Making a cost of living spreadsheet

Hello everyone,

I'm currently in the process of moving to oz on a 457 visa in Jan 2011. As part of my obsessive disorder with getting all my sums correct I have started making a spreadsheet that will help a lot of people sort out their finances and give people an idea of what to budget for.

I do however need a range of costs from peoples experience:

So if anyone can help. its much appreciated and I'll upload the spreadsheet once completed.

What I need information on is an average or range of costs

Cost of rental in 1. Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, NSW, WA, SA etc...

Average cost of gas, electric, water for a 1 person household, a couple (no kids) and of course a family of 4

Range of costs of the 'average' weekly shop for 1, 2, and 4 person families

Average monthly cost of owning a car ..fuel, insurance, tax etc...

The average cost of home telephone and broadband

The rough costs of mobile phone ownership from pre paid to contract

Once some of these figures are in, users will be able to use the standard spread sheet or change figures to show the min. income they would need both pre & post tax. In addition, it will also show the equivalent in GBP to make comparison easier.

All help is greatly appreciated, as if this type of thing is done well, it will make life easier for others

Thanks for any help in advance

Rakesh

Are you an accountant by any chance??? I am and sounds like something I would do if I hadn't had enough of spreadsheets after working a 7 day week! Be interested to see end result tho!

Hi Rose,

Thanks for the reply. No far from it, I'm a dentist but if I had to retrain, I think I would be an accountant! I'm good with numbers and have a really good working knowledge of spreadsheets..so I thought I'd combine the two and save people a lot of hassle. It'll take a lot of input from people already in oz and I've done a lot of research online, but putting all that together makes sense. Especially if tax is factored into which people can overlook sometimes.

Tax will be difficult to factor in as so many variables in Aussie tax system, deductions/offsets/dependents etc.

Yeah, i've had a think about the tax thing, but I guess giving a rough estimate based on the general tax levels is better than nothing at all...besides, if you estimate for the worst, then any tax savings will be a bonus

Well, I can tell you when we pay:

Cost of rental in WA: 18 month old 4x2 = $400 per week but I did view a lot of houses, all 4x2 ranging from £380 to $450

Range of costs of the 'average' weekly shop 2 ads & 2 small children: We AVERAGE about $150 per week not including alcohol. We shop at a Supa IGA.

Average monthly cost of owning a car ..fuel, insurance, tax etc... Fuel averages for me at $30 per week and for hubby at $50 per week (but he does approx 500km a week). Insurance for us was approx $180 per year on two old-ish "bangers"!

The average cost of home telephone and broadband. We pay $99 for line rental and broadband with Telstra. 25G and included local calls.

The rough costs of mobile phone ownership from pre paid to contract: We're on $49 cap with an iPhone each.

If you are coming over as a dentist I think you will be able to salary sacrifice food, rent etc

Thats what we are doing with my missus salary.

Hi Rakesh1977

Don't know whether you have an iPhone but if you do there is a free app that will work out your take home pay here in Australia, it apparently can work out superann, any Medicare levy and even can take into account LAFHA tax concessions, I haven't looked at it myself I just came across it in a magazine but could be worth a look, I think it's called mysalary and you should be able to find it in iTunes somewhere.

Best of luck with the spreadsheet!

Thanks for the response..its certainly the type of thing that would be useful for people thinking of moving to oz. I think that the tendancy to underestimate costs is the main problem.

My personal experience is that I have been over estimating the costs and its reassuring to know that things are pretty similar to home.

I've had a look at the mysalary app and its brilliant, simple and gives a rough idea.

In terms of the tax let me know if you need any help with this to put in allowances for the deductions and tax offsets you are entitled to in Australia.

I think the spreadsheet you are producing would be of real value to people moving here, are you planning to share on the forums etc?

Cheers

Mark

Hello everyone,

 

I'm currently in the process of moving to oz on a 457 visa in Jan 2011. As part of my obsessive disorder with getting all my sums correct I have started making a spreadsheet that will help a lot of people sort out their finances and give people an idea of what to budget for.

 

Rakesh

This is a brilliant idea, i'm a bit obsessive about finances and budgeting but it is difficult to find an idea on costs for everything - I look forward to seeing the finished spreadsheet!

Emma

I think this is a great idea......i applaud your efforts.....and the time it will take !!!!!!....sorry I'm not in OZ myself to give you feed back (wish I was)....just hope those who are in OZ will offer the relevant info to help you complete the spreedsheets......I for one will be very interested.........

Hi all, thanks for the thumbs up...i'm working hard on it and actually it seems to be coming on well.

The big thing I've realised is that the cost of living only matters when using GBP converted into AU$. Once you're earning and working out there, its the same for everyone. Now saying that, there is a vast variation in salaries but if you're renting, there is a lot to be said for not having some of the usual bills we get in the UK.

I will post as soon as its ready

I used to be 'faff' about worrying about the detail, but have just returned from a visa validation trip to Brisbane and all I can say is the price variances between different shops/suppliers are significant. Shop around and you can usually find what you want at a reasonable price.

On the whole we found prices to be similar to the UK although there are some big differences. the main stuff though, I feel you can get at similar prices, particularly once you have found a place to stay and found which shops offer better value.

Cars and houses also seem similar on the whole, although the big difference we found is that unless you travel well inland, you cannot buy a cheap house in an ok area. Thinking of where I live, I can buy a decent 3 or 4 bed (ex council included) house for £100k in a nice area with good schools. We found it difficult to get this for $400k in Brisbane. I'm sure you can, but it's difficult to find and it's twice the price. I'm not particularly looking at this market, but with the ER the way it is......

I guess what I'm saying is, I've given up worrying about the detail; do I want to give this a shot, or not?! No more spreadsheets for me!

Hi

I am moving to Melbourne in December and am still trying to work out the cost of living including how to do the LAFH calculations so i would love to see your workings out

Below is a sample of my shopping list, It should give you an indication of the cost of food across Australia, the prices are generally the same across Australia.

I generally shop at Woolworths, the Australian Woolworths is different to the UK Woolworths and is still open for business. Woolworths and Coles are equivalent to a UK Tesco.

MacLean’s Tooth paste 170G 2.59

Heinz Soup 420g 1.31

English Baked Beans (Heinz) 420g `1.67

Horlicks 500g 8.57

Leggo Pesto 190g 4.19

Rice 1kg 4.38

Eggs (large) 12 4.59

Kettle crisps 200g 3.39

Croissant 3pk 2.70

Tim Tams (penguin) 200g 2.79

Crunchy nut cornflakes 710g 5.99

Mcains hash browns 750g 3.79

Carrots 1kg 1.88

Mushrooms 500g 6.28

Ryvitta 250g 3.87

Potato (washed) 4kg 3.98

Pink lady Apples 1Kg 2.91

Lemon juice 500ml 1.85

Cheese 500g 6.69

Hope this helps.