Monarch

Is the following monthly budget realistic for a family of four?

Electicity $140
Property Tax (including water) $100
Telephone $65
Sky T.V. $38
Car Tax $18
Car Insurance $60
Food $800
House Maintenance $80
Clothing $150
Petrol $100
Car Test $50
Medical Costs $50
Entertainment $250
House insurance $40
Mortgage $360 (based on borrowing $50,000 wont need much as have plenty of equity from sale of house in U.K. approx $210,000)

Is this adequate for a family of four leading a normal life few treats here and there etc. would have approx $650 left after all of the above is taken from my salary.
Any thoughts suggestions please

scottish

Monarch, looks like you have it well covered. Some of your costs seem alot higher than what you need, but better that way eh.

Tip: try and get a house with a woodburner... we never once used elec for heating just hot water.

Monarch

Is there anything i have missed?
These figures include my wife working part time.

Don

Solid fuel
Car depreciation
Schooling costs for children
Holiday fund
Pension
Rainy day/ contingency

uk+kiwi

Hi Don - why the alcohol sacrifice? And how is day one? Keep smiling...

JoannaD

Wow
As a newcomer to this site, I am looking forward to coming to NZ. Many thanks for the monthly budget as this has shown me what I need to do
Its a big change for us both and something that we never thought we'd do. Looking forward to checking out the wines and living somewhere that is beautiful. Hope we can find a wood burning stove in the house that we use

sunshine_and_rain

Agree with all this - you have to pay school fees here per year, something we don't do at home. Also I think $150 clothing budget per month with children may be fairly tight - especially if they are small. I actually think childrens clothing is expensive here in comparison to home and in comparison to incomes etc.

Allowance for wine too - you'll drink more here - especially when you're homesick!

nivlem

Well, :scared: how much should be budgeted for school fees? Does this vary throughout regions, and/or by the age of the children or is it a set fee?

Btw I heard somewhere that the school leaving age is 18, or is this another myth?! Please help me put my kids' minds at rest!

sunshine_and_rain

School fees vary per school. Sorry - not much help I know. I pay about $150 per year at our school per child, but there is another school who's fees are a lot higher here - they also seem to be more expensive at the intermediate and high schools. As for leaving age - actually - I don't know! Terrible hey - just assumed it was 16 - but having said that ,my babysitter is just turning 18 and is just leaving school to go to Uni -so it must be right. Thats a good thing I reckon if its true - 16 is too young to leave school and know what you want out of life I reckon - although it did me no harm.

Also how old are your children - kindi and daycare fees are another thing you may need to allow for if you have pre-schoolers?? (Like moi).

Hope some of this helps - but some of the others may be able to help you more than myself.

Also - medical fees allowance I think you may need to allow a bit more - for medical insurance and visits. GP visit cost around $30 per visit and prescriptions are more expensive here than at home as there are a lot of drugs that are not subsidised. My sons ear drops have cost me $80 in the past for a certain type of anti-biotic that was not subsidised but thy were required from the culture and sensitivity test he had done. All accidents and hospital care is free at the point of delivery though, as at home. ACC covers most everything else, as well as medical insurance. Dental care too is quite expensive - especially when you have older children to consider as may need braces etc (which are hellishly expensive).

Gill and Rob

Don't forget school uniforms which are very expensive here, one reason being you have to buy them from the school so they hold a monopoly.

Rob

Merlot12

Myth. The school leaving age is 16 and has been since 1993.
16 usually takes most kids through to halfway through their School Cert year, the first formal qualification. The there is a year of Sixth Form Cert (or whatever it is called now) then a year of Bursary (or whatever it is called now). This takes them through to 18 years old, which is the point where kids enter uni or polytech if they are going to tertiary education.

Of course it is a few years since I was there, so maybe someone with kids going through all this can confirm or deny the above.

Monarch

ok my revised monthly budget i need as much help and advice on this as possible,if the figures don't add up we won't be going!

Electricity $150
House tax $100
House maintenance $80
Telephone $60
Sky $40
Car tax,test,insurance $100
Food $800
Clothing $200
Entertainment $250
Solid fuel $50
School fees $40
Medical costs $60
House insurance $30
Mortgage $490 (based on borrowing $70,000)
Pension $200
Holidays $150

I think i have covered everything in this,my wages will be $2500 a month add on top gov benefits of approx $250 a month (is this about right?) i would be clearing approx $2750 a month.
Total outgoings $2800 a month.
My wife is going to have to work pretty much straight away when we get out there only part time though to fit in with the kids.
I would of thought doing 15 hours a week at $10 a hour she could take home $480 a month.
That leaves us with $400 ish a month after everything is accounted for is this enough?
Any more advice or thoughts please

nivlem

Hi Sunshine.
My lovely(?) kids are 13 and 11, so daycare not much of a problem anymore. thanks for the advice though.
My son (13) has just completed all his teeth straightening stuff and no longer needs any treatment (pure good luck ), daughters teeth are fine, but we will all need to register with a dentist. Are they in short supply in NZ? It's a nightmare in the UK to get in anywhere near a dentist at the mo!

Pinkie Pie

Hi Monarch

I'm not sure if this will help you or not but I recently undertook the same sort of exercise and for a family of four without a mortgage or rent we needed $46765 gross ($36463 after tax etc) to get by without scrimping but not living like kings either!!!

I've had a look at your figures and here goes (please don't take any of this the wrong way - just trying to be helpful!!)

I think you might be a bit under on:

House tax
Telephone (will be more if you want internet too)
Sky

Also, I might be going daft (no sarky comments please!!!) but I can't see any costs for petrol/diesel for your car??? Will you have far to travel to work - could make a big difference to your budget!!!

What about replacement costs for your car (we don't change ours very often but like to have the cash put to one side for when we need to - don't want to have to find a few grand out of thin air!!!)

Food - $800 = $200 per week which = £78 approx in the UK - I don't know what you spend over here but it will cost you roughly about the same over there...for a family of four over here a good week for us would be about £100 - but it is usually at least £120 - £140 (much more if we've run out of everything or the freezer needs restocking!!!) We allowed at least $260 as a minimum per week....

Does your $200 for food include wine/beer or is that included in your entertainment costs???

Do any of you wear glasses, if so what about opticians bills?

Then there are the odd extras like haircuts!!! I know it seems daft but it all adds up (unless you are going to subject your poor family to the bowl cuts of olden days!!! My mum used to 'do' us all when we were younger and I've never forgiven her for it!!!)

Emergency money...you never know when things are going to go wrong with your house/car...have you factored in a wee bit to cover things like that....

What about kids activities...don't know about you but mine do swimming, ballet, music lessons and horse riding lessons (bloody spoilt brats - reckon some of that'll have to be knocked on the head!!)

Have you factored in things like birthdays and Christmas (I know they only come once a year but it's worth thinking about if you're going to be on a tight budget which some of us will be by the sounds of it!!!)

The rest looks about the same as I had so fingers crossed!!!

I hope this is of some help to you.... and good luck

p.s. What are the gov benefits of $250 that you're adding on top!!!!?

I've just re-read this and have to say that I think I've rambled on a bit but just wanted you to consider all the possible extras that you might not have covered (and some which suprised me!!!).....better to be over cautious beforehand rather than horribly suprised at the other end!!! If you know what I mean!!!

salmey

hope this help further