Idea on cost of living
 

Wife and I plus 4 kids (Daughter 7, Son 5, Son 3, Son 1).

Electricity (keeping the house pretty cool around 75 degrees farenheit)?
Gas?
Water?
Trash?
Sewer?
1 Cell phone?
TV/Cable?
Internet?
Home Security Alarm System?

Groceries?
Petrol?

2 Auto leases or purchases?
Rent/Mortgage?

Re: Idea on cost of living
 

You can get two new cars on a four year lease for around $30K. Your company should offer this on a "salary sacrifice" basis so it comes out of pre-tax income.

Decent TV, you need cable at around $1300 per year.

Groceries are expensive here; someone else with kids your age can give you some numbers.

Electricity; on TV the other night they said the average bill was about $1300 per year, but if you want to stay cool in Perth it will be higher than average.

Re: Idea on cost of living
 

Rent/mortgage payments vary hugely. Do you want to live near the beach, river, CBD? Presumably you will want a a larger house - do you want a bedroom for each child? Are you in the executive lifestyle category? Will you get LAFHA?

Re: Idea on cost of living
 

I have no idea what LAFHA is. If you are up to it and feel like explaining it I'd appreciate it. Probably would want a 4-5 bedroom house...don't have to be on the beach or anything but 15-20 minutes would be nice...more important to be closer to work (CBD) and in an area where schools are good...any recommendations? Any places to avoid and why you'd avoid them?

Re: Idea on cost of living
 

Only a complete chump would pay that for cable TV! Its just as crammed with ads and unwatchable as FTA.

Spend the money on a decent internet conection ($60pm gets you unlimited ADLS2+) - and learn to source your media from other places. Even if you have to pay $500 for a new computer to store and play all the files you download, you'll be financially ahead in no time and will have viewing experiences FAR superior to trying to watch anying on FTA or cable channels.

FWIW - Here in Brisbane our 4 bed house with ducted a/c and pool runs up electricity bills of around $2000-$3000 per year.

Re: Idea on cost of living
 

LAFHA = Living Away From Home Allowance - quite a few threads here on BE about it and several members receive it.

I read somewhere that Perth has well over 300 suburbs, so there is something available for everyone, from billionaires downwards. You can rent in some very nice suburbs for reasonable amounts of money, but you might never be able to buy in that suburb - it all depends on your personal circumstances. For starters, have a look on www.realestate.com.au and try looking at Nedlands, which would give us an idea if that might be your sort of suburb.

There are lots of other good places, it all depends on what you can afford and the sort of lifestyle you want. Lots of Perth suburbs are within 20 minutes of the beach and the CBD. There are also dozens of suburbs to avoid, although there can be a great deal of heated discussion on here about Perth suburbs:lol:, just to warn you. Generally speaking, the most expensive (desirable) suburbs are those closest to the river (going west from the CBD) and the coast.

Re: Idea on cost of living
 

There's no mention on the type of visa your coming on as lahfa generally is only available for people on temp work visas e.g 457.

If your on a Pr visa then it's not available.

If your entitled to it then your employer has to offer it although not all do. Lafha is a way of reducing your tax liability. Your employer allows you a food and rental allowance which is not taxed, this can amount to quiet a bit and well worth getting.

Re: Idea on cost of living
 

Not everywhere it doesn't. No ADSL2 at all for me, simply not available.

Re: Idea on cost of living
 

you would have cable tv if you liked sport and were not that interested to be bothered to download anything. personally I coudl do without but my husband quite likes the old fashioned approach of coming home, push button on tv, lie down, adjust crotch etc.

mind you - he is a chump.

Groceries are expensive. you will see on other threads that my life in general is expensive but groceries with 3 children for us 6/5/3 cost around 1600-2000 a month. That includes popping out for milk etc. And cleaning products.

it can be done more cheaply and mine eat like adults

Re: Idea on cost of living
 

So please tell me if this expectation is reasonable, or correct problem areas:

Rent/Mortgage: $3,000/month (4-5 bedroom in a fairly nice area)

2 cars: $750/month ($375/month for a 4 year lease on each)...follow up question-how many miles is typical per year on an lease in Perth before you have to pay the per mile fee for driving too much?

Electricity and Gas: $200/month (4 bedroom house keeping it around 74-75 degrees year round)

Groceries: $2,000/month (2 adults, 4 smaller eaters 7/5/3/1)

TV: $110/month

1 cell phone with data plan: $100/month

Security System Monitoring: $40/month

Water/Sewer: $75/month

Thanks for your help

Re: Idea on cost of living
 

It depends on what you mean by a nice area (one of your other threads could discuss this in detail). If you want a great suburb closer to the CBD, it might be more like $4,000 in rent, but half that further out.

Some brief lease info here. It is very easy to do a large number of kms when you live in Perth, sorry I don't know anything about an "excess" charge for leased cars. I can recommend the Toyota Kluger, which seats 7, for everyday use and great for trips away (we have a roof rack for camping and beach gear). I wouldn't recommend driving into the CBD, but you might need a car to drive to a train station, depending on your suburb. Some train station car parks fill up very early. There are usually connecting bus services to train stations if you do not live within walking distance.

There was a thread about power charges a couple of months ago, when the bills for summer arrived:eek: (Perth had an extremely hot and humid summer this year). We don't have aircon (use pool to cool down), so our electricity costs are minimal, same with gas (gas-boosted solar hot water system). Others reported many hundreds of dollars for a 2 month power bill. Some people have their ducted reverse-cycle aircon on a lot (would hate to have their power bills:(). I would estimate that you do not need to use any form of heating/cooling for at least half the year in Perth. The rest of the time, it's up to the individual to decide. You can sleep well just using a fan, just as you can sleep well in winter with no heating at all, but we've all got our personal thermostats:). Climate comfort in Perth varies considerably - if you're near the beach, it's cooler in summer and warmer in winter. However, when it's hot, there's no cooling sea breeze, no matter where you live. Heat in Perth: again, a very personal thing, but I feel the heat when it gets to the mid-30s. If you live with the aircon on constantly in summer, I would imagine that it's very hard to go outside in hot weather. Power charges are due to go up again.

Do-able. Non-food items can catch you out a bit, eg nappies, laundry items, toiletries, cleaning products, medical charges.

We don't bother with cable, there's loads of programmes available on free-to-air TV.

Look up different plans on that whirlpool link I gave elsewhere.

You don't need to pay this at all, but it might give you peace of mind.

If you're a tenant you would probably pay water usage charges. If an owner, you pay usage charges and water rates (might be about $1000 annually). Usage depends on how frugal you are and we all need to be more frugal in Perth;). You are allowed to water your garden twice a week in summer by reticulation, but daily if you do it by hand or with a hose:blink:. Some houses have a bore, which apparently allows you to be more wasteful:blink:. If you have a pool, you will use more water and it will cost more.

Thanks for your help[/QUOTE]

Other costs to consider:

• Insurance - house and contents (or just contents if renting), car, medical (medical costs can be considerable here, but perhaps it won't be so noticeable for someone from the UK).
• Activities for children - swimming lessons, any other sporting/creative activities they are into.
• Tuitition - if school is not meeting your child's needs.
• Car running fees - registration, petrol, driver's licence, servicing.