OK, so what IS expensive and cheap in Australia?

[sykestykes]

Seen a few posts from people who think that alot of things in Australia are expensive compared to the UK.

 

This is a thread that will (hopefully) give people who are not yet here a good idea of what really does cost alot in Australia, and a chance for other members to pass on useful information as to where these items can be purchased cheaper (if it's possible to do that).

 

I hope that it will also help people decide what to bring with them if they can ship it over instead of buying it here (again, if that's possible).

 

Please could the poster also try to quote a current price for what they think is expensive, so others can see why they think that. :notworthy:

 

I'll start: I live in Queensland and think that the following things are expensive here compared to the UK:

 

Vitamin supplements - eg Centrum Tablets Multi Vitamins 60pk Price $19.76 at Woolworths

 

Bedding - Target (not an expensive store) generally sells sheet sets for around $$70 -$100 but can be much more expensive

 

The plastics storage containers you use in the kitchen - a cereal container form Woolworths costs around $15.00

 

Cheaper items are meat from a "super butcher" market style shop, and vegetables purchased from a fruit and veg shop - typically, 20 yearling steaks has cost me recently around $20 or less, and you can get avocados & small pineapples for 9c each, and for $5.00 you can get 2 big punnets of strawberries. Of course, it is cheaper to buy fruit and veg that's in season, the same as it would be anywhere.

 

This isn't a UK vs Australia thread, just a way to show how much things do really cost and how to save money on the advice of other members.

 

I'll come back if I think of any more :idea:

 

Sue x

[Guest Guest31881]

Hi,

 

I agree totally with what you say, but as probably shop at the same shops that is not so surprising. :biggrin:

 

I think when you move to Australia you have to learn to shop, and not just use supermarkets who can be very expensive.

[tracy123]

The problem Sue, is you need to know where to look, on face value Australia is very expensive,but so is the UK!

 

You can go to auction house's and buy new furniture, white goods (brand new) for a fraction of the price as you can in the shops, another place is Bob's bargins where you can buy scrach and dent as well as end of line stocks. You can find loads of genuine factory outlets to buy bedding clothes etc etc, the only problem is it takes time to find them, so my advise would be......... bring everything until you can find the right shops even if it's crap at least it will give you time to wait until it's on sale

[Guest guest30038]

I'd find this really hard to answer, as everything that we have bought here seemed so much cheaper than the UK.................but that's down to the fact that we couldn't afford bugger all when we lived in the UK, whereas our living standard has improved so much since due to career/salary improvement for my o/h.

 

My recent visit though, did open my eyes to groceries............I even found Booths cheap!............cheap cooked chickens, porkie pies (yummy) and of course...............grog :goofy:

 

kev

[sykestykes]

The problem Sue, is you need to know where to look, on face value Australia is very expensive,but so is the UK!

 

You can go to auction house's and buy new furniture, white goods (brand new) for a fraction of the price as you can in the shops, another place is Bob's bargins where you can buy scrach and dent as well as end of line stocks. You can find loads of genuine factory outlets to buy bedding clothes etc etc, the only problem is it takes time to find them, so my advise would be......... bring everything until you can find the right shops even if it's crap at least it will give you time to wait until it's on sale

 

Excellent post, thanks Geoffrey, I totally agree on bringing it all with you - I really wish I had!! :laugh:

 

Sue x

[calNgary]

I find most things cheaper here but as Geoffrey has said ,it takes time to find the best places to shop at, even then i find they may not be close together so one week i shop at one place, for toiletries i go to another town once a month and stock up etc etc

 

The major things i find cheaper here are -

 

Car insurance (fully comp) - approx $600 yr

House & contents Ins - $970 pr year

Rates (based on 2 acers) - approx $1600 yr

 

All less than what we paid in the UK

Cal x

[theonetruechris]

cheaper - running a car

dearer - buying the car to start with

 

cheaper - wine

dearer - beers and spirits

 

cheaper - shopping at greengrocers, butchers, markets

dearer - one stop shopping

 

Dearer - manchester & doonas

Priceless - laughing at their names for bedding and duvets

 

swings and roundabouts really

[janine the party queen]

I find this one quite difficult because I think it also depends on where you were living before you moved here.

After only being here 10 months this is what I have found.

 

Meat is cheaper in the butchers sometimes.

