KangarooJack Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Hi I am trying to get an idea of the monthley cost of living in Queensland. eg Community fees Electric Gas Water Digital TV Fuel Prices Food on (on average) Thanks alot Chris Just received Police Checks back all going well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Well, I'll try to help but there are a huge number of variables. Prices on things can vary a lot depending on whether you're in Brisbane proper, the Brisbane suburbs, in one of the regional cities (my situation) or out in the sticks. Also, things like food costs are a moveable feast (pun intended) depending on your habits. Anyway, in my case: Community fees: We rent and equivalent to rates are included in our rental...there's no per person community charge like in the UK. If it helps, our rent on a nice house with 4 double bedrooms (one with ensuite), decent fenced yard, two car garage, laundry room, large open plan living area and a separate lounge is $320 per week out here. Electric: Can vary hugely. The bills are quarterly and have been as low as $230 and as high as $710 depending how hard we hammer the air conditioning. The average is probably about $400 a quarter. Gas: Our house is 100% electric so no gas bill Water: Included in the rent noted above. There's a clause that we pay the excess if we go above a certain amount but we never have. Digital TV: Basic digital TV is free to air and in the process of expanding. Right now much of the digital is just a duplicate of the analogue but, but the end of the year, most cities should have 15 channels (including at least five high definition). However, if you want cable or satellite it's a bit like the UK where what you pay depends on the "packages" you subscibe to. When we started a basic service, I believe we paid about $48 per month. However, we've added a second decoder in the bedroom and converted both these to ones with integrated hard disk recording...and now pay about $120 per month (for Austar satellite I should say). Fuel Prices: I filled up on Thursday and the "sign" rate was $1.05 per litre. However, you'll rapidly find that supermarket loyalty cards give you petrol discounts so I actually paid about 97 cents a litre. Brisbane is more expensive--there are subsidies on fuel once you get outside the city. Food on (on average): Depends entirely on what you eat and there are already several threads on this. For us (a family of 3 with a fairly regular visitor 4th person), cooking mainly from fresh ingredients rather than using processed foods, our "big weekly shop" tends to be about $160. Obviously this includes things like cleaning supplies, rubbish bags, loo roll etc and not just food. You can probably add another $40 for visits to the convenience store for extra milk and bread through the week. We could probably live on less....this includes occasional steaks (Aussie beef is great!), a joint most weekends, fresh fish quite often, etc. etc. Anyway, hope this helps at least a bit. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mongrel Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Well, I'll try to help but there are a huge number of variables. Prices on things can vary a lot depending on whether you're in Brisbane proper, the Brisbane suburbs, in one of the regional cities (my situation) or out in the sticks. Also, things like food costs are a moveable feast (pun intended) depending on your habits. Anyway, in my case: Community fees: We rent and equivalent to rates are included in our rental...there's no per person community charge like in the UK. If it helps, our rent on a nice house with 4 double bedrooms (one with ensuite), decent fenced yard, two car garage, laundry room, large open plan living area and a separate lounge is $320 per week out here. Electric: Can vary hugely. The bills are quarterly and have been as low as $230 and as high as $710 depending how hard we hammer the air conditioning. The average is probably about $400 a quarter. Gas: Our house is 100% electric so no gas bill Water: Included in the rent noted above. There's a clause that we pay the excess if we go above a certain amount but we never have. Digital TV: Basic digital TV is free to air and in the process of expanding. Right now much of the digital is just a duplicate of the analogue but, but the end of the year, most cities should have 15 channels (including at least five high definition). However, if you want cable or satellite it's a bit like the UK where what you pay depends on the "packages" you subscibe to. When we started a basic service, I believe we paid about $48 per month. However, we've added a second decoder in the bedroom and converted both these to ones with integrated hard disk recording...and now pay about $120 per month (for Austar satellite I should say). Fuel Prices: I filled up on Thursday and the "sign" rate was $1.05 per litre. However, you'll rapidly find that supermarket loyalty cards give you petrol discounts so I actually paid about 97 cents a litre. Brisbane is more expensive--there are subsidies on fuel once you get outside the city. Food on (on average): Depends entirely on what you eat and there are already several threads on this. For us (a family of 3 with a fairly regular visitor 4th person), cooking mainly from fresh ingredients rather than using processed foods, our "big weekly shop" tends to be about $160. Obviously this includes things like cleaning supplies, rubbish bags, loo roll etc and not just food. You can probably add another $40 for visits to the convenience store for extra milk and bread through the week. We could probably live on less....this includes occasional steaks (Aussie beef is great!), a joint most weekends, fresh fish quite often, etc. etc. Anyway, hope this helps at least a bit. Bob air con puff lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 LOL...gotta keep the wine cupboard cool somehow! Seriously, this is a bone of contention between my wife and I. Typically I keep turning it off (or at least to a much higher temperature) but the OH wants it cool! Ironically, she's lived all her life in Queensland...I'm the soft newbie who grew up in -40C western Canada! