Plan to have lots of kids and be extra nice?

Well I've always been poor you see....

I got married young just to get the rice, and lately I've been hanging outside Kentucky Fried Chicken and licking other people's fingers.

Building chook houses doesn't pay too well you know.

Beat off the competition: Building better chook houses

I had the same thoughts and posted a thread, here have a look....

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...it+cheesed+off

Check out my resume onbritishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203284&highlight=antipo dean+cv .You'll note that My phd in chook house building is expected in May 2010. This will help. Thanks.



BTW 17-20

my husband was earning a good wage according to north queensland standards but crap compared to what he was earning in england and he was doing the same job.
in aus we were renting a huge 4 bed house on just over an acre and a beaut swimming pool and it cost us $1000 a month on top of the bills and shopping and fuel we were still able to eat out,buy ourselves things and still have money left.
AND on top of all that ,we have 3 girls on of which is a teenager.
it is definitely without a doubt cheaper to live in australia (well it is in north queensland anyhow )

Keep going like that and you will be quoting on dog kennels; no chance of a BMW of any make.

It's worth bearing in mind that according to the OECD, based on Gross Domestic Product, Australia has a higher standard of living than the UK. If you've got Acrobat Reader you can check out the numbers: GDP for OECD countries

The reason that there aren't so many rich people in Oz is that the wealth is much more evenly distributed than in the UK.

Also, according to the same website, the UK is about 28% more expensive in terms of cost of living.

exactly my point.you dont HAVE to have two new cars on hp,private medical insurance or put yopur kids in private schools.
take of these payments and you are laughing.
we were!!!!!!

Hi ABC

They have three children so their medical is a bit more than you (We also have three children, so ours would be similar). Do you really only spend $433 on food a month. I was under the impression that food was expensive over there but takeaways and eating out was cheap.

ok hold on to your hats:

My Food expenses for 2003 are as follows (this is based on items paid for by cc anything paid for by cash is not included, this however would not amount to much because we use our cc for everything)

Dining Out : £ 690.16 average £ 57.51 per month

Takeaway : £ 230.47 average £ 19.20 per month

Groceries : £6101.32 average £508.44 per month

But that is for 2 adults and 3 children.


Actually dining out does not include the odd McDonald's which costs me about £8.50 a go for three kids, I usually pay cash for that and it is about once or twice a month.

In addition my husband reckons that I could save money if I was to throw away most of the veggies outside the supermarket rather than waiting for them to go off in the fridge, thereby saving petrol (less weight in the car, and the electricity it takes to run the fridge)

Private schools are not essential, 2 cars for most families are tho, many areas dont have Public Transport, so hubby takes car to work, how would the wife get to schools, shops, work, appointments. Interesting point is too, most teens need a car too.

As for how do aussies survive. Well watch every penny, I am sick of standing in a shop to be held up by somebody hagglin over 20c or trying to layby a $20.00 article. Many drive cars that would have been scrapped years ago elsewhere. Forget the theory of prawns, crabs, mangos many trolleys I see are filled with an abundance of mince and home brand.

Travel is generally talked of as 'trip of a lifetime" the one overseas trip taken before marriage or on retirement.

Entertainment is BBQ's, more bbq's and a bbq, sorry, trying to make a point here, when there is little else to do its booooring. Many will live within a drive to the beach tho, shops are very limited so cant see much money going there anyway. Going to parks is free, but its hardly going to fill a life is it.

Many do earn low incomes, which are topped up by welfare payments, which in turn tho, bump up the high tax paid by those who do work. Nasty cycle.

Many are emigrating for a simple life tho. So I cant see why it would be a problem for many, that they say is what they want.

Mr&MrsPom

I have to take my hat off to you and your family on how you manage to feed you all on £508 a month. There are only 2 of us, I cook 6 out of 7 nights, are you ready for this I spend between £60 and £80 on the Sunday shop that usually takes us up to Wednesday evening then I spend another £10 to £20 to get us through to Saturday night. Our meals are usually, meat and veg, fish and veg and Andrew has lots of cold meats for his sarnies. How on earth do I spend so much? Maybe people add extras to my trolley and then remove them when I'm paying, lol.

Sarah

My calculations are the same as yours, credit card payments excluding cash, which like you is very little. However, i have only listed essential foods, I have excluded our eating out at restaurents. So my $433 compares to your £538, and it is for 2 adults and 1 child who eats very little (although we cook and then throw away the 75% remainder that she leaves!)

With us, food is CHEAPER in OZ, because we dont get the expensive pre packed food that we used to get in UK. But we also have to clear the rotting food from the fridges on a regular basis aswell, so I agree with your Husband.

An example of takeaway food is: Local fish and chip shop: 2 large cod, 4 crab pieces, 2 fried/battered pineapple slices and chips for 4 = $10, and thats plenty for the 3 of us. We got $10 worth of chips at the weekend for a BBQ for 15, and that was too much.

We are always getting vouchers for Hungry Jacks / MacDonalds / Kentucky etc. eg: 2 Flame Grilled Whoppers for $ 3.65 (thats $1.83 each.)

Eating out ? A Really Good Restaurent near us cost $130 for 4 inc wine. When we were in Sydney, we regularly ate at an All You Can Eat place for about $15 each, Prawns included !!

Our medical costs are actual costs, we don't have insurance, we pay as we go.

That figure is averaged out over the twelve months, so sometimes its more and sometimes its less. The kids eat with us once or twice a week, are frazzled nerves can't cope with more than that. Whenever I lovingingly prepare a family meal, I am greeted with the cry 'oh no not that food again'. In consequence we tend to eat when they are in bed, usually lots of chicken. We don't go in much for the Sunday Roast and if we do its usually Chicken and I can beat you, I can make a chicken last till at least Thursday. Roast on Sunday, Risotto on Monday, Curry on Tuesday, Soup with dumplings on Wednesday and solidified soup with dumplings served with veggies on Thursday. Voila

As I said my kids are not your meat and two veg type, so we eat a lot of pasta, rice, noodles etc. Actually if it wasn't for the fact that I was there at the birth, I would doubt they are mine. They don't like potatoes, which has to be my most favourite vegetable in the world.

Kids eh!!

I ask the same question in London. You might get 30k a year, and I wonder where people can get 300K homes.


You do it by cutting costs. Mortgage, transport, food. Everything else you do bit by bit. That's why I'm over here - loads of things are free.

never ceases to amaze me the amount people spend on food.

Me and Mrs B spent 15-30 quid a week on food. Some of the things you buy one week last the full month, so it may less. You just buy rice, pasta, potatoes, things to cook with. Ditch the junk, chips, puddings etc.

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