aston man

we have just been granted our TRA and i was that happy ,now today i have been talking to a bricklayer in perth who is most unhappy.so were down again.
after a thread on here that went pear shaped,can we live on a bricklayers wage or not?
it seems that most bricklayers are struggling,what about everybody else,other people have told us that you can live easily on $1000 a week.
whats the average wage of an australian?how do they manage?

so if i bring home the above and my wife got a part time job in a restaurant etc.could we afford to live or not?

please help

very,very confused.

Aston man

grahampaula

Hi there although I cant answer about the wages just think about the new life style. My husband is an Elecrtician and I am a manager of a Learnign Support Unit in a school. We are very scared about jobs etc but what will be will be and I even said that I would do a cleaning job just to make ends meet. Whatever you decide to do good luck and I hope that it works out for you

acbh2

Hi Aston man its a really scary process that we are all going through and on these forums there are positve and negatives for every aspect of moving to Oz as there are positives and negatives for staying in the UK. Unfortunately unless you brave the move you will never know. You don't want to live your life thinking what if! In the Uk there are families who live on £20,000 a year and some who live on £70,000 its all about whether you want a luxurious lifestyle or you just want to live comfortably and happy in a sunny climate. Perth is an expensive city is there not another city you fancy? Anyway
hope you are able to make the best decision for you and your family.
Good Luck and Best Wishes
Andrea
xx

aston man

thank you for your replies,i know that i will always find work.
i am pretty sure i am doing the right thing,like all of us on here we wont the best for our families,what is my major worry is that we end up skint.
i would not want to move to the otherside of the world and not be able to buy the kids new shoes etc.unfortunetly most brickies are talking about life being really tight.

with thanks again .

aston

Katsmajics other half !!!

We dnt have no lavish lifestyle and i dnt earn loads of money about £22,000 a year and that keeps us pretty good over here we dnt go out alot and kids are always fed and dont want for much we have holidays in UK and our kids love it they all do clubs through skoll and stuff.
We are not into big name label clothing or brands and we shop at Tesco so i think that the way we live over here will rsult in us having quite a good standard of living over there....were hoping lol.
We are looking at moving to Adelaide which is alot cheaper to live than alot of the other places, and the Mrs said that when we get there and get settled she will go out to work and utilise her degree in hospitality management.....so who knows i could have a life of leisure. lol.

You get alot more for your money out in Oz so the ppl say.......so its hard to compare pounds and dollars.

We are so looking forward to old style shoping as in going to all the different placed to get your shopping, greengrocers, butchers, and the local markets etc, etc.

We aint going to live like millionaires, but i think we shall be better off than we are in UK.

Follow your dreams mate and whatever comes in your way you will be able to work your through it !!!!!

Good luck

thebears

May sound naivie of me mate but could you tradies not get together to form a company to trade through to raise your earning capacity and perhaps help each other build your own homes?

>Trigger<

The ups and downs of the immigration process i'm afraid..and then when you get here you will have the highs and lows of leaving home...just get used to the highs being really high and the lows being...well....low?

In a nutshell,we've been here 4 years,1st year was like one long holiday,2nd year was absoultely crap (nearly went home twice),year 3 was more settled(PR was granted) and this last year has seen us pretty much settled,so depending on who you talk to and what stage their at...opinion's change.

On the subject of money..$1000 a week,yes you will survive... we do..my neighbours do, all of us normal families with kids...mortgages..bills..cars.. etc

You've dipped your toe in the creek,now you just need to jump

She'll be right mate

karenjc

when you first get here and every thing is shinny and new your out lay will be more. A lot depends on if you are renting or buying and what amount of mortgage you will have, how many cars you have and kids if they are at school or kindy. Can you survive on $1000pw, yes you can but you cut your cloth accordingly and with so many free things to do you will still be in my opinion better of than in the UK.Good luck.

thebears

Good point Karen

We have found so many things to do without spending any money - and its not being a cheapskate either its just there are so many great parks, cycle tracks and play areas. We havent even had time yet to visit the beach.
Kids have just such a great time outdoors.

Hutch

There are house-building booms on the Gold Coast and in Perth at the moment. Yet Perth has house prices comporable to Sydney's, whilst property is still very affordable in Queensland (usual clause about location etc etc). So if you're seriously worried about affordability, why move to Perth? I must admit I don't understand why so many Brits charge lemming-like for the west coast for no obvious reason - not saying that's true in your case though - but surely it's worth thinking about. If you've got friends and family out there then fair enough, but if you're going in 'cold', surely it would make sense to consider other areas? Just my two pence worth ...

flip

Know a couple of people out in Melbourne who do cleaning. Apparently wage for that is $20 an hour which is pretty good money but ridiculous when you think they charge over £15 an hour in the UK.

Hutch

But you can't really compare the two, because straight dollar for sterling comparisons simply don't work. If you're earning $20 an hour then you can only appraise that in terms of the cost of living where you are.

thebears

Vanessa did a post a while ago where someone was even getting $70 per hour for cleaning

flip

I agree. $20 an hour out here is pretty good money but $70 an hour is even better - where do I apply?

dipdip

Hi Aston Man

Just wanted to say don't worry! My hubby is earning almost half what he earned in the uk , he came here as a carpenter/shopfitter and had 2 jobs in 3 weeks! The money was crap ($16 ph) and we found it a real struggle. Luckily he has landed himself a maintenance job doin up rental properties and the money is better...we still get less than $1000 a week and have 3 sons who eat like horses. I don't think you should base your decision on coming here on the money, we get through these things whatever...go for it you will be fine! Hope this helps.
dip