gina and danny

i remember when we first started on this nz emmigrating thing i was a little worried about the cost of living in nz, so i put my weekly food shop into the woolworths site and yes it was true nz was a little dearer so imagine my suprise when yesterday after doing my weekly food shop ( i had to check my receipt twice as it seems to have gone up a third in the space of three months!! i mean i had 8 bags of shopping that come in at just over £100)i put the same shopping list on the woolworths site and it came in a lot cheaper

so would i be correct in thinking that whilst we here in the uk seem to be experiencing rising household bills etc that over in nz things have stayed the same as they were three months ago or do you reckon that the credit crunch is affecting nz aswell

thanks for listening to my ramblings

gina

Browner_

The so called credit crunch may be having an effect here too, but dont forget the NZ dollar is very strong at the moment.

Plug in an exchange rate of 3.25 to your calculation, and suddenly NZ will seem very cheap.

karonious

To be honest, I just go to the supermarket, buy what I need and don't think about what it costs. I check my bank balance online every now and again and it seems to be holding pretty stable so I don't worry about it.......

gina and danny

the exchange rate i used for my findings was 2.48 nz dollar to the £

saritabear

My sis in law is in Auckland and she says things are getting more expensive - interest rates going up, petrol going up. Plus don't forget wages are generally lower than here. Really I think its probably on a par with here as far of cost of living goes. I definitely don't think its somewhere you go to live cheaply or make money. We're just lucky to be able to take a chunk of equity with us but I know we'll still be counting pennies at the end of each month even with a smallish mortgage.

brussels_sprout

It is affecting England more because the Pound has become progressively weaker, so imported products, oil, food will cost more. THe NZD has grown stronger and most food is grown locally anyway. That's my theory, anyway

Yotty

B-S thats fine until the $NZ drops ..

Maz

New Zealand is unlikely to be as affected as many developed countries by the credit crunch as credit already costs so much, and you're less likely to be given the tens of thousands on offer in other countries (in the US I would get unsolicited offers of 1/3 my gross pay in credit on a regular basis, scary!).

Plus, the sub-prime market crisis is not so much a concern here as mortgages are charged at a premium to begin with. There are no ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages).

If you want a good newsletter on this, please PM me.

Also, not a good idea to try to 'translate' what you buy in the UK into NZ$ as there are many other things that may cost a ton in the UK but next to nothing in NZ. Example - my train ticket to Wellington is roughly 1 GBP each way to Wellington's CBD in rush hour. OK, only from 20 kms out, but still! Hard to find that kind of bargain in the London area.

Yotty

Maz ... good educated post!

BEVS

No ,you would not be correct. I have been here nigh on 4 years.


£100 quids worth of food in the UK may be around $250 bucks in NZ

What are your net earnings in the UK/ What will they be in NZ ?

They only way you can compare costs is to put income against your expenditure. That is the only way. You simply cannot compare anything in the UK to NZ. So, you need to look at what your net income would be in NZ and then be hard with yourself over what your bills here would be.

Yes. Costs are rising here. Petrol has gone up big-time. The prices of staples like bread, milk etc. have also risen with quite a bit too. Interest rates are rising.

It's really good to be looking at the food bill but unless you also look at potential earnings and then factor in all your other costs, on it's own it may give an incomplete picture.


dlmckay gave a first class spreadsheet to follow for income and expenditure. Use this, although you may have to estimate your income.

Genesis

I now buy anything that has a really good mark down in bulk..for instance butter was really cheap the other day in countdown..bought 16 packs..Lavazza coffee had 2.5 bucks off each pack..bought 10. The savings far outweigh having the cost of the food in your garage/fridge.

Yes costs here have gone thru the roof. Interest rates, council rates, all dairy, petrol, insurance..but I understand its the world over. Its shitty everywhere price wise apparently..just got to make sure you are content amongst all the shit..we are!!!!

Maz

Thanks H

Bo-Jangles

I think NZ has been more affected by dairy produce, due to the shortages elsewhere Kiwi farmers are cashing in and exporting heaps, they can then expect the NZ public to pay the same high prices. :curse: Cost of food is a worldwide problem and mostly related to petrol and transport costs, rather than anything to do with sub-prime and credit crunch.

You also have to adjust for seasonal variations in UK to NZ I bet your UK list doesn't represent what is in season at the present here. Most certainly not in terms of fruit and veg. Potatoes being really expensive at present due to the drought over summer and so on. Food prices vary here so much depending on what is currently available, with the old favourite gripe about the price of peppers demonstrates this really well. Pak & Save must have been selling off the end of the well worn out summer stock at 2 for $1 last week; they will be anything upto $3 each in a few more weeks.

I was actualy talking to my sister the other day about prices of food and we concur that prices in NZ$ of a few basic items are almost exactly the same or maybe slightly cheaper in the UK when doing a straight swap from £ to $ , based on current exchange. But, as always have to add the proviso that we DO NOT earn UK pound notes, so ours is indeed way more expensive compared to what we earn.

BEVS

The bottom line is this. You should look at costs in terms of the impact it has on your probable income.

It will all depend on your income. Put your likely NZ costs against your likely NZ net income and take no notice of the emotive posts here. Make up your own mind what you want to live on by way of disposable income & what you think you will have by way of disposable income .Then look at what you can do with that surplus, if anything.

Genesis. I know all too many that are unable to bulk buy the loss leaders. They live week to week. Many of the loss leaders are a ruse anyway, although there are some consistent lures .

Maz. Great post but I know of three families that have been loaned monies way over what their income would really allow them to repay. This is through banks giving out credit cards and loans. One family is way over half their annual income. That family must work in excess of 80/100 hours per week - unsocial hours. Neither make more any more than $17 per hour. The banks do give out willy nilly, just as they do anywhere else & it makes me so cross.

Bo-Jangles

Balanced with a ton of things that cost way more than in the UK. I also think you're way off the mark regarding banks and lending. Don't kid yourself that they are any less ruthless than anywhere else in the world. Most Kiwis are morgaged to the hilt and live on huge credit card balances, with heaps of people reliant on second and third mortgages to finance investment properties. Anyone only has to look at the estate agents listings lately to see how many mortgagee sales there are to know that people are struggling to keep their heads above the water and this is only the beginning in NZ. US has been sitting on sub-prime problem for eight months or more, NZ isn't bulletproof, it's just taking a while to filter down.

I went to get a credit card out of necessity to pay for stuff on-line and only wanted a couple of thosand dollars, for ease of paying some big ticket items, that we had money to pay for. They offered me something stupid like $20k credit limit and couldn' understand why I refused it. Despite this they still keep raising my limit for being such a good customer and paying my bills on time. My current limit is $6500 and I could get myself into some serious bother if I were to take up their willy nilly offers to get myself into debt.