Bloody school fees...How unfair is that?? They want the $4,500 per child and want it up front, in full.
Wish they allowed payment by instalments...Anyone heard of anyone paid school fees in smaller chunks?
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying it ...I just wish we could pay by installments...
Any brainy people here know anything that could be useful in relation to school fees?
PLEASE RESPOND!
Yup, try the Catholic system. AFAIK they dont charge the international component (well they dont in ACT and we are part of the Goulburn diocese which is NSW) so you would just be up for the regular fees which are less than the $4500 and are payable by the term. You dont have to be Catholic but it helps! Alternatively suss out other private schools - some of them may have low fees (obviously not Sydney Girls Grammar which will be around the $15k mark) which they would take by the term.
The cost of the application process is ongoing...we have a small amount in bank at the moment....and can manage to put £300 ish away each month towards the various costs that will arise......also having a massive clear out at spring bank holiday.....see if we have owt worth selling on ebay/car boots etc...rest will get chucked in a skip..but at least it's a job out of the way!
just a thought, cos skips aren't cheep. have you heard of a site called United Kingdom (UK) Freecycle Groups' Homepage as the name says it's free, if you no longer want something but it may be usefull to someone else and you just want rid of it for no money post it on this site. could save you having to pay for skip. anything goes on here beds, cookers fridges, tv, old blankets, clothes, cutlery,pots pans. even a box of wall tiles....
just a thought, cos skips aren't cheep. have you heard of a site called United Kingdom (UK) Freecycle Groups' Homepage as the name says it's free, if you no longer want something but it may be usefull to someone else and you just want rid of it for no money post it on this site. could save you having to pay for skip. anything goes on here beds, cookers fridges, tv, old blankets, clothes, cutlery,pots pans. even a box of wall tiles....
To be honest...I have heard of it and am a member of my local group...but had TOTALLY forgotten all about it.... don't know if anyone would want our old tat tho lol
We are SUCH hoarders....not anymore it has to go....the loft is being cleared to within an inch of it's life...and toys not suitable anymore/not played with will go to the local nursery. We are not hiring a skip now...going to do it the harder way and take trips to the tip ourselves and save the money....which following hubbys slighty bad news today is a neccessity.... his employer (who were in the throes of a takeover bid) have announced today that the takeover has hit a stubmling block, that they cant guarantee they will get paid this month... and they sent everyone home, with a promise to let them know by Friday/Tuesday whether there was a company to go back to!!!
Not worried about him getting another job...but am very upset he might not get paid for the last month...we need every penny!
Hey there - I moved out here about 4 weeks ago with my partner and my two kids with about 10k (pounds), this has covered the bond on a rather large house with a swiming pool, the first months rent, small amount of essential furnature, 4 week car rental, food and some clothing.
One thing I will say is do not under estimate how much your house is going to cost, my rent is over 2 grand (dollars) a month, Oz aint as cheep a country as it used to be, its much more expensive these days.
I was lucky to be coming out on a 457 so had a job to go to when I got here but do bring as much cash as you can with you, medical insurance is expensive and does not cover everything (some medications are not covered), if you have kids then schooling is not free, I have 2 kids and they are at a gouvernment school with only 6 months of term left and even then I still have to pay about a grand (dollars) in fees, also cost me more than $500 each for their uniforms. If you want to send your kids to a private school then look to be paying anything up to $20k a year including uniform, travel, other fees.
Petrol is not as cheep here as it used to be, stil cheeper than UK but that wont last for long, Oz is very quickly catching up with UK prices, they reckon it will be $2 a litre before xmas.
If you come over on a 457 visa make sure you apply for LAFH (living away from home allowance) which basically gives you rent and food tax free.
I would say folks on a 457 coming over with nothing but 10k will just make it, come with anything less and you may struggle, especially if you are of the same mind as me, I never came out here to live in the same size house as I had in UK and eat the same sausage and beans for tea every night like I did in the UK, I came out here to live like a king lol, no seriously though I am sure you know what I mean, I never travelled 10k miles to live in poverty or on the bread line, all I am saying is bring as much as you can with you and use garage sales and IKEA for your first lot of furniture.