Buying seasonal fruit and veg is cheaper

Dental treatment is scary even with excellent insurance cover

Prescriptions cost a lot more here ( only $5.00 in Scotland )

Books WOW we buy from Amazon and the book Depository

Alcohol is really expensive.We rely on visitors buying at duty free and buying cases of wine from Cellar Doors at the vineyards.

Perfumes and aftershaves cost the earth as do anti wrinkle creams ( I use loads !!!!)

You do have to take into account where I live though.The Sutherlandshire area of Sydney does seem expensive to me.We travel a lot and I noticed the difference in prices when we were in Tweed Heads.

[Guest chris955]

Petrol is obviously cheaper here, depending on where you are of course as I have seen it over $2.00 in the middle of nowhere but generally cheaper.

Overall I'm not sure it is cheaper to run a car, it depends on the car itself. A small economical car in the UK is taxed at 35 quid whereas the same vehicle here would cost around $700 for registration and CTP. Comprehensive insurance seems cheaper in the UK but again it depends on the vehicle and the area.

Groceries generally seem to be cheaper in the UK as do clothes and books. Whitegoods and electronics (TV'S etc) seem to be pretty much the same.

Rates for us are $2000 a year in the 'burbs so they seem higher than the UK, again depending on area of course.

I would say overall there is little if anything in it between the 2 countries as far as the cost of living. The amazing thing about that is that as little as 5 years ago Britain was concerned an expensive place to live in comparison to here.

[kernow43]

Just spoke to a friend who is on a bike ride from Brisbane to Albany for the Starlight Foundation. He is an aussie, and his statement was how very expensive West Australia was. It is his first visit, and he cannot get over the cost of everything, beer especially and English beer, they are really ripping off the expats, of which there are many. Apart from the climate all the various accents he thought he was in the UK. He is one very glad man he does not live there.Just added , not because of the poms, but the costs!

[Guest Bettyboop]

To be honest I have found its swings and roundabouts too!!! We dont pay gas in our house, or tv licence and because we are renting no water or rates so are saving money there compared to UK. I agree that car insurance and contents insurance is cheaper here for me and running our car is far cheaper here however I do find the groceries expensive. OK not fruit, veg and meat but the tinned goods, loaves of bread, cereal, milk etc and I do not necessarily buy the dearest I am happy with Coles or Woolworths own, but, for example I could buy a tin of chopped tomatoes in UK for under 10p so far dearer here. But it doesnt really matter because where I am spending more in one area of my life I am spending less in another, my husband is on the same salary here as he was in the UK but I am not working here (was in UK) and our money seems to last the same as if two of us were earning. I think the biggest areas that you save on here are the free activities you can do, such a large portion of our money in the UK used to go on different after school clubs for the children whereas here they dont want to do anything except go in the pool or to the beach!! also we spend very little on entertaining the children at the weekend so huge saving there!!!

 

If anyone has any suggestions on where to go for cheap store cupboard ingredients let me know ;-)

 

Angie x

[byrned]

The dentist, make sure you get your teeth done before coming especially the kids, I have been quoted for a deep root canal filling and crown three thousand seven hundred dollars.

[mrcatania]

$8.50+ for a pint of beer?? Me thinks not. No wonder they all drink their cheap wine at home.

$2 for a Cadbury Crunchy or a flake?? You gotta be kidding!! Have seen them on special for a buck, even still, would never pay 60p for one back home.

$6 for a nice brown loaf of bread?... that's a joke, no, I will not eat a $2 budget white loaf before you say you can get cheap bread here. I was getting delicious, freshly baked seeded brown out of Sainsburys for GBP1.20.

$12 for 2 salmon fillets.... need I say more?? And that goes for most meats.

Petrol is a lot cheaper as per many previous posts, that's about it. But no one has mentioned the regular stuff is much poorer quality than the UK.

[heyyu]

what is much poorer itemise please,does the milk not come from a cow is the bread not made with flour,is the wheat not ground the right way is the salt not salty is the pepper not peppery or the butter,buttery or my goodness the cheddar not chedary,as you are returning to the place of your birth i hope you report on the prices in the UK on your return,as the pound loses value the cost of imports will invariably rise.i look forward to an honest post in the future.the diet must not be too bad,as we are fifth in life expectancy in the world

[Guest chris955]

I find a lot of food to be of a poorer quality here and more expensive.

I have noticed a couple of people saying car insurance is cheaper, does that include the $500-600 we pay for CTP every year with our registration ?

