HUFC1908

Howdo

I'm looking for some advice on the cost of living in spain. I am a school teacher tempted to apply for a few jobs in spain. These jobs are in valencia and alicante. If anyone is based in those areas can give some advice on the cost of living, that would be much appreciated. I am married with a 4 month old son and two cats. Initially I would be the sole earner so am curious as to what the cost is per month to rent a property, eat out once or twice a month and cover all bills etc.

Cheers

bfg69bug

rents - €300 - €1500 a month. bigger the house bigger the rent.

food, about €12-€50 for 2 ppl 3 courses and wine. better the restaurant / better place = more cashola.

jackytoo

Thought you were interested in New Zealand, Canada etc Better opportunities for teachers in New Zealand and no language difficulties.

Culebronchris

Watch the jobs. Teachers pay is low by UK standards and often the initial contracts with private schools are for 10 months (start of Autumn term through to end of Summer term) leaving you without pay over the summer and without the right to any "dole" payments.

I no longer have much idea about how much things cost in the UK but I know that our occasional visitors are usually taken aback by Spanish supermarket food costs, clothes, books etc. A pal who has a holiday home here was wondering about buying a second hand motor to park up as he says that car rental prices have skyrocketed recently but he was even more shocked by the price of second hand cars in Spain.

HBG

I would estimate that a family would need £12,000 PA for a quite basic lifestyle, still frugal at £15K, and over £18K for any degree of comfort. (A decent rental will cost a minimum of £500 a month).

Rotor

I`d agree with that and its worth remembering that you will struggle to run a car if you are only on 12k for a family of 3, ,as far as I`m aware teachers pay in Spain is no where near that of the UK but I guess you know that anyway.
Your husband may well find it very difficult to find work as well.

Good luck.

manamama

We are a family living in Spain with just one wage coming in. It is a real struggle and my husband earns more than the average.

Although we have 2 cars ..we pay 1.16 euros per litre for petrol and between 600 to 700 euros for insurance for each cars. We pay roughly about 200 euros per month - that's for gas and electricity (more in the winter), water rate and internet.

Food, in my opinion it is more expensive in Spain..some with disagree. But it does depend where you shop. Today I'm off to Lidl where the prices are cheaper than other supermarkets.

We buy our clothes, books, contact lenses from the UK and wait till MIL comes over..

Please be aware that glasses and dental work are not free..I just paid 120 euros for my sons glasses and 230 for my daughters.

Life insurance is more expensive than what I paid in the UK..

If you can get away with having a car and plan your meals and eat out just now and then.. you'll manage on 12-15K pa.

Obviously having two wages coming in would be better. I am trying to find work but it's difficult to fit around the kids. Part-time work is not really on offer like you get in the UK.

All the best.

HBG

I don’t understand why, but the second-hand car market in Spain is ridiculous. I’ve been trying to part-exchange my Spanish car for a newer and smaller one for over a year now, unsuccessfully.

I went to a large Spanish dealer recently and tried to do a deal which would have earned him around £3K. He had an identical car to the one I was part-exchanging, and I was prepared to buy one that was overpriced, but his offer would have earned him £10K on the deal, rather than £3K.

I noticed the same attitude with a commercial unit that was for rent at too high a price. The Spanish owner refused to drop the unrealistic price and it’s still lying empty, just like the car I wanted to buy which is still unsold.

Supermarkets appear to be more sensible, when their Spanish customers deserted them for Lidl and Aldi, Mercadona and Consum dropped their prices. I suppose carrots don’t last as long as cars or empty shops.

Rotor

Very few Spanish business`s in Andalucia have any business sense and service is generaly crap ,prices are crazy and for no real reason ,so are rentals on industrial units and shops , Ive seen endless shops empty for years because they wont drop the rent,stubbornesss ,stupidity? anyone in business knows a little profit is better than none.

I dont think it the same in Madrid / the north , people there are a lot more switched on , Ive friends from Madrid who have a business on the costas and they dispare with anadaluz`s
My theory is many business`s and premises are inherited and the current owners have very little idea what they are doing.
This is why many big european companies are making their way into Spain offering better deals and service.

cricketman

Yes I think there is a different mentality over selling big items in Spain that in Britian. Spanish people seem to not be willing to sell at a lower price than they think it is worth unless they really have to.

They are much less willing to do a deal.

cricketman

[QUOTE=Rotor;8509284]
My theory is many business`s and premises are inherited and the current owners have very little idea what they are doing.QUOTE]

Yes that may be it. Plus the landlords and people who have many houses lying empty tend to be very rich people anyway.

In Andalucia there is a bit of a "mogul" tradition when there are a few rich business people in the community who are given maximum respect. They must feel like they are somebody and so are unwilling to negotiate regarding business. Things must be done on their terms. (only a theory!)

Rotor

[QUOTE=cricketman;8509289] Their arogance will be their downfall as more and more foreigners set up businees and rightly so, even the Chino euro stores are giving the ferreterias a hiding.

JLFS

I know that there is a problem negociating with large items, cars etc, most will not drop the price.

What really gets my goat about "smaller" businesses, in that I mean shops that sell small items, is their refusal to use paper bags.

It really gets my goat when you have to stand in the local ironmongers, and wait until the shopkeeper, wraps 3 screws in a bit of paper, buy the time he has wrapped 4 or 5 little parcels for other customers, I have usually left the shop......in disgust.

Paper bags are the future.............

fionamw

Our ferreterias use those really small plastic bags & tie a knot in the top... that's unless you're there on a lucky moment & get the handful of screws/nails/whatever free, in which case they're bunged in your hand on the way out!!

pete_l

My theory is that it's not necessarily the spanish market that's ridiculous, but the british one. In the UK cars depreciate much faster than their usability drops. So a 2 year old car is almost as reliable, safe, economical and comfortable as a brand new one. Yet the price is massively less than new. Why? Because the brits attach such a lot of ego to their cars and don't view them simply as a means of getting from A to B - but as a demonstration of their success, social standing or wealth.
If you just used a car as a means of transport, it wouldn't matter how old it was provided it did the job. A few scratches down the side (like a lot of spanish cars, even news ones have) would make no difference to its ability to transport you. Hence, it's value would be very close to what it was when new.

There's also the very popular view in Spain that all brits are rich (just look at how we overpay for crummy old houses :-) ). So why should a dealer or shopkeeper give them discounts when they can afford full-price (or even the higher extrajanero price), when there is a spaniard who deserves the discount more?