Life in NZ
Oct 24th 2005, 8:01 pm
#46
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 692
Re: Life in NZ
From my little experience here, we have found that the COL is higher, and that you have to be very careful with your shopping. Alcohol, in particular, is really expensive - Baileys is 1.5 times the price. :scared: :scared:
But I've realised that in the UK I was a lazy shopper - just going straight into the nearest supermarket, buying the bargains, then buying whatever I fancied, the cost of which usually negated the savings I'd just made. And we threw so much food away it was ridiculous! Lost count of the times I'd defrosted something for tea, then fancied a takeaway so the defrosted food got forgotten. I don't do that here, and not because it's a novelty to shop for more fresh food and use cookery books, but because I'm much more aware of the money I'm spending. I know how much takeaways cost here, our celebratory Thai meal when we moved into the house was $46 and that was with us sharing portions. That's nearly a fifth of my weekly shopping budget. Also, I'm enjoying the environment I'm in, whereas back in the UK I was unhappy with where I lived and my family's future prospects, and that makes a huge difference to my wellbeing and outlook. Here, I feel more optimistic, more content and certainly more grateful.
We've just had our first major setback, when we know exactly what's happening I'll post, but even with that we're still very optimistic about our future here. All our budgets have been worked out on the basis of me working part time, so we do have the elasticity of me going full time if we find the COL too high, particularly when we buy. I know our COL will have to reviewed then - at the moment we're paying rent which is probably going to be lower than our mortgage, we're not paying rates, buildings insurance, or for water.
So for me, for now - the quality here, at the moment, is far outweighing the COL differences, we're managing to stick with the budget, with some left over, but ask me again when we've got a mortgage!
But I've realised that in the UK I was a lazy shopper - just going straight into the nearest supermarket, buying the bargains, then buying whatever I fancied, the cost of which usually negated the savings I'd just made. And we threw so much food away it was ridiculous! Lost count of the times I'd defrosted something for tea, then fancied a takeaway so the defrosted food got forgotten. I don't do that here, and not because it's a novelty to shop for more fresh food and use cookery books, but because I'm much more aware of the money I'm spending. I know how much takeaways cost here, our celebratory Thai meal when we moved into the house was $46 and that was with us sharing portions. That's nearly a fifth of my weekly shopping budget. Also, I'm enjoying the environment I'm in, whereas back in the UK I was unhappy with where I lived and my family's future prospects, and that makes a huge difference to my wellbeing and outlook. Here, I feel more optimistic, more content and certainly more grateful.
We've just had our first major setback, when we know exactly what's happening I'll post, but even with that we're still very optimistic about our future here. All our budgets have been worked out on the basis of me working part time, so we do have the elasticity of me going full time if we find the COL too high, particularly when we buy. I know our COL will have to reviewed then - at the moment we're paying rent which is probably going to be lower than our mortgage, we're not paying rates, buildings insurance, or for water.
So for me, for now - the quality here, at the moment, is far outweighing the COL differences, we're managing to stick with the budget, with some left over, but ask me again when we've got a mortgage!
Oct 24th 2005, 8:10 pm
#47
Galaxy 1: Cadbury's 0
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,606
Re: Life in NZ
[QUOTE=bookemjano]From my little experience here, we have found that the COL is higher, and that you have to be very careful with your shopping. Alcohol, in particular, is really expensive - Baileys is 1.5 times the price. :scared: :scared:
Jan,
I loved reading your posts whilst you were still living in the UK, but now I love reading them even more!
I just love your pragmatic yet positive outlook. Carmen x.
p.s. sorry to hear the shock about the price of Baileys! don't they have countdown own brand????
p.p.s. sorry to hear about the setback. sending good vibes....
Jan,
I loved reading your posts whilst you were still living in the UK, but now I love reading them even more!
I just love your pragmatic yet positive outlook. Carmen x.p.s. sorry to hear the shock about the price of Baileys! don't they have countdown own brand????
p.p.s. sorry to hear about the setback. sending good vibes....
