Living costs

[Redrover]

Hi - I know this has probably been done to death, but my family and I (couple, 3 yr old and baby) are moving to melbourne in June. I've been fortunate enough to have been offered a job with a good salary. My wife wont be working for the first year or two. We live a good life here in London but I'm putting together a budget for when we move. Wanted to see if I'm in the right ball-park.

 

In general we are lucky enough not to worry about money too much (buy good food, wine, etc) and expect a similar lifestyle when we move. Salary broadly follows the 2.2 multiplier vs uk salary, with bonus on top (financial services).

 

Any feedback appreciated. We will be renting and are budgeting c.1400 a week for a 3/4 bed in a good suburb nr a beach:

 

Groceries: 1500

Eating out: 500 (once a week, not posh, family friendly place)

Gas/elec: 400

Water: 0 (landlord pays)

Rates: 0 (landlord pays)

Tv: 125 (full package)

Internet plus phone: 125 (fast, unlimited)

Contents insurance: 50

Car: 1200 (small 4x4, novated, all inclusive)

Mobiles: 100 (2)

Health: 250 (minimum cover to avoid additional Medicare levy)

School: 150 (public kinder/primary - 1 child)

Kids activities: 200

Travel: 120 (assume zone 1)

[blossom]

I am guessing those numbers are per month?

Look pretty good though. Apparently it is getting more and more common for landlords to add water on. So might be worth thinking about. Maybe a little low for mobiles...

[northshorepom]

I think you're a bit skinny on eating out (if once a week), mobiles and contents insurance and probably water (you usually end up paying for usage, although I don't know the law in Vic). But not by much. On your money you can afford a bit of flex in the various budgets and everyone has different lifestyle/energy usage anyway so it's hard to be sure. The big cost is always of course housing......like many when we first arrived we didn't have long to get sorted so had to pick the best of what was available at the time and paid over the odds. A year later when we knew the market and kept our eyes open we managed to get a better house for $300 a week less - that $1300 a month saving makes a massive difference, as you would expect. Housing costs are such a big proportion of anyone's budget here that a 10% saving on that means a fair chunk of change and you can afford to blow out on 2 or 3 other categories and stay in budget overall

[Ali B]

Per week 2 adaults and 2 sm kids say about

Groceries $300

Gas Elec Water hard to say depends on size of property and useage $1200-1500 per QTR

eating out 1 x pw $150-200 depends what and where

Content Ins may be more than $50 pw

 

The rest looks ok ish

google map of Port Philip Bay to see the Bayside suburbs: Brighton, Black Rock, Hampton, Beaumarais all nice and easy commute to CBD Central Business District. dear tho. check rentals at propeprty websites eg

http://m.realestateview.com.au/sites/controller.php/Rev/?imppid=6165

 

Better to over estimate costs as there will be many unknowns, especially with the kids. Club memberships, child care, clothes, outings, private school fees are high, public (state) schools charge "costs" and no schools supply books or materials. You'll prob need to check out 3 yr old or 4 yr old Kindy (Kindergarten) asap. Its a pre-school programme here that teaches nos and ABC along lines of Reception Classes in UK. Kids dont start school till the academic year theyre five. A year later than UK. School goes to Yr 12 not Yr 13.

Good Luck

[Redrover]

Thanks v much all for your feedback. Good to hear we're not far off. Sounds like we're missing water bills and mobile, contents and eating out may be light - any feedback on what they may be? Contents - probably looking at c. 80k cover. We'll both have iPhones and would be looking for decent sim only deals - good minutes and decent data allowance. Also, what does a half decent meal cost in Melbourne per head?

 

And the advice on the rent making most difference is useful - we'll have a relocation agent and temp accommodation so we're hoping they can help advise on what's good value for money. But we may need to think about keeping our options open after we've been here a little while...

 

We'll also be reserving some funds for miscellaneous spend.

[northshorepom]

I think our contents ins is about $90 a month but there's cover for pushbikes and valuables away from the home in that. Any high value specified items or "away from home" cover will push it up more than the total insured value will. You can do a dummy quote online to check if you like but for the sake of $50 a month on your salary it's neither here nor there

 

Water bills vary with usage (standard practice/law here in NSW - I can't speak for VIC) is that the landlord pays the standing charge, you pay for usage. It's not that much, maybe $200 or so a quarter and that includes a pool (which has to be topped up in hot weather) and our washing machine gets lots of hammer. Garden hasn't needed much irrigation except containers, it gets hot here in Sydney but it rains a lot too

 

I think your mobile allowance is fine. We pay $29 a month each for a PAYG (no need for contract phone) sim only deal which has more than enough minutes/texts and 4GB of data which is also more than enough

 

Eating out? How long is a piece of string really, depends where you go. We eat out a fair bit (mostly for lunch, the occasional early dinner) at family friendly restaurants (not chains) and for a family of 3 the spend is generally around $120-$150 depending on the place, so that would make $500 a month for a once a week event a bit light. As ever in the world, the drinks push it right up. But we'll equally often eat out at more cafe type places too and that will knock $30-$50 off that figure. I reckon you'll be fine

[Redrover]

Thanks NSP, very helpful. I'll up contents a bit, add in water and keep eating out as-is (we like a good cafe!). Good news from our side is its all broadly in line with our expectations.

 

One more question to anyone who knows - would the amount listed above get fast (20mbps+), unlimited broadband? And full TV service (sky+ equivalent, sports and movies)?

 

And final - off-topic - question my wife has just asked me: is it normal to get some kind if cooling (air con, ducted or other) in Oz properties?

[boganbear]

Amaysim do unlimited calls and txt and 4Gb data for $39 pm. internet speedds are much slower here so you won;t get 20Mb connection unless you live somewhere with the new NBN and even they are a rip off. I wouldn't bother with Foxtel, its a load of rubbish. we get 500 Gb internet and unlimited calls with Optus which is more than enough and we download and upload a lot as my OH works from home.

 

Contents insurance is $300 a year for 40K with Calliden Insurance. I dont think they are a big company but service is excellent.

 

If you like a good cafe meal you can get one about $25 per head but if you know where to go you get a good meal for less than that. We have just had a water bill in for 6 months $37 but we have a massive water tank. If you can get somewhere with solar power you may save a fortune on the electric. My MIL got solar in June and just got her bill for a quarter and is $600 in credit.

[Redrover]

Thanks BB. So assuming we won't be on the new fibre network, what sort of Internet speeds can we expect? Internet will be important for us so willing to pay extra (within reason!) for faster access.

[boganbear]

Generally you do not get faster access if you pay more only more data allowance. The phone network will only go at a certain speed and the amount of traffic on it and distance from the local exchange are the most important things that affect speed. Our exchange is across the road and it has been the fastest I've ever had in Oz. I've just done a speed test and got about 8Mb download and 0.67 upload and it is good enough to download movies, play PS3 games etc.