Cost of Living - Shopping with Ms Shortie

Many of you are probably wondering what is the cost of living in New Zealand. It is definitely something to consider if you plan to move here. There are multiple websites that helps one to compare between countries. However while these website provide a glimpse at the difference between the cost of living, we felt it wasn't adequate. This is mainly due to the difference in culture between Singapore vs other countries (especially western). 
Case in point: When you compare the price of bread between SG and NZ, what bread we are comparing against? Gardenia vs Sunflower Canterberry Lindseed bread? Kaya toast vs focaccia bread (exotic in SG but common in NZ)? Or fancy (and overpriced) Breadtalk vs run of the mill croissant? Unfortunately Numbeo doesn't make a distinction. Bread is bread.

This leaves a lot of room for ambiguity. When you are brought up on Gardenia white bread, you are not likely to immediately switch your diet to German dark rye bread and this is where we felt the websites were not specific enough.

Thus we've tried to compile of list of our living expenses and household stuff/groceries below. As far as possible, we tried choosing brands that can be commonly found in Singapore.  Hopefully this would remove some of the ambiguity and give you a better idea of how much you may be spending. 
(Note that this is only for Wellington where prices are a tiny little bit more expensive than in Auckland)

Living Expenses

Rent: $500/week (inclusive of car park) [average rate for a car park is $50/week] 

Home insurance: $40/month [to cover for contents in our house in case of natural disasters or burglary]

Power: $120-$200/month [varies between summer and winter]

Internet: $90/month [unlimited usage plan]

Petrol: $80/month [we only drive during weekends]

Household Stuff & Groceries

There are 4 big supermarket chains in Wellington – Moore Wilsons, New World, Countdown and Pak n Save.

Moore Wilsons is the most expensive. In relative terms of ambiance, pricing and speciality goods, we rank it on par with MarketPlace. Followed by New World (Cold Storage) and Countdown (NTUC) and Pak n Save is something like Giant or Sheng Siong. Although Moore Wilsons and New World may be the most expensive, there are sometimes deals where you can get stuff cheaper than Pak n Save. You can bring down your spending if you know where and when to buy. 

There is also the Sunday Farmers Market where we get our fresh fruits and vegetables. Can’t get any fresher than that as Ms Shortie often find caterpillars in her veg. Yucks but I guess it means no pesticide!

There are also quite a number of asian supermarket where one can get asian ingredients. While items sold here are generally more expensive, they are not exorbitant. 

In general, we go to:  

-          Sunday Farmers Market for fruits and veg

-          Pak n Save for meat, other food and household stuff

-          New World for convenience coz its near our home

-          Asian supermarket for most things Asian

Prices from Pak n Save & New World

Item	Quantity	Brand (or similar to)	Normal Price	Sale Price
Bread	1 loaf	Gardenia	$2.18	3 for $5
Bread	1 loaf	Ploughman (wheat, nuts; healthy kind)	$2.99
Milk	1L		$2.45
Eggs	30; size 7		$11.00	$9.78
Ham	100g			$1.00
Cheese	12 slices	Cheesedale		$2.69
Potato chips	150g	Kettle		$1.99
Potato chips	150g	Pams (homebrand)		$1.30
Cup noodle		Maggi	$1.25
Instant noodle	5 pack	Maggi	$2.78
Tea	100 bags	Dilmah		$4.19
Coffee (plunger powder)	200g	Robert Harris		$6.00
Coffee (granulated instant powder)	360g	Nescafe	$18.98
Milo	530g			$6.38
Coke	1.5L			$1.74
Cornflakes	380g	Kellogs	$2.48
Pasta	500g	San Remo	$2.11
Pasta	500g	Budget (homebrand)	$0.83
Canola oil	500ml			$2.68
Olive oil	1L	Borges		$9.98
Nutella	400g		$5.84
Tabasco	60ml		$4.99
Rice	1kg	Sunrise	$2.50	$1.98
Beer	330ml x 12 bottles	Heineken	$21.98
Minced pork	1kg		$14.50	$9.99
Pork loin chop	1kg		$16.98
Chicken drumsticks/thighs	1kg		$9.98
Chicken breast	1kg		$12.98
Whole chicken	1kg		$14.98
Beef rum steak	1kg		$21.98
Beef porterhouse steak	1kg		$30.98
Red cod fish	1kg		$13.98
Salmon	1kg		$26.98
Frozen uncooked prawns	1kg		$24.98	$17.00
Shampoo	300ml	Clairol Herbal Essence	$6.30
Shampoo	300ml	Dove		$5.00
Shampoo	350ml	Pantene		$5.00
Shampoo	250ml	Garnier		$2.99
Body wash	250ml	Original Source	$4.06	$2.99
Body wash	375ml	Dove	$4.98
Kitchen towel	2 rolls			$2.45
Tissue box	180 sheets	Homebrand	$1.30
Toilet paper	18 rolls	Kleenex		$12.00
Dishwashing liquid	750ml	Palmolive		$2.69
Laundry detergent	2kg	Persil		$12.00
Laundry softener	400ml	Comfort		$4.00
AA Battery	12 pcs	Energizer		$13.00