[kernow43]

$8.50+ for a pint of beer?? Me thinks not. No wonder they all drink their cheap wine at home.

$2 for a Cadbury Crunchy or a flake?? You gotta be kidding!! Have seen them on special for a buck, even still, would never pay 60p for one back home.

$6 for a nice brown loaf of bread?... that's a joke, no, I will not eat a $2 budget white loaf before you say you can get cheap bread here. I was getting delicious, freshly baked seeded brown out of Sainsburys for GBP1.20.

$12 for 2 salmon fillets.... need I say more?? And that goes for most meats.

Petrol is a lot cheaper as per many previous posts, that's about it. But no one has mentioned the regular stuff is much poorer quality than the UK.

I know this place gives you the s***s but I can't see how you can say most meats are dearer, and salmon is not that much dearer, be fair. We buy our bread in Safeway or Woolworths, not the cheap stuff but the good quality seeded varieties when they are 2 for $5.00 I pay $6.00 for a pint of Guiness at the club.

As for Cadbury I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole only 30% cocao!

I am sure you will feel better when you go back:unsure:

[calNgary]

I find a lot of food to be of a poorer quality here and more expensive.

I have noticed a couple of people saying car insurance is cheaper, does that include the $500-600 we pay for CTP every year with our registration ?

 

Hi Chris

I was one of the people who said car insurance is cheaper,, i didnt include CTP but my CTP is approx $600 so both CTP and fully comp together are still cheaper than my 3rd party F & T plus Road tax in the UK.

 

Cal x

[mrcatania]

what is much poorer itemise please,does the milk not come from a cow is the bread not made with flour,is the wheat not ground the right way is the salt not salty is the pepper not peppery or the butter,buttery or my goodness the cheddar not chedary,as you are returning to the place of your birth i hope you report on the prices in the UK on your return,as the pound loses value the cost of imports will invariably rise.i look forward to an honest post in the future.the diet must not be too bad,as we are fifth in life expectancy in the world

I ment the regular petrol is not as good quality as in the UK.

No real issues about the quality of the food, although you pay through the nose for good stuff.

[heyyu]

i apologise,and concur

[Guest chris955]

Wow, really ? Did you live in an area where you were heavily penalised ? I did a comparison quote in the UK for the car I drive and it is within $'s of being the same for comprehensive, so including CTP I would pay about $600 more here. Road tax on the same car is around $200 so only $400 more here. That is just one example of course, if you lived in a high risk area then it would be different.

 

Hi Chris

I was one of the people who said car insurance is cheaper,, i didnt include CTP but my CTP is approx $600 so both CTP and fully comp together are still cheaper than my 3rd party F & T plus Road tax in the UK.

 

Cal x

[Happy Lass]

Books, and in particular cookery books, cost a lot more here but you can get some really good deals at places like Target and K-Mart on some of the more popular titles.

 

PC games cost a good deal more here than in the UK but if you take the time to shop around you can get a good price. My husband and I both enjoying PC gaming and we've found that some Online stores offering digital downloads will bill you in US dollars instead of Australian and still charge you more! Luckily that is not the norm but you do need to pay attention when buying over the Internet. We usually find Steam to be the most reasonably priced digital retailer and Game the most reasonably priced for games in-store and via the Web.

 

Computer hardware works out to about the same price as in the UK.

 

Vet seems to cost about the same.

[Guest guest30038]

I find a lot of food to be of a poorer quality here and more expensive.

I have noticed a couple of people saying car insurance is cheaper, does that include the $500-600 we pay for CTP every year with our registration ?

 

Equating to how much in road tax and 3rd party in the UK? 190 quid for road tax alone?

[Guest guest30038]

I find a lot of food to be of a poorer quality here and more expensive.

 

 

Okey dokey. I've started a new thread 'cause I've heard this stated a few times recently.

[Metoo]

The dentist, make sure you get your teeth done before coming especially the kids, I have been quoted for a deep root canal filling and crown three thousand seven hundred dollars.

 

As a counter to this post, and to be fair this was in the late '90's, and I am an Australian citizen so may affect the costs, I am not sure, the root canal was done free, out of hours at my local 24 hour medical centre and the outcome was a crown done all in at about $350 as a follow up at my regular dentist the next day, I had no medical insurance, this was on the northern beaches in Sydney.

[Guest chris955]

Well I would say that things have changed vastly since the 90's, add a zero to that and you would be closer nowadays.