stevieGee Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Hi everyone, We are a family of 4 coming to Sydney in January and wonder if anyone can shed some light on what is a decent amount of household income needed when living in western sydney. We have scoured the forums etc to try to research this but have now ended up more confused! My husband has been offered a salary of $85, 000 with $15, 000 car allowance plus super, i will also be working full time earning around $65, 000. Are these salaries livable for sydney and the living costs of a family with two children. We will be on a 457 visa when we first get there but are in the process of applying for PR, so we know we will have school fees for our one school age child. Some people seem to say that you need to be earning way over $100k to be comfortable while other people say you can live happily on $60k?...... the more i read the more confused i get!!:huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 We managed as a family of four on a salary of $65k, but we arrived almost 5 years ago, and whilst it was manageable then, I don't think that it would be possible now. Living costs have increased hugely, you know about the school fees on a 457, but you will also have nursery costs(I am assuming that you will have to put your younger child in to nursery) of about $85 per day. You get no help towards those costs until you are PR. Food shopping has increased from $150-200 per week, to $350-400. This excludes alcohol, but we do eat well, lots of fruit/veg and good meat and fish, no processed or frozen foods. It costs $1.49 per litre of petrol, when we arrived this was around $1. Electricity bills have gone up from about $350 per quarter to almost $700, despite the fact we have put in solar electricity and solar hot water. Insurances (house and car) go up every year too. Luckily we now have more coming in, so we can meet these increased costs. From the salary info that you have posted, I would think that you will be fine, particularly once you have PR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Hi everyone, We are a family of 4 coming to Sydney in January and wonder if anyone can shed some light on what is a decent amount of household income needed when living in western sydney. We have scoured the forums etc to try to research this but have now ended up more confused! My husband has been offered a salary of $85, 000 with $15, 000 car allowance plus super, i will also be working full time earning around $65, 000. Are these salaries livable for sydney and the living costs of a family with two children. We will be on a 457 visa when we first get there but are in the process of applying for PR, so we know we will have school fees for our one school age child. Some people seem to say that you need to be earning way over $100k to be comfortable while other people say you can live happily on $60k?...... the more i read the more confused i get!!:huh: Unfortunately if somebody dares to suggest that you cannot live comfortably on $60k or even $100k they usually end up being shot down in a barrage of criticism. So you do not necessarily get the full range of views. You would have $165k though, it would be like living on say £70k in London, which seems ok to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julesvdg Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Thank you LKC for your reply, we won't have any nursery fees thank goodness, although sometimes wish our eldest who has now finished school was back in nursery because he was so much nicer when he wasn't in miserable teenager phase! Your costings for utilities etc have been a great help, we are trying to work out a realistic a budget has possible so we don't have any big surprises when we get here. I should imagine the the first couple of years will be hard enough without struggling money wise, I've become obsessed with trying to cover every eventuality! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritIndian Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I have a similar question but from a slightly different angle. My wife is a physio in the uk (team leader) i am a manager (accountant). We have a good standard of living in the UK, live in a nice village location within the commuter belt for london. We can go on holiday once a year save a bit of money, we are by no means wealthy. We are keen to move to Oz for a better life for our son and the next one on the way. How much do you need to be earning to have an equivalent lifestyle in Oz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfndirt Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Just a couple of 'on the ground' realities for ya. Western Sydney has more drive by's and general shootings than alot (OK, not Chicago or DC) US cities. The prices of houses look cheap there on the internet for a reason. Best way I can describe it in terms of lifestyle - would be this. How would you imagine the lifestyle in, say; Houston or Atlanta? Would you imagine you are moving to a place where the people are all really friendly and there are no traffic jams / guns / crime / road rage / high costs? No, I am guessing you wouldn't. Well, why then think Aus - specifically Sydney - specifically the west of Sydney will be any different? It isn't. I swear the UK / Aus propaganda machine has an awful lot to answer for...... It really does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyTinKnicks Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Oh, give over surfndirt. Western Sydney has a population of around 2 million people, as with everywhere there are good bits and bad bits. OP: according to http://www.paycalculator.com.au