bluenose66

Was hoping to come over in July, got through immigration no problems.
Wife, two kids and I, salary of $42000 got about £90000 to put down on a house, probably have a small mortgage. Wife un skilled but willing to turn her hand to anything to bring a wage in. After trawling the board I'm told we will be on the bread line , really thought we had enough to have a reasonable life over there.

Any advice.............

kathm

Not in NZ yet so can't advise, but just wanted to wish you luck with whatever you decide. We have 3 kids under the age of 4, so I know that it can make things so much harder to decide.

Hope someone can advise you.

Kathryn

Lenmil

I was on $36k and struggled with a wife and 2 kids. In CHCH there is hardly any part time work. And if you can get it it is a very low wage. Lovely place and miss it, but it is very expensive. We left before we got broke. Came back with £750 and that went straight away. You get no help if you do come back by the way. And people who you thought were close are in fact not. Was only gone a year, but we are now strangers almost to some. I don't regret going at all as it showed me who my real close friends were as well as family. You want any more just pm me and i will tell what i think.

BEVS

Two kids, no 2nd income and a mortgage. It will be extremely tight. Depends on the idea of a reasonable life.

bookemjano

Hi, we live reasonably well with a budget of $4K a month, and if it wasn't for Christmas I don't think we'd be spending that this month. Bear in mind a third of that goes on rent as well, which I assume is higher than your mortgage will be.

Our kids are both teenagers with lots of hobbies - one has a gym membership, has guitar lessons and plays touch rugby, the other has drum lessons and is about to have driving lessons, and we keep in budget on this. You don't say how old your kids are so you may need to factor in childcare.

$42K is going to give you around $2,750 a month in your hand, your wife would need to earn around $14 an hour for 20 or 25 hours a week to meet the $4k a month. Look around at the job sites, unfortunately they don't tend to give you hourly rates but you will see how many part time jobs there are.

It all depends on where you want to live, and as another poster said, what your idea of living is.

Joshlin

difficult decision and only 1 you can make, but here's our experience to add to the bag.
me, hubby, 2 kids (4 and 18mths). arrived 2 months ago in chch. hubby has work $40k, we have £100k for house deposit, we also had £17k for initial living expenses (car, initial rent / bond / letting fee, day to day before we had any income) we had no jobs set up before we arrived. there are plenty of jobs advertised in the local press - www.stuff.co.nz - jobstuff - for the online listings. I would say that your wife would definately need to work and like bookemjano we are working to a monthly budget of $4k
some of our expenses to date to give you an idea:
rent $320 / week, food $250 max per week (including nappies), childcare (4 days per week plus hot meals) $136 per week, $60 per week fuel for the car, electric (1 bill to go on) $60 for the month, internet $45 per month (1gb / 1mb speed), phone $33/month rental, $80 for the months calls, insurance (car / contents) $42 per month.
we have discussed mortgages quite recently - as a rough guide, borrowing $100k would cost about $160 / week and $140 about $250 per week - so much cheaper than renting, rates are dependent on value of house - for $340k about $1200 per year, no water to pay in chch (yet!) but would also need to factor in building insurance, regular maintenance etc etc.
Hope this helps - good luck with your decision making - for what it's worth - we knew it was gonna be tough but decided the experience would be worth it as long as we left ourselves a way out if we needed it (cost of tickets home / keeping £100k "intact" either as capital or in property).
Vicki

livewire

You would certainly find things very tight on that salary and your wife will need to work. As for your deposit for a house - $90k - wouldn't go far up here in Auckland or many of the major cities, decent houses can be a lot more expensive than you think.

