Cost of living -Geelong

Last activity 12 July 2010 by mpp

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mppMember12 July 2010 01:07:57

Hi all, my husband is considering a Job in the Geelong area near Melbourne...after doing much search i am still unable to have an information of the current cost of living in geelong(many of the posts in google are older posts).He is looking at a salary of 86K to 90K per year pre tax.So after tax this is around 61K.
We are two of us...so based on the estimates here is my rough calculation.Please comment if these seem fare enough.
Home rent (2 or 3 bed)- 300/wk i.e.1200/mth
Cost of running car(insurance, tax, gas etc)- 200/month -This does not include actual cost of car
Gas + electricity- 120/mth
Internet- 80/mth
Cable - 100/mth
Mobile (2)+ landline- 140/mth
Grocery -100/wk i.e. 400/mth
Eat out-400/mth
Other expenses-400/mth
Health insurance- assuming to be paid by employer.Can anyone confirm mthly insurance to be paid
So this gives a total living expenses average at 3040/mth.Please comment if these estimates are realistic .

jb09ViP12 July 2010 04:01:38

133

Hello.

I wanted to comment about your approximation of your husband's potential salary after taxes. Did someone provide you a percentage tax to make this calculation? To get a better approximation, check out the Australian Taxation Office at www.ato.gov

In this website, there is even a Tax Withheld Calculator that will let you know what your net pay will be. I did a quick run through with including you as a wife and no children. It indicates that either with $86,000 or $90,000 salary, the net pay would not be $61,000 as you approximated. It came up with $48,000 or $51,000. It all depends how you answer the questions. Some of the questions that I didn't know what it was for, I left blank.

Please note that your husband should get the TFN number upon arrival and before he starts work. If this isn't done, I've read that more taxes will be taken out if a TFN is not obtained. The TFN is required by the government to keep track of the information. If you do a quick search in the internet, it can explain in detail of what I am briefly stating.

http://www.ato.gov.au/scripts/taxcalc/c … d_hire.asp

Not sure about the cost of living in Geelong. But I've read that it's cheaper than Sydney or Melbourne. So if you can find information on either of these two cities, you can approximate that it is likely to be cheaper. However, like in any country, the closer you live in the city, the more expensive it will be than if you live further away from the city.

jb09ViP12 July 2010 04:14:00

133

I forgot to mention in my previous post. Your husband may want to ask his potential employer if he can be qualified for the Living Away From Home Allowance (LAFHA). Check out the following website below. This was recommended to me to check out with potential employers. However, it seems that you have to meet certain requirements to be eligible and not all employers participate.

http://www.lafha.com.au/Home.aspx

mppMember12 July 2010 09:04:47

Thanks a lot jb09 for the tax info ... ...have already searched for cost of living in melbourne and sydney and all above estimates are based on the same ....awaiting some inputs on grocery and utilities from other members as that will help us lot in deciding

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