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North & South magazine - cost of living

North & South magazine - cost of living

Old Mar 11th 2013, 10:50 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Originally Posted by GoingIn2011
It is also expensive to live in the UK for many people, FACT
I don't believe that anyone is saying that the UK isn't expensive. I believe this thread was started by someone who was pointing to a new magazine article, pointing out that NZ is also expensive. I haven't read the article, but I can point out that IN MY OPINION it is expensive, and is actually more expensive than our living costs in the UK. That's called FREEDOM OF SPEECH which is an inalienable right.
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Old Mar 12th 2013, 12:38 am
  #17  
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Thanks Passthevalium, but it's my own fault for using an 'inflammatory' phrase. I should know better. I could write plenty more about the polarised opinions on COL on this forum, but it really does feel like a waste of my time. Time to go I think.
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Old Mar 12th 2013, 1:50 am
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

AndyEvs, hope you don't mean leave BE. The person that responded to my posting just annoyed me. I cannot understand why some people seem to take great exception to freedom of speech, even when it is neutral. It seems to happen more on the NZ forum than any other, from my limited experience on BE. As an academic it is vital to me that people are allowed to post their views without being pounced on. It is after all a forum, not a battleground.

"Forum= A place of meeting for open discussion or voicing of ideas"

"Battleground= A place of conflict where a battle has been fought or is being fought"

Surely on a forum there are no winners or losers, just ideas and opinions being expressed.

What I don't get is if someone says, "NZ is expensive" why someone else has to suddenly start saying "SO IS THE UK", what the f**K?
Who the heck said it wasn't? There are thousands of places that are expensive to live, but it doesn't put people off living or moving there. But this was simply a thread that shared a new article on the COL in NZ. I for one am not threatened by such an article, I'll read it and then probably read something else about how great it is living in NZ. I'll make up my own mind. I will never ever let someone else dictate MY thoughts and my ideas.
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Old Mar 12th 2013, 8:12 am
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Do you think COL will just keep rising or will it go down slightly eventually?
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Old Mar 12th 2013, 8:34 am
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Sent by my mum yesterday taken from moneywise.co.uk...

TOP 10 LEAST VALUE-FOR-MONEY DESTINATIONS for Brits.....

1. South Korea

2. Australia

3. New Zealand

4. China

5. Canada

6. Dubai

7. Mauritius

8. Singapore

9. Jamaica

10. St Lucia
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Old Mar 14th 2013, 1:31 am
  #21  
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Originally Posted by passthevalium
AndyEvs, hope you don't mean leave BE. The person that responded to my posting just annoyed me. I cannot understand why some people seem to take great exception to freedom of speech, even when it is neutral. It seems to happen more on the NZ forum than any other, from my limited experience on BE. As an academic it is vital to me that people are allowed to post their views without being pounced on. It is after all a forum, not a battleground.

"Forum= A place of meeting for open discussion or voicing of ideas"

"Battleground= A place of conflict where a battle has been fought or is being fought"

Surely on a forum there are no winners or losers, just ideas and opinions being expressed.

What I don't get is if someone says, "NZ is expensive" why someone else has to suddenly start saying "SO IS THE UK", what the f**K?
Who the heck said it wasn't? There are thousands of places that are expensive to live, but it doesn't put people off living or moving there. But this was simply a thread that shared a new article on the COL in NZ. I for one am not threatened by such an article, I'll read it and then probably read something else about how great it is living in NZ. I'll make up my own mind. I will never ever let someone else dictate MY thoughts and my ideas.
Soapbox well and truly brought out of storage.
My apologies - I obviously have misinterpreted the sense of this thread.
I wasn't meaning to deny anyone's right to anything.

I am a statistician and have a little bugbear with people overinterpreting stats. I wasn't meaning to offend anyone - so apologies all round.

To Andy, I'm not a happy clapper. I only ever meant balance - so again apologies. I don't want you to leave this board for goodness sake. My comments were meant to be benign statements. It's me that needs to stay out of conversations like this in future - not you - I have a tendency to put my very clumsy feet in it.

League tables such as the one on this page are meaningless in pretty much any interpretation of them except the literal one, statistically speaking.
That was the sum of my comments, and no offence was meant. Apologies.

