Cost of living for 3 Months (if unemployed)

[richard300]

Hi, Trying to do some maths on how much to budget for if, when we move to Australia, we find ourselves out of work for 3 months. Including all the initial things one would need to buy upon arrival....

 

We do not want to touch the money that we have set aside for a deposit on a house (when we are in a position to get a mortgage)

 

If i have forgotten anything, could anyone replying, let me know if they are referring to an initial (one off) cost or an ongoing (monthly/annual cost)

 

Hopefully this will serve as an 'all in one' source of information to anyone else costing the move and settling in period.

 

Initial costs: (Port Noarlunga)

 

Car: I have a budget of $4500 so thinking something cheap like a AU series Ford Falcon (6 cylinder) $4500

Associated costs with registering a car on the road? $ ??

Securing a 3 bedroom property for 6 months (deposit, 1st months rent, references etc) $ ??

Utilities (initial setting up fee's) $ ??

Furnishing (on the cheap) -We have decided to not bring anything other than our suitcases $ 3500

 

Monthly Costs:

Car insurance (39yo male/33yo female) $ ??

Fuel (1000km per month) $ ??

Average monthly shop (2 adults and 2 children) $ ??

Gas $ ??

electric $??

water $ ??

rent $ ??

telephone $ ??

internet $ ??

tv licence $ ??

medical insurances - if applicable $ ??

 

 

I appreciate that any response is only going to be a rough guide.

 

 

Many Thanks,

 

Richard.

[Blossom]

A lot of these are quite variable. There is no tv licence first off though. Yay.

 

Most rentals are I think 6 weeks rent as a deposit and two weeks in advance (under a certain amount is four weeks deposit).

Car insurance, depends on that you want. For a car that cheap if you just insuranced 3rd party property it would be about $15 a month. More for fully comp.

Fuel depends on the car and if you get duel fuel or not. I think petrol was about $1.45 a litre yesterday when I got some.

Furnature you could spend WAY more than that if kitting out 3 bedrooms and want decent white goods. There are loads of garage sales if you are happy for second hand.

Electricity depends on both you and the house. Same with gas.

Weekly shop varies HUGELY from family to family.

If you rent you don't pay as much water. Sometimes none, but that is less common now. My last quarter was $26, but I'm quite water efficient and there are only two (plus one every other weekend) here.

Phones will depend on how much you use them etc etc.

[snifter]

FWIW, our internet and mobile phone deal is $120 per month for 150GB on the internet iirc and a fair whack each for mobiles, plus free texts and a decent amount of calls. We don't bother with a landline phone, no one really uses them anymore, well we don't and all calls have gone to our mobiles for a long time now, both before we left the UK and now here.

 

Shopping, will depend on you and where/how you shop. I find Coles and Woolies expensive but also shopping around for cheaper deals can be time consuming and work out no real saving if I have to travel a distance to get the stuff. Try the online shop for them and see what your shopping basket comes out at price wise. Remember meat and veg can be cheaper elsewhere.

 

Medicare should be enough in the early weeks/months and if you can find a bulk billing Docs, even better. Private insurance is worth looking in to but again, your quote is going to be different to mine. Ambulance cover is perhaps something to consider getting from the off though.

 

We don't use our car much in daily life so can't really give you an idea of fuel costs. I fill up when the tank nears empty, usually on the cheap days of the week. If its the pricey end, I put just enough in for a couple of days till the price comes down

 

Rent - again, area and property type will reflect the property price somewhat. Rentals round here (Glenelg) are not cheap and a small house can set you back $500 a week plus. Go further out and you can get a much bigger property and garden for the same or less.

 

Furnishing, you can get lots on Gumtree, cheap or free. Also Ikea are in Adelaide and although more expensive than its UK store, still lots of cheap stuff to be had there. Some areas you can even rummage the hard rubbish collection days and walk off with a sofa or set of drawers. Round here, if its not got a pink label for the collection people, its fair game and is usually gone from out front of houses before morning.

 

Car - We budgeted for about the same as you but decided to spend a bit more and splashed out on something a bit newer and better with lower mileage. Glad we did as we've done some long drives and stuff since arriving and its been a good car. We didn't get a gas guzzler as we wanted to be fuel economical and not have one that drinks gas just going to the shops and back.

 

I'd consider one off costs for break down cover for car, getting your Aus driving licence, school fees (as in the small fees for state schools to cover book costs etc). I think our school was about $250 or so for the year. We paid it outright when we got the invoice.

[huggesy]

Furnishing keep your eyes on gumtree, here and join aldinga buy, sell and swap for lots of bargains but got to be quick when it comes furniture. Or maybe look at a furnished rental initially to allow time to get your head around what you are looking for etc.

