Chipmonk

Almeria is extremely hot in the summer. Last summer really was hot for months and quite scary when it is over 40 as everything shuts down. Hard for people not used to sleeping during afternoons and no expensive AC. If global warming continues and it becomes a regular temp it could be pretty miserable

agree_to_disagree

I guess the bit that many people who have not experienced extended periods of 40C+ don't understand is that it is more opressive than constant rain. During the summer months I only go out during the day when I have to. I tend to sort out what I need to, first thing in the morning or the evening.

SanNico

A point I would also consider is the cost of visiting relatives and friends back in the UK, or them visiting you. I just checked my travel expenses and I average about 7k per year on flights, not including the cost of the actual visits, hire cars etc. This year has been a lot higher because of PCR/antigen testing. The family is wider spread than most but travel expenses are an important factor.

BarrieJ gave a good summary of basic costs. You may find you'll spend a lot more in the first years then calm down a little as the novelty wears off.

scrubbedexpat142

"Or them visiting them you" - Covid 19 has saved me a fortune, preventing visits from relatives, who, by the way, never bothered when we lived in the UK.

Lynn R

Yes, absolutely. There was one 12 month period when I had to make 4 unscheduled trips because of illness/death of close family members, and of course as they couldn't be booked in advance that added significantly to the costs.

Stingychips

Where I was it was getting to 40. And electric was that expensive people didn’t want to use the AC. It’s seems like it’s getting hotter every year.

Stingychips

Portugal just seems to have made things easier for expats to live there. Better tax laws. Cheaper visas. Just a lot easier for Brits to relocate there.

Chipmonk

One thing though: Portugal ain't Spain.

Chipmonk

One thing to bear in mind is inflation. At the moment in Spain its 5.4%!!!! This week you notice as it is starting to filter down into food. Look at the price of fish and fruit and veg compared with January. Now look at rents- they are going up. Soon hipotecas will go up. Not good- especially in Spain where wages haven't actually risen for years!!

agree_to_disagree

It is happening everywhere, not just confined to Spain.

The printing presses have been flat out with quantitative easing printing money. Now you have raw matereials, fuel, food shooting up.

Governments are using inflation as a tool to lesses the debt burden. You and I pay as the value of any of our cash savings diminish in value.

If you have a few quid tucked away, invest it in something tangible that will retain its value/pays some kind of a return.

Lynn R

I have noticed a few items in the supermarket going up recently - olive oil being one, but we often see quite sharp increases in the price of that due to weather conditions affecting harvests, then the price drops back again. Have not seen any increases in most items, though - bread, milk, instant coffee (Spanish brand), butter, creme fraiche, langostinos, tinned tomatoes, free range eggs all the same. Prices of fruit and vegetables fluctuate all the time with seasonality so difficult to compare those, but price of raspberries, fresh prepared pineapple and grapes seem much the same in Mercadona. Salmon fillets still at slightly reduced price from what they were. Heinz baked beans were €0.88 at the end of last year, dropped to €0.65 and just recently went back up to €0.75 but still lower than they were in 2020. Bought 2 organic burgers in Lidl last week - still €1.99 each, same as they have been for over a year. Chicken and pork in Mercadona seems more expensive than it was but I couldn't say by how much.

When we first moved here in 2006 we started to withdraw €70 in cash every week to cover our supermarket bills (not including wine or other alcohol, we pay for that separately, but it does include laundry and cleaning products). We are still drawing exactly the same amount now, and we still have something left over practically every week to go towards the cost of a meal out. We spend a bit more to supplement that with an occasional order (and I mean a couple of times a year) for British products we like, which we didn't do in the first years when we weren't getting any pension income but the basic spend has stayed pretty much the same which is not bad over 15 years.

The only bill of mine which will go up in 2022 is the house insurance premiums. Water doesn't seem to have changed at all in 15 years, IBI doesn't go up and in fact my Ayuntamiento is reducing the percentage used to calculate it very slightly over the next 3 years so we may notice a small reduction but it really will be a tiny one. I have a fixed rate for electricity and the company are guaranteeing that rate for 24 months. The Ayuntamiento has announced that they will be making local bus travel free next year for over 65s and young people, so we will save a bit of money on that

This graph shows how average salaries in Spain have increased, not by much up to now as inflation has been very low these last few years:-

https://www.epdata.es/datos/coste-la...nizaciones/424

But the Spanish minimum wage increased from €735 per month in 2018 to €965 now, with a further increase to be implemented in January 2022.


https://www.abc.es/economia/abci-asi...8_noticia.html

Stingychips

The food in Catalonia was just as dear as it is in the UK. Only you earn a fraction of what you earn back in the UK. Tourism won’t be back to its normal levels anytime soon as well. Only place I’ve ever seen People earning real money is Ibiza and with covid and Brexit complications I can’t see that surviving. Something in Spain is going to go bump. Soaring electric bills combined with record breaking temperatures which can literally kill you. Stay in the UK. If you want to try Spain take a long holiday. I wouldn’t commit. I went in the shop the other week and the Hungarian working there said in his broken English “there is no money here”.

Itstherestofthem

thankyou.
we wouldn’t be looking to work whilst there and live off our savings.
we live a frugal life here with our outgoings around £600pm here without mortgage which we wouldn’t have in Spain anyway as would purchase outright.
if after 5 years and after applying for residency we could always get a job if need be I’m sure.

Stingychips

you can rent for cheap in Spain. I rent a 4 bedroom flat for €350 a month with Internet included. Maybe rent until you get a feel for it. Less of a commitment and rents cheap so don’t matter if your not there all the time.

Itstherestofthem

hi we would be looking to purchase a property outright so would t need to rent. It would just be living expenses