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Job offer & wages advice
Hi all,
I had a rather exciting phone call yesterday from NZ - a job offer in Wellington....not for the job I applied for, but actually a more senior post!! Now the question I wanted to ask about was about money - wages and transferring money. I know everyone can manage on different amounts, so it's all very subjective, but just wanted peoples opinions. So the job I have been offerd has a salary of $68000. As I have said it's in Wellington, so that's obviously the sort of area that we'd be living in. I think that we don't want to live in Wellington city, but one of the suburbs - maybe near Porirua or even Hutt. There are 2 of us (and a cat!) and I just wanted to get peoples views on whether the salary I have been offered is likely to be enough for us to live on for a few months - OH will be applying for jobs, but we realise that it will probably take a good few months for him to find something. I am veggie and always cook from scratch - shopping each week in the UK for us is normally in the region of £20-£30....plus booze on top, and yes we do like the odd glass of wine or 7 :rofl: I have accepted the job anyway and we are happy to live more frugally whilst OH looks for a job. But we do have savings in the UK that we could transfer to NZ$. It's just with exchange rates the way they are ATM we were thinking of leaving it in the UK for a while. So will my slary be enough for us to live off for a few months or do people think that we will need to use our savings also? Any advice much appreciated :) |
Re: Job offer & wages advice
Originally Posted by shelloid
(Post 8392941)
Hi all,
I had a rather exciting phone call yesterday from NZ - a job offer in Wellington....not for the job I applied for, but actually a more senior post!! Now the question I wanted to ask about was about money - wages and transferring money. I know everyone can manage on different amounts, so it's all very subjective, but just wanted peoples opinions. So the job I have been offerd has a salary of $68000. As I have said it's in Wellington, so that's obviously the sort of area that we'd be living in. I think that we don't want to live in Wellington city, but one of the suburbs - maybe near Porirua or even Hutt. There are 2 of us (and a cat!) and I just wanted to get peoples views on whether the salary I have been offered is likely to be enough for us to live on for a few months - OH will be applying for jobs, but we realise that it will probably take a good few months for him to find something. I am veggie and always cook from scratch - shopping each week in the UK for us is normally in the region of £20-£30....plus booze on top, and yes we do like the odd glass of wine or 7 :rofl: I have accepted the job anyway and we are happy to live more frugally whilst OH looks for a job. But we do have savings in the UK that we could transfer to NZ$. It's just with exchange rates the way they are ATM we were thinking of leaving it in the UK for a while. So will my slary be enough for us to live off for a few months or do people think that we will need to use our savings also? Any advice much appreciated :) The Hutt is not a suburb of Wellington but two separate cities, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt. Upper is a bit far IMO but LH is only 20 k's away and pretty quick zipping down the motorway. If you go to Porirua check your suburbs out first - there are some really rough areas in Porirua...tht actually goes for Lower Hutt too while I am thinkign abou tit. If you dont mind living a bit further out, going up the West coast is nice....Waikanae, Paraparaumu etc....nice beach and rents are cheaper out there. Train takes about an hour to get to Welly (I did the trip from Paraparaumu every day for 18 months - slept on the train in the mornings lol), and about a 45 minute drive and you can get parking all day at the Stadium for $7 (unless it's gone up since we left). Anyway, Wellington is fantastic. A city with everything you need but still kinda has a smallish feeling to it. And again, you will be fine on 68k....I have friends there who live on much less than that and they have a hefty savings account. |
Re: Job offer & wages advice
I would still stay more centrally than that if you can as it will keep transport costs down. There is lots of accommodation in central Wellington aimed at student market which might even work for you. Have a look on TradeMe under properties to rent and limit your search to Wellington suburbs which will not bring up anything as far out as Porirua but will bring up Johnsonville and Miramar or the new subdivisions like Newlands and Churton park for instance - the latter two are almost as far out as Porirua. The rental figures even centrally are much lower for 2 beds as opposed to 3 beds or even 4 beds (where they get really silly especially if you dare to want central heating etc). Look at Kelburn in the University area and Karori and even Mount Cook and Newtown. Even Island Bay (Lovely by the sea) is only a 10 minute drive into CBD up Adelaide Road even in peak no more than 15. I'm sure there's no need for two people wanting to rent to have to go out beyond Johnsonville - come live in Wellington not Wellington Region. If you were buying it would be an entirely different matter though - moving further out gets you more for your money.
Is your job in CBD? If it's in the Hutt Valley, then live in the Hutt Valley. Oh and congratulations. |
Re: Job offer & wages advice
Originally Posted by luvwelly
(Post 8394824)
I would still stay more centrally than that if you can as it will keep transport costs down. There is lots of accommodation in central Wellington aimed at student market which might even work for you. Have a look on TradeMe under properties to rent and limit your search to Wellington suburbs which will not bring up anything as far out as Porirua but will bring up Johnsonville and Miramar or the new subdivisions like Newlands and Churton park for instance - the latter two are almost as far out as Porirua. The rental figures even centrally are much lower for 2 beds as opposed to 3 beds or even 4 beds (where they get really silly especially if you dare to want central heating etc). Look at Kelburn in the University area and Karori and even Mount Cook and Newtown. Even Island Bay (Lovely by the sea) is only a 10 minute drive into CBD up Adelaide Road even in peak no more than 15. I'm sure there's no need for two people wanting to rent to have to go out beyond Johnsonville - come live in Wellington not Wellington Region. If you were buying it would be an entirely different matter though - moving further out gets you more for your money.
