matte Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 My wife, son and I moved here just over 6 months ago from Dubai we here we lived and worked for the last 6 years. Moving to Australia has always been a long term goal of ours and we're happy that we are now finally here. However I'd be lying if I didn't say we are finding it quite tough financially. I'm going to be quite open here as I'm interested to find out if there are others in the same boat or any suggestions on how to cope a bit better. I earn a salary of $65,000 and my wife earns $60,000 per year. So our total pre-tax household income is $125,000 which sounds quite reasonable. This works out to be about $99,000 after tax. The problem is where does it all go? We pretty much live pay cheque to pay cheque and if we have any big utility bills or unexpected costs we seem to be plunging further into debt. We don't live an extravagant lifestyle, hardly if ever, eat out and are very careful with our weekly shop often only buying items if they are on special and shopping around the various supermarkets to get the best price. We rent a 3 bed + study house in an ok area north of the Gold Coast for $440 per week. Water and electricity are extra. If I'm honest we could if we really wanted to downsize slightly and live in a much less desirable area for around $360-$380 per week but it wouldn't get much cheaper than that. My wife and I both work full time 40 hours per week and so our 2 year old son has to go to day care. Even with the child care rebate this still costs us $212 per week. The only other benefit we receive is child care benefit that comes to a grand total of about $22 per fortnight, hardly worth getting! Our other big expensive is the car loan repayment for the family car we purchased when we arrived which is $215 per week. Yes this adds up to be quite a big cost but we purchased the car to last us many years. Also at the time I was commuting over an hour each way to Brisbane so we wanted something economical. It's a 3yr loan so we'll be much happier once it is paid off. I'm not going to go into too much more details of our expenses but there is nothing really any different from other average household expenses. I do find insurances, especially contents cover, incredibly expensive here but that's just something we have to deal with. So my question really is how does everyone else do it, especially families that have only one working parent. If we're struggling with both of us working in fairly skilled professions we can't be the only ones. I can't imagine that the benefits you would receive with only one working parent would amount to be very much but maybe I'm wrong. Is it financially better for a second parent to work only part time hours and send their child to day care for say only 1-2 days a week thus reducing child care costs but relying more on benefits. I don't want to start an angry debate over the pros and cons of child care but I really struggle to see how it's all financially viable in the bigger picture. :err: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Que Sera Sera Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Do you not receive rent assist? Are you on a PR visa? $215 on a car a week? That would make me cry! I'd book an appointment with Centrelink and see what may be available to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 It sounds like you have come over with very little money given you are renting and borrowed for a car. I think most people arrive with sufficient funds to be able to purchase all the necessities of life without borrowing. That may be your main issue. It sounds like you will just have to scrimp and scrounge for a few years until the car is paid off and your child is at school. I would be worried though incase one of you lose your job as it sounds like you don't have any buffer at all to get past a shock that may happen in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matte Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 Yep, we have a 189 PR visa but I'm pretty sure that our earnings are classed as too high to qualify. I think your household income has to very low to get any rent assistance. We are all registered with Centrelink but all we seem to qualify for is the child care rebate that is paid directly to the day care centre and the minuscule child care benefit of $22 per fortnight. It doesn't seem very fair that the harder you work the less your entitled to but it is what it is. We didn't come to Australia with a view to try and claim as many benefits as we can however it would be nice to to be able to live slightly more comfortably than we currently do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 What happened to all the lovely tax free money you earned in Dubai ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JockinTas Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Did you not manage to save anything after the 6 years in Dubai? Life will certainly be easier once your child starts school and the car is paid off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Que Sera Sera Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 I think I'd be tempted to sell the car or return it whatever and just by a cheap one for now. We bought a $4000 car when we first arrived and kept it for a year while we saved. That's half your rent a week paid for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matte Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 It sounds like you have come over with very little money given you are renting and borrowed for a car.I think most people arrive with sufficient funds to be able to purchase all the necessities of life without borrowing. That may be your main issue. It sounds like you will just have to scrimp and scrounge for a few years until the car is paid off and your child is at school. I would be worried though incase one of you lose your job as it sounds like you don't have any buffer at all to get past a shock that may happen in the future. Unfortunately we haven't ever been in a position to purchase a house in recent years. The property bubble in Dubai was completely insane and unaffordable for first time buyers. Having said that it is not much better here either. We would love to own our own home but at this point in time with house prices what they are and our current financial situation it will be many years before we can even think about saving for a deposit. We saved as much as we could whilst we were there which helped pay for our visas (all in around $8,000) and the sale of our car helped fund our air fares, relocation expenses and initial accommodation when we first arrived. But you are quite right that we don't have much of a buffer and I wish we did. It was never going to an easy move but time was ticking and with the rising costs in Dubai also we didn't really want to stay and longer than we had to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matte Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 What happened to all the lovely tax free money you earned in Dubai ? Tax free it may appear on the