How Much to Live in Spain
 

I am sure this has been put on here before but can´t find it. Taking out mortgage/rent costs, and no extravagent living but just normal day to day. What do you think is the average cost?

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Have sent you a PM.

Rosemary

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

If it is not too cheeky, I would really like to know the answer too. UK house pricess are a tad weak (hopefully not as weak as some are suggesting but certainly down an average 3 or 4 percent in the last quarter) so sums are certainbly getting a bit more important

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

hi chic me and my girlfriend have worked out are bills with out morgage + car insurance and pocket money roughly £960euros that includeds water , electric , fuel , food shopping , pool cleaner , local taxes , phone internet , :)

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Community tax, water, sewage, rubbish collection, electricity (highest bill), gas, telephone (including computer broadband), house insurance, contents insurance, car tax, car insurance all comes to approx the same as the cost of community tax in UK.

Rosemary

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Thats about right Rosemary
We live on a lot less than we did in the UK we both had to work. I agree I had more disposable income, but looking at the prices now I doubt if I would.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Is that GBP or euros and if you don´t mind me asking how much for the mortgage?

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Think you might want to look at that again pjj, we are a retired couple who have a practically zilch social life, nothing in life we need to buy as we have had it, used it and found we didn't need it and we have an income of £800.00 english pounds (that's for lanagirl ;)) we have no mortgage. I think I worked it out that just to pay our way with bills, running a car, insurance's, mobile, landline, electric, medication and health care (that's not including medical insurance)we need £460.00 a month this covers petrol and car maintenance rates, refuge collection, resident ass., fees as well.

We are left with £340 to buy food, drink, clothes, replacement of household/garden items, DIY materials needed such as paint, varnish etc any emergency work that may arise (just had to pay nearly 500 euros for a new water boiler and fitting) including trips back to UK, birthday/christmas treats for the grandchildren. Constant flow of visitors put an added strain on the purse strings as well.

We go out twice aweek and have drinks costing 5 euros for two Tinto de Verano's (grande), and twice a week for a coffee costing 2 euro 20cents. Lunch out twice 2 a month to a local venta for Menu del Dia 3 course's plus drink for 17 euros each time (34.00). Some months we trade in the two venta lunches for one evening meal in a more expensive place and some weeks we don't do anything. This time two years ago we were getting so much more for our money going out nearly everyday for coffee and every week for a meal. Needless to say the old saving jar is getting emptier by the month.:( But as others will say better to be hard up in the sun:thumbsup:

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Still , you're breaking even on , like : 1K Euros p.m. , then ?

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

hi if you read my reply it states euros chiclanagir , with regards to how much on a morgage it depends on what you buy everyones morgage differs you can buy property in spain cheap ive seen property as cheap as 60k to 80k sterling its ov the cheaper the property the cheaper the morgage .

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

[QUOTE=pjj;6580734]hi if you read my reply it states euros chiclanagir

Euro's with a pound sign? £960euros

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

[QUOTE=billymacker;6583965] opps ! well i did say euros at the end :rofl:

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Trouble is, it's all about pieces of string. It varies from area to area and from person to person depending on what you consider essential.

Friend of mine in Spain reckons 200 euros a week for him and his partner, but they have no rent or mortgage to pay.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

That could have been me :D
We are in the same position and draw out 200 euros every Monday morning. Most weeks we still have something left by the following Sunday evening to put in the "holiday fund" :lol::lol:


To quote crispy
"5 euros for two Tinto de Verano's (grande)" :eek: You are going to the wrong bars, unless grande means two ltrs each:ohmy::)

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Can get them cheaper if you are happy with one mouthful and gone but these are very nearly one pint and yes we do have a sea view with it. If I''m gonna have a drink I want to enjoy the view as well, I have said plenty of times this is not a cheap area to live in.:)

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

BRITS living in the southeastern Spanish region of Valencia have forced the local government to drop plans to strip thousands of expats of the right to public healthcare.

Millions of British retirees have moved to the Spanish coast in recent years, many lured by property developers’ promises of a sunny retirement home overlooking the Mediterranean in resorts like Alicante and Benidorm.

