Cost of living

maddyowen · 17-01-2008, 11:24 AM

Hi Guy's i'm new to Poms in OZ,

Really need some advise!

We are thinking of moving to Sydney or at least near to it and we were wondering about the cost of living. Does anyone know roughly the following costs:

Mobile phone to buy and run
To buy and run a car
The cost of a family meal out
Weekly food shopping
Transport cost
The cost of a pint

Would also really appreciate some advise on where to live we have a small daughter of 16month and i'm planning to have another child. I did spend some time many years ago in Manly and really, really loved it. However i have been looking at this area and it's really, really exspensive. I would really love to live nearish to the beach for the kids.
Any suggestions on good family suburbs, not to expensive.

Maddy.

The Broughtons · 17-01-2008, 10:09 PM

Hiya and welcome to poms in oz.

If you do a search through the forum you will find lots of threads on the cost of living where many of us already here have posted our findings.

Happy hunting and keep visiting, it's amazing what you can learn on here!

Felicity

afiyafifi · 17-01-2008, 10:31 PM

vanita suman · 17-01-2008, 10:32 PM

Hi there,

We lived in Sydney from Jan 2001 to Jan 2005 when we came back the UK and we are currently thinking of moving back. The cost of living may have changed in the last 3 years that we have been away but basically my husband and I both earned more money out in Sydney doing the same jobs that we were doing in the UK and we found the cost of living lower than Sydney leaving us with more spare income every month.

We bought a second hand Astra whilst we were there - it was about 2 years old and cost us $25,000 with a 2 year warranty. We found the running costs lower in that it cost us £300 for car insurance in the UK and $300 in Australia, registration is about the same too and petrol in Sydney is currently about $1.50.

We bought more takeaways and ate out more in Sydney because the food was better and it was cheaper to eat out. The average meal in a restaurant cost us $50 including drinks - sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less (normally less though).

We spent about $150 on shopping per week although after having my son this went up to about $200 per week.

We didn't live near the beach but lived about 30-35 minutes drive from the city in the Hills District. If we go back we will live there again because it is very family orientated with good schools and parks and shops and restaurants. There are also good hospitals around and we got a lot more value for money in our house.

Hope this helps.

Vanita

maddyowen · 18-01-2008, 09:44 PM

Hi Vanita,

Thanks for the info. But where abouts did you did live? i know you said the hills distract but what suburb was it? so i can look it up.

Maddy.x

vanita suman · 18-01-2008, 09:59 PM

Hi Maddy,

We lived in a suburb called Glenwood which was very family oriented. We are hoping to be back in Sydney later this year and would either move back to Glenwood or see if we could afford a place in Castle Hill. Castle Hill would be my preference over Glenwood but we loved living in Glenwood too.

Vanita