daisyman1951

Hi everyone. after buying say a small 2 bedroom house and car do you think I could live on 1000 euros a month? I'm single and at 61 years no longer a party cat!

steve01

yes , no problem at all
Single person with your own house, no rent and not too much partying you can live like a king here on 1000 a month
Small house - obviously this varies,
30 council tax 3-400 p.a 30 month
100 electricty 100 . month without a pool
40 water 30-50
20 car insurance 200 p.a
10 car tax - small car 5 years old 100 p.a
400 food - i reckon 25% cheaper than UK, booze ciggies most meat much cheaper - so say 400 per month
25 gas for cooking /hot water 25 per month
40 annual car service 500
100 car fuel - 100 per month
50 tv/phone/internet 50
20 additional heating (part in electricity) 200 wood / extra electricity
total 835 - leaves you 165 euros to have fun

If of course you meant paunds you have around another 300 euros spare

Of course the real answer is how long is a piece of string

Its a lovely place, beach, sea, walks, sunshine all free

Wishing you the best of luck

daisyman1951

Steve, comprehensive answer. Thank you

ouriquejan

The two of us live quite happily on half that amount.

steve01

hi Jan, wish we could - whats your secret ?

daisyman1951

Now this is getting really interesting! 500 euros a month??

ouriquejan

That's his pension - that's what we have.

We do have money in the bank for emergencies, holidays major car problems, but it's all down to budgeting.

nandnjudge2

Correct me if I am wrong with all the changes taking place on the tax side you may find there is also an income tax liability

steppitoe

Wow 500 a month, would love a breakdown of that!

Dal Dy Dir

Ask the average UK pensioner who was not lucky enough to have a company pension or who was not forward thinking enough to take out a private pension and their state pension would only be circa £500 a month.

So I imagine plenty of people are doing it.

ouriquejan

He was self employed for 40 odd years and I just got used to budgeting - some years we'd be mega rich, others not doing so well.

As a carpenter, it was very dependant on the weather.

And yes, i did work, saved like a mad thing to move over here and retired at 47.

So no pension for me for a few years yet.

We manage. And we're quite happy.

daisyman1951

That's interesting, does your husband find work with his skills?

gedscottish

Seeing Steve's breakdown the bills we have are much the same, although we have maybe double the food bill,2 cars to run with fully comp insurance(200 is 3rd party money) and 150 for nursery.... Yet we spend at least 2k a month! The breakdown sounds right so we are obviously doing something far wrong

ouriquejan

He's not working now Daisyman, apart from helping a few friends out, here and there.

At almost 67, he's had enough

peterfc

Hi

A breakdown you want, for me it's about 250/300€ per month.

House tax 30€ per year
Electric low 35€ high 55€ per month
Water Low 5.47€ high 6.07€ per month
Internet 27.99 average per month inc calls to the UK " Free "
Food about a 100€ because i only eat fresh food " no tins, or packages of any kind "
Car fuel, ins and tax 50€ per month
A night out at the club we go to would be 4.80€ " that's 6 superbok @ 80 cents each "

I am on my own and i don't live in Little Britan in the south.

Best of all i wnat for nothing and find it hard to spend money as it's so cheap here in Central Portual.

Peter " Dreams can come true "