Huntersmummy Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Just looking for advice from folks who have a reluctant partner... Long story short, husband worked in OZ few years ago and said to me about emigrating.....mmmmm.....ok Fast forward 3 years, 2 kids later and 1 marriage, we just put in our application for the visa. I have my doubts that we wont be able to survive on his wages alone (i dont have a "proper job" as such, im a sales assistant) Husband is a carpenter. Were going to perth hopefully. I see OZ as stupidly expensive from what ive read online about day to day living. Im terrified our 30 grand savings wont go far and he'll work longer just to keep us afloat until we can put both kids into kindergarden. Has anyone moved and done ok on one wage? I think my husbands looking through rose tinted glasses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Is it all that? Nope, sorry, not. £30k won't last you that long - you can reckon to see £10k go just getting established what with car/s, insurances, bonds, unemployment, stuff you haven't brought, getting set up for school/childcare etc etc. Of course there will be folk on here who tell you that they did it on $4.50 but it depends on what your expectation of life is and how comfortable you hope to be. I know of very few single income families TBH, most are dual incomes trying to service expensive mortgages/rentals. In this day and age I wouldn't be moving without a concrete job in hand, would not be quitting a good job (take a career break) or selling a home unless there was something very concrete to move to. Perth, and all capital cities are expensive and a single (say) average wage is not going to be a comfortable income IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny842003 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 In this day and age I wouldn't be moving without a concrete job in hand. Thats just totally unrealistic for most people though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Just looking for advice from folks who have a reluctant partner... Long story short, husband worked in OZ few years ago and said to me about emigrating.....mmmmm.....ok Fast forward 3 years, 2 kids later and 1 marriage, we just put in our application for the visa. I have my doubts that we wont be able to survive on his wages alone (i dont have a "proper job" as such, im a sales assistant) Husband is a carpenter. Were going to perth hopefully. I see OZ as stupidly expensive from what ive read online about day to day living. Im terrified our 30 grand savings wont go far and he'll work longer just to keep us afloat until we can put both kids into kindergarden. Has anyone moved and done ok on one wage? I think my husbands looking through rose tinted glasses. You haven't mentioned why he wants to go. Does he know you are not enthusiastic. Seems to me that if you are going to be alone with two small children for some years and no money to spare you could wind up feeling very isolated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srh82 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Absolutely agree with @Quoll It would be worth doing the sums thoroughly before you go any further, investigating truly the sort of lifestyle you expect and whether you could actually afford it in Perth, in a decent area. If you really want to go to Australia, you may want to consider re-training in the UK so you can increase your earning power as a family. A brief look through the SOL lists when they come out next month would give you a good idea of what is in demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boganbear Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Most people go without having a job and it is pot luck what happens next to some extent. I was lucky as i found a fairly good job in 2 weeks and things in many industries are tougher now. However, if you dont go you might regret it forever. The first few years were very hard but staying in the Uk with the recession would have been harder. We have sacrificed a lot of things and saved over half of our wages for 5 years. We have recently built a house which is fantastic and better than we could have afforded in the UK, have money in the bank, and life is generally good. I wouldnt go to Perth as it is expensive by Aussie standards and quite isolated. there may not be so many work opportunities so you need to go where you can find decent work first then work on what else you want in life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Que Sera Sera Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Forget the money and the location, it doesn't sound to me that you are committed , if your not then its best to be honest now. If your committed then yes you can do it plenty come over on one wage. There are many carpenters here who's wives don't work, I know two personally. We came with £10,000 but had a job to go to, but we did do it and had a good standard of living. But we both wanted it very much and still do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3FatCats Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 What QSS said, but also, have you ever visited? Could you afford to? Maybe you and OH minus the kiddos to at least see what it is like. It can work out, in which case happy days, but if it doesn't you may inevitably feel some resent towards your OH as it was "his idea". Honesty, if comittment is not there, at the start is fundamental IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legoman Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Its a lot tougher now than even a