SueG

Here's hoping I don't set off another minefield!! If my husband, our adult son and I moved to Spain and rented for six months before leasing a business to run how much approximately would you think it would cost to live (we thought about renting an apartment with a minimum of two bedrooms on the coast in the Murcia region). We do really need to work and without an income it will eating into our capital.

jdr

BOOM

We rent a two bed apartment CDS.
Including water, electric, gas bottles, phone and BB around 4,500 € for 6 months aprox, plus food and drink.

SueG

BB??

jdr

Sorry broad band 24/7 for Computers.

tim hortons man

there was a previous thread on that a while ago and one person put there cost of living at 15 -18 thousand per year not including rent/mortgage.

the main figure that mattered (to me) was that they spend 500 a month of shopping petrol entertainment etc, struck me as kind of low but that's what they spent.

ScotinSpain

Tim, if you are referring to my post of about a year to 18 months ago, here it is. My costs have actually gone down , largely due to a new(ish!) diesel car and the installation of ceiling fans to drastically reduce the air con costs in summer. I put these figures here to help others considering a move out here, not to stasrt a debate on 'how the heck do you spend x on y, I only spend z.......' Also note that inflation is creaping up year on year here in Spain .

There have been two or three threads recently on an Andalucian Message Board about the cost of retiring out here for a couple and the general consensus was that £12,000 net per annum was about right. We are also in our mid 50s without children to support and no mortgage and live on the Coast near Estepona. We run one car but do have a full sky TV package, ADSL 24/7 broadband Internet access and a BUPA derivative medical insurance, called SANITAS, (you will need private medical insurance out here as you are not in receipt of a UK age related pension thus not eligible for Spanish medical support). We also drink and smoke, which is much cheaper than UK particularly with Duty Free in Gibraltar, but you may save some here.

You could remove some of these (internet, Sky TV etc.) to reduce the cost.

As an indication these are our annual bills:

Electricity 1,500€
Health Ins (inc. Dental) 1,650€
Town Hall 'Rates' 765€
Urb. Fees 1,500€
Telephone 900€ (inc 480€ Internet ADSL)
Sky TV 720€
Car Insurance 410€
House & Contents ins. 300€
'Wealth' Tax 535€
Water (metered here) 175€
Car Tax 45€
Food, Drink, Petrol etc. 7,000€

As you can see this comes to about 15,500€ which equals £10,300 at current rates leaving £1,700 for entertainment, emergencies, holidays etc.

This is obviously only a guide but you can make adjustments. I estimate living out here saves about 30% on living in UK, the weather, people, friendliness are so much better. Inflation is about 2 2/1 - 3 % annually so a reasonable pension should keep up with this.

Hope this helps. We've been here 15 months and NEVER looked back!

Mitzyboy

Its swings and roundabouts but certainly that looks very much like the model I have been working on, in fact slightly lower so thats encouraging

ScotinSpain

Hi Mitzyboy, where are you considering for your move? As you probably already realise, the cost of living here in Spain varies enormously region by region. Campo is the cheapest end of the market. The Costa de la Luz was cheep, but is catching up with the CdS, and without the infrastructure.



At the end of the day it’s horses for courses. Good luck with your plans, Spain caters for all tastes and standards of living.



Jock

Mitzyboy

We have had a place in the South tip of the Costa Del Azahar (Oliva) for a couple of years and have some experience of the cost of living around there. Its traditionally an agricultural area so anything that can be grown is generally cheap. My experience of groceries is that its about 30% cheaper than the UK

We don't intend to buy british foodstuffs (which are more expensive), we have no urbanisation charges and I can get a three course meal locally for 9 euros

Lynn R

I haven't been able to make the move yet (sob!) but based on household bills in Spain to date when we've been in residence (IBI, gas, water, electricity) etc I reckon my annual expenditure will be at least 3,000E less than ScotinSpain's. I won't have any community fees to pay, don't want Sky TV (don't watch it in England so won't want to in Spain either), won't be running a car (can always hire one for the odd few days if we really need one, otherwise public transport in our area is frequent and very, very cheap compared to England - clean and airconditioned as well). IBI on my Spanish house was 270E for last year. At the moment we don't have a phone line in our Spanish house and will see how we get on without one for a while after we move, at the moment when we are there we use a PAYG spanish mobile supplemented by a phone card for calls to relatives at home, can use an internet cafe pretty cheaply when we want to use email or do some surfing. Not sure whether it will be worth the cost of line rental for a landline to be able to get Broadband at home.

Spain Bound

I've probably missed it whilst reading this thread but I don't think anyone has mentioned income tax, which is most certainly a lot higher in Spain, especially if you don't have a mortgage or children to claim some allowances on. ScotinSpain you refer to wealth tax and the fact that you've been here 15 months so I presume you don't have Residencia (unless I've musunderstood.)

With Residencia you don't pay wealth tax but you do pay Spanish income tax - on ALL your income from anywhere (ie including from the UK.) The personal allowance is a lot worse (lower) in Spain and the tax rates are higher.

Mitzyboy

Sorry Spainbound, you'll be liable for income tax AND wealth tax as a resident. Income tax on your income (apart from Civil Service pensions) and wealth tax on your worldwide assets. Double whammy!

ScotinSpain

Hi Spain Bound, I don't have a mortgage nor dependant children (they have all flown the nest!), but I have two UK Goverment paid pensions, one military and one Civil Service. Spain has a bilateral agreement with UK whereby UK GOVERNMENT paid pensions are taxed at source and NOT here in Spain. This is in addition to the EU Dual Taxation Agreement. Thus I do not pay any income tax here in Spain. When I did the sums a couple of years ago I was MARGINALLY better off with this arrangement, but I have no choice in any case. As a reciprocal Spanish residents in UK do not pay UK Income Tax on Spanish GOVERNMENT paid pensions, but they do pay Spanish Income Tax on these.

I don't actually pay any 'Wealth Tax' as such either as my house is in my partner's name, but I do pay half of her 'Wealth Tax', she would boot me out otherwise! I have included these figures in the table above.

Hope this helps,

Jock

mikelincs

We live on a budget of about 1500 euros a month, we have a car, TV etc, BB and all mod cons, but our food bill is well under €400 a month, and our urb fee is about 1/5th of the quoted one.

tim hortons man

We'll find out shortly what our cost of living will be in Madrid, the move date got put ahead by a week, so its been a mad scramble to get everything else done. Plus right at the moment I'm out of commision for a few days, knee surgery.

I do know rents are quite steep and buying, well got a hal mill to spare, but utitiles and such like are cheaper.