In Sydney you can be on a salary of 100k per annum, and still barely manage with a mortgage.

I'll explain, our taxes are incredible, we are one of the highest taxed nations. Mortgage loan interest from your investment property is tax deductable,not your primary residence.

The Average median home price in Sydney is 500k.

A bag of chips for kids costs about $7.40
A small bottle single serve, of water costs $2.50
A powerade costs $3.60
a single avacado costs $2.70 sometimes $3.00
A single lemon costs $1


I go to the grocery store and I see pensioners hardly able to afford basic food such as rice,meat,chicken and veggies. When I am in line behind a pensioner, my heart breaks because I see what they are buying is not enough,and sometimes we talk in the grocery line.

I went to buy some muffin mix today and one box was $5.00
So I thought I'd wait until the weekend when the big giants go to war.

I just don't understand what is happening to Australia.

Worst off, all our clothes are made in China. Also cut small to fit the evergrowing Asian population. I mean the clothes in the shops look like children clothes,but they are meant for grown women?? HUH!

Also the clothes are very poor quality in general. even Ralph Lauren clothes over here are made in China. In 4 washes you have a raggedy garment, that you paid a small mint for.

I know Melbourne has nicer clothes, when I was down there last year I saw better quality stuff.

Maybe I will write a letter to the Peter Costello?

Hi aussie,

First and foremost, it's not, "what's happening to Australia?", but in fact, just what seems to be more obvious in a place like Sydney.

I thank heavens I live where I live.

All Aussies know that Sydney has been over-rated, over-priced and over-accentuated, when it comes to this country and that's a shame.It's ruining a once beautiful city.

I'm in WA and I have NEVER paid anything like the prices you mentioned for groceries. I'm in the bush too, so our prices and choices are more limited.

There are bulk places in OZ, Aussie. The Big cheapie bulk buying place that was based on a no-nonsense approach, adapted from a German Model I think, has been in oz for a while now. It started in NSW and Vic I think? I can't remember it's name. Go a googling

Can you get to a markets on a weekend? Well worth the effort.

Don't lose your enjoyment of shopping and food preparation. You will be doing it for the rest of your life, after all

And spoiled or not, Tell that hubby of yours to get off his BUTT!!!!!!
Children are spoiled. Grown men make their own choices.

Sorry had to say it.

for you Aussie girl. Chin up



Noong

My folks had moved to the USVirgin Islands when I was out of school and the prices there were unreal...a long time ago, but.. Nearly everything food, construction, all other stuff was imported...Australia's a Continent? I fear it's like the US where so much is made and fed to us from off 'continent'. What is made and produced here is exported.
If I say more, it could become political...but what is in folks minds when they say that our food prices are going up because of corn prices going up for 'ethanol'...No It's gas prices...duh? There nuf said.
Nothing is making sense in either the food or the fuel worlds these days. Real estate prices here in good ol Capital City and beyond were going thru the roof and have come down noticably here...first time my prop. values have dropped in the 30 years I've been here. OH well. I've still got equity?
Lemons? Little more here...Water bottled? I would rather buy one of those 'filter thingies' and have it on the side. Avocados? Don't know if they're in season or not now..don't do 'em often. CHIPS? Outrageous? What's the exchange rate? Can I send you a carton? Would that be allowed? Gosh I could get rich on the S& H fees alone...Powerade stuff, doesn't that come in powder concentrates? Far cheaper...
Give me a farmer's market any old day! If you can find any near you you can find amazing in-season stuff! That's what I do...Here the season is early yet, and only some berries and leafy greens are readily available..but anything Home grown and fresh -not shipped from another continent is welcome. If you have one, check it out!

Do NOT GET ME STARTED on TAXES? This isn't the place for it. tho...Hugs to all! - j

Hi Noone, Your might be thinking of " Alders " their a German owned company, i had been told that it was super cheap to shop there, so just out of curiosity we went into town to Alders to have squizz, we were surprised really that it wasn't any were near as good as we were getting told, if you don't like eating nourishing food i suppose it might be ok, cause the main stuff in there was a lot of pastry items, frozen pies, pasties, sausage rolls, pizzas, dohnuts and all the muck, and a very weak display of frozen vegetables, so was the red meat section very limited, no fresh chicken fillets only frozen crumbed crap, the fish was the same, we walked out with nothing and went back to Safeway.

Sunday markets are the best and only way of getting fresh fruit and veg's,
as we live in the seaside/bush and there is a bit of seasonal local grown veg's and fruit around, it tastes 20 times better than Safeway's frozen crap.
all the best
Brian

Its the same in Vic to Aussie, supermarket prices are exploding, getting beyond a joke, doesn't matter if its Coles or Safeway, there both the same, EXPENSIVE.
If you go into Kmart all the clothes are cheap imported stuff, you might get some better quality stuff in Myres if ya lucky, , most of our own manufacturers have either closed up or moved to Asia were the labour is cheap as.
The Australia that i grew up in, is not the same country as it was.
all the best
Brian

Ah thanks brian. I hadn't realised it was so bad. Blechh! Obviously cheap imported rubbish. What a shame.