few years ago, Perth is very expensive ridiculously expensive according to my pal this week despite what some may say, I have friends who upped sticks moved to surfers paradise Townsville etc and all say much better than WA and say the red tape a lot less hassle than WA too. I chose Perth as my son and grandaughters live there. Do you have to go to Perth? and more importantly you need to be both 100% committed to the move. If you go half hearted it will be very difficult to adapt and you will only get out of the move what you put in. Discuss the matter, then discuss it some more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy1982 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I agree with most on here. I dont necessarily think you both have to be 100% sure but I do think you both have to want it the same, be it 50% sure or 100% sure, otherwise resentment can occur or one can want to stay and one want to leave. We had a good life in the UK and both liked it but we also fancied the idea of giving Aus a go too. Curiosity I guess. 1 year in its worked out for us with regards to jobs, cars, house, schools, kindy etc but theres the obvious massive hole of family, which no matter how ling we live here will never be filled. Shame but thats how it is. I agree with "do you have to go to perth" as a friend of mine lives there and is saying that its getting more expensive and work is drying up a bit, compared to how it was. The commonwealth games are being held here on the gold coast in 2018 and they are building like mad for it already so maybe the chance of work for your OH here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I think savings wise it will be enough to make the move. But it will be eaten up. You need to allow for at least 3 months to get work and during that time you need to fund yourselves - rent, bills, daily living costs. The move itself will eat a chunk of it - shipping is several thousand, if your visa costs are coming out of it then that is another chunk - several thousand. Then flights, set up costs, car etc. My bigger concern is that you are not both behind it. It is a stressful thing to do and doesn't work for everyone - about 1 in 3 go back. So you both need to be fully up for it. You need to sit down as a couple and go through why you both want to do it. Then research if those reasons are valid / real. Because that is one of the big issues - people have expectations that can't be met. Then you need to have the conversation about what happens if one of you doesn't like it and wants to go home and agree a plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntersmummy Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 Well firstly thanks to everyone who commented Secondly, yes I know I'm not 100% on going only because I'm scared of it going ****/arse up and struggling with two small children a million miles from family. All I want out of this is to think my husband gets to spend more time at home. Our "Aussie dream" (if life goes the way we want) was to come over, buy a bit of land eventually and open up a cattery for myself to run and husband to have his own carpentry business for our sons to take over...and me to be a size 10 Husband tells my stories of employment there of £80 an hour jobs for trades and living "cheap but not caravan/tent" we could survive on £1000 a month. I just see it as unrealistic, it costs us £1300 a month here and we only rent a small 2 bed bungalow! We'd love to give our sons a better life, an Aussie lifestyle of surfing, bbq-ing and to have a business so we CAN live comfortably. I know we can come back if all else fails but it's really a case of do we do it and see if we can "one wage live" until I can find work or regret it?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy1982 Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Well firstly thanks to everyone who commented Secondly, yes I know I'm not 100% on going only because I'm scared of it going ****/arse up and struggling with two small children a million miles from family. All I want out of this is to think my husband gets to spend more time at home. Our "Aussie dream" (if life goes the way we want) was to come over, buy a bit of land eventually and open up a cattery for myself to run and husband to have his own carpentry business for our sons to take over...and me to be a size 10 Husband tells my stories of employment there of £80 an hour jobs for trades and living "cheap but not caravan/tent" we could survive on £1000 a month. I just see it as unrealistic, it costs us £1300 a month here and we only rent a small 2 bed bungalow! We'd love to give our sons a better life, an Aussie lifestyle of surfing, bbq-ing and to have a business so we CAN live comfortably. I know we can come back if all else fails but it's really a case of do we do it and see if we can "one wage live" until I can find work or regret it?? £80/$143 an hour....WOW! Im going to re-train as a carpenter! Rent is expensive here (in QLD anyway) and not much worth living in for under $450 a week and for $500+ you will get a nice place. We pay $510 a week for a newish 4 bed bungalow. Food for 4 of you would be in the region of $250 a week i'd say (we are 250-300 every week) then theres childcare.....expensive! Not trying to put you off but my wife and I both work, me full time and my wife 30 hours a week as a midwife so an ok paid job...and between us we take home $2000 a week and out of that we might save $100-$150 at most. Its like anything in life, people will tell you things etc but you will ultimately do it anyway regardless of the