Canberra Monthly income and Expense Budget - Comments?

[claudiodr]

Hi again all

So I've been trying to pull a budget together based on expected salaries and expenses. I've used all the resources I could find on the interweb to try and get this as accurate as possible...now I'd like to draw on the experience of the Canberran contingent of SAAus to give me your opinions on where I need to tweak my expectations. Next to each income/expense I've added the source however if you think I'm off the marke please let me know.

As it stands, we'll have loads more disposable income in Canberra than we do at the moment in UK doing exactly the same jobs. And that includes a house with a garden and free sunshine! Seems too good to be true...can you let me know if it is please:-)

BUDGET Description Ave Source Income Marketing Manager salary $5,104 $80,000pa - http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Marketing_Manager/Salary#by_State (nett - http://www.paycalculator.com.au/) Exec Sec salary $4,010 $60,000pa - http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Executive_Assistant/Salary#by_State (nett - http://www.paycalculator.com.au/) Expenditure - 2 people Home rent -$2,200 http://www.allhomes.com.au/ Council Rates -$133 http://www.justlanded.com/english/Australia/Australia-Guide/Money/Cost-of-Living (Took the total annual and split over 12 months) Water -$74 Water usage -$35 Contents insurance -$35 Electricity -$139 Gas -$61 Transport - Public -$225 https://www.transport.act.gov.au/myway/fares.html#Adult Groceries -$140 http://www.justlanded.com/english/Australia/Australia-Guide/Money/Cost-of-Living Mobile -$130 https://onlineshop.telstra.com.au/ Internet $50 http://www.telstra.com.au/internet/home-broadband-bigpond-elite-plans/ TV -$109 https://www.foxtel.com.au/shop/packages-and-deals/?execution=e1s1 Entertainment -$2,500 Finger in the air! Holiday savings -$1,000 Finger in the air! Life savings -$2,000 Finger in the air! Nett $383 A SURPLUS…SURELY NOT!

Hope the pasted table came out ok!

C

[claudiodr]

Ok, that came out rubbish so I've uploaded the spreadsheet

Planning doc.xls

[Toitjie]

Not all your calculations make sense...for a salary of $ 80 000 it would be $ 1538 per week or rougly $ 6666 per month....not sure where the $ 5104 fits in

but your income is clearly based on monthly income..yet groceries of $140 suggests weekly? check the other expenditures too and convert to monthly cost..it would be interesting to see what comes out...Im not there yet so I cannot comment whether those are high or low

[Toitjie]

ok I see, the salary calculator was the net salary.....still....are the other expenses also per month?

[claudiodr]

I see, groceries should be $280 per person per month, so $560 per month...all the other bills should be correct I think (monthly)

Updated sheet attached

Thanks!

Planning doc.xls

[Toitjie]

thanx for the research...it always helps! now to get that surplus bigger

[Tsunabi]

Dont forget car insurance and licensing if you are going to have one. Also private medical (hospital cover) not a bad idea.

[claudiodr]

I added the public transport cause we were thinking of getting a place in Kingston/Manuka and using the bus to get about further afield because we didn't want to get a car initially.

Re Medical cover - Is it essential to have medical cover (in the UK we have NHS, 100% free public health service which is very good and means we don't need medical aid), I ask cause I really don't know what public health consists of in Aus.

[21yearsoutofrsa]

Water and rates are normally included in rent, I know that is NOT the norm in the UK but it is in Australia.

[HansaPlease]

It is not essential to have medical cover but if you don't, you will have to pay a govt surcharge come tax time. Usually the surcharge is more expensive than just taking out a basic level of cover so it makes sense to do it...

Also, not sure about ACT but in VIC you don't pay council rates when renting, landlord pays that.

Our grocery bill (including toiletries, some booze) was more around the 250 per week mark before our 2 kids arrived. People's spending varies but it helps to either build on a buffer... Or be very strict, which we're not...

[claudiodr]

Water and rates are normally included in rent, I know that is NOT the norm in the UK but it is in Australia.

Thanks 16YRS, wow, that'll save over $200 a month...that's great! The surplus growth begins

Hansa - Thanks that's good to know, Wifey and I

[claudiodr]

Hmmm not sure what happened there but as I was saying...

Wifey and I tend to spend a fair amount on groceries so I def wanna build in a buffer! I've updated the spreadsheet and re-attached

Edited to balance the books

Updated groceried to $1K

and amended saving and entertainment to balance the rest

C

Planning doc.xls

Edited December 17, 2012 by claudiodr

[miraclebabycaw]

Telstra plan will also depend on if you have to have a home phone in your area or not iow ADSL. In our area we have to apparently have a home phone as it's ADSL coverage only so the total is around $72 for home phone and internet (50gb) or just over 100 for phone and 200gb.

Water is not always included..at least ours in South Australia isn't. We have to pay for that ourselves..

[Lyn]

This is always an awkward one to answer as everyone earns and spends differently. But I feel that if between the two of you - you are bringing in $140 000 pa - before tax, supers etc - and its just the two of you - you will be doing just fine. There are many living on less than this - when we first arrived we survived on one salary of $80 pa - it was very tight for us.

If you are renting, then you wont pay rates, and water is usually included in your rent - ours was when we rented back in 2008.

Our lastest gas account - we only use gas for heating in winter - about 5 months - we paid nearly $2000 - it was one of the coldest winters since I arrived. We run the heating for about 15 hours a day.