 

we put aside $100 per fortnight to cover the utilities water, gas and electric and always have abit to spare. Blossom is correct with the 6 week bond then up front rent depends on what you are looking to have but maybe estimate abut $350 per week.

Estimate on about $100 for utility set ups but can depend on what exists in the property already.

 

You are looking at around $200 (for 6 cylinder) for 3 month rego plus about $100 to transfer the car when you first buy it, we pay about $35 each for fully comp insurance per month.

i get about 1000km for $150 but the fuel can jump 20c per litre in a day, but I only drive a 4 cylinder so isn't to bad on fuel.

 

telephone and broadband depends on area and what's available we are lucky we have a good selection to choose from in morphett vale, we pay $40 for broadband and $30 for phone per month.

 

i can't comment on what you would pay for medical as we don't have kids to know how much they bump it up.

 

shopping again that's a mind field, you have to use all the offers, the butchers, the greengrocers to make the most of your money we probably only spend about $150 including pets, a week but when the good deals are on more.

 

not sure of that helps or not!

[Guest Guest12727]

Petrol is often tipping $1.60 / litre lately. Budget here on Tuesday and petrol is tipped to rise.....and continue rising annualy. I doubt we get petrol below $1.50 soon.

I would rethink a 6 litre old falcon.

[Blossom]

Unless it is duel fuel. I had my car converted and it's WAY cheaper to run.

[NicF]

If you are coming over on a permanent visa you will also need to get SA driving licenses which cost $39 a year plus a $17 admin fee. Agree with blossom that other costs vary hugely, but I'll put our usual costs in to give you some idea of what our families costs are (two adults, two kids, both work full time).

 

Car: I have a budget of $4500 so thinking something cheap like a AU series Ford Falcon (6 cylinder) $4500 - can't really comment as I didn't have anything to do with buying ours, but we spent $12k on a 10 year old Mazda 6.

Associated costs with registering a car on the road? $ ?? - I think this varies on the size of the engine but a colleague recently paid over $700 for his car.

Securing a 3 bedroom property for 6 months (deposit, 1st months rent, references etc) $ ?? - check out realestate.com.au for rentals in the area to get an idea of prices. Deposit is usually six weeks rent and the first two weeks rent are paid in advance.

Utilities (initial setting up fee's) $ ?? - not sure.

Furnishing (on the cheap) -We have decided to not bring anything other than our suitcases $ 3500 - not cheap to buy stuff new but have a look on gumtree and ebay to get an idea of the prices of second hand goods. We recently sold two fridges for $40 and $16 on ebay.

 

 

Monthly Costs:

 

 

Car insurance (39yo male/33yo female) $ ?? - depends on the car but there are good deals to be had. We paid about $450 for the year last year on the Mazda.

Fuel (1000km per month) $ ?? - cost varies from $1.43 a litre to $1.60 a litre depending on where you are in the cycle. If you are not working though you can keep the number of Kms driven to a minimum.

 

Average monthly shop (2 adults and 2 children) $ ?? - I currently spend about $300 a week on average on all my groceries. This includes lunches for all four of us to take to work, all my toiletries, cleaning products etc and a bottle of wine. When we were surviving on just my income the weekly grocery budget was just $250 a week. It is possible to spend even less and still eat well though if you shop around - we have a really cheap fruit and veg place near us but I never get a chance to go there.

Gas $ ?? - depends on the house and what uses gas. We have gas hot water and a gas hob and spend about $150 a quarter.

electric $?? - varies a lot depending on use and the house. We used to spend $750 a quarter during summer and winter and $350 a quarter in spring and autumn. We've only been in our new house just over three months and our first electricity bill was for $550 for the quarter.

water $ ?? - I think we paid about $180 a quarter in the last rental.

rent $ ?? - check out realestate.com.au for an idea of rental prices.

telephone $ ?? - we have one of Telstra's cheaper packages for the land line which costs us around $40 a month. We have three mobile phones which cost us $19 every two to three months for one and $19 every six months for the other two. We don't make many phone calls though.

internet $ ?? - we used to pay $40 a month with Adam Internet for ADSL2. We now pay $40 a month for Virgin mobile broadband because we can't get internet via a fixed line where we are now.

tv licence $ ?? - none. Yay!

medical insurances - if applicable $ ?? - you don't need this if you are from the UK so I wouldn't bother to start with. At lest until you are working anyway.

 

Hope it all helps.