advice (we did) sometimes the best way to learn is to make your own mistakes/experiences. Good luck with what ever you do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Its a lot tougher now than even a few years ago, Perth is very expensive ridiculously expensive according to my pal this week despite what some may say, I have friends who upped sticks moved to surfers paradise Townsville etc and all say much better than WA and say the red tape a lot less hassle than WA too. I chose Perth as my son and grandaughters live there. Do you have to go to Perth? and more importantly you need to be both 100% committed to the move. If you go half hearted it will be very difficult to adapt and you will only get out of the move what you put in. Discuss the matter, then discuss it some more Perth isn't a lot more expensive than other Cities around Aus and when we were in the UK last year not much different to the UK either. There are cheap things in both places, here shop at Kmart, BigW and things are cheap, UK same sort of cheap shops selling cheap clothes that don't last that long. Great for the kids though when they were growing up. As for being isolated I've never got that. Perth has everything we could possibly want right here. We don't even miss going for a holiday as the weather and beaches (the sort of things we used to go on holiday for) are world class and we get to go every day if we want. If you do fancy a holiday Bali is a short flight away and on the same time zone. Housing and rents are expensive but we are in a State Capital. Surfers Paradise and Townsville can't be compared really, Surfers is a tourist destination with not many decent jobs, Townsville is a nice place but a lot smaller than Perth and if you want a decent property there, one with sea views say or near the Coast, it wouldn't be any cheaper than here. I agree that both partners need to be 100% committed and behind each other to make the move work. We came in 92 when there was serious unemployment. Neither of us had been before and we chose Perth to come to as it seemed to have everything we wanted to emigrate for. Neither of us had jobs to come to but ny wife is a nurse and got a job after 2 weeks. I was out of work for 5 months and my wife had to go back to being a nurse on shift work, which she had managed to get out of in the UK by doing Health Visitor and midwifery qualifications. We had a 2 year old at the time too. We got through it, rented for a year, during which we found a suburb we thought would suit us near the beach. We love it BUT we were both very committed into making it work. Perth, for us is ideal.:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sustain Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Well firstly thanks to everyone who commented Secondly, yes I know I'm not 100% on going only because I'm scared of it going ****/arse up and struggling with two small children a million miles from family. All I want out of this is to think my husband gets to spend more time at home. Our "Aussie dream" (if life goes the way we want) was to come over, buy a bit of land eventually and open up a cattery for myself to run and husband to have his own carpentry business for our sons to take over...and me to be a size 10 Husband tells my stories of employment there of £80 an hour jobs for trades and living "cheap but not caravan/tent" we could survive on £1000 a month. I just see it as unrealistic, it costs us £1300 a month here and we only rent a small 2 bed bungalow! We'd love to give our sons a better life, an Aussie lifestyle of surfing, bbq-ing and to have a business so we CAN live comfortably. I know we can come back if all else fails but it's really a case of do we do it and see if we can "one wage live" until I can find work or regret it?? Carpenters will be happy on $43 per hour if they know someone to get foot in the door. Caravans cost per week will surprise you, its not a cheap option. Send him over to get established for first 3 months - and if he can do it and keep the cost of running a house hold in UK it works. Let him sleep in the tent during this time. With young kids to consider be careful. Things changed here dramatically since 2008, and even since Abbott got in. Cats have been outlawed from some suburbs (they are not allowed out at night) - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 If it sounds too good to be true... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon4017 Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Husband tells my stories of employment there of £80 an hour jobs for trades and living "cheap but not caravan/tent" we could survive on £1000 a month. I just see it as unrealistic, it costs us £1300 a month here and we only rent a small 2 bed bungalow! I think that is unrealistic. You're going to have to get him to come up with some concrete details for those jobs. Maybe, in a mine, if you're established and for a few hours on one job, maybe. But if you think you can work 80GBP x 40 hours each week then no way. Does your husband have his own carpentry business right now? If not, I don't see what it would suddenly materialise when you're here. Sorry to be so blunt. But you do right by taking on these difficult questions now rather than later. And, of course, the whole plan is predicated on getting a visa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Helchops Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 I love Australia and kiss the ground we walk on for being here. So, for me yes, it is all that. And I don't think its expensive but that's a whole other story. Having said