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Thread: How accurate is the Cost of Living Calculator?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
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    earth
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    459

    Default How accurate is the Cost of Living Calculator?

    I am now getting a fairly good handle on what sort of salary I could expect to earn. I have a good sense of housing costs and I have been using the calculator on this site for the rest.

    For those of you already in NZ. Do you feel that the calculator accurately refelects the cost of living in NZ? We are Wellington bound if that makes a difference.

    Thanks!

    Chris

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Inland Canterbury, NZ
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    8,390

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    I find the calculator to be a very good representation of costs... in fact I just went back and had a look at it - last time I looked we had no jobs and were living on UKŁ. The "modest" category matches our expenditure pretty well now that we are earning and have "settled" into a routine and know the supermarkets better.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
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    earth
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    Very glad to hear that! I am taking a bit of a worst case (I hope) scenario when it come to costs with the expectation that SOMETHING always comes up that you are not prepared for.

    Chris

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Auckland-ish (now 60 km away)
    Posts
    872

    Default

    First time I tried this one out, didnt know it was on the site but found it here:
    http://www.enz.org/cost-of-living-in-new-zealand.HTML
    Thanks for putting it on here, dont know who did that, but I like it

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
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    ChCh as of 06/11/2004
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    I have to agree with Moorf. Having been here for over three months now our expenditure for most items falls somewhere between the Modest and the Good Living columns.

    To break even for day to day expenditure the calculator reckons that we need to earn around $55k. That will reduce considerably though if we buy our own place as we won't be paying rent anymore.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Oxford (Canterbury)
    Posts
    283

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    Just been playing around with the cost of living calculator and the mortgage calculator, and I'm a lot happier now :P

    I've been really worried about the house prices since I got here as originally we hoped to be able to buy outright. Now it looks like we will need a mortgage, equivalent to a year or two’s salary.

    From the calculator though pitching the levels between modest and good living (we have 5 mouths to feed after all) it looks like we could live on $55k a year even with a mortgage.

    Best news I’ve had for days

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