Cost of Living

[stevejan]

Having read lots of postings on the forum we know it's the lifestyle everyone's going to NZ for, us included, but what is the everyday cost of living like? We have been surfing the internet and it seems that most things are of a similar price to the UK. A New Zealander told us the wages were less because the cost of living is less there!!
Comments please. ::):

Well, as we and most other people have discovered, it's useless comparing the cost of living to your home country. When you are here, earning dollars, thats all you should think about.

Think of it this way - You're earning $45,000 and a loaf of bread costs $1.50, or a litre of petrol is $1.51.

If you were earning that much in whatever your home currency is, would you be happy paying it?

Comparing prices to somewhere like the UK makes NZ seem cheaper in many respects, but you have to live dollar for dollar, not dollar to pound.

[selchie]

Perhaps compare UK to NZ in terms of the working hours needed to pay for necessities & "necessary luxuries". Include commute time and "decompression" time. Consider stress-related costs, like loss of motivation, insomnia, crankiness, etc.

When we moved from the San Francisco area to the remote north coast, our income decreased some, but we were so much less stressed that we didn't spend as much on "comfort activities" that cost money. Land is cheaper here, but that's about all that is.

I think NZ may be in a similar situation. So many things need to be imported/transported from afar. I think that the economy in NZ will continue to improve, though. Incomes will improve and soon demand will help lower some of those imported goods costs. In the meantime, it could be a good opportunity to learn to do without some of those costly little things we think we need.

[MotherBear]

:icon_rolleyes: Second attempt! Power cut just lost me everything I'd already done on here.

A couple of links to Woolworth and Foodtown where you can see what's on offer and check prices. I get the impression that these 2 are connected some way as their sites/products/prices appear to be almost the same (from my quick glance only) so you may not learn too much from the second link. Pak 'n' Save is a cheaper place to shop but doesn't have online shopping to check the prices. Woolworth is known to be more expensive but will give you some idea of what's on offer and how much you could have to pay for it.

https://www.woolworths.co.nz/HomeShopping/Default.aspx
https://www.foodtown.co.nz/HomeShopping/Default.aspx

[Ady]

Pak N Save is a lot cheaper!

Petrols just come down to $1.48 and may fall again soon.
The station around the corner from us was giving petrol away free on Friday monring and the queues completely goosed up the whole of the Downtown area!

Overall, we have found it cheaper to live.

In the UK, we had a joint income of 55,000, here we have $95,000 (37,500) and we are finding things a hell of a lot easier here in NZ.

Hope this is of use!

[MotherBear]

[b:e45be9633b][size=18:e45be9633b]Wellingtonians ditch their cars[/size:e45be9633b][/b:e45be9633b]
19 October 2005
By KIM RUSCOE

Petrol price rises are driving some people to ditch their cars and catch the train.

Petrol prices reached record highs last month, when 91-octane cost $1.56 a litre, but have since dropped to about $1.49.

Toll New Zealand spokeswoman Sue Foley said Tranz Metro Wellington passenger numbers for the past four weeks were an average 9.5 per cent higher than last year, even on relatively short routes. "We expected it with some of the longer destinations, but it appears to be happening all over, that people are ditching their cars and using the trains."

The Johnsonville line had seen the biggest increase, rising 13 per cent, followed by the Palmerston North-Wellington Capital Connection (up 12 per cent), Hutt Valley (13 per cent) and Paraparaumu (9 per cent).

The only line not to have had a significant rise in passenger numbers was the Wairarapa line, which was already running at full capacity, she said. Rebecca Houghton, a training coordinator from Raumati South, said she made the decision to leave her car at home and use the trains when she changed jobs about a month ago. She calculated it would have cost her about $400 a month to run her car into the city each day and another $200 for car parking. A monthly train ticket costs her $192. As an added bonus, the trip is up to half-an-hour quicker by train, she said.

Upper Hutt resident Tai Ierome said she had till recently been car-sharing with her brother, but preferred to catch the train to work in the city as an administrator, saying it was the cheapest option. "You're not just paying for petrol but car parking as well," she said. Even with sharing expenses, Ms Ierome said it would cost her up to $100 a week compared with $48 for a 10-trip train ticket.

Stagecoach commercial director Ian Turner said there had been only a slight rise in bus passenger numbers for the Wellington region, but that was against the trend for the time of year.

University courses had finished for the year, with students preparing for exams, as were many senior high school students, he said.

A few (ok quite a few) years ago at University our economics lecturer used to rave on about the best test for the cost of living in a country was the price of a Big Mac, expressed as a % of average disposable income. His argument was that Macdonalds would pitch the price at a level that was a) as financially tempting as possiblefor the consumer, but also b) as profitable as possible for them. In a way I guess he must be right, 'cos McD didnt become a global empire purely on the back of the c**p food it serves!

Enough said

So.......whats the price of a Big Mac in NZ?

[nattydread]

what would the answer be for the UK?

I can find out the price of a Big Mac easily enough, but whats the average disposable income?

My disposable income per month is approximately 57p, not sure if that helps.

Dont know the price of a burger on its own, but a Big Mac Combo(Meal) is $6.50.

[Welshgirl]

That's better than our 57c disp. income nattydread :icon_wink: