COST OF LIVING DOWN UNDER

In every step we take, decisions are often made from simple things to more complicated choices. Much more when we speak about raising a family that we need to ponder more on our decisions as there are more lives at stake. Deciding on where to raise your family and settle your life in is not easy I know. In our case, migrating had been an option to us but before my wife and I finally decided to migrate in Australia, cost of living was one of our concern. Well, all aspiring migrants should know how much it would cost to survive each month, shouldn't they? That is one of the aspect that should be carefully looked into. Unfortunately, unless you have a relative or friend here, information will not be available. With this, I decided to write them down for you to give a bit of a picture.

Our monthly expenses are broken up as follows: (All in AUD)
Rent: $600.00
Groceries & Food: 600.00
Clothing & Accessories: 150.00
Telephone/Internet: 100.00
Water : 20.00
Electricity/Gas heating: 125.00
Cable channel: 40.00
Mobile phone recharge: 90.00

Public transport: 160.00
Car maintenance: 50.00
Petrol/Gasoline : 250.00
Car Registration & insurance: 200.00
My and my son's haircut: 30.00
Dinning out: 200.00
Gifts for friends/relatives: 50.00
Church: 40.00
Miscellaneous: 200.00

Our monthly expenses total $2,905. Please take note of the below conditions how these costs came up to be:

• We are currently renting a 2 bedroom flat. Monthly repayment when you decide to get a home loan is roughly about $1500 to $2000.
  
• We only have one child at the moment and he's 2 and a half years old.
  
• My mother is on one year tourist visa and currently living with us to look after our child. So, we don't incur any expense for daycare centres. Average cost of daycare is $80.00/day. Government provides childcare assistance depending on a couple's combined income.
  

I hope this would give you an idea on what and what not to expect in Australian living. This is how we spend and live our life at this picking up stage. Amount may vary depending on how you would want it to be as it still will depend on the decisions you make at the end of the day. However, these figures are realistic, I would say, to live a well balanced life. Just don't ever forget that it's not how much you earn that matters but it's how much you save that will pull you through.

I'll be updating this article in the future for more detailed and helpful information to future migrants.