Cost of living figures

[smartypants]

Originally Posted by kaz101

One of the reasons I've recently been told that costs are higher is because very little is produced here. I was talking to a shop owner and saying that we buy CDs and books from Amazon in the UK because even with shipping (although they are doing free shipping to Australia at the moment) it's cheaper. She explained that the shipping costs were high because we didn't make any of the products here and those were passed on to the customer.

I've heard this too but it doesn't hold water. Not much is produced in the US either. The distance from China to the US is more than that to Australia. Yes, one may need 1 cargo ship to Australia vs 20 to the US given the populations but that shouldn't significantly impact the cost at retail. 15% or so I can see, but 300% for an online order where the only cost is customs and shipping !? Would be good to solve the online ordering mystery..

For the first time since moving here in 2007 I went to buy some wallpaper locally (we in a regional town). Firstly I couldn't find any and asked where it was. The wallpaper is only sold out of books and has to be ordered and then shipped from whereever it's coming from. They don't keep any in stock and the cheapest wallpaper roll was over $100! In the UK you could buy some cheap wallpaper (just wanted it to cover some old shelves) but with those prices I decided to find another way to do it.

Cheers,
Karen

:yikes:

[mpp]

Originally Posted by laksvb

Hello friends,

We are currently in USA and soon planning to move down to Melbourne. I have been checking on the cost of goods in Australia. They seem to be lot higher. I checked against IKEA USA and IKEA OZ. The cost of the same product in IKEA OZ is $50 costlier than IKEA USA. This increase in price holds good for small kitchen storage containers to furniture.

I was aware that the cost of goods in Australia were expensive compared to any other country. But I did not expect such a difference. How much is the sales tax in Oz? We are migrating to Oz to get better savings. My husband's salary will be in the order of 150K AUD / year. Not sure if it is a right move, thinking about the cost of living in Oz and whether we will be able to achieve our goal.

Thanks.

Like you we also moved from US ,husband is research scientist and got better opportunity here, even though Salary is much higher than what he would have got in US, we realized that expenses are proportionately higher here, to give you an eg, when looking to buy a car we were shocked by the prices here ,a 2001 honda civic costs around $10000 and I do not have to tell u the price in USA.New cars are even more expensive so all these costs add into your monthly budget, again home rental is expensive here , (not sure where u moving in Australia as perth,sydney are very expensive) , in US we used to pay $800 for 2bed apartment in a capital city here we are paying $1280/mth in suburb some 40km from melbourne.Yes you get cheaper apartment rental, but then they may not be the safe neighborhoods.Again utilities and cable internet plans are a joke here. Add to that the taxes, .Any vacation you plan here will be expensive as hotels and eating out is way expensive so bye bye long weekend, unlike in the US where long weekends are spent going out . intention of scaring you, still overall we are happy as life is relaxed here and not as hectic as in US, we manage to save money but definately nothing like double or 3 times the US saving more or less same or $100-$300 dollars more.Again it all depends on your lifestyle and to what extent you are willing to go to increase your savings.If you need any more details message me.

[mpp]

Originally Posted by anj1976

been around for only 6 months but when people used to tell me they ask relatives to buy stuff from US or india or UK and send it to them i used to laugh at them, i really used to wonder why do they do that, why cant they buy form Australia, things can not be that expensive but now i realise why they do that. we got enough clothes for us to last a few years but for my little one i did not buy much, just got clothes for immediate use and for the approaching summer, now that i look around for clothes ir ealise how expensive things are, a Tshirt for $30 for a toddler, c'mon, the ones that are available for lower price are such bad quality that i would never buy it. i purchased a teddy fro my daughter and the threads were coming off, so much so that i had to go return it and purchased another one for a much higher price. almost everything is made in China.

Yes things are expensive, infact so expensive that i too asked my sis to buy from India and courier it to me as that comes out cheaper. i even looked at a few sites from the US to order online but the shipping charges were too high so i skipped it this time.

I ordered 4 perfumes online, including shipping it came to $200, if i buy the same ones her ein Australia it wont be anything lower than $280-$300. The perfume that i took for $69 is for $89 after discount here in Australia.