and assuming your approx 65k is exclusive of super, you'd earn a combined $9,600 a month net. You can happily live on this but in my opinion and experience you won't feel as comfortably/well off as you would on an 'equivalent' £70k in London. I assume you've already looked at sites like domain and realestate to get an idea of likely property costs in the areas you're looking at? To give you an idea of those 'small' costs which easily add up - phone, internet, maybe even foxtel which will easily add up to $100-200 a month. Mobiles: $30-80 a month depending on the plan. An evening meal out for 2 adults with 1 drink each will easily set you back $50-70+. A cinema trip for 2 adults and 2 kids: $50. If you want to go for a weekend away eg driving to the Blue Mountains or Hunter Valley, unless you camp you won't find a hotel for less than $120-150 a night. Groceries are shockingly expensive! As are toiletries, haircare, skincare, over the counter medicines - try doing a price comparison between Boots/Superdrug and Priceline to get an idea of how much the everyday brands your family uses will cost you unless you switch to a much cheaper brand! Obviously with lots of careful planning you can bring the costs down by getting restaurant and hotel vouchers, going to the movies on cheap nights, finding and shopping at your local butcher, greengrocer and Aldi rather than coles/woolies, shopping online as much as possible etc, but it takes time to figure out this stuff so the figures above are a general indication of how much stuff will cost. Hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Australia Trade Connect Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 If I was you I would look at why you are coming to Australia, if it is to earn a lot more money it is unlikely it will happen at least in the beginning. Most people move for the lifestyle. It can be cheaper to live in Australia if you have children as there are so many things you can do with children that don't involve paying out a lot of money. It isn't as easy in the UK having to go to the cinema or play centres due to the weather. It is also similar in the UK when choosing areas to live, if you live in the centre of any major city, the houses will be small or apartment style and expensive. I live about 45 mins from Melbourne and the houses are much bigger and less expensive. There are good areas in Sydney that are less expensive about 45mins - 1hour away.I go back to the UK every year and find that mostly the cost of living is the same, some things are cheaper some dearer, the difficulty is when you try and work out the exchange rates it can seem more expensive but when you live and work here you will find you stop working out the exchange rate. I hope you are really happy living in Sydney it is a great city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfndirt Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 Oh, give over surfndirt. Western Sydney has a population of around 2 million people, as with everywhere there are good bits and bad bits. OP: according to http://www.paycalculator.com.au and assuming your approx 65k is exclusive of super, you'd earn a combined $9,600 a month net. You can happily live on this but in my opinion and experience you won't feel as comfortably/well off as you would on an 'equivalent' £70k in London. I assume you've already looked at sites like domain and realestate to get an idea of likely property costs in the areas you're looking at? To give you an idea of those 'small' costs which easily add up - phone, internet, maybe even foxtel which will easily add up to $100-200 a month. Mobiles: $30-80 a month depending on the plan. An evening meal out for 2 adults with 1 drink each will easily set you back $50-70+. A cinema trip for 2 adults and 2 kids: $50. If you want to go for a weekend away eg driving to the Blue Mountains or Hunter Valley, unless you camp you won't find a hotel for less than $120-150 a night. Groceries are shockingly expensive! As are toiletries, haircare, skincare, over the counter medicines - try doing a price comparison between Boots/Superdrug and Priceline to get an idea of how much the everyday brands your family uses will cost you unless you switch to a much cheaper brand! Obviously with lots of careful planning you can bring the costs down by getting restaurant and hotel vouchers, going to the movies on cheap nights, finding and shopping at your local butcher, greengrocer and Aldi rather than coles/woolies, shopping online as much as possible etc, but it takes time to figure out this stuff so the figures above are a general indication of how much stuff will cost. Hope that helps Hi Lizzy, Are you in Sydney or London? Reason for my comments is that, at least twice a week there is a report on the national news about a drive-by or shooting in Western Sydney. Your last sentence is a bit odd - reads like a guide book to 'doing it tough'; why would someone want to move to a place and then endure your careful planning? Sure, itf you have $2mil spare to buy a house and a 200,000 a year job or you're 26, single and after a challenge then great. Moving to the Western Burbs of Sydney on very average money is not a step up at all unless you live on a council estate working in a Spar shop in England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie 2 Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 Hi Lizzy, Are you in Sydney or London? Reason for my comments is that, at least twice a week there is a report on the national news about a drive-by or shooting in Western Sydney. Your last sentence is a bit odd - reads like a guide book to 'doing it tough'; why would