[jan]

So many times on here we hear people suggesting we don't try to convert the $ to £.

How do you get on when buying something and don't want to feel like you have paid the earth for something half the price in GB ???

I know we will live to our means with the NZ $ in our pocket.

It is natural to compare to past living style with the £.

So if we where to go out to buy say a toaster which may cost £15 in GB, and it was triple that in NZ, would we still buy??

Jan xx :nice1

[Suzy Rimbo]

Hi Jan,

The way I look at it is if you really need it then you have to buy it no matter what it cost be it here or in NZ.

Like here you will look around and compare prices, brands etc but at the end of the day irrispective of the difference in cost between NZ and the UK you will have to some how find the money.

I do agree though, that it is human nature to compare and to see if we are better or worse off, but isn't that life were ever you are.

I think the members who say don't compare may mean your in NZ now so you need to pay NZ prices.

After saying all this, I will be one of those people with my calculator out comparing prices everytime we purchase something, and I'm sure you will find my thoughts on the forum :laugh

Suzy

[veronica]

Its more a point of not converting something, say a meal out and saying to yourself, $40 thats not bad, its only £15. you have to think $40 is perhaps 3 hours work here in NZ. Once you start earning NZ$ then it is best to think in NZ dollars. (unless you are lucky enough to be here and earning GB£)

[Moorf]

You can't compare because the cost in UK£ means nothing here! I still do it on occasion but you soon slip into knowing what's expensive or not based on your income in NZ :nice1

[wilson182]

We dont tend to do that at all anymore. I think we did in May when we were spending our UK money, but overhere my attitutude towards buying some thing is "what can we afford, OK we'll have that one then" I dont think in uk£ at all anymore.

[lindajax]

Hi All,

May sound a bit odd this ....

Initially I converted everything into £ but found it gave me no real clue as to the true cost of anything because here in NZ I found our pay is approx 25% less than what it was in the uk BUT here we are well paid ( not sure how that works but we seem better off)

SO what I started to do was (because I just couldn't get out of the nasty and , I may add pointless, habit of converting to £ I sort of add another 25% on top so say I pay $25 dollars for a top which converts to about £9.50 I add another 25% which makes it £11.87 which sort of lets you see cost of living really is in comparison to UK

Sometimes what can initially look cheap when you add the 25% can seem expensive

BUT saying all that it is sooooooooo hard not to compare prices in £ - I'm sort of trying to get out of the habit because when you look at a price tag of $170 for a pair of shoes I initially cringe than convert it to £ and its £65 I don't think when you take into consideration the lower pay that cheaper stuff is really cheaper if you get my drift.

Like Suzie said if you need it you'll buy it irrespective of £ to $ conversion or my wierd and wacky way of trying to ascertain true costs of things.

We are now working with our NZ pay alone - we've put our £ safely away and we live off our earinings.
We are finding it reasonably ok some things cheap some expensive - same as anywhere I suppose. We buy what we need and try not to go for the more expensive stuff in $ so thats pretty much what we did in the Uk really.

In the end you gotta live with what you got and budget to suit your income - thats the same the world over !

Linda x

[ruthyroo]

We stopped converting as soon as we were earning NZ$$ - GBP conversions really are meaningless once you start earning over here...

However, I do still occasionally convert to justify a relatively expensive purchase e.g. that $20 bottle of wine seems a lot more affordable when it is looked at as about 7GBP!

[sarahw]

Exactly the same as Ruthyroo - we were only converting whilst we were spending our £££ savings - as soon as we started earning the £££ has no meaning any more... I've found the $$$ prices (because they are larger numbers) make us think twice before spending which is a good thing as money was spent like water at home!