My first month

[Sagewood]

Even after 12 months in Aus it still feels much more expensive than SA. The fact is that my monthly costs in Aus is less than it was in SA. Not sure why but it is. Will sit down one day and work it all out. Although housing is much more expensive there must be other things much cheaper or not relevant. We maintain more or less the same lifestyle. We even live in "expensive" Sydney on the North Shore.

[Johan du Toit]

Hi everyone! I am still living the life in Aus. I am struggling to make ends meet. Not because anything is expensive, but because I am still on my starter job. Luckily I pay the one Friday and my wife the next. In SA my money was usually spent by the 5th and then we had to make more debt. At least here we are living it the way I explained at the start of this thread and we have no debt. We are managing to save about $1000 every 2 weeks for retirement (I have a huge amount to make up for), my boy's uni (thanks to the CA I got scared) and our yearly Christmas in SA. We decided we will go to SA over Xmas for 2 weeks every year. That is my wife's choice. I would much rather buy myself a new notebook every year. I have absolutely no need to go back to SA. Luckily we are not the site seeing type, so we have no need to go on any extravagant holidays here in Perth. We hate driving, camping and basically anything recreational. We do visit the fantastic parks often though.... all for our boy. We are just going to look forward to Xmas every year. Cant wait to act like we have lots of money for 2 weeks. These dollars will go a long way.

[pkn]

recreation is good for the soul...looking forward to kruger national park this long weekend :-)

[Superkruz]

Cant wait to act like we have lots of money

I hope somebody in SA will be impressed

[pkn]

lol

[Superkruz]

I need to improve my own personality I think.

[Bok]

Don't want to get started with the cost of living again. Happy you still feel the same but a pitty that you want to spend some of your Australian savings in South Africa, when it is "cheaper" to have holidays in Oz. LOL

Maybe it is just me, but I prefer to invest back into Oz, the country I call home now!

[SurferMan]

I also feel the need to add my 50 cents. I dont care if its cheaper, or 5 times the price, to get an chance to LIVE is a price I pay with a smile. So what if my house is not what I had in SA, and the car is old, too bad. I earn well into the 6 figures a month in SA, and I am more than happy to drop down to 5 figures Aus, just to see my kids grow up safe n happy. And to have a life! fari trade, Johan, enjoy it boet

[Claudia haycocks]

Hey everyone,, good hearing your take on things, suggestions and advice, thank you for sharing. Just a quickie, Johan, you mention one can do online practice tests....do you have a link perhaps? Sorry , but only really realized once I'd read through all these pages...Apologies

My license arrived. The card with my photo on. I only passed my driver's on Tuesday. That means you can get a license from nothing to card here in Perth in 5 working days. That is if you are a PR. You do you learners by just arriving at one of the many license centres and doing a multiple question computer test. You have to get 24 out of 30. You can practice the test online. I got 26 my first try without studying at all. I got 27 in the actual test. My wife got 28. You then just ask for the earliest date at any license centre. It can be the next day, but never more than 2 weeks or so.

Compare that to SA!

Note: It is very important that you apply for your TFN (Tax File Number) and bank account the moment you arrive. The TFN application is online, but you can only do it after arrival. Get something mailed to any address you are staying ASAP.

[vaughanroe]

I lived in London for a number of years before moving to OZ... I cannot really remember what I pad for things in SA to be honest but i do remember the interest rates eing high.

I think when a person has the chance to move to a new country and setlles in at first things will certainly seem less expensive and that is a great thing as it can set someone up to effectively start over with the intelligence of hindsight and set systems in place to establish good sound financial principles with view to investment etc.

Food over here I found expensive compared to London. After 2.5 yrs we are used to it however.

Money we were saving before we bought our house here was being saved dilligently and put into investment account etc. Since buying how ever while we still save a partion of income it is not nearly close to the ammount we saved initially.

Life over is certainly agreeable and there are many things that are free, especially in terms of entertaining the kids. My 3 yr old loves nothing more than running around the parks.

Fact is though once you get setled into life and live it you generally start living to a standard which is comfortable to you and this is generally speaking where the finances settle into a routine.

I wish Johan and everyone on this forum the very best and may we all make the big bucks oneday but until then enjoy life enough to wake up with a smile on our face.

One of the best things in Aus for me is that no one really cares to compare with the "Jones family" down the road. As long as you are happy then its all good.