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Living Costs


AliB

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Hi, well it is about 6 weeks til we arrive in Perth and therefore feeling a little nervous and last minute worries about the cost of living.

I have looked at the forum but am looking for an up to date cost of living for a family of four, 2 adults, teenager and 10 year old.

Also is there a standard % which you take off your gross salary per month/year?? which would give me an idea about what we would have left to spend on a monthly basis.

 

Thanks for all your help

x

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We me, daughter and partner moved in may we spend 150 to 200 on food a week, 480 a week rent for a 4 2 2(don't know why as we can get a mortgadge for that but tied up till november) bond was 2000 ish. Gas kleenheat 90 a month but we will be left with a lot in credit. Electric 140 for 50 days. Internet, phone, foxtel 100 a month through telstra, water is every couple of months you only pay usage which we had to pay 43 for it. Two phone contracts with Optus 110 a month that's for both. We have two cars and put 100 a week of fuel in them. Insurance for the year for both was 1000 with aami. medical insurance for all three 160 a month. In terms of food price s there's not a lot of difference I don't reckon you will find what was cheap in uk will be expensive here vice versa. Hope this helps.

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It will vary a lot by individual preferences. For example, when I was earning a high wage, it wasn't difficult for us to spend $400 a week on groceries for two of us. Now, I am on a low wage, we can get by on under $100 a week.

 

For a lot of years the formula used has been 2.5. So, to have the same standard of living, you multiply your current salary in pounds by 2.5 and that will give you the salary in dollars that you need to have the same standard of living. But, this varies a lot on the individuals. For example, I have seen people say they find it is closer to 2 and others say it is closer to 4.

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http://www.paycalculator.com.au

very handy website for seeing your net salary

 

http://www.realestate.com.au/rent

to check out rental in your chosen suburb/s

 

https://www.coles.com.au

i did a pretend shop on here (using 6100 postcode iirc) and the final figure worked out pretty comparable to what we spend now - similar items to now and of course some feel cheap and some expensive so it does depend what kind of things you're buying

 

if you've chosen a school don't forget to factor in costs as even if not private there are more costs than in uk. If you haven't chosen http://www.myschool.edu.au has been invaluable to us. And don't forget to factor in extra curric costs - someone else might be able to give a clue as to what these may be if your kids have specific hobbies.

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I agree that the cost can vary widely depending on how you live. Our breakdown is as follows, there are two of us (and 4 cats - that's a different story)

 

Mortgage $1100/month for $210K

Cars HP $300 for a 3 year old fiesta.

Car insurance $30/month

Phones - BYO $40 for two (we use facetime all the time)

Internet $70/month

Foxtel $50/month

Petrol is around $1.40/litre so you can work costs from there

Gas $60/2 month

Water $150/2 months

Elec $150/2 months

Rates (if your buying) $1500/yea

Private health cover (hospital only) $100/month

 

Food around $150/week if here careful.

 

If your renting, then typically the landlord pays the rates, and for us some of the water bills, as we watered the garden. You can rent here now a lot cheaper than when we came. Depending on the area then $300 upwards for a 3x1.

 

Cars cost anywhere from $1000 upwards.

 

You can really live cheaply if you want to, we started on a lot less, no foxtel, renting a house, making all our food from scratch, using markets etc for food, no car insurance. Start with the basic and move up from there.

 

Enjoy the free things in life as well, a walk along the beach costs nothing and remind you why you came.

 

Nick

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As a guide, aim to spend less than 40% of your take home pay on rent + commute and other stuff will work out. If you want to live in a good school district then may have to pay a bit more for rent or settle for fewer bedrooms. Perth rental market is quite flat at the moment so you'll have more choice and possibility of negotiating the rent down.

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