someone want to move to a place and then endure your careful planning? Sure, itf you have $2mil spare to buy a house and a 200,000 a year job or you're 26, single and after a challenge then great. Moving to the Western Burbs of Sydney on very average money is not a step up at all unless you live on a council estate working in a Spar shop in England. Western Sydney covers a huge area which makes your statements a grose exaggeration. Ofcourse there are areas where you may not want to live but there are many more areas which are just as nice as the suburbs in the east. Please don't make statements or give advice on something you obviously know little or nothing about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxlornaxx Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 I live in west sydney..neva seen any shootings..or crime...I feel quite safe here actually..their will b sum bad areas but its like that everywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt spark Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Hi we are a family of 2 adults & 2 (8 & 9)kids moving to Sydney in January,we hope to have a combined income of around 100k on a 457 visa,we are staying with relatives for a few months so this will help on costs,just read the posts and am beginning to get doubts if we are doing the right thing as the cost of living seems astronomical,going to have to rethink finances etc.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Hi we are a family of 2 adults & 2 (8 & 9)kids moving to Sydney in January,we hope to have a combined income of around 100k on a 457 visa,we are staying with relatives for a few months so this will help on costs,just read the posts and am beginning to get doubts if we are doing the right thing as the cost of living seems astronomical,going to have to rethink finances etc.... You'll need to take off $10k for the kids' education. So that won't help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxlornaxx Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Depends on your lifestyle. .everyones different..I definately dont find cost of living astronomical. .im much better off here financially than I was in uk and I didnt expect that..but I dont have kids.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Hi we are a family of 2 adults & 2 (8 & 9)kids moving to Sydney in January,we hope to have a combined income of around 100k on a 457 visa,we are staying with relatives for a few months so this will help on costs,just read the posts and am beginning to get doubts if we are doing the right thing as the cost of living seems astronomical,going to have to rethink finances etc.... I think "astronomical" is maybe a bit too strong a word, but it is expensive. Personally no I would not want to be with $100k on a 457 visa with two kids, but that is irrelevant. What matters is how it suits your lifestyle, what do you find comfortable to live on in the UK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt spark Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Thanks for the replies,we have set aside 10k for kids education so hopefully that's covered,and living rent free should also help for a bit,in the UK we are mortgage free & enjoy a good but not extravagant lifestyle,most free time @ beach surfing etc & in all weathers,but spent 6 weeks in oz in 2012 & decided we like to try living there especially as we had family there.In the UK we average around 42 k before tax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Thanks for the replies,we have set aside 10k for kids education so hopefully that's covered,and living rent free should also help for a bit,in the UK we are mortgage free & enjoy a good but not extravagant lifestyle,most free time @ beach surfing etc & in all weathers,but spent 6 weeks in oz in 2012 & decided we like to try living there especially as we had family there.In the UK we average around 42 k before tax. Well, don't sell your house, take a career break if you can and enjoy the adventure. I wouldn't be relying too heavily on the rellies, you know what they say about visitors and fish - they both go off after 3 days! Dont think I'd like to be living on a combined income of $100k in Sydney either. If that was the main income with another to supplement (if the dependent can get a job in the first place - temporary resident dependents do tend to struggle to find work) then possibly yes. Just to give you a clue - on average paying everything on the credit card, no rent/mortgage, we two oldies on a far from lavish lifestyle in Canberra (probably about the same expense wise) running two cars, going out for the odd meal and doing a bit of DIY, we were spending around $5k per month - that's $60k before accommodation which will cost you ball park $25kpa. It'll be tight if you both have jobs and even tighter if only one of you can find work. School fees are $10k pa btw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CollegeGirl Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 My fiance is currently living alone in a house we rent in one of the western suburbs (and it's nice, not crime-ridden, btw... heh). Over the winter he didn't have the heat on during the day... just at night when he was there, and frequently even turned the heat off at night. We do have a pool, so the pool pump goes for several hours every once in a while. Anyway, his energy bill for this past quarter was $750 still. With just one person living in the house, does that sound right to you guys? (Asking because someone else in this thread mentioned a similar energy cost for four people). I'm just wondering if maybe there's some problem or if that sounds