Cost of living - not that great after all???

[dwaldron]

Out of curiosity I logged on to www.coles.com.au and did what I would have thought was a 'normal' weekly shop for our household of two adults. I thought the easiest way was to shove it into a spreadsheet so that I could refer to it later.

If you are interested, you can get a copy of the spreadsheet at www.levelx.co.uk/oz-col.xls and save a copy somewhere on your PC. Obviously if you are not in the UK you could change the exchange rate field in the spreadsheet to whereever you are.

I was quite surprised to find that my weekly shop is in fact about the same £ wise as it is in the UK, although, I must admit, there seems to be a significant saving when it comes to wine. :D

[ABCDiamond]

Originally Posted by dwaldron

Out of curiosity I logged on to www.coles.com.au and did what I would have thought was a 'normal' weekly shop for our household of two adults. I thought the easiest way was to shove it into a spreadsheet so that I could refer to it later.

I find Coles is expensive !!

No wonder many people find that I spend lot less than them :) But then I have been here some years, and I know the better places to buy food ;) (Especially Meat)

[dwaldron]

I have heard that Coles is expensive and also that online prices are dearer, so perhaps if we all shave off 15% things won't be so bad?

[ABCDiamond]

Originally Posted by dwaldron

I have heard that Coles is expensive and also that online prices are dearer, so perhaps if we all shave off 15% things won't be so bad?

It is probably best to work on those prices, and then find the cheaper prices a good thing when you arrive. After all, once you first arrive, it will be difficult in knowing the right things to get and you may well pay over the odds.

An interesting thing I found was in Ice Cream. I like the Woolworths Home Brand Ice cream, but I never used to mention it, after all it is cheap $3.99 for 4 litres ! So a bit embarrasing saying we buy Homebrand Ice Cream !! However, a recent TV Blind Taste Test had that particular one beating many of the expensive brands ! So now I am very happy that I like it, as it is the taste after all and not the price :D

From your list... Coles Potatoes 1.5kg for $4.65 are a bit high !!! I pay $1 a kg (sometimes less).

Fruit & Veg shops, and Butchers, can be much better places to buy these things than the supermarkets.

Just noticed the price for:
Chicken breasts 500g $7.41
My wife bought 1.5kg Chicken Breast (Skin Off), and 1kg of Steak yesterday, for $17.50 total. Not sure how much each one was, but it averages $3.50 for each 500gm, aboiut half of the Coles price :)

We always get the supermarkets weekly catalogues here, so it is easy to check many of the prices. This week, Coles is showing Chicken breasts (skin off) for 10.48 per kg. so that is an interesting comparison to their own Online Prices of $14.82 per kg.

[spray21]

thanks dwaldron, i've been meaning to do that myself for ages but too lazy! Many thanks for saving me the time and effort!

[dwaldron]

Many thanks for saving me the time and effort!

My pleasure, it had been niggling at the back of my mind how much money I would need to put aside for surviving 6 months without employment.

As ABCDiamond quite rightly points out, Coles is not the cheapest place to shop and often shopping for two is dearer (per head) than shopping for a family. God only knows what I would do with 1.5KG of chicken breasts, the very thought of it makes me ill!

Daniel

[afs]

Living in the city (Melbourne) my choice is Coles Central or Safeway. Do not like the latter, so left with Coles (yes really missing Tesco's, Sainsbury's and Waitrose). I also logged onto Coles online and compared it to Tesco's and came up with a similar conclusion. I think the suburbs are cheaper and most people tend to go to the market (luckily I have Victoria Market close by) but that is a bit of a trek for just one person so I just pop into coles. To be honest I spend between $30 to $50 dollars a week (on the higher end if I get non food items eg household stuff). Most Aussie's prefer going to the markets than the supermarkets from my discussions. Some things are cheaper here but I guess it's relative as Salaries seem to be lower. I think if you want lower cost of living, avoid Melbourne and Sydney for sure. One lady I worked with said her and her husband could live on just one salary (they are in their 40s with no children so I guess it's doable) and live in the suburbs.
Going to the cinema in the city is $15, my zone 1 monthly travelcard is about $100, material things tend to be expensive so I use the Internet and the clothes shopping is not as good as in America or the UK. But for me, it's the lifestyle that is way better and the people do have a lifestyle here. They work hard but enjoy their lives on the whole. Lots of people have family homes or go out and stay at resorts and stuff. Plus the healthcare system here has been fantastic. I unfortunately had to see some health problems and had to see doctor, have some tests done and attend hospital and getting appointments was sooo easy and the level of care excellent.
I think its a balance - cost of living and way of living.

[afs]

Sorry I meant to say 'Lots of people have holiday homes not family homes...'

[jajnlis]

http://www.coastshop.com.au/shopping/2supermarkets.htm

[Stuju]

hi dwaldron

there was a article on tv the other night and they were saying that prices in Australian supermarkets have gone up by 70% as they do not have the competition - they compared this to supermarkets in the UK & USA which had only gone up by 30%

coles can be very expensive at times - you do have to shop around woolworths arent to badly priced and then theres the cheaper supermarkets like go- lo iga and aldi