Andrew, if you buy in an big appartment block the annual maintenance could be 1000 euros upwards a year so be careful.

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

My outgoings for a small 2 bed bungalow in La Marina are approx 70 euros per month (however this is holiday home use, approx 10 weeks use per year). So, obviously electricity, gas and water use would be more if I was full time.

This is for electricity, gas in winter for heating, water, refuse collection, IBI (similar to council tax) and house insurance for the year. There are no community charges where I am (deliberately avoided community, with the expense of communal areas and pool).

Hope that this helps with some of your calculations and good luck!

2 bed apartment.

Community: €600 pa
Electricity: €800pa
Water: €300pa
Food/shopping: €4,000pa
Car/travel: €1,500pa
Wifi: €480pa
Clothes: €400pa
Presents: €400pa
Repairs, maintenance etc €400pa

So say about €670 - €700 per month for the basics.

I wouldn't like to be on less than €1,000 per month.

These are the questions we are looking answered and looking for the same sort of area. Upon reading the thread it could be me writing it lol. We are off to Birmingham on the 27th to try and get some information at the overseas convention

Hi
Most of my neighbors in Spain say that whatever you need to live on in the UK you will need the same in Spain, the savings made on some outgoings will be spent in other ways, ie going out more often than you do at home even if its only for a coffee.
We spend about 10 weeks of the year there, doubt if we could manage on 800/1000 euros a month.
Costs per year.
We pay 1 euro per day standing charge on electric. 365
Electric usage say 1000
Insurance 400 euros
Alarm response 400
Pool maintenance 800
Gas700
Property and bin tax 450
Food say 6000
Car running costs ins, fuel, tax 2500
Repairs maintenance 500

13,115
This is without going out meals drink. etc

Hope this helps
Like we said whatever you need to live on in the uk you will need in Spain

Super appetite if you are consuming 6000 euro of food in 10 weeks and not eating out! My advice = use Aldi.

Read again it states costs per year.

In reality you are way too young to escape the so called rat race and most couples with only €800-€1000 a month won't manage. Moving into an apartment will increase your costs, because you have maintenance fees. If you really want low cost living, you need a bit of land where you can grow some fruit and veg, maybe even keep some chickens etc. In our area there are plenty of companies that sell eco homes. A basic bungalow (all included) with around 30m2 will cost you roughly 26K. If you want bigger and more modern, you will need to spend anything from 40K upwards, but you need the land.

Were off to birmingham as well the info on this thread has been great to get us started thanks to all