[Jessica Berry]

I am not sure what time of the year you are thinking of coming over but generally November, December and January will be the hardest months to secure work. So if for example you arrive at the end of October you may need to budget for more than 3 months as the job market often doesn't pick up again until the start of February. Of course it depends on job opportunities/your industry and role and it is not always the case, I secured my current role at the end of November, but if I know a role will be finishing at the end of Oct/Nov (I do a lot of contract work) I ensure I have enough money to cover me into the new year.

[Blossom]

If you have pr you will also get (unless the budget changes too much on Tuesday) rent assistance and child benefit from when you arrive.

[Guest Guest12727]

Unless it is duel fuel. I had my car converted and it's WAY cheaper to run.

 

You do drive a long way to work everyday Blossom, so I can see you would benefit

But how much is the conversion, and is it worth it on $4500 car? Especially if it is mainly used for short journeys.

[Guest Guest12727]

If you have pr you will also get (unless the budget changes too much on Tuesday) rent assistance and child benefit from when you arrive.

 

That is means tested and dependant on your income in the previous financial year.

 

Sorry Blossom, not deliberately contradicting you, just completing the picture. We were not eligible for anything when we arrived as income in UK when converted to $ was too high. Also with the change in exchange rate now, you need lower UK income to reach the threshold.....and yes, Abbott govt are tightening up, so who knows after Tuesday.

[richard300]

Thank you for all the comments - they are all very useful and helpful!!

Thank you for the heads up about the 'quieter months' for securing work.

 

If you have pr you will also get (unless the budget changes too much on Tuesday) rent assistance and child benefit from when you arrive.

 

We will be coming over on a 189 PR Visa - but hadn't even thought about any government assistance we might be entitled to, as don't receive any here in the UK...

 

Anyone know what these amount to? As they may be of use whilst we find our feet.

[Blossom]

You do drive a long way to work everyday Blossom, so I can see you would benefit

But how much is the conversion, and is it worth it on $4500 car? Especially if it is mainly used for short journeys.

No, not worth it on a car like that, but if you can get one with it already it is so worth it.

I think I worked out with my conversion I would make the cost back in 1.5 years driving the amount I do. It's been that long now, and as I'm planning on keeping it long term it is certainly worth it got me.

 

We bought a Ford falcon which was factory fitted duel fuel. It was great.

[Blossom]

Thank you for all the comments - they are all very useful and helpful!!

Thank you for the heads up about the 'quieter months' for securing work.

 

 

 

We will be coming over on a 189 PR Visa - but hadn't even thought about any government assistance we might be entitled to, as don't receive any here in the UK...

 

Anyone know what these amount to? As they may be of use whilst we find our feet.

There is a calculator on the centrelink website.

 

As Howde says, some people have had issues claiming it straight off, but many haven't. There was a thread on it somewhere or other....

[Guest Guest12727]

 

Anyone know what these amount to? As they may be of use whilst we find our feet.

 

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/subjects/payments-for-families

[richard300]

With the proceeding 12 month UK salary taken into account i don't think we will be eligible for anything.

 

But your replies have been very helpful - I have worked out that we will need a minimum of £15500 (including flights) to cover just the basics - This handily equates until about Jan 2015 before i believe we could get the funds in place.

[Lazy Cow]

I ran an AU Falcon for six years. The petrol was way cheaper back then, but even so the car drank petrol. I loved that car as it was really comfortable and a great car to drive. In the end, I bought a Mitzy and I still cannot get over the difference in running costs (tyres etc cost less with the Lancer), but it comes down to choice.

 

We have a 70 series Landcruiser that was adapted to duel fuel and, when we first got it, gas was cheaper than using petrol so it certainly saved money. now though, it works out cheaper to solely use the fuel side.

 

So, if I were considering a car on cost alonr I wouldn't choose a Falcon, duel fuel or not. If it were for a safe, enjoyable drive I'd buy one..or an XR6 (my son has a manual and it's fab!) lol!

 

Ambo cover is around $150 pa for the family and is really essential - even if you have no other medical insurance.

 

LC

[Guest Guest12727]

With the proceeding 12 month UK salary taken into account i don't think we will be eligible for anything.

 

But your replies have been very helpful - I have worked out that we will need a minimum of £15500 (including flights) to cover just the basics - This handily equates until about Jan 2015 before i believe we could get the funds in place.

 

If you arrive in Jan, it is your joint salary from July that you need to calculate for, including holiday payouts etc.. We also arrived in Jan, and our 6month income was too high when converted to AU$. We only had one child, with two the threshold is higher.

[srg73]

Richard300 firstly good post.

