Bo-Jangles

Not sure what I said wrong, my point was that $153 for March is about as low as it's ever likely to be. Just got the April one in today and it was $155.68 and that was Summer, was it not.

We generally get at least one monstrous scary Winter one of $350+ and the rest $250 ish.

bourbon-biscuit

I can't stand bills- the uncertainty of random expenses is stressful, so what I do is I just set up regular payments to the utility companies. When we first moved here they said we could go on 'Smooth pay' after a year when they were able to average out our spend, which seemed stupid to me so I just set it up so we get paid and out goes the cash- bills all say "account in credit, no need to pay anything." I pay $110 per fortnight for gas and electricity- we have gas hot water and gas hob and electric oven plus heatpump and I often run oil filled heaters and a dehumidifier in winter, though we have a log burner too. The account builds up over summer and gets used up in winter but I just pay the same amount every fortnight.

bourbon-biscuit

OP- I think $65k will be a bit tight but if it's not forever, it'll be fine. Ditto the job in Palmy- might not be where you want to be forever but if you're thinking of it as a good stepping stone in, ideal.

jjsebba

It'll actually be a bit more than $70 but we'll just go cautiously and I will keep on cattle prodding the OH to get a job/get his business up and running!

love30stm

x

davros1984

Let me add my 2 cents...

65K - if your rent isn't huge and you take advantage of offers at the supermarkets (countdown are great for deals) you will be OK. Not super rich or highly well off but OK. If it was Auckland and what's happened here in the past 12 months or so I'd begin to have a few creeping doubts. The place we moved into end of last June was renting for $410 before we got it, we then got it at $430. Its advertised today at $550 a week. FYI.. whilst its a nice place do not live there. The landlord lives overseas for 8-9 months of the year then comes home for the rest and kicks out the tenants (the neighbours there confirmed that he has done it for a number of years). We were evicted after just over 4 months of living there.
http://www.realestate.co.nz/1775256

I am beginning to think Auckland is becoming a ridiculously expensive place to live and a lot of the UK seems far cheaper to live in!

On to bills...
We live in quite a big 3-bed bungalow and our electric bill a month is between $130-150. It may seem a lot but we were paying that (and more) at home, as well as gas. We don't have gas.. thus no bill. We just had out water bill for the past 6 months, I thought it'd be in the $1000 dollar mark, but alas it was a mere $100!!! We used to pay over 30 quid a month for water back in the UK (early 2011).

Be aware that most things will seem quite expensive to you until you spend more... where actually (and miraculously) you start to think that things are quite reasonable. The things that will always be expensive to me here are medicines, furniture, cars and clothes/shoes.

Good luck with your move.

jjsebba

Thanks Davros. All helpful. Our gas/electric and water bills are humungous so I'm hoping that even with the increases in NZ, they will either be the same as the UK or slightly less. Our annual water bill is about £400 and combined gas and electric is £1500 (and we turn EVERYTHING off during the day, every day and are at work for 10 hours a day and don't have the heating on unless it's absolutely freezing outside! Council tax is another killer, £1800pa! So I think we'll be ok.

sparkie down under

Phew ! for a moment there I thought we'd might be getting new neighbours !

sparkie down under

I'm with you on this one Bev. Not sure about others here, but in the building trade I've seen over the last two years now a large drop in income. I know there are a lot more guys earning under 65k than there are earning 65k and over. Sure they get by but it's not that easy and their 'lifestyle' has changed. Less of this and less of that.

I suppose it's all about outgoing over incomings, as Wilkins Micawber said Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery

BEVS

I like that. So true

lisamct

Bills might not be as bad as you think if you choose supplier and plan wisely. I live alone but in a 2 bedroom house and I'm not economical with electricity. I dont have gas so everything is electric.
My summer bills were around the $50/month mark and my most recent bill today which has seen a lot of tumble drier use over the last few weeks as well as the leccy blanket and a couple of nights of heating was $72 for the month.
A lot of rentals have water included in the price and rates (NZ council tax) are paid by the landlord so no worries there.

Ex Aucklander

With all the talk of power going up I spent an afternoon contacting all the suppliers & did a comparison. In our situation (2 people home 24/7) the cheapest providers are Genesis for Town Gas & Mercury for Electricity.

We have instantaneous Infinity Gas Hot Water, Gas cooking, & gas central heating with floor vents in every room 140 square metre house.

Don't have clothes dryer-have plenty of clothes & manchester, so no need to wash if raining.
Use available energy ie: CH dries clothes, & also laundry is sun-trap with hanging space.

Central heating (set to 20-22c is on 10 hours daily, sometimes more.
House is fully insulated underfloor & ceiling space. Leave thermal curtains open all day for sun to warm house closing them just before sunset.
Use exhaust fans in bathroom & when cooking to remove moisture from house.
Only use 10kg washing machine when I have a full load.

All these things help lower energy bills.

Electricity $100 Gas $48 month Water $110 quarter, council rates $2,600 year
Buy budget brands whenever possible, quality meat on special & freeze, stock up on specials of regular use items & shop mainly at Pak n Save.

jjsebba

Aucklander, did you build your own house?
If not, I think you are very lucky to have the set up that you do.
We are aiming to build somewhere very eco friendly and efficient, but until such time that we have the funds for it, we are at the mercy of landlords which can be a bit hit and miss unfortunately! We can only try and choose a house that looks well looked after/well insulated etc and we will do a few of the things you mentioned to help insulation/costs.

Ex Aucklander

No our home was built in 1931 by English Master builder, construction is double brick external walls with lead lined cavity & single brick internal walls. No one could afford to build like this these days.

We put the mains gas on, cost to do this & the Infinity gas hot water unit was around $3,000 (in 2003) Gas central heating cost $6,500 (2005) but worth it in the long run for the comfort. Prior to this we tried portable LPG heaters but they caused too much condensation & made us drowsy, then electric column heaters in 2 rooms expensive to run & most of the house was still cold.

Selling up later this year & moving to Hawke's Bay where we hope to build an energy efficient home,