love30stm

Budget for school gear soars to ?600 as pupils load up on iPods, mobile phones and bling


Full ARTICLE CAN BE READ HERE




At least you cant argue that the kiwis arent a bunch of spoilt brats

love30stm

And........

More...
Rest of article is HERE

lardyl

Nah

more interested in

All Whites 3 New Caledonia 0

and

Croatia 1-4 England

which truly shows the gulf that exists between the two countries........
and makes me homesick
would really like to see Walcott wearing the three lions again - catched the U21 win over Germany at the Ricoh before we left - sweet as......

love30stm

Well me, OH and my girls was never one for designer labels and especially football stuff....

dont miss the chavs, so it makes me feel great

love30stm

sorry could not resist

http://www.xymalf.co.uk/images/chavs/chav2.jpg

lardyl

totally agree and best thing for the kids is to keep away from all this consumerist dross.....
having said that it is alive and well (at least in certain parts of Auckland) albeit limited in NZ.
Some people here are very keen to show off their bling (or phat exhausts/mags/etc), be it the gangsta type or just their trappings of "hard Kiwi work"......
- often off the backs of those wearing the gangsta stuff and dining on KFC.

On reflection, I'd rather have to stop my son going to school in bare feet on the really bad muddy days than argue over how much we need to spend on trainers......

mickey_d

Not much different to here then

We have a school bus stop outside our house & I have to say there aren't many kids without mobiles, Ipods or PSP's.
Difference being, they are more expensive over here.
+ the school uniform cost's us twice as much as it did in the UK

lardyl

working for a UK co. you probably don't notice quite so much, but we also earn peanuts over here too.......say about half of what we did in the UK, and that's with too many NZ$ to the £.......

love30stm

Not everyone earns peanuts. my OH is on a very good wage for Nz...hence the reason we are in Wanganui at the moment

Kiwiprincess

that is pretty awful.

However,when I read Teachers furious as M&S launches school blazer with built-in iPod controls I have to admit the first thing I thought of was "AWESOME".

Which goes to show I, and my parents, should be grateful I am no longer a teenager!

mickey_d

Notice it quite a bit... we earn less than half, UK work is only when required & not often enough uunfortunately

lardyl

too true

we kit our eldest out in trousers from the Sally Army shop and jumpers bought secondhand from school donations/lost property - ah "the land of make-do and mend", all we need now is Vera Lynn.........

love30stm

Omg....i count myself lucky then.....

lardyl

yeah - only way to make money outside of some specialist fields is to work for yourself - if I worked hard, marketed like stink and decided to give up on the family "issues" we have I'd be on more than as an employee in the UK, but life is not all about $$$s. Although it helps.
Suppose there have to be good reasons to live in some places, eg Palmie (hi Genesis) and Wanganui (as you imply). We're happy being poor as church mice on the Hibiscus Coast.....

lardyl

I know quite a few exPats who take home in $$$ less than they did in £££s.........not many people come to NZ for the money do they??

BTW, not all his school clothes are second-hand, just the spare jumpers and trousers, but he is growing fast and kitting him out in decent shoes costs an arm and a leg here.....uniforms are better value. At least they last and will do for the little un in a couple of years.