Mum's gone 2 Aus

Over the past 24 hours there has been wide discussion and debate regarding a 2012 – 2013 Budget announcement and the Australian government’s proposed LAFHA reform. Mum hopes to set the record straight…

Update on LAFHA Reform

On Tuesday 8th May, in a joint media release with the Hon David Bradbury Assistant Treasurer and Minister Assisting for Deregulation, the Australian government announced further reforms to the Living Away from… Read more

A few weeks ago we wrote about Opening a bank account in Australia – which bank and when to open an account. Mum explained that it’s easy to open an account from your country of origin and pick up your cards once we arrive in Aus. Of the “big four” banks in Australia we recommended the Commonwealth Bank Australia and can provide assistance in opening an account: read about our call back service… Read more

Relocating to Australia is expensive and no end of people will tell you that the cost of living down under is high. All this talk of money and budgeting means that you need to find the right bank and products to manage your finances during and after your move to Australia.

What did we do?

When planning our relocation to Australia we discussed opening an Australian bank account whilst we were in the UK, with a… Read more

Now we’ve decided to buy a property in Australia we’re starting to care about things that didn’t interest us before such as the GBP to AUD exchange rate and how to move funds from the UK to Australia.

If we sell our property in the UK in order to purchase a home in Sydney we will need to transfer a lump sum from the UK to Aus. These days you wouldn’t go to your High Street… Read more

Mum regularly contributes to expat and relocation forums. Questions regarding the cost of living and monthly expenses in Australia are extremely common. We regularly read discussions regarding the minimum salary required to live in Australia’s most popular cities; in particular Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

What income do families need to live in Australia?

At Mum’s gone 2 Aus we have already published a number of articles relating to the cost of living in Australia and… Read more

We started Mum’s gone 2 Aus five months after relocating to Australia. One of the reasons we started the blog was because we found our first months here very overwhelming, and before and after our arrival we spent a huge amount of time searching the Internet for information that just wasn’t there.

At the time, we didn’t know much about the services of relocation consultants. Using a relocation consultant didn’t occur to us when planning our… Read more

Last week’s relocation dilemma: Should we go on a reccy? received lots of discussion and great tips over on the Mum’s gone 2 Aus Facebook page and here on the blog. A different but related dilemma is how long to stay in short term accommodation i.e. when you first arrive in Australia before securing a long term rental property or buying a house.

What type of short term accommodation?

Before discussing the length of time families… Read more

A common dilemma for families considering emigration is “Should we go on a reconnaissance trip?” also called a reccy and spelt in a number of different ways (recci, reccie, recce). If you’re South African you will be wondering whether to take an L.S.D trip…Look See and Discover before you start getting ideas about those crazy South Africans!

To recci or not? What did we do?

When we applied for Australian Permanent Residency we hadn’t set foot… Read more

The cost of living in Australia is a hot topic for migrating families. The Australian dollar is strong and the cost of living seems high to most new arrivals. Last month we shared our Australian Family Relocation Budget and discussed the savings you’ll need to move to Australia (assuming you’re not relocating all expenses paid through work).

Today we look at the monthly expenses your family will need to cover in Australia and share our experience… Read more