Have you thought about asking for a larger salary? People only offer such low wages because they think they can get away with it.

sky

Well I'm sure you have thought long and hard about you're decision.

cottageinthesky

Think that's 90k sterling, not NZ$, which would make a sizeable deposit - in some parts of the country, perhaps mortgage free - in Wellington suburbs - only 15-20mins from central city, would go a long way to a small mortgage only, depending on where you buy,

Biddy

Wherever you go in the world there will be huge differences in what people percieve to be the "Breadline". People want different things in life, different things bring happiness to people. Please don't dismiss NZ before you have found out more. The property pages are an excellent place to start. If you feel that the houses you can see for $220,000 are not to your liking perhaps NZ is not the place for you.
We have been on the kapiti Coast for some months now, an area thought by some to be quite expensive, and there are some beautiful places for not much more than this. We rent the most gorgeous 3 bed place with 1/2 acre of land with views over kapiti island for $270/week about £120. My husband earns a little bit more than $42k but not much, but I don't work and we have 3 very happy children with huge appetites. Our standard of life to most would seem "comfortable". However to us it is the richest we have ever been. A house with sea views, nearby beach(Free), Swimming pool($1) and gorgeous places to go for picnics. No one judging us about the car we drive(a 10 year old Honda) or clothes we wear etc. Our children play so much sport, and are outdoors most of the time( it may sound corny but here their spirits seem so much free-er) There is a feeling that you achieve almost anything. So we are happy and depending on what you want from life, i'm sure you could too.

Gill and Rob

Well said Biddy.
Gill

Sega Mad

Hi Sarah

Just thought I'd put in a few notes about our current position with regards to NZ. I love your post BTW and appreciate a little optimism being expressed on this often gloomy forum. Phyl and I are not daunted by the cynical posts expressed on here but we have had to re-assess our plans. Changes in our personal circumstances at the present time have changed, and may create some obstacles. The main change of circumstance affecting our decision is that I have started a business which may hold us here for a little longer. I think its a goody though and may generate some much needed capital. It could be the very thing which could facilitate a successful move but, on the other hand, it may not be 'transferable' to NZ. Being in something of a specialist area makes it somewhat problematic in researching markets for such services in NZ. There are also many personal issues which make a move to NZ an enormous emotional wrench. In summary I guess that we are saying we will not rush blindly into it but have to check it out properly first. I reckon that we may pay a visit to NZ as a kind of reconnaissance mission. I would very much like to incorporate a visit to Oz as well and see some of my dearest old friends there. So we haven't written it off, we have just decided to exercise a little wisdom. (Don't wanna go over with no money and no job)

One thing for sure is that all those who have lived in two places for any substantial time will NEVER feel entirely at home in either place. I will always feel unsettled whether I live here in the UK or in Oz or in NZ.

In short aaaaaaargh!

Ali Mad Sega damage

Batty

Good luck with your business. You're probably being very wise. But I did get a sense of 'ah no, that's a shame' when I read your post. You must have made an impression on me at some time

For the OP, if your wife can work too you'd be ok, I think. I can't see how you'd manage otherwise. The only thing I'll say on this is that if you've got to 'live' anyway, i.e. pay a mortgage, pay the bills, wife already working and so not feeling resentful for HAVING to work, then it's a hell of a lot easier to do it here than in a big city with all the attendant problems that brings. My life here isn't THAT much different to when I was still in Ireland but it's EASIER (the capitals are for emphasis, not a shout ).

I don't think we realise the pressures that are exerted on us in Europe until we don't have them anymore. Ok - this is a 'girly' thing but just for example; if I was invited to 'an occasion' back in Ireland, no matter what it was, I'd be worrying about what to wear and would be convinced that nothing already in my wardrobe was suitable, so... a new outfit would be purchased. Here, I still 'dress up' but I don't feel I have to buy something specifically and the idea behind 'dressing up' is changed too - "is it clean? is it ironed?" Cool, that'll do

I'm not making light of the importance of having enough money to live on - I'm a miserable bitch if I feel I'm poor - but, there really are things here that money can't buy and that's not just a cliche.

Good luck in whatever you decide. (BTW, I WOULD ask for a pay rise - you've already got a 'no' so you're not losing anything by asking - just gaining if you get a 'yes'.)

livewire

Thanks for pointing that out, I feel a bit more optimistic for them now. Will be interesting to learn where abouts the job offer is located and what line of work he's in.

Pampellone

This was an enspiring read. My family and I due to go to West Auckland in March 2006 (2 month delay due to contract problems) and on $44k we were feeling very dispairing as we have 3 children under 10 and no money for to buy. It would would be nice to hear more positive reads. Thanks