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JoanneHattersley Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 LOL...gotta keep the wine cupboard cool somehow! Of course! There si the beer fridge, the food fridge AND the wine fridge!:smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ABCDiamond Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Food costs can vary on what you buy and where you buy it. In the last 9 months we have spent $150 per week (2 adults 1 child) on all our food and general supermarket shopping (inc Toilet rolls, laundry stuff etc etc). We are careful in WHERE we buy things though. eg: Bananas at $3 per kg at Woolworths, or exactly the same at the fruit shop for $1 kg. Potatoes at $3.50 kg at Woolworths or 4 kgs for $5 at the fruit shop. Rump Steak can sometimes be bought for $6 per kg at the local Butchers, or on special at a Supermarket for $15.40 per kg !!, I now pay $10 per kg, but for the better MSA quality steak. and many many other similar examples... A newspaper article a while ago quoted: "A basket of 25 typical products which cost $93.51 was reduced to $49.28" by shopping correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 ABCDiamond's post is very useful because it points up the big differences that can exist. First off, we often buy our fruit and veg from a specialist store, both for price but also because it tends to be fresher and better quality there. Fortunately, the best place we've found for fruit and veg happens to be next door to both our nearby "convenience" store and also our newsagent so it doesn't mean a special trip. However, it also points up the cost differences between some of the major cities and for us 100km away in a city of 100,000. Potatoes at our local Woolworths vary between $1.98 and $2.49 per kg for loose or a bit cheaper if we buy a pre-packed bag (I tend to splurge on loose because I'm fussy about size and condition). Certainly there seems to be big differences between the capital cities and the "rest" of Australia--more than I was used to in the UK. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ABCDiamond Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Potatoes at our local Woolworths vary between $1.98 and $2.49 per kg for loose or a bit cheaper if we buy a pre-packed bag (I tend to splurge on loose because I'm fussy about size and condition). I am the same with potatoes, and more often than not I buy the loose ones for $1.59 or $1.79 kg, already washed, from the fruit shop, which is next to the supermarket I actually have the Woolworths weekly catalogue in front of me now.. Golden Delight brushed potatoes $4.98 for 4 kg from tomorrow. That means ALDI will probably be $3.99 I still find it hard to get used to Bananas being cheaper than potatoes !! If money gets tight we reduce to eating bangers and banana mash... :biglaugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KangarooJack Posted April 12, 2009 Author Share Posted April 12, 2009 Thanks Everybody You've all been very helpfull Thanks again Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cherylnandy Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 I am the same with potatoes, and more often than not I buy the loose ones for $1.59 or $1.79 kg, already washed, from the fruit shop, which is next to the supermarket I actually have the Woolworths weekly catalogue in front of me now.. Golden Delight brushed potatoes $4.98 for 4 kg from tomorrow. That means ALDI will probably be $3.99 I still find it hard to get used to Bananas being cheaper than potatoes !! If money gets tight we reduce to eating bangers and banana mash... :biglaugh: That made me laugh the thought of eating bangers and mashed bananas, have you thought about entering to be a contestant on Australian Master chef??????? You have got great new creative ideas!!!!!!! On a serious note, you do have to shop around for the best deals, and the supermarkets release a weekly catalogue with their deals for the forth coming week Cheers Cheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobj Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 Of course! There si the beer fridge, the food fridge AND the wine fridge!:smile: Ya forgot the BAIT 'FRIDGE....:skeptical: Or, do I put the bait in the wine 'fridge??? Hmmmm? Cheers, Bobj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sazzle76 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 ... Fuel Prices: I filled up on Thursday and the "sign" rate was $1.05 per litre. However, you'll rapidly find that supermarket loyalty cards give you petrol discounts so I actually paid about 97 cents a litre. Brisbane is more expensive--there are subsidies on fuel once you get outside the city. Bob 50p a litre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats cheaper than when I first learnt to drive in the UK 15 years a go!!!!!!!!!!!!! :wideeyed: Jeez... Im puttin diesel in at £1.02 a ltr at the mo and petrol isnt much cheaper. The info in this thread is great, Im loving it! shopshopshop!! Which is best for quality value? Aldi, Woolies, Coles or is it BigW or is that woolies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 50p a litre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats cheaper than when I first learnt to drive in the UK 15 years a go!!!!!!!!!!!!! :wideeyed: Jeez... Im puttin diesel in at £1.02 a ltr at the mo and petrol isnt much cheaper. The info in this thread is great, Im loving it! shopshopshop!! Which is best for quality value? Aldi, Woolies, Coles or is it BigW or is that woolies? Just to make you jealous, the pump price right now is right around $1 a litre...but there's a promotion on that gets me 10 cents a litre off that until the end of June using my Woolworths card. As for the supermarkets, Aldi here is just like in the UK...what they have is good quality and value but it's hard to do a full shop there. In my local stores, I find Woolworths the best bet--but there's not much in it between them and Coles. In my case, it comes down to the local shops and their relative sizes/product ranges. Just to confuse you, Woolworths is a supermarket and Big W, while owned by the same chain, is a variety store competing with the likes of K-mart...they don't sell food. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ABCDiamond Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 ALDI is best for the range they sell, and can save 40% against Woolworths, who I feel are next in line. But check meat prices at the local Butchers and Fruit and Veg at the local greengrocers. A couple of examples today: Butcher Roasting Pork $3.99 kg (Woolworths = $8.49kg) Rump Steak $3.99 kg (whole rumps only, about 5kg each= $20) (Woolworths about $20 per kg) Legs of Lamb $8.50 kg (Woolworths = $12.49kg) Something is almost always on special, so if you pick up the specials, you can eat very well quite in-expensively. Apples at Woolworths on special at $2.96 kg, but the same apples are $1 kg at our local fruit shop this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gilby78 Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 For all you foodies out there, you should check out the wine and food fest occurring in Noosa next month: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gilby78 Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 It's pretty cheap at the moment to eat at the top scale too, (removed link) is doing heaps of deals and discounts throughout Noosa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzannecopps Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Would like to repost this thread, to get an idea and the cost of living for two people (and two small dogs) in a 3 bedroom house. Brisbane suburbs or the like of coomera etc. Any my help greatly appreciated. Xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robfromdublin Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Well my wife and I live in a 3 bed house with 2 small children, which I suppose could be equivalent to 2 small dogs in terms of expenditure... Our joint expense account suggests that the cost of living is around $78k a year. Taking out around $8k for childcare and you get around $70k which is what you're looking at. Obviously your lifestyle and therefore expenditure is likely to be completely different from mine, but you can readily find all the info you need online (electricity prices, rent, phone costs, grocery costs, etc, etc.). It just takes a bit of legwork to find and collate it. Everything above still holds true. Aldi costs less than Coles/Woolies. Getting food at the market is generally the cheapest way of doing it if you have the time. Fruit&Veg shops are often cheaper but sometimes not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplesparkle Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Hi all, We're starting to look at jobs etc now and have seen some in the Gold Coast Area - we are hoping that my salary is going to be between $80k - $85k. We are a family of 4 - will my salary initially be enough for us to manage on ??? as we would like my husband to take a little bit of time off to settle the kids into school etc Purplesparkle x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbye grey sky Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Hi all, We're starting to look at jobs etc now and have seen some in the Gold Coast Area - we are hoping that my salary is going to be between $80k - $85k. We are a family of 4 - will my salary initially be enough for us to manage on ??? as we would like my husband to take a little bit of time off to settle the kids into school etc Purplesparkle x Many families of 4 will manage on less than this so the answer is yes. Bear in mind though that emigrating gives rise to a host of additional costs in the early months as you establish a base so you should bring savings with you to tide you through the first few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srh82 Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Hi all, We're starting to look at jobs etc now and have seen some in the Gold Coast Area - we are hoping that my salary is going to be between $80k - $85k. We are a family of 4 - will my salary initially be enough for us to manage on ??? as we would like my husband to take a little bit of time off to settle the kids into school etc Purplesparkle x Depends how how much you have to tide you over in terms of savings etc and the ability to put down some rent in advance. We we are a household of two adults and two cats and we manage day to day on the income of my partner (c $70k) but I pay the rent and majority of the bills from my salary. We would struggle on his salary alone. I would say the sooner you and your husband get into a working routine and you meet new people, the sooner you are going to settle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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