Cost of living in Melbourne (Oz)

[TransformX]

I might be moving to Melbourne Australia for 1-2 years for work and I'm trying to find out what's the average cost of living for a family.

[GuchiGuh]

Just slightly more expensive than Perth:

All in AUD$
Phone line rental per month: $30
Internet per month: $50
Fuel per litre: $1.30
Housing/Apartment in decent suburbs, per week (excluding water,gas,electricity): ~$350
Water, Gas, Electricity bill per month: $150
Decent 2nd Hand Car (Holden Commodore): $12000
Public Transportation, Bus: $2
Taxi: A trip from my highschool to my home cost over $20 (about 7 minute ride)
Kids go to public school: Free
Kids go to private school: $13000 per anum
University fees for overseas students per semester: $9000 (exlcuding books, transportation, food, accomodation)
University accomodation per week (with $150 prepaid water/gas/electricity): $100
Expensive restaurant meal: $45
Normal restaurant meal: $20
Newspaper: $2

[TransformX]

Thanks but I've found these on google. I'm looking for how much it'll cost for a family, unlike a single student. I need to know around how much a normal couple spends monthly, so I'll know how much the salary offered is worth.

[Sasq]

good lord, why melbourne.

the best you can say about the place is 'it's livable' and thats a lie by their tourist department

[Sasq]

on a more serious note, pm holster, she lives there. I'll remind her to check her pm's

[Holster]

Pfft, any where I am is a great place to live.

I'm a single parent, I have a 3br house in the suburbs, I make monthly car payments, I spent about $150 - $200 a week on groceries (I have a male child entering his teens - do they ever stop eating? seriously), I have broadband, foxtel, and I spend all my money on shit.

I get about 70k a year and i'm getting by, and managing to save a little.

GuchiGuh was pretty close to the mark with cost except public schools and transport.

Public schools are technically free, but you do get guilted in to making voluntary contributions. and public transport is double that for 2 hours within inner city suburbs. Rent is 250 plus in the zone 1 suburbs for a house, all depending on how nice a place you want

[Dr Mordrid]

Topic aside.....U running for "Avatar Tease"?

Dr. Mordrid

[ZokesPro]

(I have a male child entering his teens - do they ever stop eating? seriously)

Nope.

[TransformX]

Ok.. We're still a couple, though expecting to hopefully have a baby soon.
I still don't know how much the company will offer me, but I've noticed that people speak of yearly income. When you say 70k, is that before or after tax (etc) deduction?
I have a mortgage on my apartment here that costs me around 1200 Australian dollars every month. I don't know how much I'll get if I manage to rent it, so it's something I have to take into account when calculating sallaries etc. Quite a headache, and that's before going into taking my cats with me..
Oh well, I hope they'll make me a nice offer next week.

[Holster]

The 70k is before tax

you can check what your take home pay will be (when you get your offer) using this site:

http://www.ato.gov.au/scripts/taxcalc/calc_standard_hire.asp

[Dr Mordrid]

I have a male child entering his teens - do they ever stop eating? seriously

No way; teenage boys are bottomless pits.

We've gone through two and both had only 2 operational modes: eating or sleeping, and when they start sports it gets worse.

Ex: most of the guys on my HS footballl team (US, not soccer) socked down >6,000 calories/day just maintain their weight, but then we averaged >230 lbs (lean & mean) with some much bigger.

Erik is only a few years away

Dr. Mordrid

[TransformX]

Thanks for the link. So about how much does a couple spend monthly in Melbourne, when living at the local 'standard' living quality?
I still don't know how much they'll be offering, but sniffing around google, I suspect it might be around 60K anually (?)
According to the link provided, 5K / month leave you with 3.5K in cash.
Converting that to NewIsraeliShekels, that's a bit more than I earn here.

[Holster]

I think 3.5 would be enough per month unless you are a big spender or your wife likes shopping.
But if you still have to cover your morgage you might find yourself in a bit of trouble.

Also maybe check out the Australian job sites and check out what the expected wages are for the job you have applied for.

http://www.seek.com.au/if.asp?loc=edctr

[TransformX]

Thanks again

[Lizzard[MPE]]

I plan on going to RMIT at some point so i just bought this huge melbourne travel book. the place looks amazing