hevs

Do you think the general cost of living is on a par with the uk.

hevs

LOL at myself, did a poll and its gone!!!

OK the answers were

1. Yep, now we've been here a while its swings and roundabouts it all balences out in the end

2. No we are totally skint here and wanna go home

3. No we are loaded here and don't understand what you mean??

Hels

For us, we are finding it cheaper here.

Now we have had 7 months to adjust and for me to re-adjust our spending habits and banking habits and really just to get used to spending the $ instead of the Pound. We lost loads of $ to start with as we were both used to just using the ATM when we wanted etc.

It took us a while, even though I am Australian. I was in the UK for 4 years so got used to spending the pound and also the banking in the UK. But now we have worked out a way to keep our costs down and we are living on an aweful lot less here and having a better lifestyle.

Its taken me longer than I had expected to get used to spending back here again. Also to get back to buying food the way I used etc. It felt like money was just disappearing out of our bank account to start with but now we have it alot more under control.

Hels

ABCDiamond

You should still be able to add the poll. I think they allow a certain time to add it after doing the post ?

fireeater

On first impressions I'd say it's swings and roundabouts. But we're not really living the same lifestyle as in England and so a comparison would be unfair. We have little creature comforts at home, but are spending more time out than we did in England, and that definitely seems cheaper.

btw, Hels, we'll be in Bendigo this Saturday night and wondered if you wanted to meet up or could advise us on some decent places to go out there. I think Cas will get in touch over the next day or two if that's alright

bondipom

Overall it is for me but I don't live in a house with 2.4 kids out in the suburbs. I do have to work longer hours with less holidays for the same money. For housing I rent which for me is cheaper especially when you take into account UK council tax. Buying would cost me the same.

Eating out is cheaper, steak is cheaper and in season fruit and veg is cheaper. Out of season fruit and veg costs a lot more.

Anyhow the differences are not that great and the change in value of the dollar from 2.7 to 2.4 to the pound has reduced that. That change in exchange rate has also made mortgage free living impossible for many of the current migrants.

hevs

Nope, i just tried and i can't see anything?? I'm just a dunce

HUP

Can we have a poll on that .

hevs

No, co i can't do one!!

Phoenixuk2oz

For us it's;

1. Yep, now we've been here a while its swings and roundabouts it all balances out in the end

It is difficult to assess though cos there are a few differences. For example we earn in total about 2/3 less than we did in UK but we can afford a house that's similar than we had in UK [but we needed to earn 2/3 more to run it in UK].

Don't have Gas here [other than gas BBQ] so no gas bill but electric can be higher than in UK if we use air con in summer months.

We find food is proportionatly more expensive in Aus than UK, perhaps that's because we were earning loads in UK so food wasn't a main bill whereas here it is. Steak seems cheaper in Aus than UK...yet chicken and pork more expensive in Aus.

Secondhand cars seem more expensive in Aus than UK cos they keep their value [they dont rust], yet new cars in Aus seem less expensive than UK.

No TV liscence in Aus...yet TV is crap so Foxtel is another cost to add on if you have it.

Water can be more expoensive if you have a pool, yet not many have pools in UK so difficult to compare water charges.

No MOT here, but annual Rego seems more than UK.

Parking [unless in the city] is almost always free here...whereas in UK I can't think of anywhere free parking other than supermarket?

Takeaways really cheap in Aus [especially with coupons] and eating out in the main seems less expensive than UK [except curry's and decent Chinese for some reason are more expensive here in Aus].

Petrol much cheaper in Aus and we dont have massive distances to travel so a great saving and public transport is clean, efficient and so cheap it's not worth us getting a second car, which we had to do in UK [so savings there too].

Going out for the day here IMHO is far, far, far less expensive than UK [unless you do the theme parks] and so we do more EVERY weekend as a family than what we did in UK.

So....all in all it's probably swings and roundabouts but we lead a less stressfull life with the same ups/downs and same swings and roundabouts as we did in the UK....expense wise.

It all balances out in the end...but we love the sunshine...and the fact you can plan the weekends activities with friends and know it aint gonna cost an arm and a leg to enjoy yourselves

Billabong

We've been here almost 8 months and we've found it to be about the same when you take everything into account. The pluses are obviously that we have a much more active social/outdoor life now so all in all absolutley no regrets!!

BTW - I don't think you're a dunce

Simone

Swings and roundabouts.

We live very cheaply, always have (I was a student until last year). Spending quite a bit more on entertainment I think (festivals, dinner out, weekends away, even if cheap, it's adding up).

gedge

About the same.
Richer quality of life, but poorer bank balances.

We both earn slightly less than we did in the UK, and our major expenses (rent and car) are higher here.
All other expenses are generally lower - weekly shop, bills, socialising.

In the UK we could save a decent amount each month (which we used to get ourselves here), but now we are lucky to have anything left by pay day.

Still we do so much more now and that makes up for it.

Larissa

I'd vote for number 1, but it's still hard to tell as I keep buying things for the house which we'd left in the UK. Our rent is pretty good but if we end up buying a house then our outgoings will shoot up as we didn't bring a lot of equity with us. However we are looking at much bigger houses than our 2 up 2 down in the UK, thinking about accomodating a growing family who will be space needing teenagers in a few years! We'd have moved up the housing ladder in the UK if we'd stayed there and would be in a similar position, so it's pretty much the same.

NealMartin

That just about sums it up for me aswell. Definitely No 1