ABCDiamond

I'll have to have a look at in detail, my records only show what we spend in totals.

This is a breakdown for 2003, for the Main individual Food shops.
$ 112.24 Summer Fresh
$ 126.81 Coles
$ 415.51 Patton Meats Capalaba (about 60kg of steak)
$ 875.42 BiLo
$4324.23 Woolworths (We sometimes buy steak here aswell)

$5854.21 Total - thats $112.58 weekly (We spent $127.24 pw ave in total on Food shopping)

What do we eat?, lots of Steak !! And Pasta, Chicken, its difficult to think what we eat, sometimes I don't even know what it is, my wife cooks it, I just eat it !!

Megalania

South Aus gals might like to look out for:

"Green and Gold Cookery Book"
Annie Sharman
1864367164
Paper Back $12.

"First published in 1923, the Green and Gold has sold more than 400,000 copies and influenced the cooking practices of thousands of South Australians. It was started as a fund raiser for King's College (since incorporated into Pembroke School) by four women from the Congregational and Baptist Unions."

Some golden oldies from simple ingredients.

Also: CWA 2003 Cookery Book

trevd72

we shop for 2 adults and 3 kids on £60 a week and we do not feel the need to spend anymore. just before i read this post the wife came back with this weeks shop of, shock horror, £65 and said she cannot see where people spend £100+ on shopping - refering to how much we had. so i guess its what your used to. we must kinda live frugally even with all my home comforts so i guess we should be OK in aus.

trevd72

adding to what i said before. i am guessing that most people in this thread are "middle class" and "from the south". me and the wife are both recent graduates - me in 98 and her 2002, and we live in the north east. we live in an ex-council house that we bought when i was on only £12000 a year and she was studying and expecting our 3rd child.

point is it is all about what your used to. we do not expect to move to australia and get high paid jobs. I fully expect to get a job that is half what I am earning now, her wage should be around the same as i believe teaching wages are the same. our move is to start over in an enviroment that is less about living to work as someone else has said. earlier someone mentioned holidays. that happens in the UK. we have not been away on holiday yet as a family. I first month in australia will hopefully make up for this.

bundy

Isn't this the same in the UK though? Every other advert for loans, credit cards, 'free' money....I can't understand how people can take on these huge debts. Maybe because I have a total aversion to getting anything I can't pay for and therefore have no debt. But then I'm young and responsibility free, so doubtless this will change.

Simone

Here too(Holland). I just can't believe it, all those debts. And indeed all those adverts for loans etc.
And all those young people spending sooooooo much money on mobile phones and clothes and alcohol!!!!!

I also have a total aversion against loans.
When we came back from our Oz holiday in 2000 I was in the red with 200 guilders! I was mortified!

I even can't get used to the idea that we'll have to get a mortgage when we buy a house! I'd rather be able to save for it, but that's a bit impossible I'm afraid!

bondipom

You are quite right Bundy.

The only difference I can see is there is more problem gambling in Australia but the state governments are too addicted to the taxes to take any serious measures. The problem gamblers provide most of the pokie profits and taxes.

Simone

Yes, I remember gambling being much bigger to.
Can't stand gambling either!! None of it; horses, lotto, pokie machine thingys.
Waste of money!!

bundy

Yep, seen plenty of that....$20 notes disappearing into the pokies never to be seen again. But, as someone mentioned above, it's that whole 'something for nothing' concept - the idea that it is possible to get rich quick from a machine rather than having to work for it.

MeganEkno

I managed to buy a house and save in Oz as well as have enough money for a rainy day. I was not in debt, did not haggle over 20 cents and was in no way struggling. My friends (around the 25 year age) are buying houses, saving money and doing ok. My parents are on target to retire in a few years time (Dad 55 and Mum 52). They travel overseas once or twice a year, the only reason most people don't travel more is because of distance and the fact that most Australians only get 3 weeks holiday a year (take out two weeks for an overseas trip to be worthwhile and it doesn't leave much). This would probably explain why children only go to their Aunties etc.

How do the English feel when you ask them to contribute a little for health care - because it all sounds a bit familiar when Dotty makes her point about putting money in for education.


Just thought I'd demonstrate the other side of the coin from an Aussie who is not struggling, didn't live on the poverty line and doesn't know anyone who is to put a bit of sunshine on the subject.

Mr&MrsPom

In my experience the majority of people are the same the world over, its always the same people on the committee's etc. Its the same people that actually bother to make a cake for the school fayre etc. One time I asked my friend where her cake was and her reply was that she had turned up a the fayre. This was a girl who had put both her children through the pre school without ever contributing towards it. I was the treasurer, I was most upset, the fact is the fundraising was needed to keep the school running, the parents were charged £4.00 per session when the real cost was £9.00. But most were to tight to put there hands in their pockets. Makes my blood boil.

Herman

At the moment everywhere in the developed world looks expensive (if you were starting from scratch) because of the property boom. But thats only really a problem for first time buyers and immigrants. I should know, we were looking at property in Sydney as first time buyers and abandoned the idea when we realised what we could afford. So we rented. Now we are back in London we face the same property issue and have just signed up to borrow 3 times our joint salary to buy a house which is much further from work than either of us would ideally like. But thats life, sacrifices must be made. Back to the Aussies though - I found generally those I worked with were not better or worse off than my English colleagues. Some rented well into their late 30's until they had saved a house deposit, some were prepared to take on large mortgages and sacrifice elsewhere, some bought their houses for a fraction of the current value in the 'good old days' and others had early settler families with significant wealth (generated from land and property values) to help them out.

Simone

I'm afraid we'll be renting the rest of our lives!
Though we are good savers (I haven't even left school yet), we better get jobs before or very soon after getting to Perth, otherwise it'll all be gone.
Though renting isn't that bad, it's easy when moving!
But I still see it as money down the drain.

I've got all these crazy idea's in my head, like saving enough for a block of land, and getting it in the right area (have an old friend of family who is a real estate agent near Perth) and then getting my dad over to build a house (he'd love it!) and then either live in that, or sell it for good money, and use part of that to pay my dad.
He's actually doing the same himself here, and they did it in Oz before too.

But it'd still be a heap of money! So, here's hoping we get good jobs in Oz!

ABCDiamond

If anyone is interested in checking the price of food in OZ, you can look at Greengrocer.com.au
It's been set up by Woolworths, as an online ordering and delivery. Only operational in Sydney & Melbourne at the moment, but still a good guide for prices.

I will try to attach a spreadsheet as well with a sample of prices, but don't go by the wine prices, they seem a bit high to me for standard wine. Plenty of choice at $4.99-$6.99 a bottle.

Mr&MrsPom

Eek 43p for a tin of beans and they are not even Heinz!!!