Originally Posted by kitti

we buy $450.00 worth of firewood. That's for three cords of pinewood, and that's been plenty to keep our house warm this winter.

Originally Posted by kitti

proper pork pies, which I secretly miss heaps.

Originally Posted by bearskin

Are you sure it is 3 cords of firewood? If I had the space to store that, and burnt it over one winter, I would be very warm indeed.

Originally Posted by MrsFychan

that depends on what they are actually getting as a cord, had a look through and having a stacked cord rather than a thrown cord seems to give you more wood. a standard cord is 3.6 cubic metres but a volume of thrown cord (which seems to be the way it is sold here) is apparently 2 cubic metres. seems you would need 10 cubic metres for a winter ? https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles...FUySvQodg54E1w

Originally Posted by kitti

Well we have four children (10, 8 and 5 yr twins). Total earnings are about 75k for everything pre-tax. The children enjoy three clubs each (football, dance, scouts and swimming lessons) and I'd say we have a reasonable standard of living. Yes, we need to budget, but doesn't everyone? No matter how much you have, people always seem to 'need' more.

Our gas and electric is about $250.00 every month, and we buy $450.00 worth of firewood. That's for three cords of pinewood, and that's been plenty to keep our house warm this winter. We don't heat bedrooms up, but only have a few days a year when it's really cold. We have insulation in the house which helps heaps, no double glazing, don't see the need.

I spend about $300.00 on food each week. Sometime less, sometimes more.

School 'donation' is $160 per year for all four at the local primary school. College is more, but it's a user-pays culture. Spent $300.00 on stationery for all four for the year. They just learn to look after stuff, they have to!

The biggest shock for me was paying for a bank account! But you get over it.

I have less money day-to-day but: I live in a six-bedroom house with TONS of room. I have a large garden and a double garage. I go to the beach whenever I like, it never gets old, the parks are plentiful. The river is clean enough to play in. I like tramping and get to do that lots. We're (hopefully) not obsessed with shopping and have done our best to escape the insane consumer culture. I love it and wouldn't go back to the UK for all the tea in China. Even for Tesco Extra and proper pork pies, which I secretly miss heaps.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by kitti

Hi BEVS, I did say total earnings for everything. I've laid all my other finances bare! Yes, we get tax credits. I included them in the figure.

Originally Posted by Carole Ann

We've been living in NZ from Market Harborough, UK for 11 years. Its been great in the main as we have treated our residence as an adventure and a challenge, it has certainly been character forming! Kiwis can be unfortunately quite biased towards their own and not as wholeheartedly welcoming as portrayed. And to be honest I agree entirely with this post. NZ is hyped up and very expensive, best to run your own business and have a $ fund to draw on cause you will need it!

Originally Posted by MrsFychan

a standard cord is 3.6 cubic metres but a volume of thrown cord (which seems to be the way it is sold here) is apparently 2 cubic metres. seems you would need 10 cubic metres for a winter ?

Originally Posted by bearskin

Yes it is. I think we would be quite happy with ONE for a winter!! In fact I built my woodshed to hold approximately that much, never imagining that we'd want more than that. TBH the thought of burning 3 cords in one winter here (north Auckland) is mind boggling... some weeks we only burn about a barrowful.