Bill Bridges was a policeman in Kent, England before retiring due to high blood pressure and moved to Spain five years ago, opting for Torrevieja in Valencia because of a generous local law offering free healthcare.

However, recent arrivals have placed such a strain on Valencia’s health system that the regional government said earlier this year it would scrap cover for foreigners - even if they hold resident status in Spain.

After protests to the British Embassy in Madrid, consular staff and the region have thrashed out a deal whereby an estimated 3,000 early retirees will continue to receive healthcare for a ‘reasonable and affordable’ price.

Bridges welcomed the regional government’s move, but said questions still remained about its use of free health care to lure sun-seeking northern Europeans.

Tricked

“The Valencian authorities certainly used the health system as an inducement to get us here,” he said.

“I feel tricked.”

Pensioners are covered by the European Union’s reciprocal health system, which means the UK picks up the bill for treatment, but the arrangement does not cover early retirees.

A draft directive published by the European Commission would allow patients throughout the EU to travel to other countries for treatment without authorisation from their own health authority.

Britain has opposed the proposal.

However Bridges says expats like him have fallen into a healthcare black hole: not entitled to treatment in Spain, nor the UK because he cannot receive a Spanish health card and therefore European health cover.

The British Embassy told early retirees to take out private health cover said Bridges, however insurers would not give him complete cover because of his health condition.

“What is really wrong is that the UK government have just washed their hands of us,” he said.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

a ) Tinto de Verranos
( June 2008 was The first I heard of those Ever , but : as were recommended to me , prior to our recent visit to Andalucia , by a friendly , chatty Spanish traiteur-counter salesgirl , at our local Carrefour , here in Brussels ) :
I was paying 2Euros each ( ordinary 20cl/half-pint glass ) last month in Malaga , in some totally non-descript downmarket cafes around Carrefour centre commercial , near the airport ;
- granted , the drink/s would come with some ( very ) little tapas , but even those were not worth mentioning , ne'er mind nibbling on !
b ) in the hyper/super-markets we visited ( Mercadona , Carrefour , Sol , eroski ...) much of meat , ham , tinned stuff , bread , yoghurt , veggies , cheese , soft drinks , wine , sweets , pastries , cosmetics...were not better priced , if often less attractive or in significantly lesser assortment ,
than in ( supposedly : v. expensive ) Belgium , or France !!!
Aldi were all , without exception , very poorly stocked ,
Lidl : somewhat better , but still not ever once a patch even , on ours here , in Benelux , U.K. , France or Germany...
So , whoever just mentioned "pieces of string" , I couldn't agree more , in the context !
Having said that , it is ( yet again ! ) a grey , rainy 19c out here , another dull long weekend pending ( Mon. = another darn public holiday , of which Belgoes have many too-many ) so :
Maybe Spain , indeed : has a few good things going for it , after all
( but CoL not neccessarily being amongst the most attractive of them )?

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Well, while there are a few things cheaper in the UK, by and large most day to day costs are cheaper.

My gas bill is just a few bottles a year, the electric will be savagely cut when I get the solar water in and my council tax is a savage £9 a month compared to £240 in the UK.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

So who's footing the bill then?

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Therefore , may I then conclude that the main savings would likely be in the costs of ( possibly : property ) and various utilities/property taxes ?

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Food's cheaper too. And petrol.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

The early retiree`s will be, similar to a private healthcare cost to them, until they reach retirement age.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Petrol : somewhat !
Diesel : hardly !
As for the food/groceries : if one could compare the "same for same" quality & choice vs. the actual cost , from my recent , albeit limited CdS experiences : I very much doubt Spain would come out a Winner !

On the other hand , how do you put a price on the weather ?
Daily Mail carried just such an ( arbitrary ) article , last week , and Spain came 1st in their perceived "quality of life" survey , which , alas : was based strictly on their combination of longevity plus "number of hours of sunshine" p.a.
( U.K. fared very poorly in both , ending 2nd last of the 10-or so EU-countries commented upon , France came 2nd from top and Italy was quite high , too...)
If the cap fits...?

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Diesel was euros for pounds when we were last out, and again it depends what you compare. Seafood is streets better, fruit and veg deffo...