surface but I and anyone else that's lived there can tell you that you still get stung in many other ways. With rental prices at least 2-3 times what they are here and all the hidden costs and charges you are always getting stung for it isn't quite as luxurious as it's sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 I'd definitely get a 2nd hand car and maybe look for a rental in land a bit- maybe you are living in a high rent Gold Coast holiday suburb? Shop at Aldi and markets where poss and use your shop-a-dockets if you do shop at Coles and Woolies! Your income is a good average one I think. Check out gumtree when you need to buy stuff. I thought property up in Queensland was coming down in price a bit- might be cheaper to buy than rent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robfromdublin Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 We're very close to your situation financially and with an 18 month old and we pay about the same on housing costs. We are relatively comfortable and putting a bit into savings each month. Your main problem is the $11k you are spending per year on a car, you can't afford it (although you may not be in a position to sell it now and downgrade). You also need to carefully do the sums on whether full time work for one of you is worth it. We found that doing 4 days a week was borderline, but doing 5 days a week wasn't worth it. Centrelink can help you with the sums. If you want to keep the car and have some savings then you are going to have to cut back. Buy home-brand groceries, eat less meat, cut back on alcohol, etc, etc. I don't know what you're like as a saver but saving approximately $8k in 6 years in Dubai suggests you were either on the bread line or not a very good saver. I'm not a good saver either but what worked for me was putting 10% of my income straight into a savings account when I got paid and leaving it there. I then contracted my lifestyle to live on the remaining 90%. It's certainly doable to live on your income but you need to change the mindset that makes you dump $10k on car depreciation. And budget, you desperately need a budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matte Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 We're very close to your situation financially and with an 18 month old and we pay about the same on housing costs. We are relatively comfortable and putting a bit into savings each month. Your main problem is the $11k you are spending per year on a car, you can't afford it (although you may not be in a position to sell it now and downgrade). You also need to carefully do the sums on whether full time work for one of you is worth it. We found that doing 4 days a week was borderline, but doing 5 days a week wasn't worth it. Centrelink can help you with the sums. If you want to keep the car and have some savings then you are going to have to cut back. Buy home-brand groceries, eat less meat, cut back on alcohol, etc, etc. I don't know what you're like as a saver but saving approximately $8k in 6 years in Dubai suggests you were either on the bread line or not a very good saver. I'm not a good saver either but what worked for me was putting 10% of my income straight into a savings account when I got paid and leaving it there. I then contracted my lifestyle to live on the remaining 90%. It's certainly doable to live on your income but you need to change the mindset that makes you dump $10k on car depreciation. And budget, you desperately need a budget. Yes I must admit the car repayment does sap our income somewhat and we probably shouldn't have spent as much on it as we did. I guess at the time we were already shelling out $800 per month on a rental car so to own one for a similar payment seemed more logical. However as you said we are now in a position whereby it would be difficult to sell and recoup the money for something cheaper. We didn't just save $8k from our whole time in Dubai. We saved and paid for our own wedding and honeymoon and also had to pay towards the cost of the birth of our son (something that is not cheap and often taken for granted by those on NHS/Medicare). Those three things took their toll on the savings we had. We do currently shop around a lot for groceries and I cook almost everything from scratch, never buy pre-prepared and and any activities we do at the weekend tend to be either free or very low cost. I guess it's just going to be a tough few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robfromdublin Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 My wife refers to them as the 'hanging on' years for just that reason. Hope it works out for you anyway. You'll feel like a millionaire when the car is paid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matte Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 I'd definitely get a 2nd hand car and maybe look for a rental in land a bit- maybe you are living in a high rent Gold Coast holiday suburb? Shop at Aldi and markets where poss and use your shop-a-dockets if you do shop at Coles and Woolies! Your income is a good average one I think. Check out gumtree when you need to buy stuff. I thought property up in Queensland was coming down in price a bit- might be cheaper to buy than rent? We already do the Aldi and markets thing. I'm always scanning the specials when the junk mail arrives on a Tuesday to work out what to buy from where. We're about 25 minutes inland from the coast in a non touristy area so it's not as expensive as the areas nearer the coast. You probably wouldn't get any change from $400,000 if you were to buy in the same area. A mortgage repayment for that amount would likely be in the $550 to $650 per week range so definitely not cheaper to buy. I wish it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Maybe you just got to do some old fashioned budgeting and for a month or so write dwn all your spend to help identify some unseen waste perhaps. I was also really surprised to see you spent six years in Dubai and managed to save only $8,000 and fund a wedding. I though people went to the ME for the tax free salaries and to grow a savings pot! Perhaps there was some waste there too that you just didn't notice. The other thing that struck me was the salaries, you say you are professional (or was it semi professional), but you are both just under the national average wage. The good news is that this suggests to me that you both have further earning potential to tap into. Perhaps take some careers counselling and see what you can do to keep progressing your skills and your earnings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 We managed on $65k in Sydney for the first couple of years we were here, but we were able to buy a car outright from our savings, and had no childcare to pay for (I stayed at home, the kids were 1 and 2 when we arrived on a 457 so the cost of childcare would have been prohibitive). It wasn't easy then (6 years ago) and wouldn't be possible now, but you should be okay on your joint salary, even if there isn't much wiggle room. I would think that your car loan is probably the thing that is pushing you so close to the edge, and if I were in your situation I would consider selling it and buying something much cheaper/managing on public transport for a while. Alternatively maybe look at toughing it out and cutting back on other things as much as you can, until that loan is paid off. I hope you get it sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 The only thing that I can think of is that a lot of your money has gone on start up costs which eat up so much in the first months - year. We came over on a 457 with 2 kids earning very substantially less than that and paying more rent and managed to do ok once we got past that first 6 months. We still now earn less than you guys but pay a lot more on mortgage repayments, also now have to pay all the rates and water/sewerage and we are still in the black. So it's definitely possible! All I can suggest is shopping at Aldi (this saved us a fortune) and buying in season. This meant really changing the way we were used to eating in the UK. Doing heaps of few activities on the weekends which is very easy around here. Using sites like Groupon/Scoopon if you do fancy a meal out. Shopping around for insurance - for example were quoted $700 for contents insurance from a couple companies but ended up going with Youi for around $250. Checking that you should be charged for water - is your rental water efficient? (ours wasn't but they were charging us for all the water for a while!). It's a case of every little helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach pig Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 I agree with que sera sera dump the car mate.what car is it if you don't mind me asking, because $215 a week is a bit steep.are you sure thats not monthly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 I would have thought coming from Dubai that you would have been cashed up. If you got through the money you earned there you should know where the money you earn here is going. TBH you are on a decent salary and you only need to put a spreadsheet together to work out your incomes and outgoings and see where you can cut down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silencio Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Even when you save a lot in grocery shopping and modest eating habits many people I know overspend with expensive clothes, hairdresser appointments with the latest style, smoking, designer shoes and the common trap with mobile contracts with data packages most people hardly use. You've really to reflect not only on your spending but on your partner's as well. Often we human beings tend to muddle up 'must have for my life style' with 'nice to have'. My partner & me have separate bank accounts and that helped us in terms who is person in our relationship to sabotage our savings goal for example. Everyone has different spending habits and it's so hard to change. By the way with your salaries you should do better so I guess there is a 'hidden' expenditure somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Is it worth you talking to whoever you have your car loan with and spreading it out over a longer period with smaller repayments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Even when you save a lot in grocery shopping and modest eating habits many people I know overspend with expensive clothes, hairdresser appointments with the latest style, smoking, designer shoes and the common trap with mobile contracts with data packages most people hardly use. You've really to reflect not only on your spending but on your partner's as well. Often we human beings tend to muddle up 'must have for my life style' with 'nice to have'. My partner & me have separate bank accounts and that helped us in terms who is person in our relationship to sabotage our savings goal for example. Everyone has different spending habits and it's so hard to change. By the way with your salaries you should do better so I guess there is a 'hidden' expenditure somewhere. That would be interesting, having separate bank accounts.:yes: Mine would have loads in it and my missus would be borrowing for her hair dressing appointment at Maurice Meade. When she first started going there I said "couldn't you find somewhere more expensive?". I stop looking at what she spends on stuff, it's frightening. How many pairs of shoes do you really need?:laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tina0101 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Rather than struggle now, sell the car and get a cheap runaround. Otherwise you're going to be struggling for a while. Our family car is $565 a month and that's a brand new car, so you are paying a lot for yours. The more you can save and keep yourself on track now, the better it will be for you mentally and health-wise. You're probably earning too much for rent help, but you may as well try. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicF Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Between us we don't earn that much more than you and we put $500 a fortnight away in savings and we pay $1250 ish a fortnight on our mortgage. My childcare bill is much lower than yours though as mine are at school and only one still uses childcare but I get my childcare rebate quarterly and do not factor it in to my budget at all. I have a spreadsheet where I keep a budget for all my spend and I put money away every fortnight (in addition to savings) to cover all the quarterly and yearly bills. I'm happy to send it to you via PM if it would help (although not until tomorrow as I keep it on my work computer) I would definitely make a list of all your spending and see where you can improve. Look at how much you are spending on things such as mobile phones, landline costs, gas and electricity, insurance etc. Shop around and see if you can get a better deal on everything. If taking out insurance either pay upfront or ensure the monthly payments add up to the same as the yearly payments (often you pay more if paying in instalments). You have said on here about saving money on groceries but there are so many other areas we spend a lot of money on where you can also save money. I used to have problems with my OH spending money we didn't have so we switched to a cash system where I would take out a set amount of cash each fortnight and that was our spending money for the fortnight. This worked much better as he could see exactly how much we had available to spend and meant if we spent it all he could buy anything else. He has also now stopped taking any money to work so he can't spend it on things he really doesn't need (like coffees and chocolate), although that was more about his waist line than saving money it has also helped him to save more money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 I am a single parent and survive on less than your combined income (no child support). I also own a house. Careful budgeting is the key and having a cheaper car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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