Beverley1

Hi can anyone help me with this.

We are a family of 4 two adults and two children i was wondering if anyone could get me some idea of what the costs are to live in the Costa Almeria area of spain.

I know it would only be an estimated amount but it would really help us to work out how much we would need to earn.

We have a basic idea about food but it's more the costs that come with your house like gas water taxes etc

Thanks for your help

Beverley

jdr

This was covered a little while ago, go into my profile and do a search

jdr

Aint I nice, done it for you

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...t+living+Spain

Or http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...t+living+Spain

chirivel

Depends really how far from the coast you are but hope this helps ;
rental 300 euros month
gas bottles 13 euros a refill which last roughly 10 days for hot water 3 weeks for gas cooker
electricity on par with uk
council tax mine is currently 25 euros a year!!!!!!!!!includes sewage water policing etc
internet i pay 30 euros a month for 24/7 satelite internet with a phone line
any thing else id be glad to tell you

tim hortons man

I was going to say just do a search its been covered

Amara

There are five in our household and although we have only been here a month or two, I am spending roughly the same in Euros as I would in pounds in UK, on food and household items ie 120 euros a week where I would spend around that in pounds in England. So it is roughly a third cheaper. Rent, gas, petrol, wine, beer all cheaper. Phone is really expensive so make you have skype on your computer for keeping in touch. Before we came someone said to me if you are earning English wages here you can have a much better lifestyle and I believe that is true - please don't all jump on me now - this is only my personal expereince so far. xx

Beverley1

Thanks thats a great help

For an average month what would be a good salary, one you could live on quite nicely, we are coming over in a couple of weeks to have a look around and research the job situation. We would need at least one of us working from pretty much the beginning.

Do you have children of school age i would be interested in your views on that if you do mine are girls aged 13 and 11.

Many thanks

Beverley

Beverley1

Thanks for the info any i can get is great, what age are your children and how are they settling into school mine are girls aged 13 and 11. THis is one issue that we are very concerned about we are trying to learn spanish which i hope will help them settle in better.

Many thanks once again

Beverley

Amara

It is hard to say what a "good" salary is - for everyone it is different depending on what you want out of life. For us my husband has a good job and the salary is slightly better in UK so we are able to have a slightly better quality of life here. But we are not living in luxury and out living it up every night of the week. I have three children 12, 8, and 3 - the little ones have settled really easily - but my eldest son is very homesick and misses his mates in UK - it will be much harder for him to learn the language and he will struggle the most at school - in fact I am seriously considering sending him back to England to school or to an international school here where english is spoken (but obviously you have to pay)- having said all that and sounding horribly negative he also struggles as he is dyslexic so added problems for him. I am placing my 8 year old into a Spanish state school where she will learn the language quickly and hopefully make some friends. For us there was not a real choice and the lifestyle here is great and we have already made some truly wonderful friends, so no regrets. But it is a difficult decision, especially with children to consider, and I wish you the very best of luck with your move. xx

Beverley1

Thanks very much for getting back to me.

I'm sure that we would love the lifestyle and everything that goes with it, but i am worried about the children. They are very happy at school and doing very well. It's my thirteen year old that i worry about the most she is coming up to a very important time in her school life and to make her do it in another language seems cruel so we have a lot to think about. Do they offer any extra help for children with learning the language do you know?

Many thanks

Beverley

Amara

Hi Beverley

I think it depends a lot on where you live, where we are there is not a large British expat community and people here generally do not speak English as much as other areas of Spain, I have been told that some schools are well prepared for British children coming in and will accomodate by giving extra Spanish lessons when the Spanish children are learning English. I am struggling to find them here. Also the schools down here are oversubscribed and you have to travel further distances to find one to help them adapt. Having said all that there are international schools and the fees although much cheaper than uk are still around 5-8000 euros per year. In some areas the town hall will provide free of charge spanish lessons for newcomers and there are language schools all over the place. But you are right 13 is the most difficult age and it is a huge decision to make on their behalf. I think you have to weigh up all the pros and cons and try to get out here beforehand to assess everything fully, I unfortunately wasn't able to do that as timescales did not permit, but like I said no regrets. Life has a funny way of putting you in the right place at the right time, and sometimes for reasons we don't understand till later. xx

bfg69bug

300€ a month for rent ? christ on the costa del sol its AT LEAST 600€ a month. our council tax is about 75 a year.

chirivel

Thats the difference with being inland and the spanish pay only half of that!
We notice when we go to the coast everything seems to be more expensive but hey you have the sea

chirivel

We came out 3 years ago with children aged 4,6,10,12,16,17.Have to say the four youngest adapted with amazing ease but then we are in a small village average 12 to a class in the local school.Even my 15 year old who was just 13 when we came has overtaken some of her spanish friends at school.The only one who didnt settle was the 16 year old who returned to England last year otherwise i would say for the others their quality of life has improved 100 %

tim hortons man

Changing the subject slightly, what do you do for a living, Spain is a lovely place to live but you do need to make a living. I've been asking around and so far only heard from retirees (pensioned off so no need to work) and one guy who is self employed. Were hear on a long term project but unless Chris is offered a full time postion we'll have to return to Germany at some point, hopefully we'll get to spend the winter here, my worse nightmare is to roll off just before Christmas and have to spend the winter in cold wet Munich, yuck!

thanks