What’s it like where you live?

I'm in CHCH :) Iive in an awesome we house on the beach for $300 per week 3 bedrooms. We have never paid more than $300 p/w for a 3 bedroom and we have always gotten really nice houses with heatpumps.

Remember however salaries are also lower in cheaper parts of the country.
In my field of work average wages is 35k here in the Manawatu I can earn 45-50k in Welly or  40-45k in Akl. 
Our mortgage is lower we only pay $700 a fortnight, power/gas is $200 a month during winter for 2 adults. Cost of travel is around $50 a ft night. I travel 50kms a day. Groceries are much the same nationwide.

If he's considering study, check out Southland Polytechnic - Free Fees and accommodation is pretty cheap in Invercargill.  

We live in a 110sqm 3brdrm house on 670sqm section with sleepout for $275 in CHCH. That has brand new heatpump. Our power bills are normally about $100 in warmer months - have just gone up to between $250-300 cause we have heatpump on 24/7 as well as Econoheat in baby's room. Lots of stufy options (uni/polytech) in CHCH and most things are within 20min radius. .

we are in wellington region and live about 30mins drive from the middle of the city. we own a 4 bedroom house with no section at all and our motgage is $700 a week. its a decentish area. a mix a nice places and old places, flats, state housing etc... so its nothing special. we have to do our groceries for under $100 a week which includes nappies for crecehe and formula for both kids. out power bill is about $200 a month for 4 adults and 2 babies but we are pretty good about how much power we use. we are currently 5 weeks behind on our mortgage and if DH loses his overtime we would probably lose the house.

DH makes good money but i am at uni so we have to pay for both kids to be in creche despite me not making money so its pretty tight all round really

We live in Hamilton and pay $360 a week for our four bedroom + converted man cave garage/movie room.

We pay $38 a week evenpay power with Genesis.

We don't live in the best area but the house makes up for it somewhat.

Most decent 3+ bedroom houses in Hamilton are between $300 and $350 a week.    Most places I've looked at are quite big, have a garage and are fenced.

And we have Waikato University which I assume is ok. I didn't go there, but I haven't heard anything bad about it.

Hamilton has a bigger city feel, but it's small enough to get from once place to another quite quickly.   My DP grew up and lived in Auckland all his life until he met me and moved down here.   He said he would never go back to Auckland. He loves the lifestyle of Hamilton and the ease of getting places.

I live at the beach.

We spend $40 a week on petrol and that lasts a week, and can also include trips down to Auckland.

We live in a fairly newish house in a nice quiet cul de sac with lots of other families around us.. during the summer we never see the kids, they are usually found playing at the neighbours or in the middle of the court... we have to drag them inside for dinner and then they are back outside again... then have to drag them back again for bed.

Since moving here I have reduced our grocery bill by $100 - $180 a week (including F&V and meat).

The schools are all fantastic and have good ERO reports and are all Decile 9 or 10.

We are 20mins from Albany (where Massy Uni is situated) and about 40mins from the city. We have an awesome bus service too.

I love the community feel up here, and it helps that the beach is beautiful and so are the people.. I honestly don't think we'll ever move back to Auckland.

WRXnKids wrote: SIT in invercargill has free course's and its pretty cheap down here our mortgage is $340 a fortnight (3bdrm 90sqm house on 640sqm) our powerbill is in the $300s during winter but we have the dryer going alot 2 oilfin/waterfin heaters and a nightstore. Wages are lower than most other areas depending on the field you work in. Rent depending on area and quality of house is from about $150 i think (been awhile since ive looked at them) but for 3bdrm id prolly only consider those over $200 a week

Our mortgage is $350ish a week for a 4bedroom house, about 4 blocks from town. Sure we're on a busy road, but still have off street parking for 3 cars, a double garage. Houses are pretty cheap down here, although wages are generally on the lower side (it all works out cheaper living though apparently with rate of living compared to wages)

SIT is good value, heaps of courses! And they are pretty well respected too. Grocerys are the same as anywhere else (well, much of a muchness really!)...

Im in christchurch , i pay $290 a week for a 3 bedroom small but comfortable unit with no backyard in a small quiet culdisak in a very family friendly area, my last power bill was $250 for two adults  ( altho sometimes one adult as my partner does not live with me , hes not my child father) and one child. i work 20hrs a week and my wage alone covers my rent and my rent only , we have a polytech , a university , and a college of education here . Lifestyles quite good .

Auckland is carazy - we own our 3 bedroom small house in Massey and pay $510 a week mortgage but would be less if were on a longer term but it's a 15 year mortgage. Our place would rent for about $350. Teeny back yard but OSP for about 5 cars. Power is $150-$250 we are on even pay of $86 a week. We are about 20 mins form the city (when there's no traffic) and I spend $100 a week on gas, $250 a week on shopping (incl formula & nappies)

Keen to hear from more people living in Dunedin - my Mum is moving down there this year and is bent on us moving down eventually but I'm not so sure!

we live on the awhitu peninsula (south auckland) we pay $350 a week rent, we have 2 padocks tho and a big garage. DP spends another $100 on gas to get to work each week in Otahuhu