I would recommend private medical aid. We pay about $300 per month with NIB and we have excellant cover for this amount. We have two teens, 19 and 17. We are generally a healthy bunch, but 2012 was not a good year healthwise.

Also consider ambulance cover as this is not covered by medicare. A 2km trip was $800 - NIB paid in full.

Good luck with your plans. Canberra is a great place to call home.

[Sandy & Arrie]

Thanks Lyn that answered my questions as well.....

[claudiodr]

Thanks everyone for your input, appreciate the local advice greatly.

I've uploaded the updated spreadsheet, hopefully it'll be useful for other people trying to plan before heading out

Planning doc - Updated 04.01.12.xls

[OubaasDik]

Drat - there's something about the layout of this website that makes it difficult to see everything I need to ....

[flowman]

Thanks for sharing your research. I spent a week in Canberra last year to determine the cost of living and found that it wasn't so bad. Food was the same as South Africa in general except fruit and vegetables. Meat was a little more but if on special was similar to SA. Breads were double our prices. In the end your grocery bills would be about 50% more than SA. Housing costs were between 3 and 4 times more than we pay here. Cars are the same but payments are less due to cheaper interest rates. Insurance is about the same or a little cheaper. Car rego is about 7 times more than SA. Based on salaries in Australia, it is cheaper than SA. I'm no expert but for us it will be the same living standard as in SA.

Regards

Armando

[Lyn]

Im sure youve heard all this before, but have a little paitence and your lives will be wonderful again.

Fresh produce can be quite pricey, so eat local and in season and go to the wonderful markets we have around the ACT.

Meat - I very often buy reduced to clear - especially the free range chicken as it can be expensive. I have never had a problem with the quality. I simply freeze and use when required.

Bread - you can get from as cheap as $1 to the $7 - $8 depending on your taste. Same with milk.

Petrol - watch the boards, some days are cheaper than others. And use your vouchers from Coles and Woolies - sometimes we get 8c off per litre. Every bit helps.

Remember that rego includes CTPI premium (Compulsory third party insurance) I drive a VW Tiguan - Rego $430 - CTPI $580.

Entertainment - lots of freebies around Canberra or gold coin donation.

And op shops / charity shops - these are not only for the poor - but for bargain hunters like me. My house and garden and wardrobe are full of preloved items. Give them a good clean and theyre perfect. I have Burberry, Tifannys, Martha Steward etc etc. Not too shabby !!

As for housing - no good news here - very very expensive. We bought the tiniest place in 2009 - with the intention of paying it off in 5 years. We are nearly there - and now looking for a new home.

Budgets can be very daunting - when we arrived 2008 2 adults, 2 teens , we survived on one income of about $80 000 pa. Was tight but we managed. So if you're earning more than this - you'll be fine. Just be patient - good things come to those who wait !!

[Mikeleigh]

Thanks for this, this realy helped me, I was stressing trying to get a format together, for settlement statement.

TX Mike

[OubaasDik]

As Lyn pointed out that your electricity / gas is low.

Last year, I was alone in my digs in winter and spent over $200 / month for electricity in winter. In summer it cam down to about $40 ..... I have no gas here, so the water is also heated by electricity.

I do not pay water - I live in a complex and the body corporate gets the bill and the owners pay that as also rates.

[AndreaL]

hahahah, My last electricity bill for the quarter, over summer was $2066.05....no word of a lie.....Queensland, hot summer with many days over 40 degrees, a hubby that does shift work, so the aircon in the bedroom was on 24/7...a 14 year old that has hers on, " I'm wearing my flannel pyjamas because I'm pretending I live in the Arctic" setting, a fair bit of summer rain that neccessitated the tumble dryer doing double duty.... a large house, a family addicted to technology....and there you go

Apparently I use 6 times more electricity than other people around me....Ergon put a little graph on your bill showing your usage and to make you feel guilty.

The worse part is that I am studying Environmental Science, so I have my anthropogenic environmental degradation thrown at me on a daily basis......

[flowman]

Maybe run the aircon at 26' C? Tinted windows? Use a draft?

[Lyn]

LOL - Flowman 26 degrees is gonna do nothing to help me - 18 degrees works a bit. You dont want drafts - they are not cool, but rather like the hot air coming from a tumble drier.

The advice normally given to Canberrans - is keep the shades / curtains drawn - use those sausage things under doors or where ever their is a gap - we even have a sort of tape around our two external doors - so the doors seal tight. Those that have a fair bit of cash in the ACT have glazed windows.

Those coming to the ACT - be prepared - our seasons are very distinct. It can be very uncomfortable if you dont have both aircon and heating. If you can survive the heat and the cold then your electricity / gas bill will be low, but otherwise budget carefully.

AndreaL I too hate the way they have those graphs of our bills - in summer my water bill makes me feel very guilty.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Lyn

[AndreaL]

Flowman.....the draft would incinerate you....lol. We are in a company house so you can't do any modifications, the aircons are the old box type and don't have a temperature control, just cold, colder and we also have a breeze air system, but on humid days that causes mold so you can't use it, ceiling fans are on all the time.

We close curtains in the day to keep sun out and open at night to let what little cool air is there in. The difference is that in winter we don't need heating ( maybe for a very cold week) and the bill will go down to about $800.

We are regional so Ergon is the only electricity provider.

Where are you situated? Regional Qld is hot!