cowboy style - help

[Werner]

My hubby is a qualified spraypainter and we are going cowboy style end of october 2008. is there anyone on the forum who is in the motor trade and went this route? how easy is it to find jobs in the motor trade? can you suggest a personnel agency/company? we already have 110 points and we are hoping he gets a job offer to increase our points and apply for pr. we will be going to christchurch.  are there any other south africans leaving around this time? plerase tell us the date of your flights maybe we can travel together!

[Happy Expat]

Welcome Werner

I could possibly help. Will PM you now

[aniena]

Hi Werner

Remember you don't need 140 points to get selected, and when you get your job, they will fast forward your PR. It also helps to tell employers that you started your immigration process already. Your in the process of immigrating. Meaning EOI.  They will look at you in a different light - like " This guy is serious, he's hear to stay"

I've they ask- tell them the truth - you did your EOI, and are waiting to be selected.

Regards

Aniena

[Feather]

That's exactly what my DH did.  And employers do look at you in a different light because they know that you are serious about living and working in NZ!

[Johan01]

Just remember to looh at the salary you'r gonna get. $40k does not gut it if you have a family. After tax rent etc you have around $30 for food a week. and that is working at a cheap rental house. Very quickly you get cuaght in a situation where you have to choose between food - work - travelling. At this stage I am at work. My wife is at home. The kids cannot go to school at least they have a few days of food. I cannot get home so will be sleeping in the streets or some ally. Then go back to work tomorrow. Will hopefully be able te get some left overs from a restaurant, otherwise will wait to tomorrow evening and seee if I can get home then.

Infortunatly the PR is taking way longer then expected and were costing way more then expected. How long it will still take I really don't know. Once we can get that out of the way then we can try to make a living if we make it to that point at all.

Bluntly said .. be extremely careful when doing cowboy .. you might have the skills etc. but it opens you to be taken advantage of and then you're stuck and can't move till PR is done.

SO this is cowboy style  ....  you'll have to be prepared to live in the streets eat as little as possible ... food will become a luxury, a steak unoptainable, fruit & vegies 2 teaspoons every second day. Milk one cup for the family per day. Bread half a bread only for the kids. Rice & noodles will become your main diet. If you have spare money you can buy suace powder and spice up the rice or noodles that way. 

[Amber]

Johan
Thats sounds really terrible, how did you manage to get into such a situation?  My DH is not earning a great wage and I am at home but we are living quite comfortably.  We can't safe at the moment but we are not out on the streets!  If you are working you must have a work permit so why can't your kids go to school?  And if you have a work permit then your wife would have one two she could do something, even if it is packing shelves in the supermarket.  there must be a better way than you sleeping on the streets, surely?
Amber

[LoveNZ]

What can we do to assist?

[Saturn_Moon]

Oh Johan01

I didn't know that you guys are in such a tough situation. Thanks for the heads up but I hope things work out for you guys soon.  Surely someone will be able to help. I also agree with Amber's suggestions.    and take care.

[Bevmac]

Oh my word Johan01 

Where are you situated, cant some of the folks already in NZ help with a lift home at least???

Im sure someone could help out for a while?

Good Luck i hope you come right VERY soon, sounds horrible for you and your family!!!!

[bruceb]

Hi there

hubby and me are flying from Cape Town 27th of October and comes back 12 November, going to check out things in Auckland and try and find him a job...have a safe flight

[ingridp]

My DH packed a suitcase & came to Auckland, put on probation on minimum wage. Me & 2 girls came a month later, been here for 2 months. No car, no furnature. no money, sold furniture to pay for tickets. I don't work yet, walk my child to school, husband got train to work, recently got a company bakkie till we get a car. Got furniture from freecycle or trade me. not the best but more than adequite. with no overtime DH brings home about $700 a week. we pay rent for 3 roomed house, electricity, phone,renting a washing machine and tv.   and we have a decent meal every night,and spoils. yes, it will tke a while to get our material things built up again, but we are safe and happy. there is so much work and now that my little one is happy at school, i'm going to start looking for work, with no qualifications, but i will do anything to get us started.  Life is good here! Yes I miss Africa and all the familiar things, bush trips etc, but wouldn't change our decission to be here!!

[Eileen]

Hi, Ingrid. I take my hat of to you!!! Well done and good luck.. Life is not easy but it just goes to show that with a bit of savvy, it can be done!

[Johan01]

Sorry my post was just as a warning that things canbe become tough ... and one should really start from the bottom.

So now it's to the drawing board for us and making some huge changes.

Anyone wants to take over the finances of a Pajero 4x4

We will also have furniture to sell and have some is listed on trade me.

[zatexnz]

One must be willing to do with little at first and not get into debt when you arrive here.  Debt can kill you.  Rather buy a small car for a few thousand dollars cash; buy 2nd hand furniture, and wait till you can really afford the nice things.  That's the way we started out when we first moved to the States 10 yrs ago.  We just had a bed, a dining suite and a computer desk.  When we moved into our first home there, we were using the furniture from a guy at church that had been evicted (due to a nasty divorce), and couldn't afford to pay storage.  So we were helping him by storing his stuff, while we could use it.  Then when he took his stuff, we went to a consignment store and got a really old lounge suite for next to nothing.  We used that for quite a while, before we were able to afford a nice suite. 

For us, coming to NZ from the USA was a whole different story, as we'd saved up a lot, and our US$ gave us more NZ$.  But we if had not, we would have still been willing to start at the bottom with furniture and things, indeed, we didn't go out and buy fancy stuff immediately...
Like Dave Ramsey says, "in the beginning, you have to live like nobody else (with very little), so that later you can live like nobody else (with a nice nest-egg)".

Don't give up Hope!! Johan, we'll pray things work out for you.  It's just a matter of time, and mindset!

[WendyH]

You're right Colleen, we bought what we needed for cash and are not buying anything else until we have PR. We therefore have a totally empty spare bedroom and the minimum of towels and sheets and things like that. We do have extra money but that's getting saved for now.