I agree, your costs are sky high. However, in an area not too far away from you, my cost of living seems to be way below yours.

Mortgage £290 (large family house.
(However, I do know that's low - average
seems to be £500-£700)
Council tax £690 p.a. (good area)
Fuel £0.76 (town prices)
Cigarettes Same here, don't smoke either
Wine Like you say, depends on taste!
Holidays Late deals are good but yes, 2 children in school
holidays = expensive. Rip off everywhere, though.
Sunday lunch
in local £3.50
Car Decent family car £2,000 (5 years old)
Car insurance £280 p.a.

Also, I find supermarket shopping cheap as they're all so competitive now. Also, I'm on my own with 2 young children, work part time for an average wage, 25% off council tax for single occupancy (even if it wasn't, still £844 less than yours) - no help with that, no housing benefits, etc. I live within my means but still feel I have a good lifestyle.

I think all our posts are realistic and I agree with you, it's all relative. I don't think there is a "norm". Our costs, for example, are so different that mine could probably give quite a favourable impression, but like yours, they're real costs.

lou and mat

sorry to say this... but your heading for a shock.. i think perth is fantastic and was considering moving there myself - ive been in melbourne and sydney.....

however, the job opportunites in perth are very limited - you will be a foreigner - so you may find that ozzies are chosen over you - also perth is very perochial - and they look after themselves - even over the rest of australia...

i have ozzie friends in prof jobs and some them took 6 months to get work...

yep hilarys is stunning and i know it looks cheap when you look at the prices - i made the same mistake myself but when you are earning dollars its not cheap...

the facts are - you dont when your going to get work, you dont know what you will earn, the taxes are ridiculous - have you taken that into account... if you enjoy travelling take into accout the nearest city is singapore.. its expensive to travel too

you seem to slag off the uk for many reasons - but a holiday in perth for 3 week doesnt mean life here will be 'better' - they have the same problems here that they do back in uk -

if i lived in perth - i would rather send my kids to a school in uk over a private school in perth any day - the education system is shocking......

im not having a go....but it seems like your looking for etopia in perth - and its not......

my advice - dont sell up - give it a year

We used to live in the U.K and so it is not a new transistion.

We know house prices are expensive, but so what they are here too and getting worse. Where as UK prices have been high a lot longer and one day they will drop.

Petrol as @ yesterday in U.K was 76.9p per litre

An earlier post gave a rundown of expenses

9pnd for a lunch (so thats what about 18/19$ - average price)

5pnd for ciggys a pack of 20... i smoke and just paid $9.10 so they not that much different.

rent where i would live is around 300-400 pnds a month here $1064

food over there has more vairety, tasty meat, lots of special offers and free stuff.

cars are NOT expensive in comparison to here... lets see a brand new BMW 316i in the UK including VAT, plates etc is 19'450 pounds baSIC MODEL (that was checked on the bmw.uk site (which at current exchange rate would be approx 38'900 dollars) a BMW316ti (same car different branding) here costs $64'000 - $67'000 big difference to the U.K and basic conversion price huh.dont believe me go to http://www.bmw.com.au


Car tax over there is not $580(which goes up a lot every year, last year i paid 548) a year like the rego here. the car i looked at as based on c02 emmisions was 79 or 179 i cant remeber of the top pf me head, per year.

Council tax is as low as 700pnds so it depends where you live etc, and what band you fall in besides mum currently pays 1500 per year in rates,(2 years ago was $800) and you cant pay it monthly, either in full or 50/50 so makes a big dint in the pocket.

Hospital/GP/Dentists etc have a much higher standard of service than here in OZ and here it is all currently going to shit. as is education and dont even mention the backwards politics.

I dont have kids, mum and i are single and both qualified at decent proffesions

even if i did have kids i wouldnt send them to private as UK public schools are a lot more decent than here and believe me i have been to both, UK prior to coming here and then starting school here. School here is very expensive, and backwards.


The u.k is close to europe, you can to oz for 675 ($1350ish) return and here it is closer to the $3000 mark

So basically from most other posts it seems like the U.K is a lot better than here. Providing you earn a good wage... and i work at the moment a min of 40 hrs per week but often more so if the U.K basic is 35-37 whats the problem?