Last edited by GoingIn2011; Mar 14th 2013 at 1:34 am.
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Old Mar 14th 2013, 10:26 pm
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living


As a kiwi living in Nz, you always have the feeling that you are being ripped off. At a cafe in Auckland they wanted $12 for a cheese toastie(no salads or extras) and $6 for a coffee, then I went and posted a parcel from Auckland to Christchurch that was the same price as sending a parcel to London!! Then I booked a one way airfare online Auckland to christchurch for $330 one way(!!!!!) as you have to book 6 months in advance to get the "cheap" deals.I always get a major bout of depression whenever I enter any supermarket in Nz - even the tinned goods are $3.50-$4.50 a can on average - gosh never before have I considered a tin of peaches a luxury item!!! And so it goes on, and no explanation of why EVERYTHING is such a rip off. And the prices of fruit and vege are due to increase 100% due to the drought. There is child poverty now in Nz and kids are getting sponsored by wealthier families(similar to the save the children fund that helps african kids) to help pay for their food and school stationery. There is a minimum wage here of $13.50 that does not cover food, shelter, and clothing requirements. NOTHING about Nz is cheap. The article in North and South is correct in every way. A real estate agent I know who has worked for 20 years in nz said that an old dump of a villa in Onehunga, Auckland sold 10 years ago for $180 000 sold last week for $660 000 and yet the median wage is $40 000. Many brits living here tell me that they are trapped living in Nz as it would cost too much for them to return to Britain due to the exchange rates. And yet we keep getting told that Nz is the best place to live in the world - but even mother nature has turned on us - major earthquakes in Christchurch and now a massive drought. Rant over.

Last edited by shocked kiwi; Mar 14th 2013 at 10:45 pm. Reason: adding info
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Old Mar 14th 2013, 10:37 pm
  #23  
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Originally Posted by shocked kiwi

As a kiwi living in Nz, you always have the feeling that you are being ripped off. At a cafe in Auckland they wanted $12 for a cheese toastie(no salads or extras) and $6 for a coffee, then I went and posted a parcel from Auckland to Christchurch that was the same price as sending a parcel to London!! Then I booked a one way airfare online Auckland to christchurch for $330 one way(!!!!!) as you have to book 6 months in advance to get the "cheap" deals.I always get a major bout of depression whenever I enter any supermarket in Nz - even the tinned goods are $3.50 a can on average - gosh never before have I considered a tin of peaches a luxury item!!! And so it goes on, the day to day struggle and no explanation of why EVERYTHING is such a rip off. And the prices of fruit and vege are due to increase 100% due to the drought. NOTHING about Nz is cheap. The article in North and South is correct in every way. A real estate agent I know who has worked for 20 years in nz said that an old villa in Onehunga, Auckland sold 10 years ago for $180 000 sold last week for $660 000 and yet the median wage is $40 000
Totally agree.

$660,000 to live in Onehunga, haha what a Jafa Rat Race, I wouldn't want to live there for $60,000.

For the first time since moving here I've been into Resene painting and decorating shop, I knew it was going to be a total rip off but I wasn't quite prepared to what level they go to try and disguise how much they're ripping people off. They seem to have gone for a kind of AppleStore look with tins of paint displayed like iPod on fancy shelves and cases. Thankfully I wasn't paying for anything, I had to pick something up for work. It's just another example of something that the rest of the world see as basic goods being sold here as luxury items with a matching price tag.

IT'S ONLY A BIT OF BLOODY PAINT
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Old Mar 14th 2013, 10:49 pm
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Originally Posted by shocked kiwi
Then I booked a one way airfare online Auckland to christchurch for $330 one way(!!!!!) as you have to book 6 months in advance to get the "cheap" deals.
Wow, dont know when your traveling but I just booked the same journey for a friend next Wednesday and it only cost $49!
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Old Mar 14th 2013, 11:05 pm
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

[QUOTE]For the first time since moving here I've been into Resene painting and decorating shop, I knew it was going to be a total rip off but I wasn't quite prepared to what level they go to try and disguise how much they're ripping people off. They seem to have gone for a kind of AppleStore look with tins of paint displayed like iPod on fancy shelves and cases. Thankfully I wasn't paying for anything, I had to pick something up for work. It's just another example of something that the rest of the world see as basic goods being sold here as luxury items with a matching price tag.

