hazeandsteve

We are currently running through our plans, and would greatly appreciate an idea as to the cost of bills in running our kind of household.
We're a married couple with no kids. Looking at renting a 2 bed house until our house in UK sells, so not including the bond or rent, what kind of monthly figure are we looking at for utility bills, compulsory insurances and any others you can think of.
We're heading for Taupo, and are pretty sure we've accounted for most stuff, but every little helps in our budgeting.
Thanks for all feedback, if you prefer privacy, and we promise any info will be kept to ourselves, please e mail to [email protected]

Burt Badger

Just off the top of my head:

Rent - $300 - $500 per week for a decent rental.
Electric - $80 -$100 per month.
Phone - $80 per month.
Shopping - $350 per month.

May be a bit out but should give you something to go on?

Burt

dlmckay

This was our actual spend for November 2006...
I earn $45K as a secretary and my husband earns $12 p/h as an apprentice plumber... total earnings around $69K pa. We have three children, aged 7, 5 and 3.

Money Out Mortgage 1594.50 (based on an interest only of $252K)
31-Oct Vodafone 47.38
1-Nov Rates 116.82
1-Nov Electric 100.00
1-Nov Insurance - house 41.29
1-Nov Carpark 140.00 (I work in Auckland's CBD and have to pay for a park)
4-Nov Bank Account fees 12.33
7-Nov Telecom 55.48 (you still have to pay telecom for rental regardless who your phone/net provider is)
7-Nov Kea Scouts 37.50 (won't apply for you!)
7-Nov Diana's Tax 30.00 (my income tax was underpaid by my work when I first started - now paying this back)
10-Nov Insurance - cars 97.45
20-Nov Insurance - life 81.94
22-Nov Vodafone 46.57
23-Nov Slingshot 30.26 (landline phonecalls and dialup internet)
4-Nov Petrol (Lucida) 50.00
11-Nov Petrol (Lucida) 48.56
18-Nov Petrol (Lucida) 48.52
25-Nov Petrol (Lucida) 50.00
7-Nov Petrol (Alto) 27.23
25-Nov Petrol (Alto) 20.00
30-Oct Dinglemouse 35.00 (childcare for the 3yo - won't apply to you! This is a discounted rate because we are low earners)
6-Nov Dinglemouse 35.00
13-Nov Dinglemouse 35.00
20-Nov Dinglemouse 35.00
27-Nov Dinglemouse 35.00
30-Oct SKIDS 16.90 (after school club)
6-Nov SKIDS 26.90
13-Nov SKIDS 36.90
20-Nov SKIDS 16.90
27-Nov SKIDS 16.90
2-Nov Steve 200.00 (my husband's pocket money )
4-Nov Countdown 132.52
11-Nov Countdown 173.71
18-Nov Countdown 133.30
25-Nov Countdown 134.77
4-Nov Mad Butcher 38.42
4-Nov Fruit World 15.08
2-Nov Takeaway 25.00
9-Nov Takeaway 29.70
17-Nov Takeaway 16.60
24-Nov Takeaway 32.90
26-Nov Takeaway 15.00
Total 3912.33
Hope you and others find this useful!

jueinnz

dlmckay
Hey Guys...
Was gonna say that I agreed and paid out much the same but then looked at your salary...
...not being funny but doesn't your monthly outgoings add up to more than your income??? Or are you getting some benifits for the kids? How much do you get for having a child from the government?

soulflour

Diana's bills are very similar to ours (family of four, 5 & 3 year old kids):

mortgage: 1200 (180k mortgage)
phone: 70
DVD club: 20
Broadband: 54
Petrol: I allow 200 but save quite a bit from that
Groceries: 400
Electricity: 130 (again, don't spend that every month)
Childcare: 480 (3 days a week)
rates: 50
savings (for dentist, cars, insurances which I pay yearly): 300
health insurance: 80
bank account: 10

Plus, my dp's just signed up for some service that provides a huge container thing for you to fill with garden waste which they then empty and replace (trying to rennovate knackered old overgrown section!), that's $16 a month. Although I think he's agreed to pay for that out of his 'gig money' (he's a musician & music teacher - but I don't count his gig money as income because he always seems to have some complicated thing about saving up some instrument or other *grrrr*)

Total: $3,010

My dp's now on $54k and I work p/t on just above $20k (although I'm going to drop a day soon so that will go down).

QUESTION: why aren't we saving more? (answer - my op shop/trade me habit, DIY and dp's continual need for more musical instruments/gadets...) need to put that right!!

soulflour

You get family assistance if you qualify - check the gov site for a calculator that will tell you how much you could get. Until I started work, my dp was on around $49k and we got $255 a fortnight. We also got some help with childcare and a card that you use for dr.s appointments and prescriptions to allow you a discount. It's great, it really helped us.

ETA: Here it is!

dlmckay

Yes, we qualify for Working Families Tax Credit because we're residents...
Here's my incomings...
2-Nov Steve 389.28
9-Nov Steve 383.95
10-Nov Steve 71.89 (Steve went on a H&S course and got an extra day's money)
16-Nov Steve 380.00
23-Nov Steve 384.64
6-Nov Working for Families 175.00
20-Nov Working for Families 175.00
31-Oct Diana 2820.40
Total 4780.16

Leaves a total of $867.83 for EFTPOS transactions, such as the extra thing you forgot to buy at the supermarket and the extra petrol because you went to collect something you bought something on TradeMe