I've been back and forth mate hence the name and it doesn't change the fact that Asdas is a much better super market than woolworths (out here the're a grocer you know)

This is the BBC report that someone posted on here the other day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4160570.stm

no to old and thick skinned ,I was refering to you other posts to other people just generalising with the whole thead
I fear no man and very few women

Aye, have to agree with you. That report IS crap

They must have compared UK 2006 with Oz 1980 I think

Looks that way - someone certainly got their figures wrong

even in aust your not allowed to make love with possums . anyway their dirty little critters with sharp little claws and smelly

no one is blaming someone else for there woe's they are however,expresing their displeasure at what they feel is a wrong . you can only seperate the facts and fictions once your here before that you can only do your best to gather the best information available. I don't know what you call basic food stuff's but my grocery bill (while the items are pretty much the same )as near enough doubled .I don't know you but you've shown no caring here just malice ...cruel to be kind I think not and did anyone ask for your sypathy so please by all means keep it

Blimey you lot were busy last night! I logged off after RockWiz (managed a lowly 150pts )

One comparison that I cannot do (well kind of but not really) is comparing costs as a decent wage earner, mortgage payer. I lived at home until I was 23, had a lowly job where I took home 120quid a week in 1989. Obviously I have moved up the ranks a bit now and have been a corporate procurement & contract mgr for 10yrs or so.

Plus I never actually migrated here, came out in '89 on a WHV, met a girl a year later, got married a bit later, kind of stayed by default, so I had nothing really to compare anything with.

But I did go home regularly from here and other countries I've lived in (all for work, with the exception of Colombia). I'd say things were dearer in the early to mid 90s. But something certainly happened between 2000 and now, as prices of food are quite a bit lower, at least in my area. Meat is much cheaper, fish still seems quite dear unless it's trout, as there are loads of trout farms around Somerset. Plus there are many 'two for one' deals that don't exist here.

When we moved to the UK in Feb this year I was accurately able to guage a comparitive salary for what I do. I wasn't interested in London as my wife has yet to complete her CPA, so the plan was to move to London then.

I was offered a job in Aldershot (CSC) and the money was definitely more than I get here and the tax less. We would have been better off. However, this can only really be taken advantage of if we bought a house (property), as tenants pay council tax and water rates, and the rents are bloody high (IMO).

If my wife had liked the UK more, we would have bought and been much better off, but as she confessed she didn't like it much (mainly due to the lack of multiculturalism outside of London, which I know some of you will find some what ironic ) I couldn't see how we'd be better off renting. However in my heart, I would have been much happier worse off and renting by staying there. Alas I take my married responsibilities very seriously and try to put what's best for both of us first, so we came back. But we will find that neutral place, where we're both happy I'm sure.

The only thing I'd add is that where I live (SW Somerset) and Dorset in particular, the difference in house prices and salary/wages has to be the most unbalanced in the UK. It is ridiculous (mostly due to sea changing Londoners, but not blaming them, it's a bloody nice area down there).

I would have bought in SE because that's where our work is.

In a nutshell we found:

Food: cheaper in UK (now)

Electric & Gas: cheaper here (but more choice for a bundled deal in the UK)

Cars: 2nd hand, much cheaper in UK, new, not much difference (non Euro)

Petrol: cheaper here (obviously) but the % has gone down. When I arrived it was 3 times cheaper here, now it's about half.

Insurance: Cheaper in the UK on all levels, car, contents, health (and that's in SE, let alone Somerset)

Phone: Cheaper UK

Internet: Cheaper here (just), plus I found it complicated there with Sky boxes, Telewest, digital HD signals etc.

Clothes: much cheaper there in all but the cheapest brands, but we don't buy those (I know, I know, but my wife's late mother was a fashion designer in Seoul, so where do you think we shop )

Shoes: Cheaper in UK and better quality

Cycles: much cheaper in UK (I only ride Italian

Guitars: cheaper in UK in the high end stuff


OK so maybe the last two aren't important to you (can't imagine why ) but I was pretty surprised at how much some things have come down (or how much things have risen by stealth here).

I reckon a lot of the arguments from the Godzones are because they have been here a long time and are spouting the prices from 10yrs ago, and even if they've been on holiday they were spending $$ which is always going to seem dear. Go there with a genuine desire to research stuff and I reckon they'd find a much different story to the one they keep parroting.

I know I was surprised. Now, if I could just get some more Koreans over there , we'd bet set

.

I know I was surprised. Now, if I could just get some more Koreans over there , we'd bet set [/QUOTE]
like the post ,did you visit Notts there was every cread and colour there
great place not that I'm bias in any way

I have met some Korean people in my professional life, the women are beautiful. Very gentle people.

like the post ,did you visit Notts there was every cread and colour there
great place not that I'm bias in any way[/QUOTE]

No we didn't, but I always so to Yoosun that Asian communities have it easier here than Brits as we have no community to go to and shop in etc. And she says to me 'well who's fault is that'? (to which I don't have a decent reply ).

She's not totally immersed in Korean life here, but she likes the fact that there is a community there if she needs it.

Yeah, she sure is beatiful

As for gentle, well that's true, (just do mention moving to the UK )

No we didn't, but I always so to Yoosun that Asian communities have it easier here than Brits as we have no community to go to and shop in etc. And she says to me 'well who's fault is that'? (to which I don't have a decent reply ).

She's not totally immersed in Korean life here, but she likes the fact that there is a community there if she needs it.[/QUOTE]
it's nice to have back up ,the reason for no english comunity is simple you're not allowed. bloody pom's this and that . and be careful the GodZone crew will be here to slap you down for not taking your Aussie meds and relying on Korean community support instead of just being Aussie Aussie Aussie Oih,Oih,Oih .great chant isn't it really goes to the core of chearing all single sylibuls no getting lost .....stopping now getting carried away :scared:

Good post FPM - you are absolutely right when you say that the GodZone folks don't research properly and that spending the $ in the UK will always seem expensive - it's common sense but some people just wont see it. I've read so many posts from people who go on about their wonderful lives here living in their wonderful big houses with no mortgage - they seem to conveniently forget that it's often their UK earnings which bought that wonderful house.

Not all godzone folk are like that. We came over with very little as we sold our UK house to finance our move to Canada 6 years ago. We have recently bought a house and our mortgage is a whopping $3000 per month so you don't need to talk to me about hardship. Other than my mortgage my outgoings are about the same on the whole. I pay more electric but my food shopping is slightly cheaper. Petrol is cheaper but at the moment I drive my kids a fair way to school so I fill up once a week at $70 a fill up. That will change when my kids change school.