dave_wong

I need some feedback from you guys who are currently residing Perth, WA. In particular families with only a single income. i.e. husband working & wife a homemaker.

1. Is your family's quality of life affected??? i.e. by the high cost of living due to the current boom.
2. If yes to question 1, how is your family managing the situation??
3. If the wife decides to seek employment, who is going to look after the kids below 5 years??? i.e. How does a typical Australian family cope with having "dual income" and taking care of the kids????

DAVE...

renth

1 and 2 Yes, but it's more to do with petrol prices - taking public transport to work and leaving the Falcon at the station car park. Hoping to save about $170 a month.

3 If the child is below school age and you have no family network of support to look after the child you need to either get a nanny or a place in day care, both of which are expensive so if the wife is to work it needs to be for big bucks toi make it worth it. I believe there is a benefit or tax relief for childcare.

NKSK version 2

1. Don't know because we arrived during the current boom. We're kind of used to having little spare money - same in England. In my job the salaries are lower here and the tax/family welfare benefits less than England.

2. Just watch every penny (cent)! and try to look to the future when financially things will be easier.

3. We made the decision not to put the kids in any childcare - hence a stay at home mum. But you obviously suffer financially. I gather though that child care is expensive.

The Johnstons

We're single income (arrived 6 weeks ago), stay at home mum, 2 kids (8 & 6). We don't exactly have financial 'worries' but our rental cost is huge, inital outlays for cars, furniture etc was more than expected and with no deposit for a house we are really concerned that we'll never be able to afford a house here. That's really the only way the 'boom' is affecting us.

Day to day cost of living doesn't seem much different, but there's much more to do with the kids due to the weather and facilities around.

From what I've heard (from other mums at school) the cheapest option for kids under school age is daycare. Most school (round here anyway) have after school care/clubs for working parents too.

Here, as anywhere, it's just a case of adjusting your lifestyle/spending habits to suit your income and I think it takes a while before you can work out exactly what your 'normal' monthly expenditure is going to be.

In saying all that, we absolutely love it here and are determined to make a real go of it .
Tracey

movetoperth

Many people don't have an option other than to use daycare facilities. I have a relative, early 20's, lived with her fiance for 4 years, never bought a home on the advice of both sets of parents as they didn't expect the relationship to last. Now 4 years on they have a 6 month old boy and she has had to go back to work full time so they can try and afford to buy a house. Had they bought 4 years ago it would have cost them half of what they will have to pay now, if they can ever get anything. Every time they save the deposit they find the house costs ahve gone up so much they need to find more.

These are the sort of people who are really strugling.

Lynn

dave_wong

Thanks guys for the feedback. I wonder how much is the fee they charge for child care service per say???

DAVE..

Betty Boot

Usually around $50/day or $200 for full time, athough it does get subsidised from government and is dependent upon income. I am stay at home mum now, I went back to work after first child but after second child I stopped working as i couldnt earn enough to make it worth my while after daycare fees and I was quite a high earner.

john_w

How much is petrol there now, it was 95c when we were there in April 05.
Liverpool UK--96p/L unleaded.

Luma

http://www.fuelwatch.wa.gov.au/

northerner

Just over 1/2 the price than the UK then... Didn't realise the 'standard' unleaded was 91-93 RON ! I won't be putting that s*ite in my car that's for sure...!

Graham

renth

Lend us a tenner, Richard Branson!

northerner

...and I won't be buying a 4 litre Falcon when I arrive down under either!

Graham

movetoperth

It may seem half the price of the uk to you now, but when you are earning dollars it is different. Petrol prices for us now are the same as they were for us when we left the UK, as in it takes the same %age of our weekly budget, so don't be fooled with this "oh but when you convert it rubbish"

Lynn

northerner

I know, I know, I know. I didn't mean it like that and the last thing I want is for this to go down the route that alot of other perth threads seem to go.....

I know that lots of things are cheaper and lots of things are more expensive. Taxes are high, fuel is cheap. Lettuces are expensive, sunshine is free etc., etc., I didn't mean it to come across as 'everyone in Oz is moaning about the bloody price of fuel when we pay the equivelant of $2.30 a litre in the UK'


Graham

movetoperth

Sorry, no i know you didn't, and i didn;t mean to come across the "don;t be so bloody stupid of course petrol is expensive". Just sometimes you get sick fed up of standing in the supermarket listening to people say "ooooh look at the price of this isin't it cheap, in Tesco that would have been xxx" and i went shopping today so it's narking me just a little more than usual

Lynn