rich-shell

we are a young couple, in our 20's, looking to move to western australia, perth area. we have been trying to gather information about the cost of living, ie monthly bills and day to day expenses! we have a young child, under 1, and we are looking to start the process within the next few months.

we need advice about what areas are appropriate for young families, with local shops, parks and schools, preferably within walking distance.
we have been looking at rental properties, but are unable to form a budget as we are clueless about the cost of day to day expenses. Obviously here we pay water rates, council tax, gas, electric etc etc!!! How much should we expect to spend on a monthly basis in different areas in and around perth???

Any advice/information/useful links would be very much appreciated

Thankyou!!!

Kingseat

Until you know where you will be working there isn't any point in looking at rental areas as you don't want to spend your entire day on the freeway (massively busy) at rush hours.

If you can tell us where you will be working I am sure people will come up with some areas for you to live.

You have a child under 1 so still in nappies. Nappies and wipes are pretty expensive. I wish I'd stocked up on some in the UK when ASDA/Boots etc had BOGOF on and sent them over in the container. One pack of 30 nappies is around $26 and a pack of wipes that you put into a plastic container is around $14. For a normal single pack of wipes - say Johnsons then those are around $7 each.

What I can tell you re costs so far is:

Telstra - connecting telephone $59 (existing property)
Electric - new account $38
Gas - now account $50
Internet - depends on what you use as choice is vast.
Mobiles - as internet. Bring your own wireless router if you have one as you need to pay here.
Foxtel - up to $115 per month
Food is pretty much as you'd pay in the UK. Some items are more expensive and others are cheaper. Personally, I have found fruit and veg to be more expensive but meat and dairy to be cheaper. Difficult to give exact figures as I use Woolworths for the basics but use local butcher, baker and fruit and veg shops.

Fuel is cheaper but you need to pay stamp duty when you purchase a car (I know some posters here have managed to get the garage to pay this). We paid about $500 for a Ford Focus which cost $17,000. You need to pay a transfer fee too. Then there is the transfer of your driving licence if you are coming as a PR. Easy to do and you can buy either a 1 year or a 5 year licence.

We live in Woodvale. Good area within walking distance to the shops (although I'd never do it in the height of Summer), local school and park. If I want clothes shopping or Big W or Target then it is a 10 minute drive to Whitfords or 20 minutes to Joondalup. You really need a car though as you'd never manage to walk that far in 40 degree heat in the Summer.

We've got a good rental 3 x 2. The landlord pays the rates as part of the weekly rent but we pay gas, electric, phone, foxtel, internet and water.

Basically your costs of living will probably be at least what they are in the UK - possibly a bit more. Anything less is a bonus.

rich-shell

Thankyou for all the information.
I'm an electrician, so i'm hoping that i will be able to find work near where we want to live, rather than the other way around.
Not sure if this is realistic!!
But we were hoping to at least have a couple of areas in mind before i started applying for jobs.

Will def be stocking up on nappies before we travel!!
Is it expensive to ship your belongings over?

mecheng

Depends if you are looking at inner city or more suburban. Inner city is nice in Perth as you have Kings Park on your doorstep. Living there a lifetime ago, I liked West Perth, Subiaco, Wembley, South Perth and some others I can't recall for the life of me. However, some of these areas are likely to be expensive.

rocket01

There are some massive construction jobs getting under the way in the Kimbereley area ($10 billion worth springs to mind) 1 is in mining the other a massive gas field for gorgon, maybe worth a look in this area as things as jobs are hard to come by atm.

rich-shell

we would love to move close to the beach but realise that this is probably out of our price range.
we are interested in a quite neighborhood close to a nice school with plenty around. we are open minded with about where we end up.

i appreciate that jobs are hard to come by but i was hoping that things would be better in australia than in the uk. is this the case?
i have heard that the mines are an option with employment shortages but im not sure about being away from the family.

if anyone has experienced working in the mines and living away from home i would appreciate your input.

itigo

Where does everyone get their fancy nappies from?!! The best ones in terms of being leakproof for my little one are the Mamia range in Aldi, good quality and $17.99 for 50 large. Small and medium are $16.99 for 56. Still lots more than Asda that we used to use but not nearly a dollar a nappy! Also use the Coles wipes and have got those on offer for 3x80 wipes for $9.

We took the Foxtel package they make you take with lots of options (but no sport) and we pay $80 a month and are about to streamline it more as we don't need all the channels. If you don't need the sports channels it is more reasonable than the OP said.

Kingseat

We don't appear to have an Aldi so I just get Huggies nappies from either Woolies or Big W. As for wipes I believe using anything other than huggies or johnsons is a false ecomony as you use twice as many to get bums clean. My opinion though.

The $115 for foxtel is everything including an HD box.

itigo

Bummer not having an Aldi - forgot Perth has yet to get one - sorry!!! The Coles wipes have been fine though.

We have IQ but not an HD box - but if you are trying to save I guess you wouldn't go for Foxtel with all the flashy stuff, if at all!