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Talking about moving to Hawaii when you haven' t even been there is very is very foolish, especially when there are children involved. You need to visit .
Unfortunately with my husbands crazy profession, we don't get that luxury. Never mind we are pretty adventurous. After all I moved to North Dakota from Australia with never having visited the US before (with 3 kids in tow).
We can handle most things, just needed to get my head around the potential expenses.
^ with 3 kids, you'll want your combined income to be at the very least 100k to survive living a "normal" lifestyle and handle normal expenses.
$150k+ is better. If you guys are in that range, you probably don't have much to worry about unless you're looking at private schools or are accustomed to a more luxury lifestyle.
With 3 kids and a husband, your food costs are going to be very high. you will definitely want a Costco/sam membership.
And I'm not trying to get smart with you or anything, but aren't you a family of 5, and not 4? Unless your husband is going to be away most of the time?
Groceries -- Depends where you shop and what you put on the dining table. Safeway is twice as much as Costco. For a family of 4, it is about $1,200-1,600/month depending on how many meals you dine out per week.
Utilities -- My Kitchen range, dryer and water heater are gas. About $80/month. With 3 window AC and other appliances, electricity charge is between $100 to $180 per month in a 1,900 sq ft house. But my house is in a breezy area. Mililani is not that hot. So maybe in this range too.
Cable & Internet (Basic) -- $72 from Oceanic Warner Cable
Gas -- at Costco it is $2.55/gal, other gas stations about $2.95/gal
Doctors co-pay -- only two major providers: Kaiser or HMSA (affiliated with Blue Cross Blue Shield). For HMSA PPO, it offers 90/10, 80/20 and 75/25 plans. For a visit to family doctor under 80/20, the co-payment is about $14. It also offers HMO plan.
Gym membership -- the cheapest is YMCA. For a family of 4, the monthly membership is about $80. You can visit any YMCA island wide.
Travel time from Mililani to UH at Manoa -- depends on at what hour you commute and how many passengers in your car.
^ with 3 kids, you'll want your combined income to be at the very least 100k to survive living a "normal" lifestyle and handle normal expenses.
$150k+ is better. If you guys are in that range, you probably don't have much to worry about unless you're looking at private schools or are accustomed to a more luxury lifestyle.
With 3 kids and a husband, your food costs are going to be very high. you will definitely want a Costco/sam membership.
And I'm not trying to get smart with you or anything, but aren't you a family of 5, and not 4? Unless your husband is going to be away most of the time?
Thank you!
I realised my typo of 4 instead of 5 :-) but thought most would be familiar with that family size. We are a pretty budget conscious family for meals (preparing at home, etc). Costco membership certainly sounds good - would you recommend Costco over Sam's?
Another important utility bill I forget to mention.
Water and sewage.
Due to neglect of one of Honolulu's ex-mayors who had diverted funds for sewage improvement to parks and whoever knows where it goes, the sewage fee has been going on a hike for many consecutive years. And its rate is directly linked to water usage.
So if your landlord requires you to keep the yard green by setting the sprinkler system to automatic mode for 30-minute watering every morning, you should anticipate a water/sewage bill of $250+ per month.
As far as prices, someone posted this comparison. Might be outdated, who knows. Obviously it's not a live comparison, as Costco's milk is even cheaper than shown here. Costco is generally cheaper, some things can be up to (or more than) half the cost elsewhere, some items the savings is much less. All depends.
Long story short, a comparison was done, and Costco was cheapest for a set basket of goods. The next highest supermarket was 46% higher. If you estimate you spend $1000 a month in groceries at Costco, that means, you're paying $460/month more at a grocery store. Of course if you're shopping at Costco, you're buying in bulk, so if half of what you buy goes to waste, you're not really saving. If you're buying produce, you'll need to start freezing what you can't use immediately.
Overall, I agree with this comparison. Safeway is among the most convenient, most locations being 24 hours and all, but they are overall the most expensive. I actually prefer to shop at Times.
I realised my typo of 4 instead of 5 :-) but thought most would be familiar with that family size. We are a pretty budget conscious family for meals (preparing at home, etc). Costco membership certainly sounds good - would you recommend Costco over Sam's?
I prefer Costco, mainly on location. The store locations themselves are better, as is the gas pump locations. The sams clubs are on 2nd floor of shopping complexes and the gas pumps located away from the store. At least this is true for the pearl city and koreamoku stores.
Overall, I agree with this comparison. Safeway is among the most convenient, most locations being 24 hours and all, but they are overall the most expensive. I actually prefer to shop at Times.
The above link isn't realistic shopping. If Brawny paper towels are on sale at Safeway I'll take those over let's say Scott's not on the Club card. The problem with exact comparisons is people change shopping habits based on sales.
I did find funny the infamous milk is more expensive at Costco.
Costco counts on you not doing normal shopping- they also want you to buy all the electronics, furniture, or other goofy food items you wouldn't normally buy. I'll brave the Costco lines in Hawaii Kai but in my opinion it is more for niche items than actual grocery shopping.
I don't think Sam's Club requires a membership, does it? We don't have them on Hawaii Island, so I dunno much about them.
They do, and it's comparable to CostCo.
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