What does 7th most expensive look like?

The Age recently published this article on the rise of Melbourne and Sydney on the World's most expensive cities to live in list.

The strong Aussie dollar is giving Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane the unenviable reputation of being among the world's most expensive cities, a global survey shows.
It's now cheaper to live in London, Vienna, Rome, Berlin, Hong Kong and Beijing than most Australian capitals, the Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living survey found.
Sydney is now the sixth priciest city in the world, up from 32nd place two years ago, while Melbourne has jumped from 38th to seventh.

So what exactly does it look like to live in one of the top ten most expensive cities? I thought it might be interesting to record some common prices we see from day to day.

• Average house price - $550,000 I see it as each bedroom costs about $200,000. In regional areas it goes down to each bedroom costs about $100,000.
• Mortgage - $2,580/month - Average mortgage is around $350,000. Interest rates are at 6.5% (low) to %8.5 (high). So this avg. mortgage at 7.5% over 25 years yields roughly a $2,560/month mortgage payment.
• Rent - $360/week. Around our area that will get you 2-3 bedrooms, 1-2 living areas, a small yard, garage, hole in the ceiling, leaking skylight, and leaking water tap.
• Average water/gas/electric bill per year - $2500
• Petrol - $1.37L = $5.17AUD/gal = $5.48USD/gal
• 5 seater, 4 door economy  - $35,000
• 5 seater, 4 door wagon - $85,000 - Sadly fake wood paneling is not included.
• text message - $0.50 to send, free to receive. Fit in as much as possible when texting. Don't ask your friends too many questions.
• We pay $50/month for internet - this gives us 30gb peak download/70gb off-peak downloads. Once you go past that you are at snail mail speed.
• DVD rental - New release $6.00
• Tickets for two adults to the cinema - $28.00 - Sadly dollar cinemas do not exist over here. The cheap nights cost $9.00/person. So cheap.
• Dinner out for two in the city - I read recently the avg. was about $50/per person.
• Pint of beer at the pub - $9.00
• Coffee at the cafe - $4.00 - This would be a small or extra-small in Starbucks size. Do they even have an extra-small option?
• Cheap haircut - $25.00 (this is like Great Clips in the US)
• Pair of jeans from Target - $45.00
• 3L of milk - $3.00/3L = $3.78AUD/gal =  $4.00USD/gal
• Loaf of bread - $2.50AUD = $2.65USD
• Loaf of nutty, oh so good, bread - $4.50AUD = $4.77USD 
• 1 kilo of minced beef (Aldi price) - $8AUD/kilo = $3.85USD/lb.
• 1 kilo of chicken breasts skin off (Aldi price) - $10.00AUD/kilo = $4.75USD/lb.
• 1 tub of yogurt (1kg) - $4.00AUD - $4.26USD
• dozen eggs - anywhere from $3.00 (don't care about chickens' living conditions) - $7.00 (care immensely about chickens' living conditions)
• Nappies - cheapest ones are at Aldi - 44pk for $14.00 - $0.31/nap Everyone at church with a kid knows what another parent is talking about when they ask, "do you have a koala?" Or,"do you have a kangaroo?"
• Wetwipes - again cheapest at Aldi - $2.69/pk - $0.03/wipe
• Yearly school fees - private - around here $10,000 per child/year would be the average. With $4,000 being the lowest I could find at a local Christian school.

Last but not least income tax

Ammount Earned                             Tax on Income
$0 - $6,000                                          nil
$6,001 - $37,000                                 15c for each $1 over $6,000
$37,001 - $80,000                               $4,650 plus 30c for each $1 over $37,000
$80,001 - $180,000                             $17,550 plus 37c for each $1 over $80,000
$180,001 -  over                                  $54,550 plus 45c for each $1 over $180,000



Cost of living report for Melbourne - some of the prices seem to be way too high. Like children's shoes at $85. At k-mart you can get them for around $30.00.

So there you go. That is what you can spend your money on in the 7th most expensive city in the world.