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

We were told that council tax is much cheaper in Spain than the UK but it hasn't really worked out that way for us. We came from Scotland where the water charge was still included in the council tax. Our council tax here is less but our water charges are high so we're actually paying about the same. Electricity is more expensive. We are paying about 3 times as much for phone and internet as in the UK. We have satellite TV here which we didn't need in the UK so that costs us more. I am below retirement age so have to pay for private healthcare - another additional cost as is running the pool which we didn't have before.

However we save a fortune on heating oil. We have a solar panel so we use almost no oil in the summer. Fresh food, especially fruit & veg is nicer & cheaper and we're buying wine at about 2 or 3 euros a bottle that costs about £5 on Tescos website, never mind about the price of spirits. Plus you can have a decent 'menu del dia' for what you might pay for a sandwich and a cup of coffee in the UK.

All in all we have a much better quality of life here but its not as cheap as we expected. From what I gather if we'd stayed in the UK we would have really had to tighten our belts.

Rose

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Well, we get our water out the ground, but how much are they charging you for council tax?

Ours will drop from 240 to £9 a month in Spain. Agreed we will have to pay health care, but hell, the way prices are rising here.......

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Hi all,
Don't forget to take into consideration the threatened increase in gas prices for the coming winter in UK. This is very high profile with the media at the moment. Originally they anounced gas prices would increase by 40% this winter! :ohmy:
Then the following week it went down to 20%, now this week we are advised prices due to increase between 67-70% over the next two years!
As if it's not bad enough already! :mad:
Chris XXX

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Given the % of the year that we need fuel to warm the house in the UK, that is hugely significant.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Mrs Posh likes to collect these........:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

I prefer Bin Ladens.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

The UK government pay towards costings to the tune of 1200 pounds per head

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Price of gas has doubled in Spain since I have been here. ;-))

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Well, since I only use a bottle every 3 months or so, I won't cry just yet.

Winter I'll use the woodburner to cook as much as is sensible. If you had a diy bent, there is nothing to stop you setting up a solar cooker, and other solar projects can save you needing to heat much water with electricity, oil or water.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

How can you use one bottle every three months? Don´t you heat your water, cook or any other use.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

My OH is going to put black pipes across our roofs to heat up the water before it goes into the boilers so it will start warm so less energy to heat it up.
We have or will have fitted for next winter two log burners and we have saved all the beams from our house to burn should last two years.
We use approx a bottle a month in the winter, we havent used a bottle since the hot weather as the water comes out of the taps hot, just one every 2 months for the cooker, and that is slowed down as we eat more salads.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

We only use gas for heating water, one bottle per month in the winter, when we have people here we use more especially in the summer, we have been know to use one a week whilst the grandkids are here, what is it with people on holiday. They have a HOT shower/BATH in the morning and another HOT shower/BATHh in the evening, Mal and I hardly use any hot water in the house in the summer as we shower outside by the pool.

Mal is happy with the luke warm water from the pool shower but I use the water from a 50 metre black hose that is hung on the garage wall, the water comes out of there boiling I have to let it run for a while before I can use it. Last year we got the grandkids and SIL to shower outside with us they loved it thought they were on a camping holiday just have to get our daughter in camping mode this year and we should save a packet.

When we bought here a bottle of gas was 8 euro (2003) now it is 15 euros the biggest increase has been this last year.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

I just cook with it, and in the summer, I cook very little.

Water is heated by electric, and is going solar.

Sharon, Have a look at solar stuff. The black pipes work, but need shelter from the wind. If you go a step further and have a hot tank on the roof, you can really use the sun. A mirror either side, and all of a sudden you have really hot water.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

I made myself a "black plastic pipe" solar panel and it lasted all of 3 years before the UV destroyed the flexibility of the plastic and it blew itself apart. I do have 3 tonnes of well water stored in 3 tanks on the roof of the shed and that is quite warm enough for showers galore all through the summer.

As for burning wood in the winter, I burn large logs around 20 kgs each log and the fire stays in day after day, week after week but we do get through around 5 tonnes of hard firewood in the 3 months we need such heating.

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

You can even make ice using solar power!

Re: How Much to Live in Spain
 

Goodness me you poor people..... I thought I was being a Pioneer carrying a log 1 meter from the basket to the fire in winter. :rofl::rofl: