Cost of living Ireland V Australia

mickman

Zambia wrote: »

Step away from the crack pipe. It would take some meltdown for me to move to the middle east.

im not talking about everyone, im talking about the construction masses that travel to where the work is. the next wave of work will be in the middle east, qatar for world cup etc

kdevitt

mickman wrote: »

im not talking about everyone, im talking about the construction masses that travel to where the work is. the next wave of work will be in the middle east, qatar for world cup etc

Great if you want to earn $1 a day - all the workers are shipped in from India.

mickman

kdevitt wrote: »

Great if you want to earn $1 a day - all the workers are shipped in from India.

and just like everywhere else during a boom, wages will rise etc etc and the masses will go there

mandrake04

mickman wrote: »

and just like everywhere else during a boom, wages will rise etc etc and the masses will go there

Yeah wages will probably double and be $2 a day.

Zambia are you sure they will import Indians? Like India is hardly the concrete master race.

jank

kdevitt wrote: »

Chicken schnitzel, diet coke and flat white - $22.80. Lunch in wagamamas is usually around $35 if I fancy a stroll. Not sure why any of this should be a surprise to someone living in Sydney!

Don't drink either.

You spend over $22 everyday for lunch? Jez no wonder you find things expensive. You like the nice things in life judging by what you buy but these things will cost the same anywhere. The key is to budget and then you see how much you can save.

ODizzle

Hi All,

Heading to Aus towards the end of the year - hoping to get some work & do some travelling. Can anyone advise a ballpark figure of what most people bring (or what you think I would need to bring) cashwise to get started ?

Cheers

cnocbui

kdevitt wrote: »

2001 BMW 330i in Sydney - 16-25K (I paid $17.5k), Ireland - 3-5K EUR. Brand new cars seem similarly priced for superminis etc, but in general the cars are crazy expensive here - for anything worth driving that is.

My insurance on my Golf GTi ($1250) costs more here than my insurance on an M3 back in Ireland (650EUR). Petrol is slightly cheaper alright, rego and CTP were almost $800 for the year though - thats cheaper than Ireland for the CC based roadtax, but probably not if compared with the newer Co2 type.

Food shopping is expensive - we spend about $350 a week between two of us (our weekly spend was usually in and around 150EUR at home in Dublin).
Decent meals out are comparable - I wouldn't normally have much change from $200 for a meal out for us.

If you're on a good salary its all affordable, but I wouldn't call it cheap.

A 2011 Golf Gti - Ireland $46,689.7, Perth $43,687.

I am paying €680 to insure a Civic Type R at the moment and you reckon you would pay less to insure an M3? Somehow I doubt that.

To insure a newer CTR in Perth would cost me €514 ($699) with SGIO and It would cost me €417 ($567 )to insure a 2007 GTi. So given what you are paying to insure a GTi in Oz vs what it would cost me, I would say there wouldn't be a chance in hell of you insuring an M3 in ireland for €650

Owning and operating a car in Australia is cheaper than Ireland.

BMWs have always had an insane snob value premium added to them in Oz, which I think is why you picked that brand as an example, as you can see from the GTi price comparison I have done, even higher performance European cars are cheaper in Oz.

Water charges. In somewhere like Perth they can be a significant cost of living, but nothing like the cost of heating in Ireland.

OP, you might find this site helpful: http://www.aussiemove.com/aus/costlive.asp

It details various living expenses.

Cost of haircuts in Oz are crazy. I paid $22 recently in Perth and €7 back here.

mandrake04

I find the CBD the one of the most reasonable place to buy lunch due to the many competing outlets & food courts, I have never had to pay over $12 for a healthy lunch unless I went to a hotel or club.

I usually bring my own lunch as the food you buy in hospital's is neither quality or reasonable, a bit like Airports.

kdevitt

cnocbui wrote: »

I am paying €680 to insure a Civic Type R at the moment and you reckon you would pay less to insure an M3? Somehow I doubt that.

I have no reason to tell porkie pies. Given I'm 34 have 12 years without claim and don't own the joyriders favourite chariot, I guess you'll just have to accept that my insurance is cheaper than yours.

cnocbui wrote: »

which I think is why you picked that brand as an example, as you can see from the GTi price comparison I have done, even higher performance European cars are cheaper in Oz.

I picked the 330i as an example because thats the car I bought in September. I followed up with the GTi because thats the car I bought in January - for $31k. Check out carzone for 2006 GTi's and compare and contrast prices.

