Cost of living comparison

[mac]

Hi all! We are going to be moving to Adelaide in January 2015 and wanted to do a cost of living comparison. We know roughly what we can earn if we both work, but wanted to know if there are any websites we could use to get a rough idea of the costs of utility bills/expenses? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Mark, Natalie, Abigail, Jessica & Mia:chatterbox:

[Guest Guest75]

Use the search engine on here - top right. There are quite a few in this forum.

[Guest BurgessFamily]

Following based on family of 6...

 

Rental/Wk: $400

Elec/Qtr: $450-$600

Gas/Qtr: $150

Phone,Internet/Mth: $60

Petrol/Wk: $60 (+$30 second car)

Health Insurance for Family (Basics only - dentist, ambulance etc..)/Fnight: $35

Weekly Shop: $300

Car Insurance/Yr: $200 x2

Car Rego (Tax): $195/Qtr OR $730/Yr (for each car)

 

Other costs:

School Fees

Dentist

Sport (e.g. paying $300 x2 for kids playing soccer)

Cinema: $15-$18 per person

10 Pin Bowling: $10 per game per person

Property Rates (Council Tax)

[guspjmh]

I think it's roughly comparable to the UK. Multiply UK costs by about 1.8 to give cost in AUD and you won't be far off.

[kadina]

Hiya,

 

Its very tricky to say, it depends on the size of your house if your renting/ have a mortgage etc, the size of you family what work you do (thats if you get work !!) the cost of living here is high compared to wages for sure, we live in a small house and we can live fairly cheaply, but we avoid aircon in the summer to cut costs and shop as wisely as we can, also just have one of us working (im still trying to get work) if you have a pool thats gonna cost you too. You really need to get here and then see really, good luck

 

Hi all! We are going to be moving to Adelaide in January 2015 and wanted to do a cost of living comparison. We know roughly what we can earn if we both work, but wanted to know if there are any websites we could use to get a rough idea of the costs of utility bills/expenses? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Mark, Natalie, Abigail, Jessica & Mia:chatterbox:

[Guest Guest12727]

Following based on family of 6...

 

Rental/Wk: $400

Elec/Qtr: $450-$600

Gas/Qtr: $150

Phone,Internet/Mth: $60

Petrol/Wk: $60 (+$30 second car)

Health Insurance for Family (Basics only - dentist, ambulance etc..)/Fnight: $35

Weekly Shop: $300

Car Insurance/Yr: $200 x2

Car Rego (Tax): $195/Qtr OR $730/Yr (for each car)

 

Other costs:

School Fees

Dentist

Sport (e.g. paying $300 x2 for kids playing soccer)

Cinema: $15-$18 per person

10 Pin Bowling: $10 per game per person

Property Rates (Council Tax)

 

I agree with this as a guide. Some of our bills are higher and some lower, on average about the same. Car costs will depend on car and distance traveled (petrol) - worth considering when looking at work and home locations and accessibility of public transport (about $40 per week). Of course if you want extras like Foxtel, more internet bandwidth you will pay for these things - but these are choices, not necessities.

Other expenses we have are life insurance - which you can pay little or lots, depending on your cover and our health insurance is much higher than quoted, again this varies a lot with the level of cover and things like son's music lessons and other extra-curricular activities and pet costs (see my other post on medicare thread).

[kadina]

Id like to know who you get your car insurance from Im paying 3 times that xx

 

Following based on family of 6...

 

Rental/Wk: $400

Elec/Qtr: $450-$600

Gas/Qtr: $150

Phone,Internet/Mth: $60

Petrol/Wk: $60 (+$30 second car)

Health Insurance for Family (Basics only - dentist, ambulance etc..)/Fnight: $35

Weekly Shop: $300

Car Insurance/Yr: $200 x2

Car Rego (Tax): $195/Qtr OR $730/Yr (for each car)

 

Other costs:

School Fees

Dentist

Sport (e.g. paying $300 x2 for kids playing soccer)

Cinema: $15-$18 per person

10 Pin Bowling: $10 per game per person

Property Rates (Council Tax)

[GarethB]

Agree with costs at 1.8 x UK, but absolute nonsense about high costs compared to wages...As per previous posts (by me) not everyone in Australia can earn over $100K per year working for the government at exactly 38 hours per week (and never a minute more or I'll call the Union) and have a huge house with pool and obligatory 5.0l V8 commodore!!!

