Cost of Living

[CountryCym]

Was wondering if anyone could give an idea of cost of living out in Adelaide? Or even better, give a rough estimate of what the average(ishish) monthly costs would be for the folowing - or the alternative in aus if I've missed anything out. Thanks very much in advance for those who reply!

Gas
Elec
Council Tax / equivalent
Car Tax (per year)
Health Insurance
Private school costs per year
TV Licence

etc. if I've forgotten loads sorry but just got in from very long day at work!

[alibongo]

good question! I shall be watching this thread as it develops to get a better idea of what to expect when we get there

Ali

[Tyke]

Ok,I'll try and put some costing in as I go/remember research them.

1) No TV license here, ordinary TV (Free to air) is free and full of adverts.
There is Foxtel which is the equivalent of Sky.It's not cheap and comes in several price packages. Options for lots of sport/films and so on.
Have a peek at................ http://www.foxtel.com.au/

2) Car registration(Tax). This varies on the size of car you have,included is third party fire and theft insurance.Have a look at the Transport SA site,lots of info there................
http://www.transport.sa.gov.au/registrations/motor_vehicles/index.asp

I'll post more stuff later:D

[Guzzler&Sas]

Hi,
Just had our first gas bill (hot water and cooking) in our new home 88 days $57:jiggy:

Guzzler

[sarahsmartiepants]

2) Car registration(Tax). This varies on the size of car you have,included is third party fire and theft insurance.Have a look at the Transport SA site,lots of info there................
http://www.transport.sa.gov.au/registrations/motor_vehicles/index.asp

No offence Tyke but rego does not give third party fire and theft insurance. It gives third party body damage as in human body, if you are hit by a car that is not separatly insured (ie only has rego insurance) then you will have a hard time getting back what is owed. A lot of people make the mistake in thinking rego is the only insurance needed.
sarah

[Tyke]

No offence Tyke but rego does not give third party fire and theft insurance. It gives third party body damage as in human body, if you are hit by a car that is not separatly insured (ie only has rego insurance) then you will have a hard time getting back what is owed. A lot of people make the mistake in thinking rego is the only insurance needed.
sarah

None taken - I sit corrected.:)

[Tyke]

Electric is expensive here,or my bill is saying so:sad:

$1060.33!!!!:swoon:

We are all electric here though + pool + Most of our household water is drawn by bore pump.

[muppetbro]

the news 24/7 here is gloom n doom for mortgage payments and interest rates - most people - poms and locals tell me the same thing - its getting harder and harder on the wages being earned here to live - at the moment all things considered i would say at best it is equal to the uk and definately not a cheaper standard of life - most people dont come out with sufficient funds to purchase a property and be mortgage free so some posts can be very misleading....

p.s. we are / was mortgage free earning a very good salary alongside my wife but after 6 months i personally feel the uk is cheaper in many aspects and definately a better choice of many goods....that said s.a. remains the cheapest most affordable region in oz to live!

living in the desireable parts of adelaide will be beyond most peoples wallets - hence few poms are found in the highly regarded parts - some say it will prevent such areas deteriorating :err:

biggest shock for us was the amount of poverty in the south - not been north but ive heared enough - sure it looks nicer than poor parts of english cities and the sun shines.....but the people = same the world over where you have all the social indicators of the cycle of poverty.....

add in the exchange rate and it becomes worse - be very realistic and expect all things financially to be the same as the uk and at the end of the pay day then youll get off to a good start to a new life here.....

you need $ to enjoy life here - no different at all imho

[smit]

I dont often agree with Muppet..........but when it comes to cost of living.................its on a par with uk...................fine if you earn the same wages in relation to uk, but if not .....................dont expect riches.

[Rob and Clare]

Always a difficult one to answer, as we all use different amounts :

Our Gas bill - $80 per quarter
Electric - $500 per quarter
Council Tax - $1600 per annum
Car Tax - $560 per annum for a 4 cylinder car, nearly $1000 for a V8
Health Insurance - $1,300 per annum for the two of us nets out to approx $200 per annum after government rebate and tax incentive
No Idea on the schools

Plus all the hidden costs, Emergency services levy, Stamp duty on the house, stamp duty on a car, paying for the driving license, Visiting the doctors could be free but most charge a small fee, any treatment usually has a fee too after medicare, there aren't many things here you get for free.

I agree with Muppetbro, depending on the mix of how you spend your money depends whether it's cheaper or more expensive, but on the whole for us it's quite similar.

