hollykimalan

You know, Scottie my wife and I have only been on the property ladder 18 months but two moves later(...all in 18 months!) we have made a quite bit. But our first one was the hardest and we felt the pinch for about 6 months.
We just wished we had started buying a home before we had kids! We would have vomited at the thought of paying a big mortgage then...I mean what about 'going out' money we would have said.
Good luck and save for that deposit. Thats what we are doing! Not that there is much left to save with after paying our mortgage.
Byeee
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hollykimalan

Sorry, to answer youre question we had saved 14k and used 7k for our first house deposit in July 2006. The rest we spent on the move.

Fejaouk

Sorry, Alan I meant when you first got your own house in your early 30% you said your mortgage was the most you could afford. How much of your actual pay went to your mortgage. I suppose it also depends on your lifestyle etc, but it good to hear other peoples experiences.

Scottie x

hollykimalan

I have PM'ed you. I dont want everyone knowing our personal busines!!
Hee hee
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Margaret3

point taken, its all relative to where you come from, we came from a very small town in scotland,

augigi

I don't think that's true at all. I live in Melbourne, and I currently have 2 investment properties - 1 x 1BR unit, and 1 x 3BR house. I am a single RN. The way I see it, nurses have almost unlimited earning capacity, depending on the shifts you're willing to work especially with the availability of casual/agency work around.

Fejaouk

So does agency shifts generally pay at a better rate than the hospital? Just curious as my hospital only use their own agency staff and its paid at the same rates as perm staff, so there is no incentive to do agency work.

I love nightshift, does this make a big difference in your wage in Auz? I suppose the only problem is most places dont do 12hr shifts so its more difficult to do overtime, are you able to do back to back shifts?

Scottie x

Margaret3

not if you've kids

Margaret3

Must admit , you can earn a fortune agency, i do scrub , and earn $46 per hr, through the week, weekends pay more $65 and $92 PH,(some agencies pay slightly more) in Melbourne once you've proved your reliable (and can do the job), you can pick and choose your hrs, ok it has its draw backs, no sick pay, no paid hols, no part of team (although i must admit you do feel part of the agency team). These are rates for 'specialist' nurses, their words not mine, personally i think we are all specialists in our field.

However i only work part-time due to having kids, but my husband works full-time (printer), and i gotta admit i am now finding the cost of living way higher than in scotland, groceries more, private health cover (complicated due to tax reasons), utilities about the same, although they are going up by about 16%, my rent is much more than my mortgage was in scotland, voluntary school fees for state school, out of school activities costmore, but there is also advantages, for example i dont think my husband will ever be unemployed, he had his time of unemployment in scotland, my teen has a part-time job, more choices for the kids, on the whole i dont think we will be better off here, but i think our kids will

cheshiremark

Hi Margaret,
I was surprised to read that groceries are more expensive in Australia than in the UK. Is that because of the drought that is happening there? I must admit though, love them or hate them, the competition between the big 4 UK supermarket chains does seem to be keeping prices down here.

What's it like buying TV's, fridges etc - are they about the same price as here? I read a thread that somebody wrote saying that mobile phones are more expensive there that the UK so I'm getting an up-to-date one from the Carphone Warehouse before I go

Can I just ask, you mention voluntary school fees for state schools - if they are voluntary are you still expected to have to pay them and how much do they ask for?

Mark

augigi

You definitely get a lot more money for agency, at least for specialties (I'm ICU). The rate is almost double for weekend agency work compared to fulltime hospital rates.

There is TONS of agency work around - I know several people who work a PM (1-9pm) then go work a night shift with agency (10-7). I personally think that's unsafe, I'd not be able to concentrate that long!

You definitely get more money for night shift - the differential varies from $20-$50 more per night. A lot of places do have 12hr shifts, especially in specialty areas. Almost every ICU has 12hr shifts.

You're right there! Big money suckers, they are

Margaret3

Hi there quick reply, groceries not just a little more they are a helluva lot more, but on the other hand, we actually find it cheaper to eat out than shop at the supermarket

yes the school fees are voluntary, but once you get a look at the state of the schools you want to cry and give your last penny, and my kids go to quite reputable state schools, this may be me being paranoid but i think it's a bit frowned upon if you dont pay the voluntary contribution, for both kids this year i paid around $1100, (just what you need at xmas), we are not by any stretch of the imagination well off, but we can afford the voluntary contribution,so we paid it (sorry just got a bee in my bonnett about it, i think its so important for the poor state schools to pay it if you can)


Fridges, mobiles , telly, etc, i have found about the same, furniture (depending on where you shop, do not rush in , and i talk for melbourne only), i have found alot cheaper, and some of the stuff gorgeous, people talk about cheap imports from china, but in my ignorance i dont know anything about that, i have found a lovely shop and a lovely old chinese guy who sells the most gorgeous furniture at reasonable prices,


As i said earlier it is all relative to where you came from, my kids came from fantastic schools with excellent resources, i came from a brill NHS hospital that i challenge anyone to beat, so it has all been a bit of a shock for me and my kids, but we are making the most of things, I am in no doubt the kids are having a great experience which will enhance them as people, they have , on the whole, been humbled by what they have seen, and been humbled by their immigrant classmates, i dont mean this in a condenscending manner, but my 9 year olds fav classmate is a boy called JoJo, and she loves his stories of Africa

p.s my kids are 16 and 9

breezeboylan

I work permanent nights and we are just about to get a pay rise that will give us 35% penalties for Monday-Thursday night shifts, thats a 15% rise
Tracie

Fejaouk

Well it all sounds a bit more positive! Just waiting for my visa grant and I will be off

Ozzidoc

I should have retrained as a nurse rather than as a Dr!! We start on £8.50 an hour.

Agency work will give you loads of flexibility, I strongly recommend it. However, you may wish to get a permanent job initially, so that you can become familiar with any different practices, drug names etc