At least you don't get charged feckin stamp duty when you buy a second hand car in Ireland!

hussey

kdevitt wrote: »

Chicken schnitzel, diet coke and flat white - $22.80. Lunch in wagamamas is usually around $35 if I fancy a stroll. Not sure why any of this should be a surprise to someone living in Sydney!

Don't drink either.

:eek:

http://www.merivale.com/downloads/The_Grand_Hotel_Menu_June_2010.pdf
You can get so many $10 meals in sydney - there's one example of a $10 schnitzel

also $200 for dinner for 2? Unless you are fine dining (you said no drink) then you need to shop around!

Sure 3 hatted Marque in surry hills is $95 for a 3 course meal!

Plenty of great food in sydney for cheap

mandrake04

I spent $220 at cafe Sydney once for 3 course for 2 people, and $210 in the Water Bar in the Blue hotel a few weeks ago.

But usually a Thai or Italian would be less than $100 for 3 course because I BYO.

Xavi6

cnocbui wrote: »

Cost of haircuts in Oz are crazy. I paid $22 recently in Perth and €7 back here.

Yeah this I can agree on. I spend $30 once a month to get mine done BUT you wanna see the birds cutting it :eek:

I'd pay double if I had to :pac:

cnocbui

kdevitt wrote: »

I have no reason to tell porkie pies. Given I'm 34 have 12 years without claim and don't own the joyriders favourite chariot, I guess you'll just have to accept that my insurance is cheaper than yours.



I picked the 330i as an example because thats the car I bought in September. I followed up with the GTi because thats the car I bought in January - for $31k. Check out carzone for 2006 GTi's and compare and contrast prices.

At least you don't get charged feckin stamp duty when you buy a second hand car in Ireland!

I'm older than you and my NCB period is a lot greater too.

Did you perhaps miss the bit where you said you were paying $1250 to insure a GTi and where I pointed out it would cost me $567 to insure a 2007 GTi with SGIO in Perth? It would be even less for a 2006. So where is the logic that I have to accept it would cost you less to insure the same car as me?

I see none of your other statements of costs are going down too well either.

man1

kdevitt wrote: »

Nope, just a standard shop in Woolworths - lots of fruit, which seems to be abnormally expensive over here too. Nappies not needed until April.

Lunch costs me between $20-$30 per day in the CBD on top of that.

:eek: Is that 4 trolley loads. And surely most of that $350 is not fruit, even $100 would be a lot. There is always a fruit market next to or close by woolworths/coles which are generally cheaper.

Like I said before you must be eating lobster, fillet steak etc every day.

Do you cook from scratch with all your meals or do you buy the packaged stuff?

I admit that woolworths/coles are more expensive tha Ireland but $350 for 2 people

So you guys are spending $300 per week on lunches too on top of that?

hussey

mandrake04 wrote: »

I spent $220 at cafe Sydney once for 3 course for 2 people, and $210 in the Water Bar in the Blue hotel a few weeks ago.

But usually a Thai or Italian would be less than $100 for 3 course because I BYO.

Cafe sydney isn't your (well certainly not mine) normal average midweek/weekend restaurant .

My point is that if you are going to compare eating out in Sydney it should be somewhere most people can eat, not top of the range.

and 100% agree fruit is very expensive, and keep going up, and expensive != quality either (esp from woolies)

There are a couple of $10 haircut in the city, but I'd personally rather have pay an extra $10 for a hottie rather than an 60 year old man, touching my hair, but that's just me

mandrake04

hussey wrote: »

Cafe sydney isn't your (well certainly not mine) normal average midweek/weekend restaurant .

My point is that if you are going to compare eating out in Sydney it should be somewhere most people can eat, not top of the range.

Yeah well thats what I am saying, its usually in the $80-$100 range for 3 courses for 2 at your average eatery which is about $40-$50 per head.

Its only when you go to the top of the range joints once in a blue moon will you be paying $100 a head.

hussey

I still think it is pretty unfair to compare Post-recession Ireland with 14% unemployment to Australia which is still living in the boom.

Interestinly enough I meet a few friends over from London last night and they thought Sydney was much more expensive than London!

Generally Food and Drink wise

kdevitt

cnocbui wrote: »

Did you perhaps miss the bit where you said you were paying $1250 to insure a GTi and where I pointed out it would cost me $567 to insure a 2007 GTi with SGIO in Perth?