Im sorry but i have to aggree with the person who wrote the list of why i hate australia... touche.


I mean as far as i can tell it is all based on where you choose to live as to how much things cost and what you want to waste money on. Same here. But here the only cheap places are out in the bush.


Clothes are very cheap and better quality in U.K also average price for jeans here is $75 for a fairly decent pair, and then designer or levis etc are $150+ and yes you can get el cheapo jeans for $40 but they dont last long.


The only reason i cant make up my mind is because it is a big move and yes it may go wrong, but i dont like it here either never have and it wasnt my choice to come here as i was only 14.

All i can see is that if you live in London or similar then of course the cost of living etc is going to be bloody ridiculous... that would be like living in Sydney here. The tourist capitals of each country.

Jayell where do you live?

And you just proved my point... LOL

Hi Lau and Mart,

I live in Perth and have done for over 15 months. You say the UK is expensive? Wait until you get here and you are earning $'s then you will realise that OZ isn't the cheap place many British people think it is. I know you came here on a holiday but to actually live here and earn the $'s is when you start to realise how expensive it can be.

You have made a list about costs, well I'll make one too, but remember you CAN'T convert back to pounds but once you live here you'll see what I mean.

Mortgage $840 a month over 25 years (in the UK we were paying 350 pounds but only had 14 years left on the mortgage)

Rates $1000 a year (We were cheapest band in the UK, can't remember how much but not as much as here)

Fuel 98c a litre for Diesel and use around $60 a week (UK used around 15 pounds a week)

Cigs same price as the UK, I don't smoke but have seen the prices

Wine starts around $7-$8 a bottle but same wines as Sainburys around $10. My dad came over in September and took great delight in telling the sales assistant that the same wine was about $2 cheaper from Sainsburys in the UK. My dad asked why, as it was made in WA?

Internal flights are cheaper than they use to be but again like you say, if you have children (no childrens prices on internal flights here) then the prices go up during holidays etc. You will also find that there are very few travel agents to pick from. You have The Flight Centre being the main one and a few little ones but they can't compete with Flight Centre who seem to have the market.
Flights to the UK from here are more expensive than the UK to OZ. I have managed to get return flights for us but it's 625 pounds one way, each! ($1500) there are cheape ones with Vietnam airlines but only by a few hundred dollars.

Sunday lunch in a reasonable restaurant would be anything from around $16 upwards, some restaurants in Hillarys from around $20 upwards. The fast food here is very cheap but than can get a bit much after the 1,000th pizza!! I must admit the food we get in the restaurants is wonderful though!

I think the cheapest brand new car we've seen has been around $13,000 so the same as the UK. Only a small one though not a top V8 thingy.

We pay about $550 for two cars fully comprehensive, but the car values are $3000 and $8000 so I think thats about the same as the UK.

Car registration $210 every 6 months
House insurance $450
School Fees $900 a year/ $140 in a state school for books, pens etc

Shopping is by no means cheaper than the UK, honestly. The variety is terrible so you tend to stick to what you know. There are no naked beans for 9p if you're a bit skint one week. The cheapest loaf of bread is around $1.60 and thats about the same quality as a 15p one from Sainsburys. The beerl isn't cheaper especailly in a pub (if you can find one) hubby pays around $7 a pint in the Old Bailey in Joondalup!!!

Water rates, paid yearly $650 PLUS your water useage.

Gas is around $75 a month (Uk we paid 20-30 pounds a month)

Electric around $50 but when we had a pool that shot up to $150 a month

Telstra phone bill around $100 a month (UK about 30 pounds)

So from my calculations it's about the same. I'am not underminding your decision to move here, I just like to advice that the prices are not cheap. They are about the same. Some things here are cheaper than the UK, some things in the UK are cheaper than here. (internet for instance, that here is a joke)

In the UK my hubby was earning around 10 pounds an hour, I havd a part time supervisor job at Sainsburys and earn't very little!! (around 5.50 per hour) but we were comfortable. We didn't worry about money. I had a horse and the job I had paid for his keep. We have one child who didn't go without.