plausible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt spark Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Cheers Quoll for the advice,also should add that on top of my basic salary I have the potential to earn an extra 20k before tax,but I prefer to work off my basic salary for finances,we are renting out our house also just in case things don't work out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 My fiance is currently living alone in a house we rent in one of the western suburbs (and it's nice, not crime-ridden, btw... heh). Over the winter he didn't have the heat on during the day... just at night when he was there, and frequently even turned the heat off at night. We do have a pool, so the pool pump goes for several hours every once in a while. Anyway, his energy bill for this past quarter was $750 still. With just one person living in the house, does that sound right to you guys? (Asking because someone else in this thread mentioned a similar energy cost for four people). I'm just wondering if maybe there's some problem or if that sounds plausible. Depends on your usage. Ours is about $750 per quarter and there are four of us (OH, two small children and myself), but we are pretty careful with it. The pool pump is only on when the rate is cheaper (we have peak, off peak, shoulder tariff), I only use the washing machine at off peak times, except if it is sunny and the solar panels are going. We only use one tv, have energy saving appliances etc. We have cut our electricity usage by over a third by having solar panels and solar hot water installed too. We don't have electric heating either (we have a wood stove) which is probably expensive to run because it is that peak/shoulder time of the day. Depends on provider too. Some give discounts for prompt payment and things like that. i am sure you can borrow a device from somewhere that you plug in between the supply and an appliance to check usage. My friend mentioned this to me a while ago. I think she borrowed it from the library. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 My fiance is currently living alone in a house we rent in one of the western suburbs (and it's nice, not crime-ridden, btw... heh). Over the winter he didn't have the heat on during the day... just at night when he was there, and frequently even turned the heat off at night. We do have a pool, so the pool pump goes for several hours every once in a while. Anyway, his energy bill for this past quarter was $750 still. With just one person living in the house, does that sound right to you guys? (Asking because someone else in this thread mentioned a similar energy cost for four people). I'm just wondering if maybe there's some problem or if that sounds plausible. Sounds about ok to me. Our energy bill is about that for the winter and we also are not in during the day and I would not dream of leaving heating on all night, just for a few hours in the evening. There are two of us but I can't think that would make much difference, heating, lighting, TV, fridge requires just the same energy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CollegeGirl Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Thank you so much, LKC! That's great advice. I'm going to pass it on to him. Really appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CollegeGirl Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Sounds about ok to me. Our energy bill is about that for the winter and we also are not in during the day and I would not dream of leaving heating on all night, just for a few hours in the evening. There are two of us but I can't think that would make much difference, heating, lighting, TV, fridge requires just the same energy. Great, thanks Rupert! I'm glad to know we're not far off. It's just a bit of sticker shock for us. He's been in Aus for two years, but his previous place had utilities covered by the landlord, so he had no idea how spendy they were. Here in the US our electric bill is usually under $100 a month! He's used to the sticker shock on all other things Aussie by now, but this threw him, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Great, thanks Rupert! I'm glad to know we're not far off. It's just a bit of sticker shock for us. He's been in Aus for two years, but his previous place had utilities covered by the landlord, so he had no idea how spendy they were. Here in the US our electric bill is usually under $100 a month! He's used to the sticker shock on all other things Aussie by now, but this threw him, lol. My other three energy bills are much lower, probably about half if that is any comfort. :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbclark Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 We are in north west sydney and our electric bills are around $400 a quarter, food is around $200 a week. Admittedly we don't have a pool which saves on bills and we are careful with heating/air con but it is doable! We are on one wage and on a 457 so paying school fees for two kids too but have applied for pr so hoping it comes through before January! We don't go out loads, we do go to the movies now and then but there are cheaper ways of going looking out for special offers, not going opening weekend using our Entertainment book (bought for $65 from school and has many 00's of money off vouchers including cheaper movie tickets) and taking picnics when we go out for the day to the beach/parks etc. we ear out occasionally but with two small kids it's nothing fancy as yet but we can afford to treat ourselves now and then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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