Boodles

Hello, I am new to this forum and would like to ask for some information from all you good folks about the cost of retuning home. My husband (he is a CDN) and I (British) want to return to England. I have been away for far too many years, 30 plus, and have never stopped feeling homesick. Now we are at retiring age, with not too much money at our disposal and I was wondering what kind of income we would need to live an ordinary, quiet, little life back home. I have researched all the requirements with regard to sponsoring my husband but have no idea about day to day living stuff. I do not have any relatives left in England to ask and I would be very grateful for any information. Also, does anyone have any idea what income is needed to pass the requirement by the UK Visa people. Many Thanks. Boodles

nwtrucker

Crikey, where do we start!

Our average weekly food bill ( 2 adults 2 small children £80-100 per week)
Petrol =£1.07 per litre
Gas/Electric= £1000 pa and rising!
council tax= £120

Are you going to be mortgage free? This can make a massive difference to your prospects.
If not, your gonna be shocked at the cost of housing!

I have to go out now but i'm sure you'll get loads of info on here.
Its all down to personal circumstances at the end of the day.
Good luck

Fleaflyfloflum

It depends where you are living i think.

Petrol nowhere near £1.07 where we are. Anything between 98p - £1.04

We are a middle aged couple no kids and one small dog. Shopping is costing us approx £40 per week as we are bargain hunters!
If you go to most supermarkets near the end of the day you can pick up amazing bargains to take home and freeze.
I got 6 crusty rolls for 5p yesterday!!
Last week... blackberries 9p a box. Bag of green beans 10p!
Plus loads more i wont bore you with.

Dont know about utilities yet as we are not in our own home yet, but my daughter has 2 kids and doesnt pay anyhting like £1000 a year, but maybe its warmer down south!

Will you be working or enjoying full retirement?

Boodles

Hi everyone,

Yes, Fleafly, we will be fully retired, both of us 62, I have taken into consideration the cost of housing, (may be best for us just to rent). What I have no idea about are the things like grocery bills, utilities, tv, phone, internet access, public transportation etc. We would live in the south, I am originally from Essex. Thank you all so much for any information.

Fleaflyfloflum

Well thats good because we are in Essex right now

We have been back 3mths. We were supposed to be moving to Sussex where OH was offered a job, BUT, in the last few days, he has got a very good offer near Maldon.
(He is a psych nurse)
We are now in a dither over what to do!

I must say, if you are thinking of Essex, I have noted some lovely villages up that way and the rents are extremely reasonable! I think thatr is because of a lack of industry in the area, but if you are retired i guess it doesnt matter!

Go to this website and have a look at rentals in the areas you are interested in

www.rightmove.co.uk

or

www.primelocation.com

Please be aware that if you have been abroad for a long time, you may have to pay the first 6mths rent up front as you wont have a credit history for th agents to check on.

Fleaflyfloflum

I forgot to add the delights of farmers markets! Superb fresh food from local farmers. It has become very popular over here. The local papers will inform you when and where they are. They even have European farmers markets now, where French farmers (mainly) come over every so often and sell their stuff. Its all good fun and such a treat!

Bevm

The OP's coming from Vancouver, so I don't think housing costs will be a shock, and as people said, if someone can choose where to be, housing can be a lot cheaper. Not talking bad places, but if a place isn't an easy commute to work it'll be much cheaper than one that is.

Good luck with the move. Some things will be cheaper, don't forget.

Bev

dewdrop

Now that what i like to hear!!!! well done!!!!

Essex_Man

You know while searching the web I found hasting to be very cheap if you are renting. No idea what it is like tho...but

Pamela 1

We spent last winter near Bournemouth and rented a vacation place for 6 months. It was one bedroom adjacent to the main building so like a bungalow in a way. Very comfortable and well furnished. We were very fortunate.
We paid rent plus utilities plus council taxes (property tax as we say here). Can't remember what we paid would have to look at our bills, but we enjoyed staying there, weather was really great -down south! We were able to go out walking each day except when it rained which was not often.

We are in your age group and had thought of returning to UK at sometime or another and decided to go over for winter first. We like it here in Ontario just as much though we think it is more expensive. However, we are going back this coming winter to the same vacation building which is just across the road from the sea and we hope to do this for a few years before making the complete move over.

So you could consider holiday apartment/let to start with where you will get it furnished etc while you look around. You ask for a winter let rate and there are several who will do this.

We kept our grocery bills down to £200-250 a month shopping at Asda (Walmart), Sainsburys, sometimes Tesco and sometimes M & S on specials all were in the same complex except Tesco which was down the road.

We often didn't use the car for 3 days since we could walk to nearby shops and get the bus back.

We bought a '97 Ford Fiesta car (automatic) and found car insurance is about 3 times less than we pay in Ontario. We sold on gumtree before we left - it sold in 3 hours or listing! Used cars have no sales tax in UK.

Seniors get free bus rides with a bus pass. Lots of seniors discounts for one thing and another.

If you do rent an unfurnished place leases are 6 months which is better than the one year here in Canada and as Flea said you may be asked for the full 6 months rent, then again you may not, just depends.

hudd

Essex_Man

My father inlaw moved there when he remarried at 73. My youngest sons said its full of "old" people. We visited a few times and there seems to be a lot of retired people living there. It a nice area, mild climate and plenty of village around to live in if you want out of town.
Area seems to cater well for more senior persons than some areas of the SE. Tea houses, Jazz clubs etc are popular.

hudd

uk_vette

What TF, and Who TF want's to live like that !

£40.00 a week, stale crusty rolls, **** that for a game of soldiers.
I just can't wait for the end of the day to pick up all the left overs.
get real.

Is that how some people live in UK, a supposedly 1st world country ?


'vette

Jules Europe

In the current economic climate a lot of people live like this, whether the country is 1st world or not is quite irrelevant.

Fleaflyfloflum

Errr....... calm down you'll end up like whacko

Hardly stale being sold on the day they are baked then frozen. No different to buying the bread 2hrs earlier and freezing it is there?? If you want to be that much of a dumbarse and pay full price for something just to buy it 2hrs earlier you go right ahead!! I'm happy buying it this way so i have more money in my pocket

Of course the whole weeks shopping is not done this way, I was just pointing out to someone genuinely on this forum looking for advice on their return. Whats your reason for being here and posting bollox on all these threads? PMT is it?

dunroving

Picking up cheap groceries is smart economics - it's a shame Gordon and Alistair couldn't learn a few of those tricks.

I guess you must have lived quite a privileged life if you've never had to economise. Talk about "get real"