Cheaper Stuffs

If you arrive in Australia, actually in Melbourne and need or want to buy things, you probably will think like me when I first came here, "It's good, really good price, so cheap", you are wrong, I got a 50" TV that I paid AU$1200, I thought it was cheaper, turns out 4 months latter the same TV was selling for AU$799 and now it is AU$699.

When I first came I had nothing than I came out to buy, refrigerator, washing machine, mattress and bla bla bla, everything, actually I got lucky, I got Easter deals at Mayers, lol, laugh a laud, I deserve, but I got lucky, I paid almost half price in everything that I've bought, after a full year I learnt few words "Boxing Day", "Half of Year Sale", yes it's right, if you can wait few months for sure you will get a sale and save lots of money.

During the time we have discovered some sites to buy online, many time cheaper than stores, have a look on these:
http://www.dealsdirect.com.au
http://www.oo.com.au

don't feel excited to start buying in one of those now, that’s the beauty, they have sales too and even better, many times they offer free shipping for whole Australia, this is the deal, sometimes you will pay much less but when delivery comes up, ohhh, you cry.

Those one have a really good daily sale, but you need to hurry up because each sale takes just a day, if you lost, it's gone
http://www.1saleaday.com.au
http://www.onedaysale.com.au/


If you want to buy some notebooks, go to OfficeWorks first, they have really good deals but.....wait for a good one. GB HIFI, Dick Smith they have too, not as good as Office Works but give it a shot but always, doesn't matter what I am saying compare prices, you will be impressed how different it could be.

If you want to go out, sometimes is good to see, touch what you are buying or even get a fresh air, go to "Going out of Bizness", it's insane:
http://www.goingoutofbizness.com.au/
I just love this store, I will give you a most recent example, a friend of mine bought to his son a RC Ferrari from a car dealer and paid for it AU$130.00 (this price was with discount), I shown him this store and he found out, the same car selling for AU$45.00, after that he wants to kill me and I understood why, lol, he was happy to know that place, too many good thing and cheaper than other stores.

Half Year Sale
Every end of June, every single company need to close their year, make the balance and see how much money they have made, they start selling like crazy from late May and early June,

Car Dealers are the best, they offer some very good deals, but if you sleep you will end up buying something with normal price, be aware, many stores does the same, you go to buy a good deal and end up with a bad one.

Even at Mayers, on half year sale my wife and I went there to see some stuffs, turns out she bought a GUESS handbag for AU$69.00, normal price was AU$189.00, but they had some of them with normal price just mixed within sales, sales and sales, pay attention.

Boxing Day
What can I say about it...

This is another good one, a day after Christmas, December 26 of each year, most Australian's store promote big sales, to much discount, but it is the same, many discounted things mixed with things with normal price.

Even next few days you still finding big deals, for sure much less stuff, people have bought almost everything, lol.
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A travel bag at an expensive store that the normal price was AU$3000.00, yes it's right they were selling for AU$1200.00 only, lol, still expensive to me but you cannot say that it's not a really good deal.

Everywhere in Australia, close to big and/or expensive stores since 7:00AM even earlier will be a line, lots of people waiting for the store to open to get a bargain, and they get it, would be good idea to wake up earlier and go to buy whatever you want, if you go late, most big deals are gone, or is impossible to park or even go inside the store.

You don't see much place in Australia like this in a ordinary day

For example Chadstone Shopping, 9:00AM it's full loaded, impossible to park, the really cheaper stuffs gone, people go there to buy stuff and sell on eBay or even in their own store, I go to buy to myself lol.

Well, wake up earlier, get dressed, skip breakfast and go to the war, spend some good money and buy some good things.

Cheers

Working

If you are like 99% of everybody and need to work to make some money then it is good idea to keep reading.

I know many people with a high degree like Architects, Engineers, Doctors, Psychologists from other countries, they cannot work here in their own areas because their diplomas are not recognized in Australia, they could validate their diploma in here but some areas like medical, are requested to make an examination, like a test, for this they need to know the English language really well, that is the biggest problem.