Here we are financially worse off. I found it difficult to get a job so worked part time with horses. Hubby now earns $15 an hour and this is his fifth job in 15 months. So you can see, our wages are bad and yet we have to pay the same as we paid out in the UK? Many many people we have met from the UK earn no more than $22 an hour (electrician we know). I suppose it depends on what trades you have to offer. I don't know anyone on a higher wage than that, the average seems to be between $15 and about $22 an hour.

Good luck and I wish you well. Sorry for the long thread!
Please do not come over here thinking is it cheap, it is not!!

Just something from our point of view. We are lucky enough to have no mortgage here in Oz (cheap house in cheap area) but if we did have the standard mortgage repayments, our mortgage would be about 25% of our take home pay, whereas in England it was about 18% (nice house, decent area).

I'm happy here but I do feel that financially we are worse off than Uk.


I do worry how the kids will be able to afford a house here when they grow up, I thought I left this worry behind.


Diane

Unfortunalty we have the mortgage and I am sure that we are less off each month!!

How we will ever save up to holiday and see parents I am not sure

aqua 2778

your posts are very interesting but i think your calculations may be a bit squiffy. the current exchange rate is about 2.4 2.5 so your steaks costing £17 would cost about 43 dollars not 30. The car would cost about 50,000 dollars so a bit more than you first thought.

Im interested to know where all the people are in the uk that earn an average of 35 - 37 k a year. certainly not me. ive been to university for four years and have been in my 'professional' job for 5 years and still only earn 22k a year. maybe im in the wrong job. lots of my friends are 'professionals' too but would have to work in london to command this sort of wage.

Just my humble contribution. I have been in Perth for 13 years. I work hard and long hours as an electrician. Over those 13 years about one year has been spent on the dole.(never been on dole in England) and at this point in my life I have never been in more debt or unhappy. Australia, Perth, I think is fine for a holiday. The impression that I get is that unless you are prepared to be a workoholic you will struggle here to pay the bills. I want a life as well as a decent standard of living. How is it that I didn't really worry too much about paying the bills in England but I do now? Something is not right with this place. But you have to be here for a time to experience it. I'm thankfully flying out on Thrs 13th May now, had to postpone for a week. Can't wait. Oh by the way Mike Stanton and Dotty Rule!

Never thought about that one . . . what are the costs of that? (A bit of a necessity for all of us at times, I think!)

I agree too. My working hours were much longer in Oz. Also there is a very immature attitude in Australia, rather like being in school. If I was exhausted, did a long day the day before (i.e. left at midnight) or wanted to leave at a sensible time (like 6pm!) all eyes would be on me, people would make a show of looking at their watches and on some occasions a challenge would be made. Back in London I pretty much come and go as I please, as long as our clients are happy and the work gets done. Sometimes I work late, sometimes I leave early, nobody bats an eyelid. Its like being back in the world of the grown ups. I always laugh at the TV when I see people on one of these endless emigration shows saying that they want to move to Oz because they want to escape the rat race. Hello! Are you going on permanent holiday or what?? The sun shines, but not in an Aussie office matey!

Here they are!....
I (age 33) work in london as an accountant and earn £82k basic plus bonus.
My wife (age 30) works in London as a marketing officer and earns £38k basic plus share options.
My younger brother (age 30) works as an architect in Bristol and earns £38k.
My younger brothers girlfriend (age 27) works in IT in Swindon and earns £35k
My older brother (age 35) works as a chef in Bristol and earns £30k pa
My step brother (age 28) works as an architect in Nottingham and earns £32k
My step sister works as a procurement manager in Bristol and earns £38k


All of these people would take a pay cut in Oz, in my case of around 60%. Most of the people I know earn over £25k, but they do all live in the south west and south east. Just thought I'd clear that up for you.

Mainly because we will have the time to live a healthier lifestyle. With the expenses of living here and the two of us working full time we dont have time to live healthy lives nevermind the kids. Our move to Oz will free up our time and allow us to get out of the rat race that is this part of the UK. The thing is we love travelling and seeing new cultures, weather we live for 2 years or 50 years in OZ its good to see the world and experience new cultures. Far healthier than staying put and doing nothing dont you think?

" And some fell on stony ground......."

G

And came back with knowledge that they had tried and failed rather than stayed put and never known! Life is to short to be full of regrets!