Is your job in CBD? If it's in the Hutt Valley, then live in the Hutt Valley. Oh and congratulations. SOme of the central 'burbs can be really expensive. I wouldnt recommend Newtown - thats where all the freaks hang out LOL - I know coz my sister used to live there and she is a freak LOL |
Re: Job offer & wages advice
Originally Posted by shelloid
(Post 8392941)
Hi all,
I had a rather exciting phone call yesterday from NZ - a job offer in Wellington....not for the job I applied for, but actually a more senior post!! Now the question I wanted to ask about was about money - wages and transferring money. I know everyone can manage on different amounts, so it's all very subjective, but just wanted peoples opinions. So the job I have been offerd has a salary of $68000. As I have said it's in Wellington, so that's obviously the sort of area that we'd be living in. I think that we don't want to live in Wellington city, but one of the suburbs - maybe near Porirua or even Hutt. There are 2 of us (and a cat!) and I just wanted to get peoples views on whether the salary I have been offered is likely to be enough for us to live on for a few months - OH will be applying for jobs, but we realise that it will probably take a good few months for him to find something. I am veggie and always cook from scratch - shopping each week in the UK for us is normally in the region of £20-£30....plus booze on top, and yes we do like the odd glass of wine or 7 :rofl: I have accepted the job anyway and we are happy to live more frugally whilst OH looks for a job. But we do have savings in the UK that we could transfer to NZ$. It's just with exchange rates the way they are ATM we were thinking of leaving it in the UK for a while. So will my slary be enough for us to live off for a few months or do people think that we will need to use our savings also? Any advice much appreciated :) |
Re: Job offer & wages advice
First up....congratulations on the job offer :) I hope it all works out brilliantly for you.
I don't know Wellington at all really...visited a couple of times and liked the feel of the place, but certainly don't know enough to advise you about areas etc. I'd say that 2 adults without a fancy lifestyle could survive quite nicely on $68k, especially if you add in the potential of a second income in the not too distance. But of course, I'm not conversant with living expenses in Welly.....in Rotorua that much goes a long way........as long as you're not doing all the tourist stuff which is frighteningly expensive :eek:. That said I seem to recall the first few weeks as being scarily expensive, bonds for this and that, buying cars, finding rentals, paying insurances...the list goes on. It felt like everyone wanted a little bit of our hard earned just to get started. Even the first grocery shop was horrific, with nothing at all in the cupboards I was buying all the basics, plus cleaning products (plus wine cos I needed something to dull the jitters :drinkwine:). So I'd suggest bring a certain amount over with you, even if it does mean settling for a poor exchange rate so that you can pay out for those things without needing to wait for your salary payments. How much though will vary a lot, but the biggest expense is probably the car, or cars, of course. If you want something new & nice I'd search the web for ideas of possible prices. If you want something older that will get you around safely you'd probably get something adequate for $5-10k. In fact our first car here cost considerably less than that....but we were being very careful with our limited funds & bought a "will do" rather than an ideal vehicle. Good luck with it :D |
Re: Job offer & wages advice
Originally Posted by bananalana
(Post 8395444)
Johnsonville is nice..LOL
I'd rather live in Hutt area - Waterloo etc. |
Re: Job offer & wages advice
hi we live in upper hutt (elderslea) is a very nice place and rentals are not bad either we are renting at the moment 3 bed $350 a week. you can get cheaper depends how many bedrooms you want or need. wellington is about 30min drive but there is also good buses and trains. my hubby earns 72k a year i dont work at the moment and we have a 2 year old we get by ok. we also bought £3k with us and put it in a bank account, in the first week we got a house rental from looking on trade me and all the house hold items from the warehouse and got our beds and sofas from big save. after all that we didnt have much left, we also got our washer, dryer and fridge freezer off trade me. if you dont mind having second hand stuff then trade me is a very good place to look for house hold items. :)
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Re: Job offer & wages advice
thank you all for your replies....all very much welcome! Keep them coming! :D
We were planning on bringing a certain amount of money with us initially anyway, as I realise we will be feeling a little bit like a cash cow to begin with - money for rent, money for a car, money for 2nd hand furniture, money for lots of other things! I just wnted to know whether we would need to bring more than what we had planned for for the initial things. I especially appreciate advice about where to live, as this is someting we have been going backwards and forwards on. I'll be working at Wellington Hospital, so need to travel to there everyday. The problem is is that I don't drive (yet), but I realise that I will most probably have to learn in the not too distant future - something I am terrified of :( so I will be relying on public transport or a cycle or if needs be a motorbike (I have a full license) for the initial few months. We will be renting - I have said I don't want to buy anything until we've been there a few years just to mke sure we settle. So in terms of what we are after - like I said there's 2 of us and we're happy with a 2 bed place for our rental. I'd like some outside space - having come from cramped London, I want a bit more room to breathe! Ideally I'd like it to be near the sea, not too fussed about shops nearby, but maybe cafes or a pub, OH wants it to be near golf courses...but to be honest that's not important (but don't tell him I said that :rofl: ). Obviously I'd rather not live in a rough area, so if anyone has areas we should avoid that would be cool. So we're not really asking for too much, just the perfect property and then some more :rofl: Nah, we'd take a view on some aspects, if it ticks other boxes, so if anyone has further advice please bring it on!! thanks to all, Shell x eta: if anyone has any advice about initial holiday/short term accomodation that would also be great!! |