[zx6roo]

Elec - $700 per quarter
Car rego - $560 car, $709 4WD ute (utes are more than an enclosed 4WD), $450 for 750cc bike & $250 for the 250c (all per year)
Car insurance - fully comp $500 per yr
Health Insurance - $1000 per yer
Private school costs per year - $6000 (she's in yr 4), works up to $15,000 in Yr12 but I was paying $15,000 per year for full-time daycare so I'm currently saving :) Ones like Scotch College are $25,000 per year.
Before school care - $4 per day
After school care - max of $15 per day
Home phone - $60 per month
Mobile - $80 per month
Food - $700 per month (that's 2 adults, 1 kid for lots of fresh food & meat. Get the processed and it's chaper)
Post Office box - $70 per yr
Mail redirect - $66 per year

I have had a PO since I've been here and redirect it to whereever I live. Tha way I don't have to keep changing my addres with everyone.

What other bills do we get????

Internet 512/512 30gig $85 per month
Internet 256/128 10gig $34 per month
Petrol - $80 a tank
I don't pay water, rates or emergnec service levy because I rent.

Cost of living has risen quite a lot over the past 5yrs. We used to do a trolley of hopping for $200 now it's closer to $400. I had 5 bags the other day and t cost me $214!!!

[zx6roo]

watch your electricity bills... they will either say estimated or meter read.

I didn't realise this and looking back all my $100 bills said estimated. Then I got the meter read one and nearly died!!!!

If you rent anything take a photo of the meters when you move in and when you move out. That is one of the fw things I've always found people will try and ting you for beause theythink you can't prove anything.

[Shy Ted]

How much is electricity per unit? Not easy to gauge the true expense from other people's bills.

[sarahsmartiepants]

How much is electricity per unit? Not easy to gauge the true expense from other people's bills.I know you asked for electric, but i have no electris bill to hand . Here is the cost of gas..
1.8594c per MJ
someone else might know the electric.
sarah

[Rachiegarlo]

The message is below, stupid comp keeps signing me out and so i have to start again

[Rachiegarlo]

Well I'll just add my 2 cents worth. It may be true that the cost of living has risen to be on a par with Uk, but you need to look at what it is that makes you want to leave. In Adelaide you usually only need your heating for around 4 months of the year and you have daylight until 5.30ish midwinter. You can usually dry your clothes for free on the line outside. The beach is free, there are national parks closeby and it doesn't take hours to get to work. The food is fresh and mostly produced locally. Meat , although prices are increasing is usually paddock fed. You can have chickens in your city garden, a lot of people do.

Private school fees range from a sliding scale depending on your income at christian based schools, $2-5000 for a catholic or lutheran parish primary school, 6-10,000 for catholic and other church funded schools. At the top you have independant schools that are affiliated with a church, ie anglican or uniting church(presbytarian / methodist), but not wholly governed by them. Fees at these schools range from $11000-16000 a yr. Uniforms cost around $1000-1500, except at thre parish primaries. Schools usully ahve a good selection of 2nd hand uniforms with no stigma as those littlies groe out of their blazers etc too quickly. Some schools have text book hire, and charge a flat fee for the yr around 100-150. text book and stationary costs can be from 200-800 a yr, Some schools require your child to have a laptop computer. Witing this out just realised I could have bought half a house by now and My youngest still has 3 yrs after this one.;):wacko:

[alibongo]

"I have had a PO since I've been here and redirect it to whereever I live. Tha way I don't have to keep changing my addres with everyone."


this soundslike a great idea esp when we first go out there as we will rent for a period of time too like most people..how did you go about getting a PO box. never thought of looking into this before

Thanks
Ali

[Rachiegarlo]

You just go to your local post office and apply to hire one.

[zx6roo]

How much is electricity per unit? Not easy to gauge the true expense from other people's bills.

that's hard as it's not one set price....
1st block is $0.1621 per kWh
2nd block is $0.1824 per kWh
3rd block is $0.1942 per kWh
off peak is $0.0717 per kWh

and I get a 6% rebate if I pay my bill early.

If you do a search on Tru Energy, Energy Australia, ETSA, AGL, etc they are all basically the same and you can download their charts.

[zx6roo]

PO Boxes....

http://www.auspost.com.au/GAC_File_Metafile/0,,3537%255F2008%255Fapplication%255Fpob,00.pdf (http://www.auspost.com.au/GAC_File_Metafile/0,,3537%255F2008%255Fapplication%255Fpob,00.pdf)

Fill that out and take it with you. When you get there grab a redirect form off the shelf (make sure you have ID and a bill from your home) and they'll set it all up on the spot for you. The reminder for the box & the redirect are sent to your box and obviously re-directed to where ever you live. It's an hour round trip to my box so I redirect it rather than go and pick up the mail (which I used to do at first). Now I just pay for their smallest box as nothing ever goes in it.