that, in order to make it work you need to be absolutely, 100% dedicated in moving here. You will go through hard times and it's these hard times that seem to bind poms together at these meet ups/friendship networks because it's good to have fellow friends that understand what a huge sacrifice it is to move to the other side of the world. I don't believe you're committed and seeking advice from seemingly pessimistic (generally) strangers on a forum is probably not the best way to go about the moving process. Talk to your husband and come on holiday here. Meet people who HAVE made the move and have made it work...you'll be tainted with a lot of negativity on here from people who've come back, never moved in the first place etc. Just my 2c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Yep, if you're looking for an excuse not to come, you've come to the right place. Just depend if you choose to take notice of positive or negative posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britpop Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 We are currently staying in a caravan in someone's garden for $300/week lol As far as work goes $80/hr if your fly in/out maybe otherwise $50 max I would say from our experience. And then he doesn't get more time at home. The Tradies we know start early and are home by 4 but are in bed by 10 latest. Take into account tax and to support a relocation and family it's not a huge amount vs the cost of living. We're just on WHV but are 28 and 32 so left stable lives at home. I love Aus but no more than I do my home and I'm going back as for me you can't beat friends an family for money and lifestyle. I'd rather be poor in a shack with my family an friends around me but for those who aren't close to people at home I can see the draw. Or if you want it badly enough. I definitely don't Think you can move to Aus and upgrade your life these days, not easily or quickly at least. Over time perhaps and depending on what you do at home. But taking into account the cost of the move I think you have to anticipate a 'downgrade' as it were while you get up to speed. Of course, again it depends on how you love at home and your expectations . (Do you need fox tell, all bran new gear or are you happy with free view and second hand furniture) I would say come for a holiday and see how you like it, perhaps send hubby ahead of time to get a settled. It's a short term sacrifice that could save you a lot in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasepom Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 I think if you are up to the challenge, then yes it can be a very good lifestyle. Depends what you want of course, Perth can feel very isolated, but if youre happy with work and home life, its not a problem for those that enjoy that side of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Well firstly thanks to everyone who commented Secondly, yes I know I'm not 100% on going only because I'm scared of it going ****/arse up and struggling with two small children a million miles from family. All I want out of this is to think my husband gets to spend more time at home. Our "Aussie dream" (if life goes the way we want) was to come over, buy a bit of land eventually and open up a cattery for myself to run and husband to have his own carpentry business for our sons to take over...and me to be a size 10 Husband tells my stories of employment there of £80 an hour jobs for trades and living "cheap but not caravan/tent" we could survive on £1000 a month. I just see it as unrealistic, it costs us £1300 a month here and we only rent a small 2 bed bungalow! We'd love to give our sons a better life, an Aussie lifestyle of surfing, bbq-ing and to have a business so we CAN live comfortably. I know we can come back if all else fails but it's really a case of do we do it and see if we can "one wage live" until I can find work or regret it?? I'm afraid your husband is on the over enthusiastic side. You have very good reason to be concerned. Life here in Perth is very expensive. You for sure could not survive on anything like a GBP 1000 a month, unless intending to camp out and with kids in tow no way. I'd question the better life line being taken for granted as well. Conditions are in decline after a massive mining boom over the past decade,changed the place almost out of recognition. I'd wonder if it needs to be Perth as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 What is it that makes so many on this site want to head to Perth? It seems to be really over represented, or is it my imagination? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 Yep, if you're looking for an excuse not to come, you've come to the right place. Just depend if you choose to take notice of positive or negative posts. Or alternatively the realistic posters. Folk that arrived here in times past came into a very different place that what has materialised over recent years. As such hardly fair to compare times past, even when jobs were hard to find, with those hoping to make a start now. Not saying impossible but they do need to be brutally realistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 What is it that makes so many on this site want to head to Perth? It seems to be really over represented, or is it my imagination? No you are correct. Perth seems to jell for some odd reason with Brit's. Push/Pull factor? Who knows? Even prior to the diminishing mining boom, but then it was in part cheaper housing and climate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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