HELP! Need to know the cost of bills and renting!!!

Hello everyone,

My husband, My 1 year old son, My little dog and I are desperately wanting to move to Richmond NSW to be able to have a new start and a better life for our son and be closer to some family.

My husband is a fully qualified electrician working in domestic and commercial with large experience of also working in gas and oil refineries across the UK and in places such as Tunisia and Norway. with doing our research and speaking to family we now know that he would not be able to be on a qualified electricians wage over in NSW and would have to do training for a year on a Electrical Trades Assistant wage. (A lot lower than what we thought)

i think i will be working part time once over there and sorted.

Is living on a $800 a week wage possible in Richmond?

taking into consideration we have a son who is still in nappys...

Bills

Car and car costs

food bills

also... from what i can see, when renting in NSW the rent includes land rates and water? is this correct?

so after rent it would just be gas and electric to pay for?

how much would people say they spend on gas and electric?

apologies for all the questions however I'm slight OCD when it comes to knowing expenses etc and making a spreadsheet for us to look at

if it really is possible!

thanks

Have you looked on realesate.com for price of rental, depends what size/space you need, you could be paying $300 a week for a small unit, i think i would struggle as a single person on that never mind 3 people, but others would manage. Yes rates included. Maybe save up money to take with you to top up his wage till you have more income? Hope someone else can give you more info

Do you mean $800 after tax per week or is that his wage? Will you be eligible for government benefits (depends on visa I think)?

We're not there yet but will be moving this year with 2 kids - they're Aussie citizens so we get full benefits if we're on a low wage to begin with (probably will be). It makes a huge difference. We will get family tax benefit part A and B, then there is rent assistance and others you may be entitled to. Have a google on centre link and family tax benefit - there are various calculators you can use and I rang them to be sure I would be entitled to one I was unsure about. With these benefits on top I'd say $800 is probably fine in the short term. If you're not entitled to these then $800 is not a lot to live on (based on the research I've done).

To be totally honest I think that you would probably struggle on $800 per week. Just having a quick look at rents in Richmond, you would be looking at $300+ for rent per week on a small 2 bedroom unit, although if you wanted a house your rent would obviously be more.

I spend probably $350 per week on food/cleaning products for four of us (two adults, two kids aged 6 and 8 so no nappies to buy), although we do eat loads of fruit, veg, meat and fish (which can be expensive) and not so much packaged foods which are probably a bit cheaper. We pay between $500-700 per quarter for electricity depending on the time of year (no electric heating, don't use the air-con, we have a pool pump which runs every day and two large fish tanks with filters, heating and lighting to run) despite having solar hot water (we have no gas here) and a 3kW solar electricity system on the roof. We don't have gas here, so I can't help with that cost. Car insurance/CTP and rego cost about $1000 per year (both over 35, no accidents/claims), and petrol costs about $70 to fill up my car, which lasts about 2 weeks for the school run and days out on the weekend. Our mobile phone bill is about $95 per month for two phones, and our land line and broadband are about $135 per month with Telstra (heavy internet users - we stream our TV). If you were planning to work also, you would have to consider child care costs which can be expensive. I used to pay about $80 per day for long day care, but that was a few years ago now, so the costs have probably increased.

I don't know which visa you are considering, but if you are a PR, there is some help that you can get to help with things like childcare costs, but we've not needed them as of yet so I don't know exactly how the system works.

If you had some savings behind you which you were happy to use in the short term until your husband got his full salary (this is what we had to do - OH was on a low salary to start with but we were on a 457 so had to manage), then I think that you would be okay, but if not then I think it would probably be a bit of a struggle.

Hi All

Like "MIRFINSTOOZ" I'm also interested in some of the big bills. Here is what I have from some research. The figures below are per Month living in the greater Sydney region.

Gas $115

Water $40

Elec $200

Internet $50

Groceries $800 (family of 3)

And guidance, if the above figures are low or high please let me know

Thanks in advance

Hello everyone,

 

My husband, My 1 year old son, My little dog and I are desperately wanting to move to Richmond NSW to be able to have a new start and a better life for our son and be closer to some family.

 

 

There isn't a lot of rental property available around Richmond. There aren't many apartments so you're looking at a villa or small older-style house at about $350 to $400 a week.

Hello everyone,

thank you for your info

From what we have been told it would be 800 a week after tax..

We will be on a PR visa.

We have been looking at propertys around the 380 to 420 mark

I think financially we should be ok.