I really don't care what you're paying - the OP asked for a comparison of costs between Ireland and Australia, and I provided the figures I'm paying. You were living in Perth I figure, I'm living in Sydney.

Thats where you had a chance to say what you were paying, rather than accusing me of lying.

cnocbui wrote: »

I see none of your other statements of costs are going down too well either.

Whats that got to do with the price of butter?

hussey

cnocbui wrote: »

....

kdevitt wrote: »

Thats where you had a chance to say what you were paying, rather than accusing me of lying.

Mod Calm down you two, kdevitt he did not accuse you of lying.

garancafan

hussey wrote: »

There are a couple of $10 haircut in the city, but I'd personally rather have pay an extra $10 for a hottie rather than an 60 year old man, touching my hair, but that's just me

I expect that you would be in favour of compulsory euthanasia as well.

man1

kdevitt wrote: »

Whats that got to do with the price of butter?

Lads if he wants to spend $2800 per month on food for 2 people, then let him, its his money. I wouldn't like someone to tell me how to spend mine!!:D

hussey

man1 wrote: »

Lads if he wants to spend $2800 per month on food for 2 people, then let him, its his money. I wouldn't like someone to tell me how to spend mine!!:D

True that, but you can't complain about it being expensive ....

garancafan wrote: »

I expect that you would be in favour of compulsory euthanasia as well.

huh?

man1

hussey wrote: »

True that, but you can't complain about it being expensive ....

Well it still is expensive here, no getting away from that and we wouldn't spend that in a month as we shop around and budget carefully and don't buy packaged stuff (and I am not saying he does but aussies seem to from looking in their shopping trolleys every week) but each to their own.....

kdevitt

man1 wrote: »

Lads if he wants to spend $2800 per month on food for 2 people, then let him, its his money. I wouldn't like someone to tell me how to spend mine!!:D

Not quite sure how you got your figures - but $350 per week for 4 weeks (lets leave a month at 4 weeks considering I get paid fortnightly) plus an average of $23 a day for lunch is $1860 (my wife doesn't work).

Straw poll of people in work has one at $200 a week for shopping, one at $150 and another at $300. I find it expensive for almost everything here, others don't, so be it.

woolymammoth

you know, i reckon this thread has seriously gone off the point of the topic when you bitches are arguing over the price of eating out! seriously, if you can afford it all the time, and you want to blow your money on take out every day, more power to you. I don't care.

the point here is cost of living. That basics, not living the life of Reilly! In Aus, it's comparable to Ireland. Some things are more, some are less. The balance overall is it's not cheap like the perception. I've lived in SA for over a year. And i'll be moving back in a few months. I'll assume an average job, hoping about $25-$30 ph. Enough to pay the rent, pay for transport, pay for food every week! You have to pay water rates, something most irish don't. Lots of stuff is run on electricity, so you'll pay more for that too. Forget Coles & woolworths, they're not actually the cheapest foodstores depending on your state. Everything is relevant, mostly to your job & what you actually earn. It'll decide ultimately how you manage your finances.

personally, we, for 3 people, spent maybe $150 a week on food for 3 people. And we ate well on that. In SA at the time, they had a weird petrol price cycle weekly that meant we got it cheapest every wednesday night. We went to the local market for fruit & veg every Sat. Cheaper than supermarket, but still not cheap.

OP, your best bet is to convert your current lifestyle spendings into $AUD (google is a good rough guage for that!). Have a look at coles.com.au, et. al. (use a sydney postcode 2000 & start shopping!!), and compare it as best as you can to tesco or dunnes. Compare Domain.com.au to daft.ie. Compare seek.com.au to irishjobs.ie... see how the figures match out.. Everyone here will only tell you what it's like according to their circumstances. Mel.b gave you some great links which will definitely help out. best of luck to ya.

man1

kdevitt wrote: »

Not quite sure how you got your figures - but $350 per week for 4 weeks (lets leave a month at 4 weeks considering I get paid fortnightly) plus an average of $23 a day for lunch is $1860 (my wife doesn't work).

Straw poll of people in work has one at $200 a week for shopping, one at $150 and another at $300. I find it expensive for almost everything here, others don't, so be it.

Ok fair enough, thought it was the two of you that were eating lunch each day. You said $20-$30 for lunch so I took it at $30 (I always budget for the highest cost so there will be no surprises at the end of the month).

So it was $60 per day which is $1300 per month
and
$350 per week which is $1516 per month

Like you I find it expensive and if we earned a lot we would probably splash out more on groceries too, maybe you don't think you buy a lot but as you say everyone is different.