We are talking about the recognition of overseas qualifications while you stay in Australia, these are the people who do it.
http://www.business.vic.gov.au/BUSVIC/STANDARD/PC_63290.html

Overseas Qualification Unit
Level 20, 80 Collins Street
Melbourne Victoria 3001
Tel: (+61 3) 9938 0600
Toll Free: 1800 042 745
Fax: (+61 3) 9938 0543
Email: oqu@diird.vic.gov.au
Postal Address
Workforce Participation
GPO 4509
Melbourne, VIC 3001

However, don’t put too high hopes in them as they tend to undervalue foreign qualifications, but give it a try.



Finding a Job

If you are in a hurry and want to do anything, even cleaning, then would be easy, I know a cleaning company's owner, if you talk to her you will have many work to do, I know that she owns a really good company, at least people working for her are really happy, contact me if you are interested and I'll be glad to send you a link.

If you are confident that you have enough skills to work in something else, there is a site that should work for you, give it a try, I'm pretty sure that you can work something out here.
http://jobsearch.gov.au/ 
http://www.seek.com.au/ 

Sometimes you can find jobs here.
http://www.gumtree.com.au/




Been an Employee
If you are employee the you need to know few things:
You will need to apply for a TFN number, this allows you to work,  this is the ATO site http://www.ato.gov.au/youth/content.asp?doc=/content/4716.htm

You will need to pay 9% of your annual income to a superannuation, it is some money that is sacrificed every month from your salary, you can chose with company will manage your money, but you will be able to get it just when you reach certain age, you will get everything back with interest through the years.

You need to pay tax, better you will receive a salary without this taxes, the taxation is something like this:

Taxable income a year	Tax on this income
0 – $6,000	Free of Tax
$6,001 – $35,000	15c for each $1 over $6,000 under 35,000
$35,001 – $80,000	$4,650 plus 30c for each $1 over $35,000 under 80,000
$80,001 – $180,000	$17,550 plus 37c for each $1 over $80,000 under $180,000
$180,001 and over	$55,550 plus 45c for each $1 over $180,000

you can find out more at Australian Taxation Office
http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/12333.htm&mnu=42590&mfp=001 

it means that, if your annual income is AU$58,000, and you have a salary sacrifice of 9% of superannuation it will be AU$5,200

for now your taxable income if 58000 - 5200 that is AU$52,800.
Now use the table above to see how much more tax you would pay, in this case you will pay tax of 4,650 + ((52,800 - 35,001) * 0.30c), it will be 4,650 + 5,339.70 = 9,989.70
(gross salary - superannuation) - (smaller taxable income on table) * (cents founded on respective row of your salary on table)
In this case your salary will be 52,800 - 9,989.70 that is 42,810.30
now just divide this result by 12 months, it will be your month salary AU$3.567.53

Been a Contractor

When you work as a contractor you will need to aply for an ABN (Australian Business Number), it allows you to work, it means that you will receive your fee in full but you will need to pay tax once a year, I'll explain.

For example, if you work as a cleaner and you agency ask for your ABN, when you send your ABN to them, Australia Taxation Office knows that you are earning money, once a year at the end of the financial years you will be required to lodge a tax return, it is an application that send all informations that you fill in to ATO(Australian Taxation Office).

When you fill it in, it will tell you how much you will need to pay or how much to receive back, the good thing to be an employee is that every year you will receive it, if you work with an ABN number, I would save at least 10% a month to be prepared and pay the tax after one year.

The difference is employee pay upfront and contractor will pay after an year, I'm not sure if it's just 10% but be prepared.

The End of financial Year is 30th June, be aware and save some money, not just to pay tax but to spend some money, every store go crazy and the prices drop, I will talk about this on Cheaper Stuffs post...

See Ya...