Cost of living in adelaide

[Guest jakeandshelley]

Hi,

 

we have gained our state sponsorship and due to having to delay medicals we are hoping to be granted our visa around october time. we were wondering if anyone knows of a way we can compare cost of home insurance, utilities etc at home with that of adelaide?

 

 

Thanks, shelley and jake.

[Guest James]

Ok this has excercised my mind a lot recently abd prices are in dollars I can only give you examples for our family three of us

 

Rent oresentlt for furnished three bed house in Eastern Suburbs 600 a week. However, I have been looking and reckon we could get another place for 450

Utilities 50 a week, we have very little aircon on and sweat it out but do have heating on in winter as is so cold

Phone 30 a week due to ringing UK a lot

Medibank private insurance 75 a week, quite comprehensive as we all need dental work!

Food 300 a week and all meals are included in this and all household. We never eat elsewhere. We do have goats milk and spelt bread as on specail diets, 5 a litre and 8 a loaf!

Running car 50 on petrol a week and 15 for road tax and 15 for insurance

Bus tickets for rest of fami;ly 50 a week

mobile phone 8 a week

computer connection 10 a weel

computer hire 20 a week

 

All in all more than my salary and tax credits combined!

[Guest James]

This does not include life insurance or disability insurance etc

[minty]

$600 per week. I would move areas. Would you spend £400 per week renting a place in the UK ?

 

Yes food is a bit more but the rest is on a par with the UK in my opinion.

[ian mc]

$600 per week. I would move areas. Would you spend £400 per week renting a place in the UK ?

 

Yes food is a bit more but the rest is on a par with the UK in my opinion.

It is furnished so $600 a week would be about right I would think.

[minty]

But he's looking at costs.

 

You can't use a short term furnished rental cost as a long term cost, it's only for a short while.

 

Chris.

[Guest BrianS]

600 in the eastern suburbs is about right, our unfurnished unit is 300 a week

[Guest loopylisa]

When you are calculating living costs you need to do it relative /asa proportion of expected salary/income orit's not accurate

[Diane]

For four of us - including two hungry teenagers - I spend about $250 a week and we eat meat most days. We eat out quite regularly taking advantage of daily deal vouchers. OH cycles lots so petrol not that huge a cost in the family. We have a glass of wine most nights - spend about $5 a bottle through sites such as GetWineDirect. OH brews his own beer - just recently he and his brother did a daily deal special where it cost $80 for both of them and they brewed about 70 litres. We spend $50 a month on our internet because there are four of us using downloads. If you're ringing the UK a lot, it's worth looking at Phone cards - or Skype, which is free. The kids' bus tickets when they're at school cost $10 a week or thereabouts (that's for ten trips). We have solar power now which is vastly reducing our power bills, and don't spend a lot on heating during the winter - that's what Mum's knitting and sleeping bags are for! Don't spend a lot on clothes because I like Op-shopping. School fees are probably a fairly large outlay, but both kids are on 50% scholarships at a very good school, so worth the investment (probably!) We were very lucky when we came over as sold our UK house before the collapse of the market and tend to work on a 2.5 exchange rate, but can afford to live here with only one of us working full time, whereas in the UK we both worked full time and never had any money left over after payment of bills at the end of the month. I reckon with current costs and exhange rates it's probably about neck and neck - petrol is obviously more expensive in the UK, as is public transport, but there are a lot more special offers there because Australia hasn't YET suffered from the recession to quite such an extent, and of course, we have several layers of government to support here!

[Guest James]

Solar is a good investemnt and as utilities are forecast to increase significantly I would do it but as we rent it is not an option but for owners yes. I am lucky my sister pays the school fees kindly or I just would not have the money. We are also on one salary but not by choice my wife has not worked since last March after a cover post. For us there is nothing left for shoes, haircuts etc let alone holidays. I am on 80K nearly, not to say we could not live in a cheaper area if we did not need to go to a particular eduational establishment

[Guest James]

Incidentally does the $250 cover eating out?

[Rachiegarlo]

Telstra has plans which for about $30 month give you ISD rates of $1 for the first 10 mins.

Special flours for home bread making are available for around $3-4 a kilo or less.

Eastern suburbs are some of the most expensive to rent in. Average rental elsewhere for a 3 BR is $300-450.

Internet if bundled in phone plan can be around $40 month depending on provider.

Car reg which includes 3rd party insurance for a 6 cyl gas guzzler Ford sedan is about $215 every 3 months.

For grocery costs at a supermarket have a look at Coles online.

Markets and small fruit n veg shops tend to sell things more cheaply and bargains can be had. Roadside stalls in the Western suburbs sell bags of state grown citrus fairly cheaply, look for them on the weekend.

Once here you will suss out where bargains can be had, i.e. supermarkets often reduce their bread to $1 ish just before closing. Central market stalls bag up and sell produce for $1 a bag before closing.

[Diane]

Incidentally does the $250 cover eating out?

 

I keep an eye out for daily deal vouchers (Scoopon, Spreets, Ourdeal, etc) and quite often there is a deal for two people for around $30 - drinks included - so yes, the $250 or thereabouts does include eating out. OH also takes the previous day's leftovers for his lunches which is a good way of saving money, and to be honest, I could save a lot more than I do by shopping at fruit and veg markets more rather than all at Coles. There are some brilliant op shops around and places such as Spendless Shoes are very reasonable. I get my hair done usually at Justcuts which is around $25 for a haircut, and OH cuts my son's hair at home, and gets his done at a barbers for about $20.

[guspjmh]

I am looking at moving to adelaide this year from Cardiff, on a possible salary of $70k PA and a family of 4 - my wife wants to stay at home (for now) with our two very young pre schoolers. I will be coming on a permanent resident visa, so I think I will get about another $100 per week in family allowance, but is this enough to rent a place for about $400 per week and pay all the bills?

 

Any help costing things out would be really appreciated.

 

Gus.