Toon_Nut

http://www.emigratenz.org/cost-of-li...w-zealand.HTML

Going on todays prices?

Genesis

I got to $952 and that was with no rent or mortgage!!!!! Kate clears over $1k a week and it all goes. I would say that is very accurate.

Lee Lee

Looks like my plans to be a housewife are well and truely out the window

Toon_Nut

$952 a week without rent or mortgage! Eh, nee way man!!


Do it again and tell me it's nearer $750, with rent!!


There's only two of us and lucky enough the wife loves bread and water, it's the only thing she can cook!

Lee Lee

Looks like thats all I'll be having! Might be able to splash out and have beans on toast. Seriously, that calculation was a lot scary, wish I hadn't done it now. Whats that saying... ignorance is bliss

Genesis

Sorry, and that did not include things like Felix's one day school at $2400 a year or Kates nursing rego. But I re did it and got down to $922 per week plus the above..and that is with no rent as due to our age we are mortgage free. Come to think of it it does not include the kids school fees either at over $1200 a year!!! We really do get thru a grand a week and then some as we get about $4k ish a year in tax credits plus we earn a little interest. Each year we never save any money. The calculations do not leave any expenditure for hols either. A week in Raumati cost $2300. Does not include $60 a month life ins either. Or the 55 quid I spend each month on a UK endowment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or the $40 a month to World Vision. Life ain't cheap!!!

Expat Kiwi

I say the same. Now you can see why 70% of Kiwis have no medical insurance and why very few have adequate pension plans.

Genesis

Forgot her masters too..that costs $1716 a year and the tickets to the UK for xmas not much change out of $13250. We do eat well but we don't spend much on clothes and don't smoke. I would say that we do live well but in no way extravagantly. I am careful with both our central heating and electricity and we often buy stuff from charity shops and I am an avid skip diver/stig of the dump making use of other's throw aways. My Honda is 13yrs old and Kate's Audi is 8yrs old. I have also forgotten the vets bills so far this year at just over $500. Good God we do spend a bloody fortune!! We also entertain loads (much cheaper than going out and twice as much fun!!).

Bo-Jangles

Since most bills are monthly, without doing the sums it's not obvious to me where things are over or under. However, I spotted a couple of items that could be upped a bit.

Household rates would be about $30 a week for a $500k house - of course it does depend on the local authority. A rough sum going by our latest rates bill is just a tad over 0.31% on the Capital Value.

A packet of $20 cigs at $10 is well out of date - they went up quite a bit and a European/American brand is $12.70 to $12.80

Things like house maintenance are limitless and depends upon what you include. I note $30 per week is deemed to be living the high life. There's no allowance for gardening upkeep, I imagine this is excluded.

If you're a gardener or plan to say decorate one room per year, then I would double that. Anything DIY related, paint, brushes etc are very expensive as are garden plants, pest control, moss and weed killer type products.

Car Costs: shown at $30 per week would have to be the very lowest of the low side. I have the weeniest little car, fill it up once per fortnight, drive 25kms per day, five days per week. This costs (for me) assuming nothing goes wrong:

Wof Twice Yearly x $45 = $90
Petrol $57 Fortnight = $1,482
Service Yearly $200
Road Tax $281.61
Total for Year $2053.61
Cost per week = $39.49

A failed WOF, meant a new tyre fitted costs me $120 on top of this and AA Membership is another $110 per year.

Cheesehead

I'd say pretty accurate. Life is not cheap here. Really think about the finances.

DennisBergkamp

as i'm on my own i got mine down to about $550
guarantee it wont be like that lol

i'm in for a shock when i get there

Heavenlyscent

Yes I think you are. We didn't really anticipate the cost of living and the poorer wages as a reality until we were there, hence being back in the UK 18 months later and happier with life. Life is too short for regrets, love the experience and love life

Stormer999

Poorer wages/poorer life style.... everyones own choice

Toon_Nut

Hi there, just curious as to why you headed back to the UK and didn't try somewhere else if NZ didn't work out for you?

Was it "better the devil you know"?

I'm not trying to be funny or owt, I'm just asking why after all the upheaval of leaving the UK you chose to come back here 18 months later, what could of changed so much in a country in that short space of time to make you want to return there again, or was it a case of what wasn't for you in NZ?

Heavenlyscent

I will try a quick reply and it is only our experience before I get shouted down by others on here
We sold a 5 bed detached house here in the UK and had the same like for like housing in NZ a 5 bed detached bungalow
We had good cars here UK and good cars and boat there
We had a fantastic education here (appaling education in NZ) I am a Lecturer (We had to experience it for ourselves)
We wanted the safer lifestyle, our 15 yr old daughter was sexually assaulted in NZ and it took a year to go to court and yes he was convicted and was sent down for 2 years, never happened here because we took our kids all 4 of them to and from school
We took 2 dogs and a cat and a 40ft container, the vets fees, the food etc were all very expensive in comparison to the wages, I was on a third of my UK wage in NZ, hubby was an HGV driver here and in NZ. Before we left the Uk we had our 3 holidays abroad a year and a good standard of living, the reality of living on a budget was very difficult in NZ. I have never had to struggle for money, but in NZ there was very little excess money left over each week. Holidays abroad were out of the question due to lack of funds and the fact that NZ is so far away from other countries. Changing the location in NZ would not have bettered our lifestyle, we would still have been on low wages (compared to the UK). I may sound as though I only cared about money but it is the money situation which gives us a good lifestyle or hard one. I can't do with something breaking and not having enough money to just renew it ( washing machine) out of the excess income each week etc. We had money in the bank, but because the wages are so low and the prices high we were using money from our savings every month, when it hit a certain amount I said enough is enough! It is about choice, I wanted a life where I could work and get paid good wages so we could all have a good style of living, without hardship. So we sold some furniture, got a 20ft container, flew the animals home costing thousands again but we are happy now. We wouldn't change the expereince but i can honestly say it was not the best we have ever had. Good Luck with your move, anyone who wants to emmigrate should do it. We are all different and have different experiences.