Min wage in UK circa $7 per hour....so based on 1.8 means $12.60 here in wages when in reality the min wage on most awards here is over $17 p/h (permanent)i!!!! that's 2.5 greater than UK. Doesn't that mean costs here are lower as a proportion of take home wages?

Enjoy the lifestyle here for what it is; great services, great public (free) places to go, cheap fuel, bigger housing, higher wages, fantastic weather!, if not stay in the UK and blow "better salary" on your shoebox house and enjoy sitting in the traffic on the 1 hour plus commute to work every day of the week! I know where I'd rather be!

[minty]

Out costs family of Family of 4 -

 

Rental/Wk: $400

Elec/Qtr: $300

Gas/Qtr:$100

Phone,Internet/Mth: 50

Petrol/Wk: $50 second car $30

Weekly Shop:$150

Car Insurance/Yr: $300

Car Rego (Tax)qtr $ 150 for each car)

 

We earn more here and the living costs are on par as we came from expensive surrey and moved to Christies Beach.

[mac]

Are there any water rates?

[GarethB]

if you rent, generally just pay water supply and usage, say $150 a qtr. If you own the property looking at $250-$300 per qtr for family of 4 with a garden

[Guest AJ1881]

Yes, differ by the area (depends who supplies). I was asking earlier about water quality, after reading scary articles online.

 

The bottom line, I would leave right now.... based on the above costs wilfully shared by people on this forum, my calculation of living costs in Oz compared to UK appears to be lower. One thing is for sure, our newly built (by A developer) greatly insulated home is so cool that heating came on this morning. Thermostat set at 18 C.

 

Gas heating, problems in Ukraine, no fracking or wind mills (and so on...) in my front and back yard.......

 

.....am just tired of this old and burdened short sighted continent called Europe.

 

I also know where I would rather be, the likelihood is our income will be lower, but just can't cope any more.

[cliffy]

Does anyone else besides me pay Emergency Services Levy? It may only be $100 or so a year, but it keeps going up. I have never called any emergency services, luckily.

The water rates include Sewage and Save the Murray Levy (a tax by any other name!) and however conservative I am with water, the supply charge is always double the water use.

About $240 a quarter, with almost no garden and only two people.

 

"our newly built (by A developer) greatly insulated home is so cool that heating came on this morning. Thermostat set at 18 C."

 

Bear in mind that houses in Adelaide are generally not well insulated or glazed and most people complain about the cold in the winter. If my heating was set as low as that it would come on most mornings from this time of the year until October

[Guest Frank44122]

Out costs family of Family of 4 -

 

Rental/Wk: $400

Elec/Qtr: $300

Gas/Qtr:$100

Phone,Internet/Mth: 50

Petrol/Wk: $50 second car $30

Weekly Shop:$150

Car Insurance/Yr: $300

Car Rego (Tax)qtr $ 150 for each car)

 

We earn more here and the living costs are on par as we came from expensive surrey and moved to Christies Beach.

 

 

Based on the above figures, can anyone confirm to me that I am right in thinking that I might actually have money left at the end of each month?! Have looked on a salary after tax website and if I got $50,000, according to the site I will get $3224 including super. Is this about right? If so, for a family of 4, once the basics have been paid for(using the above figures)

per month:

rent 1600

elec and gas 133

internet 50

petrol 320

shopping 600

car ins 50

rego 100

 

This works out to be approx 2850, leaving a surplus of about $370. Haven't include any centrelink help which I think we will be eligible for with 2 kids as don't want to assume these figures as things can change but does it look like we would actually have a little bit of money left over, not a great deal I know!

