PomPrincesses Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 We came here for my job which hasn't really worked out and I want to leave after just 4 weeks. So rather than look for another role in Perth I am seriously considering reverting to the original plan which was to go to Sydney. In Perth I am paying $650 a week for a quite run down house in a really good suburb about 30 from the city. Food prices are mental, 5 of us one is a baby and breast fed thank god, still spending $700 a week on food and if I am honest DH and I go to bed hungry at times because we've just run out. DH earns $140,000 and could work in Sydney or Perth, I earn about $80,000, might be able to command a bit more and a car in my next role - didn't know that when applying from the UK. Any thoughts/info would be gratefully received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest17301 Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 What the heck do you spend $700 a week on? Where are you buying groceries from? I wouldnt know but Im guessing that there wouldnt be a huge difference in Sydney to be honest. Your salaries sound much higher than average so I guess if youre struggling now you will struggle there too. It depends what you're used to I guess... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I think food will be expensive wherever you live and I would think Sydney house prices would be on a par unless you live further out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I don't know Perth. $650 a week doesn't get you a whole lot of family house in Sydney - there are decent ones in decent areas at that price but expect a long commute as the payoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPrincesses Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 Food is crazy here. I spent £300 once in the uk when we had just moved house and had nothing in the cupboards or freezer. I cannot contemate what $700 would buy you in England, 2-3 trolled full. Here it's not even covering three meals a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Sydney is usually the most expensive place to live especially if you want to be handy for work. Have a look on realestate.com.au for rental prices. I am surprised at your food bill as with Aldi and Costco being in the market place prices seem to be going down here in Melbourne. I have lived in Sydney and it was expensive then and I am sure that it has not changed much, that said the wages are usually higher though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPrincesses Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 We are shoppi g at IGA for milk, bread, fruit etc and an online shop with woolworths once a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPrincesses Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 I haven't found an Aldi or Costco here, I used Costco in the UK a lot if I'm honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 We are shoppi g at IGA for milk, bread, fruit etc and an online shop with woolworths once a week. I do understand your pain food shopping and we find it cheaper to eat out a lot of the time. IGA is expensive and we don't have time to run from one side of town to the other to buy cheaper but that is our problem. We spend around $400 per week for 5 but then eat out a lot and spend $150 a week on school dinners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Food is crazy here. I spent £300 once in the uk when we had just moved house and had nothing in the cupboards or freezer. I cannot contemate what $700 would buy you in England, 2-3 trolled full. Here it's not even covering three meals a day. Gosh what are you buying? My shopping comes to about $300 and my kids eat like adults and that include their packed lunches. (and we eat very well). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest17301 Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 What sort of things are you buying PP? Its hard as everyones experience is so diffferent, I think $700 worth of groceries would last us nearly 3 weeks...is there anywhere you can cut back..its hard when you first arrive and you dont necessarily spot the cheaper items online or even on the shelves, you tend to go for what you know... Re the house, a good suburb will cost more, the prices can vary wildly from suburb to suburb, again depends on what your needs and wants are location wise....a lot of 4 x 2 rentals will cost $500 plus for a 'decent' place....not much scope for shopping around there.... Maybe give it a little longer to get settled in...4 weeks is a short time to make big relocation decisions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPrincesses Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 I do understand your pain food shopping and we find it cheaper to eat out a lot of the time. IGA is expensive and we don't have time to run from one side of town to the other to buy cheaper but that is our problem. We spend around $400 per week for 5 but then eat out a lot and spend $150 a week on school dinners. Yes that's true a pizza in IGA is $20 for a fresh one rather than froze but even so, then to eat out in the Italian at the end of the road is $16 and no washing up. We try and do that once a week and not have coffee out during the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest17301 Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Yes that's true a pizza in IGA is $20 for a fresh one rather than froze but even so, then to eat out in the Italian at the end of the road is $16 and no washing up. We try and do that once a week and not have coffee out during the week. Exactly, you get used to only buying specials or choosing alternatives the longer youre here...I think Woolies is more expensive than Coles too. I tend not to buy supermarket pizzas because theyre poor value...I sometimes get them for $5 if on special. When you get a Dominos one for $7 its a no brainer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPrincesses Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 I'm not buying brands like the example on the other threads about paying $16 for a bottle of Ribena. I buy cereal, I eat uncle Toby's oats, the kids will now eat baked beans on toast for breakfast, they don't like the cornflakes etc here. Raiswn toast for snacks, obviously tea bags, milk, then stuff for packed lunches apples little oranges kiwi fruit, pop