Alienfeet

Hi There,

me and my family (2 adults 2 children - 3 and 5 years) are hopefully moving to Brisbane end of December this year.

I have a job $85k and there is a chance my wife will also have a part-time one at the same company.

We're not really taking much cash with us at all. We will have paid for flights, removals and shipping and we will have the cash for 4 weeks short-term rental and to cover the bond and rental advance for our long-term rental. We will also have $2500-$3000 for a car to runaround in for the first few months.

Apart from about $1000 to get us through the first 2 weeks until I get my first pay cheque, that's about it. Is there anything else I'm not thinking about as I can't see this amount of cash being a prob. I read about people taking £15k with them to get started!

All opinions welcome.

Cheers

curly

Personally I think you're going to struggle to find a car for that cheap What about furniture etc

JAMFC

A few costs I can think of off the top of my head in the first 2 weeks:

Car insurance (maybe just get 3rd party if it's a cheap car)
Petrol/tolls - depends on how much you're driving around +/- $50/week
Food - $150-$200/week
Hire car/taxis/public transport until you buy your car (make sure it comes with a safety certificate)
Drinks, ice creams, coffees whilst out
Sunscreen!

Should be ok with $1000. Good luck!

.

bingobob777

Buying furniture
renting furniture
school uniforms
nursery fees
food
trips out
not getting long term rental in 4 weeks
rental being more expensive than planned
car insurance
mobiles - need one for internet, believe me you'll need it
car seats - 2 kids so you'll need two
fuel - $100 easy
Public transport to get to work

Just for starters.

A car for 2-3k is a bit of a longs shot as well.

Honestly unless you want to spend your first two weeks in your new home sitting in a crappy short tern rentl then I think it's impossible. I arrived end of Feb 2011, my wife and 2 kids end of March 2011.

A short selection of some of my outgoings in the first few weeks

$1700 for 10 nights temporary accommodation
$2200 for 5 weeks furntiture rental
$500 for 2 weeks food
$300 to get oldest started in school
$300 on car seat, other one came on plane
$150 on phones
$50 car insurance

How much wages you expecting after 2 weeks? Are you starting work as soon as you get here? How is everything getting sorted then?

Alienfeet

Curly - we're having all our stuff shipped over

JAMFC - Everything is budgeted for weekly in terms of schools, medical, GP visits, food, mobiles, broadband, fuel, rego, insurance, public transport etc. etc.

BingoBob777 - very detailed response, thanks. As I responded to JAMFC I have just about everything budgeted for in terms of weekly living costs. We are going to be staying in the Brisbane Holiday Village for the first 4 weeks and that will be paid for up front.

Also we are having all our stuff shipped over so no need to buy any furniture.

Yes, I start work as soon as I get there (Jan 4th or 5th). My employer is offering LAFHA as part of my salary package and they have told me my NET annual salary will be $74,900 which means my first fortnightly pay cheque will be around $2880.

My budget for a car might be an issue but one we can sort out I think.

Cheers for the respsonse guys

Alienfeet

By the way BOB, what is The Gap like? I have this suburb on my shortlist along with Mitchelton, Alderley and Ferny Grove

Turban Explorer

The price of the car is very ambitious and I think food for a family will be more than $200 a week as someone suggested. Basically $1000 will give you the equivalent of 400 quid - if you can get by on that for 2 weeks in the UK then you might be frugal enough to not need to bring anymore over to start up. I think bringing so little risks putting yourself under more strain and anxiety at the start.

swallowbride

Hi,
We (family of 5) are in the same boat as you, NOT much cash at all! We too are staying at Brisbane Holiday Village and need to hire a car from the airport.
OH hasn't got a job to go to so will use the car to look for work and rental house.
Will let you know how we get on with what little money we have and our stumbling blocks (hope we don't have ANY of them) lol, and what Brisbane Holiday village is like too.

Take care, x

chris955

I agree about the car, you will struggle to find anything worth buying for $3k and $200 a week wont buy much food for a family.

goldchoccycoin

Hi, I'm no expert but it seems very unlikely that an income of $85K gross could be as much as $74900 net even with LAFHA!

That would make your taxable income $10100.

I would just double confirm with your employer the tax free amounts available as it could impact your budget significantly.

Best of luck.

asprilla

I disagree, $2 or $3k will easily pick you up a Ford festiva with 100km to 150km.

To the OP, as per tking's post if I were you I'd be making sure 100% that your net salary will be the figure you've been told.

Also, I would have some sort of contingency plan in place if you can't find a rental within 4 weeks.

cheers

Scoult

I would personally would have a lot more $ i.e. bond etc. Brisbane is the 14th most expensive city in the world! So be prepared!

goldchoccycoin

I've just looked at another post where bingobob777 Here states that for a family of four you could get $15k a year for food, $26K a year for rent (assuming $500 week rent) so your taxable income would be $44K. You may also need to ask them about super contributions etc.

macy

The Gap is lovely, it seems to have a good bus service into the city, my hubbie worked at the Gap when we first came over and we spent a long time around that area. I can't imagine that the traffic is that good in rush hour now as it really is one road in and one road out so the traffic in the mornings might not be too good,. The Gap has a great state high school that does well against the top private schools in Brissy. Good luck with your move over.

fish.01

Which survey did you get that from?

I assume the Economist Intelligence Unit survey. This survey does not measure cost of living in each country, but rather the cost of visiting for someone earning US dollars. As Australia's exchange rate has surged against the US dollar Australian cities have risen in the survey rankings independently of any cost of living changes. In fact our cost of living could have actually dropped and we still would have risen in the survey.

It makes this survey meaningless for cost of living comparisons.