Re: expensive
 

Isnt that a bit of a drastic statement, your pounds still double and a bit, your aussie house is still twice the size, its still nicer to swim in brisbane than birmingham:rofl: I mean its not like suddenly the aussie dollars buying 2 quid is it. Most people say they are not doing it for the money more the lifestyle.

I wanna hear lifestyle or as the posh poms call it :rofl: ''alfresco" posts.

The 'dream' bring back the 'dream' :D

Re: expensive
 

Sorry but I think that's nonsense. It's the same as saying your house is worth X when you are not selling it. Whatever the rate has been is irrelevant. You haven't 'lost' anything other than what you perceive others to have got on their exchange rate.

Have to agree with others, if the only reasons you (general) were/are coming over are monetary ones then perhaps you should rethink and just downsize in the UK. It's been a good six years since anyone could say with hand on heart that they are better off monetary wise here than the UK.

Re: expensive
 

Go to South Africa instead. :)

Re: expensive
 

Food is most definitely not cheaper here. I have just returned from Woolworths and a weeks shopping has just cost me $445. I do have MIL arriving Sunday so I have probably bought a few extras that I wouldn't normally have bought but is still expensive as hell.

Re: expensive
 

OMBG, I know a couple of single women with kids here, aussies, that (plus a bit of centerlink) is the weekly wage.

We only have 2 boys living at home now, food is around the $250 - $280, and I am hell bent I wont pay any more than I possibly have to, ALDI have helped us reduce our food bill by quite a bit. Coles and woolworths ( or the supermarkets they own but call something else) dont see our dollars except for what they have on a big special, then I buy 6 :rofl:

Re: expensive
 

I know, expensive eh. I normally spend early 300s so I have bought extra stuff. Not a lot of choice here in WA its either Woolies or Coles.

Re: expensive
 

Probably, or not, but if we all made decisions based on cash then how dull would life be?

As dull as a cocktail party in Islington, THAT is how dull.

Re: expensive
 

I can feel another Aldi post coming on . . .

We save a fortune in Aldi compared to those barstewards at Coles / Woolies.

Weekly shops about $120 plus veges delivered at $50.

Re: expensive
 

it can be quite dull without it:)

Re: expensive
 

Thats good, how many of you, how old are the kids, mine are at the hollow legs stage, keep telling them I am going to switch them for a couple of anorexic teen girls:D

Re: expensive
 

Four, two adults plus two kids (11 and 6). Oldest just getting to that stage, fill him up with 4 weetabix on a morning and away he goes.

We've cut out all the crap from the diet which helps with the weekly spend, and the waistline, plus the OH makes muffins etc for the kids lunch boxes.

The veges have been a revelation; delivered for free, perfect amount for a week, and nothing gets wasted.

Re: expensive
 

tell me more about your veggie deliveries.

we usually go to charlies to get our veggies, everything is way cheaper than the supermarkets and on top of that, they do some good offers... have a look at this weeks deals:
http://charliesfruitmarket.com.au/specials.php

Re: expensive
 

Charlie's looks good, a little out of the way for us though. When you look at the price of the specials, and compare them to the prices at Coles . . . well its enough to make your blood boil!

We use www.homefreshorganics.com.au (who would have thought it, greengrocers with websites). They do fruit and veg boxes, either organic or conventional, and if you order over the phone there's no delivery charge. The good thing about it is we use everything, nothing gets chucked out.

Re: expensive
 

My grocery shopping for 2 adults was 20.9% cheaper in Australia this week when I compared like for like between Woolworths and Tesco.

In other words, Tesco were 26.5% more expensive.

I checked my Woolworths invoice (28/Feb/2008) with Tesco using this web page today (29/Feb/2008):
http://www.tesco.com/todayattesco/pricecheck.shtml

This was a normal careful shopping where I know by trial and error that the goods are fair to good quality and good value.

A few things which I could not compare directly were:
. Rice bran oil spread
. Olives kalamata pitted,
. Cherry ripe,
. Crispbread puffed,
. Cucumber lebanese.

Otherwise pretty much exact like for like.

This shopping (total $129.80) was a little more than normal ($5,800 / year; $111.50 / week) due to being 10 days since previous shop rather than my normal 7 days. Also stocking up on a few items and already stocked up on others such as laundry detergent but all told an average shopping.

Perhaps Tesco are not in Australia because they could not compete with Woolworths?

Re: expensive
 

I see these posts about the cost of things a lot and don't really agree most of the time.... sure I see that some things are more expensive, but many of the other things aren't and it evens itself out....

I live half my life in Australia and half my life in the UK, on comparable jobs and in comparible parts of the country...

petrol is cheaper here, as is eating out (we can eat out in our local town for under $50 and for less than $70 you can get some real;ly flash places - and this is considered to be one of Austrlias most expensive suburbs), my council taxx in Australia is $1300 per year, for my house that overlooks the beach, compared to 1350 POUNDS in the UK for the my one bedroom apartment...my electric bills, phone etc much cheaper here (internet still sucks), I spend less on going to the pub because the beach in the afternoon is a better investment of my time.......

I have to say that financially I fee better off in Australia, but probably not by much - I live in a nice place, always have, and I lived in a nice place in the UK. The thing is, in the UK I didn't have an apartment in Chelsea with great views.....so I wouldn't expect to have a house on Sydney Harbour or overlooking hte beach ......

Many of the English people I know make that mistake - move to Australia from some little town or medioclre sized city, and want to live in the middle of Melbourne....or overlooking Manly Beach..... thats the same as my parents moving from there 5 bed house on the mid-north coast NSW to London and complaining that the can't afford even a tiny bedsit in Kensington....

I said it on a post here the other day - lifestyle (for me) there is nothing like Australia, and much of it is free...... but this is a personal decision for me (if you like the pub egery night, then perhaps the UK is the best for you.... I like the pub everynight....for about 2 years, then I long for hte beach again)...

I can't find anything better than coming home from the office and going for a surf, or a walk on the beach, or just being outside in the garden digging up stuff cause its warm and sunny (not today, admitedly)....

Money is not everything, and if its lifestyle and happiness then I'm a far wealtheir man for the times that I am in Australia than the times I spend in the UK.....no question.