Prices from Sunday Farmers Market

Item	Quantity	Price
Broccoli	1 head	$1.00 - $1.20
Bok Choy	1 bunch (4 - 5 stalks)	$1.50
Kai Lan	1 bunch	$3.00
Chai Sim	1 bunch	$2.50 - $3.00
Leek	1 stalk	$1.00
Lettuce	whole	$1.50
Cabbage	whole	$1.50 - $2.50
Potatoes	2kg bag	$2.50
White onions	1 bag (6 - 7 onions)	$1.00
Ginger	1kg	$7.00
Chinese garlic	1 bag (7 - 8 bulbs)	$2.00
NZ garlic	1 bulb	$1.00
Carrots	1kg bag	$1.00
White button mushrooms	1kg	$9.99
Brown button mushrooms	1kg	$10.99
Shallots	1kg	$6.99
Capsicum (Red)	each	$0.99 - $1.50
Apple (Royal Gala)	1kg	$1.50
Apple (Granny Smith)	1kg	$1.50
Oranges	1kg	$5.00
Mandarin oranges	1kg	$2.69
Pineapple	each	$3.00
Banana	1kg

Skilled Migrant Category Visa Demystified

Lots of people have asked us about the actual visa application process. It's really complicated. Nothing we say can save you from nights of anxiety attacks. But maybe this can help:

Larger version here. Note that we didn't create the chart. It was created by Bostonian from ENZ.org. Kudos to him. Hopefully that helps someone out there.

Part 1 and 1/4: Working Culture (Ms Shortie's perspective)

Well, Mr Fatty had given his view about the working culture here, so now’s my turn.

I’d definitely have to agree with the going home on time, coffee breaks and generous praises. It is really OK to go home at 5pm, 4.45pm or even 4.30pm if you have finished your work and nobody is going to say anything about it. There was once when I had to stay back to make international calls (because of the time difference) and by 5.30pm the office was empty except my senior manager and I. He only realised I was still in office when he was about to leave and told me “You should go home, its Friday. Make arrangements with your manager to make the call at another time so you don’t have to stay back. You shouldn’t be in the office at this hour”. But it’s only 5.30pm!

On coffee breaks, I often see people in the kitchen (they call it the “kitchen” over here; “pantry” is where you store food - one of the numerous difference in NZ) chit chatting, reading the newspapers, having a cuppa. And it’s ok. At first, I didn’t dare to take breaks because I was afraid that people might say “she must be too free, nothing to do…” (typical Singaporean) but nobody says anything here. Sometimes I go to the café across the road and I see my senior manager there having his cuppa as well.

I get really pai seh when my manager says “thank you for your work done this week” or “great job, this work is awesome” or “I’m so sorry I have to trouble you to follow up on this…”. I often don’t know how to react. I mean, it’s my job and I was just doing my work, and it’s not like I worked super hard. But managers are really appreciative here and it makes me want to do more for them.  

On discrimination, I haven’t experienced any in my work place. Count me lucky that there is a fellow Singaporean in my office but I’m the only Asian in my team of 20 pax. I feel that I have been given the same opportunity to perform as the rest. I have also been invited to BBQs, Christmas parties, Beer o’clock on Fridays, etc. I haven’t attended any Beer o’clock sessions as I don’t drink but I still get invited almost every Friday. In fact, being Chinese has given me an advantage because I could communicate with their chinese stakeholders. Many times, my colleagues tell me that they wished they could speak another language other than English. China is NZ's second largest trading partner and us Singaporeans being bilingual helps a lot. Take for example something simple like arranging for a courier from China to NZ, I would have to make the call because the person at the other end do not speak a single word of English. Or if a potential chinese investor sends an email, nobody would be able to read it and they might just lose the opportunity for business. During my younger days in Singapore, I used to winch whenever it's time to attend chinese lesson (听写，默写 and whatever 写) but now I’m glad that I am bilingual, and I give credit to the SG educational system for that. You’d really come to appreciate that knowing two languages gives you an edge above the rest. Oh the irony! My Chinese actually improved while I'm in NZ. 哈哈!

Ms Shortie