about us. I don't care about the size of house or the make of car. I care about family and if people don't like us because we are not wearing the latest stuff then tough

I do agree that on 2 wages Australia can be great. A lot of jobs here pay more or equivalent to the UK. If you fall into this sector then things should be fine. Unfortunately for professionals this seems hard to earn the same. It is then that your cost of living seems more and your lifestyle is reduced.

For us the UK is better financially and luckily we have the opportunity to return here when things are more suitable in years to come.