I'm a market girl myself.LOVE MY GREEN LEAFIES


Noong

P.S. Still waiting for that Tango Brian. The "New Hip Tango"

The Tango !! thats a real easy one to do now, i reckon i could just about give them a run for their money on " Dancing with the Stars " these days

Aussie:

You said this:

A bag of chips for kids costs about $7.40
A small bottle single serve, of water costs $2.50
A powerade costs $3.60
a single avacado costs $2.70 sometimes $3.00
A single lemon costs $1
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Now here's what I would do:
MAKE YOUR OWN POTATO CHIPS. Slice potatoes super thin, put them in hot frying oil, fry them up, add some salt and there you go.
Now I would never do this, too fattening, but if you are skinny and like chips, you will save BIG TIME doing this. I did this over 30 years ago and when I went outside to show my son and his friends, the neighbors grabbed the chips so fast, there was nothing left over for my son and his friends. We laughed our heads off. You can sprinkle onion powder and garlic powder.
Also, instead of frying, you can thin slice the potatoes, sprinkle on salt, garlic powder and onion powder, layer them on a big sheet and bake them.
Now you'd have to make a lot because everybody will be gobbling them up.
But you wouldn't be paying anything near $7.40 for a bag of these.

While you work, maybe hubby can learn how to do this???

--------------------------------------------------------------

Don't buy water. Unless the water that comes out of our faucet is undrinkable, then I'd use THAT WATER. IF not, buy a filter and use the water out of your tap and just filter it. There you go, that one out of the way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't know what a Powerade is. If it's a sports drink. DON'T BUY IT AND STICK TO WATER. Now we just saved some more money right??

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

An Avocado cost HOW MUCH!!!!! I wouldn't be buying avocados. That's it on THAT subject!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------

A single lemon costs $1.00. I would plant a lemon tree in my backyard and grow lemons. As a matter of fact, I'd grow EVERYTHING in my backyard (that is if I had a backyard).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOW LET'S GET TO THE BOX OF MUFFIN MIX. $5.00 for one box??????

Over here the muffin mix is a 7 oz box of muffin mix. Cost is 45 cents.

Of course, I can use Jiffy baking mix which is 40 oz and I got it on sale for $1.50. The day I spend $5.00 on a box of muffin mix, well, shoot me, and I obviously won't be making any more muffins.


So you have a couple of choices. Grow stuff in your backyard (that is if you have one), only go shopping when stuff is on sale.
Or Find a different city to shop in, take a whole bunch of money with you, take some cold keepers (so you can buy frozen stuff and it will stay frozen on the drive home, I've done that plenty of times).

Or you can move to Pennsylvania where everybody has a backyard, everybody grows everything themselves and you can bake fresh bread and drive yourself crazy withe the aroma of fresh baked bread all day long.

I could never do that because I don't eat bread and the smell alone would raise my blood sugar. lol

I never knew how expensive it was to live in Australia. I always thought Japan was the most expensive place to live. I once read that a pound of peaches cost $22.00 in Japan. YIKES!!!!

Melody

Hi Melody:
Thanks for your sensible tips for buying groceries. Many of us here in this country could benefit from following them when grocery shopping. I have read that drinking "designer water" from bottles is not as good as drinking the tap water in our cities, since fluoride has been added in most places. Kids growing up on non fluroride bottled water have more cavities, according to one article I read recently.

As a child of the Great Depression, I have always been very frugal about buying food. We don't buy chips for instance. Any exotic fruits are out of the question. I use prepared foods as little as possible. Many of us need to rethink our buying and eating habits.

Shirley H.

Mel,
I live in the city but have a small 10'x14' garden.
I have black thumb, but my wife puts in bell peppers,
eggplant, tomatoes, okra, squashes (zucchini) ,sometimes snow peas,
leaf lettuce, etc. Depends on which starter plants she gets, sometimes from seed.
Summertime is sliced beefsteak tomatoes, stuffed eggplant, eggplant on the grill, bell peppers & zucchini on the kabobs, cheaper meats marinated in cubes for the kabobs, chicken breast (I like bone-in for the grill), ribs (seldom), roasts on the grill- I have a habit of running out of propane in
the middle of a marinated (just some soy, Worcestershire, garlic powder, black pepper & red wine vinegar for a coupla hours), bottom round roast (sometimes wish I had charcoal again, but went 'gas' a coupla years ago cause the grill was on sale- love it) cause its hard to gauge when the tank is low. So we 'finish' in the oven.
Cheaper meats marinated, flank steak, bottom round (instead of top), and others. We buy on sale & we'll buy a 5-6 lb roast and have cubes, roast(s), julienned for stir fry. We wait for fish on sale (love shrimp) and freeze our portions so we get more than one or 2 meals out of it. Each pkg is about a pound to a pound and a half (I use a scale). I do the cut-up butchering of the larger pieces or whole poultry.
When the college kid is in town, we double our consumption- he eats as much as we do together. Plus what we usually don't have, sodas, chips, snacks, nuts.....junk food. But pre-portioning saves waste and keeps costs down. If we have leftovers its usually less than 1/2 a portion, so its a next day snack (or a pet treat).