Re: Job offer & wages advice
Originally Posted by shelloid
(Post 8392941)
Hi all,
I had a rather exciting phone call yesterday from NZ - a job offer in Wellington....not for the job I applied for, but actually a more senior post!! Now the question I wanted to ask about was about money - wages and transferring money. I know everyone can manage on different amounts, so it's all very subjective, but just wanted peoples opinions. So the job I have been offerd has a salary of $68000. As I have said it's in Wellington, so that's obviously the sort of area that we'd be living in. I think that we don't want to live in Wellington city, but one of the suburbs - maybe near Porirua or even Hutt. There are 2 of us (and a cat!) and I just wanted to get peoples views on whether the salary I have been offered is likely to be enough for us to live on for a few months - OH will be applying for jobs, but we realise that it will probably take a good few months for him to find something. I am veggie and always cook from scratch - shopping each week in the UK for us is normally in the region of £20-£30....plus booze on top, and yes we do like the odd glass of wine or 7 :rofl: I have accepted the job anyway and we are happy to live more frugally whilst OH looks for a job. But we do have savings in the UK that we could transfer to NZ$. It's just with exchange rates the way they are ATM we were thinking of leaving it in the UK for a while. So will my slary be enough for us to live off for a few months or do people think that we will need to use our savings also? Any advice much appreciated :) |
Re: Job offer & wages advice
Originally Posted by shelloid
(Post 8395895)
thank you all for your replies....all very much welcome! Keep them coming! :D
We were planning on bringing a certain amount of money with us initially anyway, as I realise we will be feeling a little bit like a cash cow to begin with - money for rent, money for a car, money for 2nd hand furniture, money for lots of other things! I just wnted to know whether we would need to bring more than what we had planned for for the initial things. I especially appreciate advice about where to live, as this is someting we have been going backwards and forwards on. I'll be working at Wellington Hospital, so need to travel to there everyday. The problem is is that I don't drive (yet), but I realise that I will most probably have to learn in the not too distant future - something I am terrified of :( so I will be relying on public transport or a cycle or if needs be a motorbike (I have a full license) for the initial few months. We will be renting - I have said I don't want to buy anything until we've been there a few years just to mke sure we settle. So in terms of what we are after - like I said there's 2 of us and we're happy with a 2 bed place for our rental. I'd like some outside space - having come from cramped London, I want a bit more room to breathe! Ideally I'd like it to be near the sea, not too fussed about shops nearby, but maybe cafes or a pub, OH wants it to be near golf courses...but to be honest that's not important (but don't tell him I said that :rofl: ). Obviously I'd rather not live in a rough area, so if anyone has areas we should avoid that would be cool. So we're not really asking for too much, just the perfect property and then some more :rofl: Nah, we'd take a view on some aspects, if it ticks other boxes, so if anyone has further advice please bring it on!! thanks to all, Shell x eta: if anyone has any advice about initial holiday/short term accomodation that would also be great!! If you can afford to rent near the hospital there is absolutely no point going out of central Wellington area as the traffic in can be really bad, so I'm told... |
Re: Job offer & wages advice
Originally Posted by crap coffee
(Post 8395623)
not sure its a nice place .. it's colder, and more rain than Central Welly from my experiences. I've never lived there but I went to Johnsonville every week to see a dietician for 2 years. whenever I visited there - crap weather mostly, also I got the impression that its not a pretty place in particular. the shopping mall is kind of all right but. what? . (Just kept telling myself I would never live here..:rofl:)
I'd rather live in Hutt area - Waterloo etc. I lived in Jville the first time I moved to Welly about 111 years ago...very nice out there. I was there about 3 months and it didn't rain much at all! I suppose its what ya like or are used to. I personally wouldn't wanna live in Lower or Upper Hutt (though we have in the past)...too many state houses and rough areas. Our friends live in NaeNae and its bloody awful IMO. Though some of the hilly areas are quite nice - I could probably manage those lol...and maybe some of the 'burbs near Alicetown way. Mind you, areas change all the time so whats rough for 10 years might be on the up and up for the next 10. |
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