corn made in the microwave, sandwiches, cooked meat, cheeses for those. Dinner is usually a chicken or steak stir fry, a chicken breast with roast potatoes, the odd pizza but I don't like ready meals here. I bought a lot more convenience food in M&S than I do here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andy Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I do understand your pain food shopping and we find it cheaper to eat out a lot of the time. IGA is expensive and we don't have time to run from one side of town to the other to buy cheaper but that is our problem. We spend around $400 per week for 5 but then eat out a lot and spend $150 a week on school dinners. Hi Kate, that seems incredible you must be spending upwards of $800 a week on food if say you ate out a couple of times. :shocked: On a different note ( sorry to go off track a bit ) can someone just confirm what the minimum wage is in Oz and if it is different from state to state, i am pretty sure when we were there last year it was something in the region of $22 an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPrincesses Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 It's a bit depressing though isn't it, only buying what's on specials. I guess I'll become a better cook as a result and when we get a car I can try the markets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPrincesses Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 Andy, every Aussie I gave discussed this with tells me they budget a grand a week for food and if it comes in less they are delighted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Hi Kate, that seems incredible you must be spending upwards of $800 a week on food if say you ate out a couple of times. :shocked: On a different note ( sorry to go off track a bit ) can someone just confirm what the minimum wage is in Oz and if it is different from state to state, i am pretty sure when we were there last year it was something in the region of $22 an hour. Ours does include cleaning materials, shower gels etc, also even though we do spend that our cupboards are not bare every week, so if we shopped each day for just what we needed and nothing else I think we could bring it down, but with 3 growing lads in the house they eat twice as much as anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andy Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Andy, every Aussie I gave discussed this with tells me they budget a grand a week for food and if it comes in less they are delighted. Thanks for that, so your food bill is probably more than one third of your husbands wages, i think our food bill over here is about one fifth of my earnings so quite a big difference there, we have 3 children who eat like horses so i guess i should be thankful instead of always moaning about the cost of food over here as we tend to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugby Lad Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I really don't think 4 weeks is enough time to "bed in" after a move. I'll let everyone in on a little secret here... ... moving house is really, really expensive. I've lived in eight houses in my seven years of marriage and even with six of those moves being fully paid for with a £1000 "disturbance allowance" it still destroyed us financially. You talk about the shopping bill - well it's always massive for a few weeks in a new house. You have no basics (oil, spices, herbs, pasta, rice etc. etc.) and so buy every meal from scratch. Once you've bedded in it will improve, honestly. My last move was inter-state inside Australia and if we'd used a removal firm it would have cost almost double what it cost us to move from UK to Australia 11 months earlier. We kept costs down by hiring a truck and gettng a huge amount of help from family. You ain't gonna be able to do that from Perth to Sydney. You are earning very good wages, I think you just need to give it more time. I definitely think a hasty inter-state move is the last thing you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Hi Kate, that seems incredible you must be spending upwards of $800 a week on food if say you ate out a couple of times. :shocked: On a different note ( sorry to go off track a bit ) can someone just confirm what the minimum wage is in Oz and if it is different from state to state, i am pretty sure when we were there last year it was something in the region of $22 an hour. This may help http://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/national-minimum-wage/pages/default.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mystery^Customer1974 Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Eureka!!!!!!! I have just realised why your cupboards are still empty after spending such an obscene amount on shopping ;-) Drum roll please.......................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mystery^Customer1974 Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 (edited) You keep leaving your shopping trolley at the trolley return bay Edited August 12, 2012 by Mystery^Customer1974 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andy Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Ours does include cleaning materials, shower gels etc, also even though we do spend that our cupboards are not bare every week, so if we shopped each day for just what we needed and nothing else I think we could bring it down, but with 3 growing lads in the house they eat twice as much as anyone. My kids eat silly amounts of food, we had a bar b q last night and between them they must have ate nearly a whole cow and were still sniffing round for more.:cute: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PomPrincesses Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 You see if we moved interstate now it would be a case of repacki g the suitcases where as if we left it until say after Christmas it'll be aot more expensive. We are starting to acquire things and I'll have to tell the shipping company in the uk where I want it sending to pretty quickly too. It does feel a bit now or never, I like Perth but feel a bit like I am payi g a premium because of the mining bubble which we aren't involved in, that said we like the weather a lot too and not paying for schools on the 457 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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