I'm not having a go I just gave my opinion that it is a lot to spend on groceries for two people but as I said everyone can do what they like with their own money.

btw does that $350 include beer and/or wine?

Xavi6

kdevitt wrote: »

Not quite sure how you got your figures - but $350 per week for 4 weeks (lets leave a month at 4 weeks considering I get paid fortnightly) plus an average of $23 a day for lunch is $1860 (my wife doesn't work).

Straw poll of people in work has one at $200 a week for shopping, one at $150 and another at $300. I find it expensive for almost everything here, others don't, so be it.

I don't think anyone's having a go at you (I certainly wan't), just baffled at how you could spend $350 a week for just two people in your average supermarket.

I've got two lads (family) staying with me at the moment so shopping in Coles is now for four and the bill still doesn't top $300, and that's with each of us bringing a packed lunch every day.

I personally don't think the supermarkets are very expensive, especially when it comes to meat and some of the special offers (24 pack of Pepsi cans for $11 for example).

The Sweeper

Ah, the budget question...

Just did my budgets this morning.

Here's a few pointers for you - and I've calculated mine weekly, because I get my wages fortnightly, and himself gets his fortnightly on the alternate week, so we're in the happy position of getting a weekly wage into the house.

Car

I'm driving a two year old Holden Captiva, which is a 2 litre 4 cylinder common rail turbo diesel 7-seater.

I spend $80 a week on fuel, but I do around 700kms for that money - some of it long-haul on the freeways, which is very fuel efficient, some of it short-hop around town, which drinks the fuel.

My car insurance is $330 a year, fully comp, with a $500 excess. I'm in my thirties with a four year NCB.

House

Groceries, $190 a week - that's for me, and seven pets, and himself home two out of seven days.

Electricity bills on a four-bedroom 2600 square foot house annualise out at $30 a week - that includes the juice to run the air conditioning split system in summer.

Gas bills on the same house annualise out at $25 a week, which includes the juice required to run the gas ducted heating in the winter - and I do NOT like to be cold, so my heating stays on 24 x 7 for four months, turned up to 21 degrees daytime, and down to 14 degrees at night. Our hot water is also solar panels with a gas backup so you never have the case where the hot water's run out in my house, gotta love civilisation.

I'm here for good, so I've bought my house, which means I have to pay council rates of $370 each quarter.

My water bill is about $12 a week when you annualise it.

My annual home and contents insurance is over $700, but that could well be because I live at bushfire-central.

Personal Expenses

My health insurance is $100 a month, covers me for private hospital stays and includes some extras rebates on things I use, like
dental, optical and complementary medicine like acupuncture.

Mobile phone through Virgin, on a contract, is $66 a month - includes price of my iPhone, my data usage, all calls and texts.

Tips

I have only two tips for cheap living in Australia: bulk buy, and haggle like you're in a Middle Eastern rug shop.

Bulk buying is definitely the best idea. It's far cheaper here to bulk buy things like loo roll, tissues, dishwasher tablets, laundry powder and toiletries. It's not like they go off before you'll use them up, and the per-unit price in a bulk purchase can literally drop to half the per-unit price of buying just a few at a time.

Haggle. Seriously. Furniture, electrical goods, at markets - the only places you can't haggle in Australia are the petrol station and the supermarket. You are a stone FOOL if you pay the asking price for a car, bike, insurance policy, TV, dishwasher, washing machine, fridge, laptop computer, bed, dining table, chest of drawers, book case or anything else like that. We have saved ourselves literally thousands of dollars over the last four years by simply sticking our necks out.

woolymammoth

The Sweeper wrote: »

Haggle. Seriously. Furniture, electrical goods, at markets - the only places you can't haggle in Australia are the petrol station and the supermarket. You are a stone FOOL if you pay the asking price for a car, bike, insurance policy, TV, dishwasher, washing machine, fridge, laptop computer, bed, dining table, chest of drawers, book case or anything else like that. We have saved ourselves literally thousands of dollars over the last four years by simply sticking our necks out.

lol! reminded me of the tv ads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp3RlsFNMkI

Cooperspale

I agree totally with Sweeper
Though in inner suburban Melb, car insurance is about 800$ fully comp and rates are close to 2 grand per annum but our council upped them 8.5% this year.
Forget about Coles/Woolies for all of your shop or if you can, only buy their specials/ in bulk