vwbabe

Hi there

Myself, hubby and daughter are wanting to move to the UK and would like to me more SA families to give advice with regards to monthly living expenses

Any advice would be greatlt appreciated

Thanks

Freshie

hey vwbabe!

Maybe this will help you? I did not look on this site in detail, but maybe there will be some email adresses to contact them?
good luck!

mikelincs

Anyone in the UK can give you the information, but we really do need a bit more information, such as where you are wanting to locate to, what sort of lifestyle are you looking at, quiet, clubbing, eating out a lot, size of house, renting or buying? all these are factors that will affect the living costs.

vwbabe

Hi Freshie

Thanks for that, I did check it out...want to know wxactly what to expect ito cots aswell, nerve recking, are you in th UK?

vwbabe

We are a family of three, our daughter is 3...so ja, looking to stay in Wimbleton or Southfields, not sure what is better, safety is important. Working probably in London. What could food, cable, gas etc cost? What deduction do you pay from your payslip...

Thanks again all

vwbabe

We are a family of three, our daughter is 3...so ja, looking to stay in Wimbleton or Southfields, not sure what is better, safety is important. Working probably in London. What could food, cable, gas etc cost? What deduction do you pay from your payslip...

Thanks again all

christmasoompa

Not sure if it helps, but I'm in South East England (although not London) and a family of four and here are our monthly outgoings -

electricity £200 per month (large farmhouse though, and that's for everything as we're not on mains gas so our heating as well)
food I spend around £100 a week
water is approx £250 per year
broadband/phone (all calls included) is about £20 a month (we don't have cable or Sky tv though)
Council tax - £209.00 per month
Tv licence - £12 per month

I don't have any childcare fees anymore as my children are both in school full-time, although they do various activities after school such as tennis, ballet, swimming lessons.

The car costs me £210 a year in tax, about £250 in insurance and then I fill it up (£80 for a tank full) about twice a month, but I don't do big distances very often. If you're planning on being nearer London then you may just be able to use public transport but I'm in the middle of nowhere so that's not an option!

Hope that helps the budget a bit anyway, good luck.

vwbabe

Thanks for taking the timeout to answer all...

This gives us more or less an idea.

We will be looking at a two bedroom place. Could any other areas also be recommended that are nice, country style living, safe...

christmasoompa

You won't get 'country style living' in Wimbledon or Southfields. They're nice areas of London, but they are still in one of the biggest cities in the world.

If you want country living you'd need to move further out.

Rosemary

Hello and a big welcome to BE.

Excellent information can be found in the BE Wiki, not forgetting the Living and Moving Abroad forum that will help you, another set of great help is the permanent threads at the TOP of each forum, they are very pertinent to that particular forum and makes sensible reading.

Moderators deal with any problems that arise such as inappropriate posts, spammers etc, you will find their names at the bottom right hand side of each forum's index in bold font.

Please contact me if I can give you any further help.

Rosemary

Jerseygirl

Welcome to BE. I have moved your thread over to our Moving Back To The UK forum.

brits1

Hi, We have plenty of families living near by who are from S.Africa, Zimbabwi etc I know they do not go on expats sites though so I can see if I can bend their arms lol....all are happy here though I can say that for them. If you want a more semi rural lifestyle then you will have to look at other areas (you mentioned good leafy areas but not country life style) do you have to work in London? if that is a definate then think on how far/distance you would want to commute (a lot of people I know who work in London choose to live further out and travel for longer and they dont mind) the further out the more you can "get" for your money in regards to homes etc.....Norwich is a good city and a commute of about 1 hour to London by train. I suppose different people have different lifestyles so costings can be all over the place....we have a BMW road tax is 30 pounds a year and my insurance is very low which is one of the reasons we bought the car, our son has a small car and it costs him less to run and use as well because we also did our homework on the costings, same with household bills....shop around and you can get excellent deals. Good luck, ps I would ask as may questions as possible it all helps.

MagsB

Hi there! We are a South African couple, also with a daughter, who will be moving to the UK later this year. In the past there had been fantastic online communities and forums for South Africans living in the UK, however they all seem to have disappeared! I do belong to a Facebook group called ZAUK, they are very friendly and you might want to join them if you are on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/zaukmembers/

With regard to Wimbledon: yes, there are loads of Saffas living in Wimbledon/Southfields. However, it might be good to keep in mind that many of these are young single people who live in house shares. I think it is enormously expensive for a family to live in Wimbledon. We certainly will not be able to afford to rent a two bedroom flat/house in SW19.

Are you sure about work in London? We will also be moving to London, mainly because my husband will be freelancing for a London company. We've looked at various options, compared the cost of rent/train fares/council tax, and also quality of schools, and we came up with Bromley. Fantastic area on the South-East London/Kent borders. Schools are really good (believe me, I have put in not hours but WEEKS of research), and there are plenty of 2 bed flats available for under 1000 pound pm. Have a look on www.rightmove.co.uk and compare with other London surburbs. On rightmove there is also a fantastic feature that allows you to see how well local schools do in Keystage 2 results and Ofsted reports.

How old is your daughter? When are you planning to move? PM me if you'd like to chat!

Magda

Pomster

Having lived in suburbs either side of Wimbledon, I had to smile at the idea of it being country living.

2 bed properties are around 1300-1500 pcm, and they will not be spacious. It is a great spot for commuting and lifestyle, but that's why rents are high.

vwbabe

Thanks to all for your input