Same with me ordered my perfumes online and even with shipping it saves me around $50-80$.Also my brother in law is in US so sometimes I have my stuff delivered to his US address (free shipping ) and then he sends them over here by ordinary post which is still cheaper, will message u some other sites which are good

[laksvb]

Originally Posted by mpp

Like you we also moved from US ,husband is research scientist and got better opportunity here, even though Salary is much higher than what he would have got in US, we realized that expenses are proportionately higher here, to give you an eg, when looking to buy a car we were shocked by the prices here ,a 2001 honda civic costs around $10000 and I do not have to tell u the price in USA.New cars are even more expensive so all these costs add into your monthly budget, again home rental is expensive here , (not sure where u moving in Australia as perth,sydney are very expensive) , in US we used to pay $800 for 2bed apartment in a capital city here we are paying $1280/mth in suburb some 40km from melbourne.Yes you get cheaper apartment rental, but then they may not be the safe neighborhoods.Again utilities and cable internet plans are a joke here. Add to that the taxes, .Any vacation you plan here will be expensive as hotels and eating out is way expensive so bye bye long weekend, unlike in the US where long weekends are spent going out . intention of scaring you, still overall we are happy as life is relaxed here and not as hectic as in US, we manage to save money but definately nothing like double or 3 times the US saving more or less same or $100-$300 dollars more.Again it all depends on your lifestyle and to what extent you are willing to go to increase your savings.If you need any more details message me.

Thanks mpp for your inputs. Is there a way I can chat / send you a Private Message in this forum. I tried various ways, not sure how to do.

[smartypants]

Originally Posted by mpp

Same with me ordered my perfumes online and even with shipping it saves me around $50-80$.Also my brother in law is in US so sometimes I have my stuff delivered to his US address (free shipping ) and then he sends them over here by ordinary post which is still cheaper, will message u some other sites which are good

Hi mpp, please message me these sites too.

[anj1976]

yeah cant wait

[mpp]

Originally Posted by laksvb

Thanks mpp for your inputs. Is there a way I can chat / send you a Private Message in this forum. I tried various ways, not sure how to do.

just click on my name and you get the option of send private message.Let me know if still there is any problem

[aqua_83]

These recent posts left me wondering that if Australia is that expensive how people are surviving over there?

[smartypants]

Originally Posted by aqua_83

These recent posts left me wondering that if Australia is that expensive how people are surviving over there?

By managing their expenses meticulously, of course. So for instance, whereas in the US, one doesn't need to plan or save up for a purchase or vacation because they're pretty cheap compared to pay scales for professionals, I'm assuming that in Australia, one would plan a budget for it, save up, look for specials or deals and then do it. It doesn't mean one can't do it there, just that it needs more planning, budgeting and saving, and because it's expensive, you can buy comparatively fewer things (clothes, gadgets, appliances, gifts etc) or take fewer vacations.

For regular things, like bananas becoming stratospherically expensive, people avoid them until the crop is better again and prices come down. I've seen people mention that they're avoiding bananas and going for the apples. Now, of course, the apples are going up but fortunately the bananas are coming down . This is all very different from the US where groceries are such a tiny fraction of one's expenses, that fruit prices are not something people concern themselves with.

[anj1976]

we are a family of 3 (one toddler), we do not compromise one eating atleast, we are vegetarians but we do like to eat good food, Indian food can be expensive, one trip to the Indian store and we are down 100$ .. too much Ghee and vegetable oil is used and ofcourse there is the poppadums to be fried adn onion fritters, ic an go on and on.. ohm and not to miss the sweet tooth, i make wheat flour ladoos every now and then, all in all, my month expense on food alone (groceries, veggies etc) is about 300-400 tops, including everything, drinks, juices, yogurt, cottage cheese (paneer), fruits, oat etc etc etc.. we buy things in specials, every now and then for example the oat sachets sell for 4$, the regular price is 6$ or cheese strings sell for 4$ when the RRP is 6$ or ice cream available for 4$ when the RP is 8$, there are so many things that you can buy in specials each week, if nuggets at home are over i do not go and buy them there and then, i check when it is on specials.

people move here more for the lifestyle, i had an option to choose between canada, US and AU and i chose Au because we did not want to run teh rest of our lives to make ends meet and then there is no certainty if i will get the green card or not, atleast here i am on PR, i get all the benefits of a citizen, i am treated like one, both of us can work and we are in good weather..