Good luck to you all, its a great country and while me and my family miss everyone back home like hell we are glad we are here.
Hey there - I moved out here about 4 weeks ago with my partner and my two kids with about 10k (pounds), this has covered the bond on a rather large house with a swiming pool, the first months rent, small amount of essential furnature, 4 week car rental, food and some clothing.
One thing I will say is do not under estimate how much your house is going to cost, my rent is over 2 grand (dollars) a month, Oz aint as cheep a country as it used to be, its much more expensive these days.
I was lucky to be coming out on a 457 so had a job to go to when I got here but do bring as much cash as you can with you, medical insurance is expensive and does not cover everything (some medications are not covered), if you have kids then schooling is not free, I have 2 kids and they are at a gouvernment school with only 6 months of term left and even then I still have to pay about a grand (dollars) in fees, also cost me more than $500 each for their uniforms. If you want to send your kids to a private school then look to be paying anything up to $20k a year including uniform, travel, other fees.
Petrol is not as cheep here as it used to be, stil cheeper than UK but that wont last for long, Oz is very quickly catching up with UK prices, they reckon it will be $2 a litre before xmas.
If you come over on a 457 visa make sure you apply for LAFH (living away from home allowance) which basically gives you rent and food tax free.
I would say folks on a 457 coming over with nothing but 10k will just make it, come with anything less and you may struggle, especially if you are of the same mind as me, I never came out here to live in the same size house as I had in UK and eat the same sausage and beans for tea every night like I did in the UK, I came out here to live like a king lol, no seriously though I am sure you know what I mean, I never travelled 10k miles to live in poverty or on the bread line, all I am saying is bring as much as you can with you and use garage sales and IKEA for your first lot of furniture.
Good luck to you all, its a great country and while me and my family miss everyone back home like hell we are glad we are here.
Thanks for the insight Rizah.
As you say, it all depends on expectations and character. We are going on very low budget (in fact, if you sneeze hard, you could blow away all the money we are taking!!!).
But, we are extremely optimistic and realistic people (yes, they are people who are this!!) and we will be living in smalish flat for the first two years, while we give OZ specially Sydney) the once over!!!
After that. if we like it there in OZ, we will sell our flat and use the money to maybe purchase a new property...All a pipe dream but hey, even if we don't buy a property in Sydney, it's not the end of the world, is it?!??!
If you want to know about our lifestyle in UK, just for comparisons, we live near the sea (HOVE) , have two bed flat with the biggest garden, and host so many barbies that even have some OZ mates come down from London for these, our child can play outside whole day (rarity in UK!!) with neighbours kids (we get along so well) and it's in a close, so almost no traffic bar 'close' people. We all keep an eye on kids in turns.
Idyllic but hey, when you have a dream you mst follow it, right!!
Sydney is my OH and my dream. We'd love to make it happen.
....which following hubbys slighty bad news today is a neccessity.... his employer (who were in the throes of a takeover bid) have announced today that the takeover has hit a stubmling block, that they cant guarantee they will get paid this month... and they sent everyone home, with a promise to let them know by Friday/Tuesday whether there was a company to go back to!!!
Not worried about him getting another job...but am very upset he might not get paid for the last month...we need every penny! [/quote]
sorry to hear your bad news, hope he does get paid. be good to get to a country where we are wanted......
Very true, I had very high expectations when I came out here, thankfully I have been able to fulfill most of them, but had I set my expectations bit lower then I would still have some savings to fall back on :)
AH well my partner and kids are happy, they have big house with pool in gorgeous area with loads of huge shopping malls close by, I am out here just to finance it all lol
Hi,
my husband and I just moved over to OZ and we brought only 3000 pounds with us. We had no house to sell and after we bought our tickets and paid for our stuff to be removed, its all we had left. We rented a house, bought a furnitre package for about $2000 and slowly every week, we buy a bit more. We have 2 kids, and we have found it not be stressful at all. We are happier as a family. Our sponsor gave us a new car and we pay $50 dollars a week on it. It just goes to show, that you dont have to come out with thousands, just an eagerness and you can do it. We are now living in a nice house, and we are totally happy.
