Cost of living for a family of 5

Hi faisalnaik,

Welcome to Expat.com!

A new topic has been created with your post on the New Zealand forum for better visibility.

faisalnaik wrote:

Hi everyone,

Currently reside in Pakistan and planning to move there as soon as I get a decision on my NZ residence application with INZ.

Hows the daily cost of living for a family of 5? I believe it varies from North to South Islands. Probably cheaper in Auckland than in Christchurch.

Appreciate feedback..

Thanks !

For cost of living www.numbeo.com. Auckland is very expensive for rents.

Faisal,

Aslm to you. Not sure about south Island.
However on the North Island, roughly half your salary will go towards your accommodation.
Here is plenty Halal butchers, but not so much Halal fast food placers.

Halal "goods" are a bit more expensive than the norm. Lots of products contain animal gelatine so please be aware and read the ingredients on the packaging.

"Hows the daily cost of living for a family of 5?"
Your question is very vague and need to be specific in what you need to know.

Good Luck,

paknsave.co.nz/alnaik,

From my experience in Mount Maunganui and Hamilton:

Accommodation: don't get anything less than $350 per week because can mean old and damp house.  You have to be very careful with this because in summer houses usually look great but winter easily gets moldy and cause health issues.  Once I had to move houses because of my daughter's health, house too damp and she had a terrible caught.  Moved to a dryer house and she got better straight away.

Schools: public schools just small contributions, nothing more than $200 per year (remember this is from my experience, not sure if it is the same for all over NZ).  However, have in mind about zoned schools, which means your kids can go to the school which is zoned to where you are leaving.  Mount Maunganui/Papamoa no problems at all, but in Hamilton there are very good schools and not so good schools, so people move around based in which school and how much they can pay for rent/buy a house (I have heard this from a property manager, so not just my experience).

Food: expensive as.  I would suggest you to go on line shop.countdown.co.nz/?banner=www.  It is Countdown supermarket link and it seems you can build a shopping list from this link, so I imagine you will be able to check the prices.  Pak'n Save is another supermarket chain paknsave.co.nz/ with good prices.

Clothing: cheap, several options (I mean for western style), and it is common second hand shops.

Power/Water: power expensive as.  Houses with poor heating and I couldn't find a good/cheap solution for winter.  Water is included in the rates in Hamilton so landlord is responsible for this cost (it seams they will change this), Mount Maunganui/Papamoa I think it was every three months I would receive a bill, nothing huge.  However, once my mum was with us for three months and the weather was too dry and she decided to water the plants every day, so the following bill was the cost of an entire year.

Rubbish:  Papamoa/Mt Maunganui you by appropriate bags for rubbish collection (around $2 I think), Hamilton it is included in the rates so landlord pays this cost.  There are other options, just have too check early termination fees case you move cities, houses.  Unfortunately I had too move around several times so I decided to stick to the pre-paid bags.

Car: cheap as, petrol expensive as, I think every where you go.  Have in mind WOF (Warranty of Fitness) every six months and registration every year.

Doctors: kids until five years don't pay but adults pay.  You have to enroll in a Medical Centre to pay less.  In Hamilton first appointment was $75 and following $17.  In Papamoa I don't remember first appointment but followings was about $35 I guess.  Anyway you have to shop around.

That's what I can remember.  Good luck with your residency process.