can someone give me a rough idea?

[~clover~]

We are a bigger family, but I'll tell you what my friend pays.
There's herself & her 2 children.

Food - $150/week
Water - $150/6 months
Electricity - $250 - 300/quater depending on time of year
Phone - $100/month, but you can get an incoming only line with Telstra...deal is that you can't have access to a mobile. You can also get local calls only.

TBH we rarely go over $100 a month with our phone bill & $50 of that is internet. Our actual calls are $10 - $20 a month. Net is $50 & line rental is $30 ish. We make probably one, maybe 2 long distance calls a month & 5 or 6 mobile calls a month.

[Daydream Believer]

Food $150 per fortnight ( we get meat from the butcher & fruit & veg from a wholesaler because it works out cheaper)
Water $30-40 \ (if you have a health care card you get a discount)
Electricity $250 per quater & Gas $30-50 in warmer months, up to $250 in old months (once agin you get a discount with a health care card)
Phone & net $100 per month we dont need a home phone but have to have it for internet where we live
Then you have to add on if you have credit cards, mobile phones, car rego, insurance, petrol, rent, etc

[Butterfly Child]

thanks everyone.

Daydream believer- do u really get a discount if you have a healthcare card or pension?

[~clover~]

You get a pensioner rebate with electricity & if you have it direct debited, or paid through centrepay fortnightly you don't pay the $180 bond.
Not sure about water. Should find out!

[Daydream Believer]

thanks everyone.

Daydream believer- do u really get a discount if you have a healthcare card or pension?

yep we get a discount on water, gas & electricity. Depending on how much you earn you can get rent assistance too

[sconeonamission]

Ok.
We have internet and mobile phones with separate companies. When we moved last time, we could only get wireless broadband internet from Telstra (the only thing anyone else could offer was dial-up ... there was no adsl on our side of the street )

So - this is my budget for a fortnight
Internet - $75
Mobile - $91 - this is for mobiles
Electricity - $50
Food - $ 170

I have other expenses - like cc, student loan and daycare, but I'll keep those a secret

My internet bill will change next month, as we are now living in an area with adsl. So it's gone from $139.95 a month to $80 a month (we had to get a home line installed, but we're not telling anyone the number and it's only there for adsl. We have a big cap on our mobiles, so we use them for everything !) Next time we move, we need to find places and contact the internet provider to see if it's an adsl area.

[deletedit]

Ok.
We have internet and mobile phones with separate companies. When we moved last time, we could only get wireless broadband internet from Telstra (the only thing anyone else could offer was dial-up ... there was no adsl on our side of the street )

We had that problem too, but the big indignity was the Telstra wireless broadband came on a really long contract, and you have to keep paying it or pay off the balance even if you never use it. We didn't think we'd move so soon, but we did.

Long contracts are evil. And Telstra love their long contracts. Whatever you do, don't sign up for anything that has a 12 or 24 or God forbid a 36 month contract when you move out of home.