 

We are going through similar calculations although only for 2 of us. I guess it is simply the British way to be pessimistic however we are wanting to make sure we find our feet and have up to 1 year to do so. My wife is very well qualified in health care/pharmacy both practically and now on the administration side and I have near 20 years experience in construction project and contract management within the financial industry including being chartered so fingers crossed we should find work although I am under no illusions that me finding a job maybe a little harder than my wife as it would seem that the construction industry is very cleeky. However we are both very easy to get on with and hard working so hopefully that should compensate a little for being poms.

 

Flights are cheap at the moment with Singapore Airlines, we personally are looking into a reliable make of car ie Honda CRV which is a 2.4l 4cyl engine so not too expensive on fuel and tax etc and reliable enough to get us about. Rental, we are going for something cheapish so when we look to buy or long term rent then we wont be disappointed with what is offered in our price range. Location is more important just at the moment rather than size.

 

Best of luck with the saving and the adventure, we are booking for September so are taking a gamble before the shut down summer period but hey we have got to move at some point and September just seems to work for us.

 

S

[sidestep]

Provided you have your head screwed on and live frugally you should be ok with the advice already posted. A lot of people come over here and seem to want everything to be brand new instantly, cars/houses included, and take a huge financial loss if it all goes tits up. Seems like this won't be you though as you appear to have asked all the right questions to begin with so I wish you well.

 

As to the car...

Car: I have a budget of $4500 so thinking something cheap like a AU series Ford Falcon (6 cylinder) $4500

Petrol is often tipping $1.60 / litre lately. Budget here on Tuesday and petrol is tipped to rise.....and continue rising annualy. I doubt we get petrol below $1.50 soon.

I would rethink a 6 litre old falcon.

...the Falcon is a 4.0l not a 6.0 l, unless of course you buy a V8 If you do buy an AU try to avoid the Mk1 version as it had a lot of electrical issues. Mk2 & 3's are better.

 

Gas. Is cheaper by around $0.60 per litre however is around 20% less efficient so at some stage a point will come where the greater efficiency of a petrol engine outstrips any supposed savings to be had by using gas. Around town my Paj does around 23L/100k on gas and 17k/100 on petrol. Works out to be a saving of $5 per 100km which is peanuts.

[Guest Guest12727]

 

As to the car...

...the Falcon is a 4.0l not a 6.0 l, unless of course you buy a V8 If you do buy an AU try to avoid the Mk1 version as it had a lot of electrical issues. Mk2 & 3's are better.

 

Thanks Sidestep, I misred 6 cylinder as 6l.

 

Gas. Is cheaper by around $0.60 per litre however is around 20% less efficient so at some stage a point will come where the greater efficiency of a petrol engine outstrips any supposed savings to be had by using gas. Around town my Paj does around 23L/100k on gas and 17k/100 on petrol. Works out to be a saving of $5 per 100km which is peanuts

 

17l/100 still sounds a lot to me. Both our cars use <6 l/100km.

[sidestep]

17l/100 still sounds a lot to me. Both our cars use <6 l/100km.

To be fair, what cars are they? The Paj weighs around two tons and is as aerodynamic as a breeze block.

 

Edit: also worth pointing out that's in 2-wheel drive. In 4x4 mode the consumption is worse.

Edited May 12, 2014 by sidestep

[Guest Guest12727]

To be fair, what cars are they? The Paj weighs around two tons and is as aerodynamic as a breeze block.

 

Edit: also worth pointing out that's in 2-wheel drive. In 4x4 mode the consumption is worse.

 

We had a Rav4 which was pretty thirsty on fuel as well. We replaced it with a Camry Hybrid. Quite a large car inside, very roomy and comfortable 2.5cc 4 cyl. Drives well and suits us for the type of driving we do which is mainly urban. Boot is pretty big - the first time we have had a sedan in years, so we miss the flexibility of a hatchback.

 

Other car is a Suzuki Swift which we have had for about 7years. Nippy, efficient and not a problem with it over that time. Great little run around. I fill it up around monthly.

[Blossom]

My brain isn't up for working out the same way, but my delica (massive heavy, auto 8 seater) does 315km to a 60l tank of gas around town. Still works out much cheaper than petrol cost me each week doing the same trips. And now that I've had it in so long I'm on to saving money. Yay.

[sidestep]

My brain isn't up for working out the same way, but my delica (massive heavy, auto 8 seater) does 315km to a 60l tank of gas around town. Still works out much cheaper than petrol cost me each week doing the same trips. And now that I've had it in so long I'm on to saving money. Yay.

Works out at 19 litres per 100k or, in old money, 14.8 miles per gallon.