Thanks for informing me about the benefits we would be entitled to to help us out until my husband has qualified properly.

Do you know how much you are entitled to for the part a and b?

I think we could make it work maybe a slight struggle but temporarily I think we should do ok and if entitled to a benefit it would be a great help!

really appreciate everyone helping out.

Does anyone use gas?

im trying to do a budget sheet to compare here to auz but its a bit of a struggle when im unable to know some figures for auz when it comes to the gas/electric?

could anyone provide a sensible and appropriate number on what it would cost for gas/electric a month.. we would need air conditioning on for the little one.. and also I understand some places don't have gas its a bit of a confusing thing to try get a price for to do a budget sheet

thanks all x

This is the website you need https://www.centrelink.gov.au/RateEstimatorsWeb/publicUserCombinedStart.do

Clink on the estimate family assistance payment and it takes you though. Our estimate (family assistance part a plus b) based on only earning a small amount of rental income plus another benefit which is counted as income (Austudy) would be about $230 per week. On top of that we get $125 rent assistance.

Hopefully we wont need to get the maximum, or at least not for long, but knowing that safety net is there makes it possible for us to move. Also we're going to be very near hubby's parents so that will be a big help.

This is the website you need https://www.centrelink.gov.au/RateEstimatorsWeb/publicUserCombinedStart.do

Clink on the estimate family assistance payment and it takes you though. Our estimate (family assistance part a plus b) based on only earning a small amount of rental income plus another benefit which is counted as income (Austudy) would be about $230 per week. On top of that we get $125 rent assistance.

Hopefully we wont need to get the maximum, or at least not for long, but knowing that safety net is there makes it possible for us to move. Also we're going to be very near hubby's parents so that will be a big help.

I meant $75 per week for rent, not $125.

You may also get the parenting payment if you're at home caring for your baby, with a maximum of $465.50 per fortnight http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/parenting-payment

Actually there's a residency requirement for the parenting payment - you have to be resident for 104 weeks. It's all very complicated.

Here is what I have from some research.

 

 

hi @Neilm, what's the source of these figures?

thanks

 

Does anyone use gas?

 

im trying to do a budget sheet to compare here to auz but its a bit of a struggle when im unable to know some figures for auz when it comes to the gas/electric?

 

could anyone provide a sensible and appropriate number on what it would cost for gas/electric a month.. we would need air conditioning on for the little one.. and also I understand some places don't have gas its a bit of a confusing thing to try get a price for to do a budget sheet

 

thanks all x

We are just a couple living not too far from Richmond and pay approx $280 a quarter electricity and we use air con a fair bit. We just have gas for cooking and heating water and pay about $150 a quarter. I think that most people use gas even if just for water.

I also am obsessed with spreadsheets for expenses. If you like I can email you a template. It might include some things you haven't thought of. If you're interested pm me your email address and I will forward it to you.

hi @Neilm, what's the source of these figures?

 

thanks

Hi Mungbean,

The figures came from a friend in Melbourne, I'm begining to think they may be high, as a few people have said they are in the high side. Please let me know what typical monthly costs are so I can adjust my sheet

thanks

a few people have said they are in the high side. Please let me know what typical monthly costs are so I can adjust my sheet

 

I'm looking for the same information - trying to work out a monthly budget while waiting for my visa to come through!

I'm looking for the same information - trying to work out a monthly budget while waiting for my visa to come through!

Hi Mungbean

i have a fairly complete sheet, I can email if you PM me your email address, I have also asked @george8181 for his sheet as I think some of my figures are high.

If if you want to know any individual costs please ask.

when where are you hoping to relocate to?

neil

Hi Mungbean

 

i have a fairly complete sheet, I can email if you PM me your email address, I have also asked @george8181 for his sheet as I think some of my figures are high.

 

If if you want to know any individual costs please ask.

 

when where are you hoping to relocate to?

 

neil

I have emailed you the sheet. I think Neilm's electricity/gas estimates are slightly high but everything else seems ok. The spreadsheet I emailed includes real figures and on the 2nd sheet is an average of the monthly costs.

I have emailed you the sheet. I think Neilm's electricity/gas estimates are slightly high but everything else seems ok. The spreadsheet I emailed includes real figures and on the 2nd sheet is an average of the monthly costs.

Thanks it looks great.

thanks guys this is reAlly helping partner bit worried about the English test he's going to have to do! If all goes well I'd like to think by next year we will be in aus x

Hi, would you be able to send me the list you have compiled, would be really grateful.

many thanks