IT'S ONLY A BIT OF BLOODY PAINT[/QUOTE

Brilliant.
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Old Mar 14th 2013, 11:10 pm
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Originally Posted by madao
Sent by my mum yesterday taken from moneywise.co.uk...

TOP 10 LEAST VALUE-FOR-MONEY DESTINATIONS for Brits.....

1. South Korea

2. Australia

3. New Zealand

4. China

5. Canada

6. Dubai

7. Mauritius

8. Singapore

9. Jamaica

10. St Lucia
Just for comparison purposes, is there a top 10 table for standard of living?
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Old Mar 14th 2013, 11:26 pm
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Thank f*** for you shocked kiwi. Although you have just broken one of the last kiwi taboos by making the comments you have done. It's a good job you used a pseudonym otherwise you'll be run out of town by kiwis and poms brandishing burning real estate magazines and sharpened fruit.

Last edited by AndyEvs; Mar 14th 2013 at 11:27 pm. Reason: to make my post much funnier
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Old Mar 14th 2013, 11:32 pm
  #28  
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Originally Posted by shocked kiwi

I always get a major bout of depression whenever I enter any supermarket in Nz - even the tinned goods are $3.50-$4.50 a can on average - gosh never before have I considered a tin of peaches a luxury item!!!
As an (ex-)Brit, I have always considered peaches to be a luxury. Of course, we now have two peach trees in the garden...

Tinned fruit - today Pak'n'Save was offering Dole Mixed Fruit at 99ยข a tin. Didn't buy any, but we don't need it. And 'need' rather than 'want' is the determining factor when shopping.

It's actually quite refreshing being skint - you don't have so many decisions to make when shopping!
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Old Mar 15th 2013, 12:46 am
  #29  
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Originally Posted by shocked kiwi

As a kiwi living in Nz, you always have the feeling that you are being ripped off. At a cafe in Auckland they wanted $12 for a cheese toastie(no salads or extras) and $6 for a coffee, then I went and posted a parcel from Auckland to Christchurch that was the same price as sending a parcel to London!! Then I booked a one way airfare online Auckland to christchurch for $330 one way(!!!!!) as you have to book 6 months in advance to get the "cheap" deals.I always get a major bout of depression whenever I enter any supermarket in Nz - even the tinned goods are $3.50-$4.50 a can on average - gosh never before have I considered a tin of peaches a luxury item!!! And so it goes on, and no explanation of why EVERYTHING is such a rip off. And the prices of fruit and vege are due to increase 100% due to the drought. There is child poverty now in Nz and kids are getting sponsored by wealthier families(similar to the save the children fund that helps african kids) to help pay for their food and school stationery. There is a minimum wage here of $13.50 that does not cover food, shelter, and clothing requirements. NOTHING about Nz is cheap. The article in North and South is correct in every way. A real estate agent I know who has worked for 20 years in nz said that an old dump of a villa in Onehunga, Auckland sold 10 years ago for $180 000 sold last week for $660 000 and yet the median wage is $40 000. Many brits living here tell me that they are trapped living in Nz as it would cost too much for them to return to Britain due to the exchange rates. And yet we keep getting told that Nz is the best place to live in the world - but even mother nature has turned on us - major earthquakes in Christchurch and now a massive drought. Rant over.
I'm not a happy clapper - far from it - but I wonder how often you come across examples such as this in your everyday life. Meaning, how often do you have to send mail, or fly to ChCh, such that it affects your every sense to have to pay these prices. I ask only because if I compare what I spend here to over in the UK, relative to my income, then I find it roughly equal living here.
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Old Mar 15th 2013, 4:03 am
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Default Re: North & South magazine - cost of living

Originally Posted by AndyEvs
Thank f*** for you shocked kiwi. Although you have just broken one of the last kiwi taboos by making the comments you have done. It's a good job you used a pseudonym otherwise you'll be run out of town by kiwis and poms brandishing burning real estate magazines and sharpened fruit.

LOL thanks got a laugh from your comments. I just want the old NZ back as it was such a good place approx 10 years ago.
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