[cliffy]

There are several costs not included, contents insurance, ambulance and health, school fees and charges, and I think $150 for shopping in an underestimate, I would say more like $220 for a full week. Not sure you would have that much left for a family of four.

[minty]

It varies from family to family. You can also get decent rentals from $320. Horses for courses etc.

[Anne B]

You may be entitled to centrelink family tax benefit and rent assistance which would help a lot, otherwise I reckon you will be struggling.

[Guest Spitfire]

It depends on your wage. With a couple of exceptions like electronic goods and real estate, everything in Australia is more expensive. Luckily, wages tend to be higher to accommodate this.

 

To be honest if you are a family of - four, was it? - and you're talking about a salary of 50k I think you will struggle big time in Adelaide. Is there a second salary?

Edited June 27, 2014 by Spitfire

[Guest Spitfire]

Bear in mind that houses in Adelaide are generally not well insulated or glazed and most people complain about the cold in the winter. If my heating was set as low as that it would come on most mornings from this time of the year until October

 

The mystery I have never been able to answer is why Australians still have not discovered radiators, which other countries have used for the last 160 years. If anyone knows the answer I'm listening.

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

With a couple of exceptions like electronic goods and real estate, everything in Australia is more expensive.

 

really? electronics and real estate are cheaper in Australia??!.......ooooohhh please point me in the direction where this statement is true!

[Guest Spitfire]

You're not getting 700 sqm of land with a four bed house on it, 25 mins from the centre of any southern British city for 250k sterling, but this is common in Adelaide, hence the first statement, and the electronic stuff is less obvious, but all our TVs and stereos cost less in Australia then UK, hence the second bit.

[jim and adel]

You're not getting 700 sqm of land with a four bed house on it, 25 mins from the centre of any southern British city for 250k sterling, but this is common in Adelaide, hence the first statement, and the electronic stuff is less obvious, but all our TVs and stereos cost less in Australia then UK, hence the second bit.

 

I can't agree. There are very few suburbs that close to Adelaide CBD where you can get a four bed property on that size plot for that price; it's possible but certainly not common. Perhaps it's an Adelaide '25 mins' which equates to 45 mins of normal time? (I notice how the comparison has suddenly been narrowed down to a 'southern' British city - that seems to happen a lot on here, where, as a thread continues Australia is compared to an ever smaller slice of the UK in order to prove a point.)

 

The only time electronics are cheaper here than the UK is when they're several models behind what's available elsewhere in the world. Take TVs (for example), compare the same models and you'll see they are typically 10-15% cheaper in the UK. Price aside, the choice of decent electronics here is dreadful!

 

btw, I think this is our first interaction, so welcome to the site

 

Jim

[Guest Guest14361]

One or two in this area, one of many, all with 700 blocks, all equivalent to 250k sterling all with 4 beds and 25 mins drive to city

 

btw our first interaction too:biggrin:

[Guest Frank44122]

There are several costs not included, contents insurance, ambulance and health, school fees and charges, and I think $150 for shopping in an underestimate, I would say more like $220 for a full week. Not sure you would have that much left for a family of four.

 

 

Thanks cliffy, a, hoping that salRy would be the minimum I could expect as a mechanic, that's what other peeps have told me, difficult to know though as the job websites never seem to specify! We will have PR and kids are t old enough for school yet and hopefully wife can help out once school fees kick in as she won't need to be home with them. Hoping we won't end up coming back as we can't make the finances work Have worked out we will pretty much just about have enough to cover things, not including any centrelink payments as haven't wanted to use them in our budgeting, but hope I haven't missed out some crucial outgoing!

[Guest Guest14361]

Forgot to add this bit in my earlier post

http://www.realestate.com.au/listsearchview.ds?where=Wynn+Vale%2C+SA+5127&theme=rea.buy&display=list&propertyType=&landType=&lotSize=700&minFrontage=&minPrice=&maxPrice=450000&numBeds=4-bedrooms&maxBeds=&numBaths=&numParkingSpaces=&keywords=&newOrEstablished=&includeSurrounding=true&interiorFeatures=&exteriorFeatures=&ecoFriendly=