Salary Vs Cost Of Living In the Wellington Area

[loujiggy]

Hi can you help!

I have been offered a salary of circa 60,000 NZ Dollars as a starting point in Wellington, although we would not actually live in Wellington we are looking to commute (30 Mins max). My wife will not work. Can a family of four live a reasonable lifestyle on that wage. We don't really eat out (apart from the occasional Mcdonalds / take away etc)we don't smoke or drink but enjoy weekends doing fun stuff with the kids. Direct exchange rate gives you £30,000 GBP but i have been told you shouldn't take this as a direct comparison, you should look at the Hamburger Rate !! can anyone help please it's a big dilema thanks......

[Lauralocks]

I don't know whether you can live on that as, not having kids I don't know how much living expenses for a family are anywhere. However, what we did when working out living costs was to go through all our expenses here and work out what they would be in NZ as close as possible. We think our cost of living will be slightly less than in London.

So you can get an idea of housing costs by looking at rental prices of houses on trade me, and you can have a look on Countdown's website to check out the cost of your weekly shop. There is a take-home pay calculator somewhere online if you google it - then you'll know how much actual cash you'll have. Once you've worked out what area you are thinking of living in you can see the public transport costs via trans metro website. That wonky be everything because you'll have local rates, electricity, telephone/Internet. But there will probably be people on here who can give you pointers about those costs. If you're kids are schol age you'll need uniforms, stationary and a 'donation' to the school I think.

You get the idea.
Personally I would struggle on that with a family but everyone is different and I'm sure others would be fine.

[kiwieagle]

I am a very frugal person. I feel that salary will be doable as a start. Whether or not you can sustain it will be a different question that will depend on where you live and what your savings goals are. There are many ways to stretch a dollar in NZ but it can be difficult at first. If you like to do outdoor stuff, apart from the cost of gear and petrol, most of that is free or costs very little. Fishing can provide entertainment and nourishment. If you don't mind going to the junk shop, recycle centre or opshop to do shopping, you can live even better. Without offending anyone's sense of the laws of the land, if you are willing to do some bartering, you'll get even further. It also depends on a little bit of luck. Things like WOF or an unexpected illness can significantly set even the most frugal family's savings goals back.

[Otaku]

To me it seems less. It would have been 'just okay' for a couple or a family of three. It is based on my experience of living in Auckland which is said to have cheaper rentals compared to Wellington. And yes, our lifestyle is similar to yours (no smoke/drink/much eating out).

[sophiedb]

hi there

Looking at our family's budget - 2 adults, 1 child - we seem to be getting by nicely on my salary ($45k) which leaves all of hubby's (more than mine!) to go on the mortgage. But but but.. that's because we came over with all our UK money and bought a house within 3 months with a ~40% deposit, furnished it again with everything we'd shipped over, then spent a good portion of the first year paying for improved heat source, insulation, heat transfer etc. Rent can be much pricier, and of course energy costs will vary depending on the quality of the building itself.

As far as uniform costs go, some schools have a 2nd hand sale. I got most of DD's from the retailer on a 30% off day, and inherited the rest from a new friend whose child had outgrown his.

Food.. you will likely hear the phrase "eat seasonally" a lot Food can be very pricey, depending on what you're buying. About the only thing we never stop getting is bananas, but the rest fluctuates through the year!

As for activities, there are lots of cheap options like going to the park or beach, and camping is big in NZ too. I find attractions like farm parks and zoos near us quite expensive, but that could just be me being stingy

hope that helps!

Hi can you help!

I have been offered a salary of circa 60,000 NZ Dollars as a starting point in Wellington, although we would not actually live in Wellington we are looking to commute (30 Mins max). My wife will not work. Can a family of four live a reasonable lifestyle on that wage. We don't really eat out (apart from the occasional Mcdonalds / take away etc)we don't smoke or drink but enjoy weekends doing fun stuff with the kids. Direct exchange rate gives you £30,000 GBP but i have been told you shouldn't take this as a direct comparison, you should look at the Hamburger Rate !! can anyone help please it's a big dilema thanks......

[Georgebulldog]

I would have a look on www.countdown.co.nz to see the prices of groceries although you could buy a little cheaper it wouldn't knock that much off the bill so good as a starting point. We are a family of 4. 2 adults & 2 young children. Also have you looked at Trademe for rental prices if your going to rent? I'm not sure that how far you live from Wellington really changes the values that much in terms of renting but I may be wrong, from what I see it depends on the suburb, some are quite pricey & others can be a lot cheaper but not necessarily according to how far they are from Wellington CBD. Maybe look at the Hutt as that seems a lot cheaper than my surroundings but still has some lovely areas. For power I'm not so sure as each house varies with what supply they have of heat, we pay $147 a fortnight on a smoothpay plan so the payments stay the same all the year round, we only have a gas heater in our living area & run one econo panel heater at night maybe 2 on a cold night & my electric blanket for an hour or 2 in the winter months, I don't feel we use too much, not sure what others pay. Think about health insurance too & unexpected bills, Drs visits vary from one practice to another but we pay about $49 a visit for an adult, dentists as well, I've just been caught out here & it costs a fortune. To be honest I found the price of most things here are the same as the UK so if you think you could survive on that salary in the UK then you would be OK here. There are heaps of parks here for kids, beaches where you can have a picnic, lots of short walks, bike parks & other free things for them to do so that doesn't have to cost a fortune. Not sure if any of this helps at all but best of luck

[dharder]

I think it would be quite tight.

One thing that I would like to mention, not knowing how old your children are, is that all the free entertainment stuff (beaches, picnics, parks, playgrounds, etc) maybe fine for little ones, but I don't think my 9 and almost 13 year olds would be entirely happy with that. We do walk a lot, and do a lot of free things still, but not exclusively.

If the children want to do sports, there are fees for clubs and equipment costs, if they do music, there are lessons and instrument hire, that kind of thing. None of these costs have to be huge, but I find it all adds up...

Daniela

[Georgebulldog]

I think it would be quite tight.

One thing that I would like to mention, not knowing how old your children are, is that all the free entertainment stuff (beaches, picnics, parks, playgrounds, etc) maybe fine for little ones, but I don't think my 9 and almost 13 year olds would be entirely happy with that. We do walk a lot, and do a lot of free things still, but not exclusively.

If the children want to do sports, there are fees for clubs and equipment costs, if they do music, there are lessons and instrument hire, that kind of thing. None of these costs have to be huge, but I find it all adds up...

Daniela

Totally agree there, my 2 have swimming & go to a good swim school, no point paying for a rubbish one, this costs $300 a term for them, on top of that they have ballet, dance & Brownies, it certainly adds up.

[ocean33]

When I was earning 65k I was getting 4200 per month after tax cut. I suspect you would get around 3900 to 4000 per month you can confirm it from www.ird.govt.nz.
You can find some cheap rentals in upper hutt Like for 3 bedroom house you can have weekly rents from 270 to 400 ( check on trademe website). If you travel from Trentham a suburb of Upper hutt to Wellington city center the monthly train ticket is 180 is going to be little bit expensive from next month. Good internet plus telephone packages would be between 80 to 120 . Good mobile expenses would be 30 dollar plus. Electricity plus gas bill will be between 120 to 250 depending how much will you use. Grocery would be around 150 to 200 per week depending on your eating habits.
Check work and income website to find what Govt can assist you with.

[ocean33]

Sorry my status is not updated I am in Wellington for last one year