idblew Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Hi, I'm moving out with my family (wife plus 2 monsters), on a PR Visa, sometime June-August (subject to house sale), and have started trying to work out how much money we will need to live on a weekly/monthly basis. Can people living in/around Melbourne provide feed back on the rough costs for the items listed below? Rent (4 bed house) - currently allowing $400-450 per week Electricity Gas Water Internet/Phone Food Council Tax (or equivalent) Anything else I've overlooked? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bell123321 Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Can't really help with prices but other things to add? Transport costs eg Petrol, running a car, insurance, or public transport. Mobile phones. Would you want sky equivalent? Life insurance? Entertainment. Medical insurance? Hope that is of some help. Sure others will post how much they spend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bell123321 Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 How far from Melbourne do you want to be? Having a look at realestate website you may need higher for a 4 bedroom house. May be okay further out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idblew Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Not looking to be in the heart of Melbourne, anywhere within a 45-60 minute commute of the CBD. Updated list below: Rent (4 bed house) - currently allowing $400-450 per week Electricity Gas Water Internet/Phone/Mobiles Food Council Tax (or equivalent) Satellite TV Life Insurance Medical Insurance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoSurfer Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Look at Australian Rental websites for an idea of rent prices. For a 4 bedroom place I reckon you'll be looking at double that, if not more. Depends where you're willing to live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 You dont pay council tax if in a rental ,the owner does. You dont HAVE to have private medical cover either (unless your high earners) ,although ambulance cover is recommended unless in QLD. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolvesaussie Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I think u should be able to get a house for that budget. Probably be 40mins from city tho. I pay 29 dollars a month for mobile 59 a month for internet land line Have not had our other bills tho yet as only been there few months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
movingtoaussieland Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Have a look at bundled TV/Phone line/Broadband packages from Telstra (with Foxtel), iinet and Optus (both with Fetch tv) as an indicator of costs for those. Depends largely on what you and your family would need in terms of channels, broadband usage caps, any international calls etc. Telstra with Foxtel would be the more expensive option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjg Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 The numbers are a year old and I really need to update it but other than the health insurance being upto $280 per month as of next week, it's about right for us http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/money-finance/173796-our-budget-worksheet-victoria.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idblew Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Have a look at bundled TV/Phone line/Broadband packages from Telstra (with Foxtel), iinet and Optus (both with Fetch tv) as an indicator of costs for those. Depends largely on what you and your family would need in terms of channels, broadband usage caps, any international calls etc.Telstra with Foxtel would be the more expensive option. Which of the providers would you recommend? We'd need decent broadband as potentially I'll be working from home, plus I do like my football! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy1982 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Cant comment on the costs specific to melbourne but we live on the gold coast, been here 8 months and we are finding things expensive. Our food is about $300 a week, and thats only the supermarket so doesnt include any alcohol. Then there is childcare.....SO expensive, $84 a day per child...... We find water very cheap and electric is average too. We currently pay $510 a week for rent and with running 2 cars our bills are about $1700 a week all in. Doubt this has helped but just something to consider maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlornax Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Internet is alot more expensive. .wth not as many unlimited deals or wireless...in sydney that was though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thediggler Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Hi, I'm moving out with my family (wife plus 2 monsters), on a PR Visa, sometime June-August (subject to house sale), and have started trying to work out how much money we will need to live on a weekly/monthly basis. Can people living in/around Melbourne provide feed back on the rough costs for the items listed below? Rent (4 bed house) - currently allowing $400-450 per week Electricity Gas Water Internet/Phone Food Council Tax (or equivalent) Anything else I've overlooked? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Ian Hi Ian, we're a family of 4 living in a 5 bed house in Sandringham which is quite a nice and fairly affluent suburb located approximately 30 mins drive from Melbourne CBD. I think we got a good deal on the rent and are paying $530 per week, or $2,303 per month for the house. A lot of the other properties we liked in the area were upwards of $650 per week but you should be able to get something for $400-$500 per week depending on the area you want to settle. Electricity is a lot more expensive than gas and has been working out at around $200 per month for us. However, we have an old water tank in the attic that is heated through electrical conducting during the night which increases our costs. I would still say budget around $150 per month at least for a family of four. Gas is fairly cheap and costs us around $75 per month, obviously less in the summer with a slight increase in winter. Water works out at roughly the same. We got a deal on our phone line that included internet and a T-Box (similar to Sky) for $95 per month and is more than sufficient for our needs. If I could go back and choose again I wouldn't have bothered with the T-Box though, as we hardly ever watch it. Food can vary depending on how frugal you are and whether you want to include alcohol in the cost. We've been careful with what we buy and are spending around $220 per week on food and nappies, etc with say another $20 - $30 per week on beers and wine. We're not heavy drinkers so in some weeks we don't spend anything on alcohol. My wife says her friends spend upwards of $300 per week but you can get this down if you're careful on what you buy. Council tax won't apply if you're renting, although you might want to factor in perhaps the cost of contents insurance which I managed to get at $400 for the year. Then there's the cost of running a car (if you choose to buy one), school fees (even if it's a state school) and general miscellaneous expenses for days out, etc. I would suggest taking pack ups wherever you go, as otherwise you'll be spending upwards of at least $40 on lunch every time you travel out! We have actually done a lot better than expected considering how expensive things are over here, and are managing to save around $4,000 per month. Both myself and my wife work (her part time, myself full time for a firm of loss adjusters). We've heard horror stories of people coming over with their life savings or proceeds from a house sale without having a job arranged and within 6 months it's down the drain. In my personal opinion, for what its worth, I would say it's financial suicide coming over here unless you have a decent job lined up first or are 95% sure there is sufficient work available to secure a job pretty soon after your arrival. Hope this helps mate. We also moved out on a PR visa last July but things haven't worked out for us as planned and we're heading back to blighty in July. Happy to help with any other queries you have in the mean time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortlepuss Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Rental is a difficult one - do not underestimate the poor quality of rentals here - We found in Brisbane that to get a rental equivalent to the standard of our UK house (nothing fancy) and live in decent commuting distance to city we had to pay $650 per week. Our last house which was an absolute slum was $480 per week. I understand that Melbourne rentals are a little higher, but given that the climate is different, quality of rentals may be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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