Is my move realistic?
#16
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2020
Location: Valencia
Posts: 504
Re: Is my move realistic?
I think I need a lesson from some of you guys. I consider myself very frugal and was going to suggest the minumum visa requirement of 27k would be about right to live to a minimal standard. I just had a quick scan of my statement and excluded anything to do with leisure and I came to nearly 1000 per month, without rent and we don't drink at home. Granted that's 2 of us but the only difference if it were just one us would be a slight drop in groceries. I can't even see a payment for gas but I'm sure it will average around 75 per month over the year.
Groceries 600
Electricity 60
Water 55
Gas ?
Vodafone 85
Fuel 30
Netflix 10
Amazon 6
Spotify 15
Car Insurance 52
Home insurance 25
Banking 10
Groceries 600
Electricity 60
Water 55
Gas ?
Vodafone 85
Fuel 30
Netflix 10
Amazon 6
Spotify 15
Car Insurance 52
Home insurance 25
Banking 10
#17
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Costa Blanca
Posts: 3,142
Re: Is my move realistic?
I would comment change your comms service 85€ seems OTT. Amazon Prime 6€ a month - 72€ a year not in Spain! I use Spotify for free, and car insurance looks very high but depends on car/policy cover. Water also seems very high.
#18
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2020
Location: Valencia
Posts: 504
Re: Is my move realistic?
I wish I could change Vodafone. I signed up for a deal that should have cost 52 per month, every time we call to rectify it they re-start the contract. It's for 300Mb fibre, HBO and 2 unlimited SIMs but need to change as soon as the contract is up. Car is only a Ford EcoSport but it's full insurance. I thought it was good, in Italy it was 2400 per year. Re Amazon, I paid 36 for the year but fat fingered a 6 instead of a 3 so I can have an extra bottle of water when the bars re-open. Re Spotify, I'm happy to pay as it's a family plan and I can download playlists for boring hours in airports and planes when we're finally allowed to travel again. Emivasa was 110 Euro for 2 months, 39 m3. The only reason I can think of for that one would be post exercise showers at home instead of the office during lockdown.
Point being, don't forget this is the cost of surviving, not living. I wouldn't advise anyone to emigrate anywhere in Europe to live a cheaper life. I'm with Missile, assume your expenditure to be the same. I would say to budget for more as ex-pats tend to eat out more than they would in the UK.
Point being, don't forget this is the cost of surviving, not living. I wouldn't advise anyone to emigrate anywhere in Europe to live a cheaper life. I'm with Missile, assume your expenditure to be the same. I would say to budget for more as ex-pats tend to eat out more than they would in the UK.
#19
Re: Is my move realistic?
I think I need a lesson from some of you guys. I consider myself very frugal and was going to suggest the minumum visa requirement of 27k would be about right to live to a minimal standard. I just had a quick scan of my statement and excluded anything to do with leisure and I came to nearly 1000 per month, without rent and we don't drink at home. Granted that's 2 of us but the only difference if it were just one us would be a slight drop in groceries. I can't even see a payment for gas but I'm sure it will average around 75 per month over the year.
Groceries 600
Electricity 60
Water 55
Gas ?
Vodafone 85
Fuel 30
Netflix 10
Amazon 6
Spotify 15
Car Insurance 52
Home insurance 25
Banking 10
Groceries 600
Electricity 60
Water 55
Gas ?
Vodafone 85
Fuel 30
Netflix 10
Amazon 6
Spotify 15
Car Insurance 52
Home insurance 25
Banking 10
#20
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,008
Re: Is my move realistic?
So here goes.
We've been here permanently since the middle of August, so you could say we have been settling in, so some of our usage amounts may be higher as Ive averaged only for the last 5 months..
But 'normal' outgoings here are as follows, in brackets were the Uk costs before we left. Based on the fact we had a 2 bed flat in Shoreham by sea and we now have a 3 bed flat in Xirles. Square metre about the same, 2nd floor.
Amounts are per month (but the community charge, water are quarterly) but I've divided them all to make it easier.
No rent or mortgage here but we rented in the uk (£950.00) Community charge here in Spain €36 Im not going to include this amount.
Water €14 (£38)
Gas 0 there is none, in the uk I paid a combined
Electric €75 (£140)
Mobile €24 (£10) here we have 2x lobster, in the Uk we had Virgin and had small allowances.
Home phone, internet, TV €42 (£100) but here we don't watch much TV and have no home phone, the internet is fibre but slow compared to the UK.
Bank Charges €24 (£0) our accounts are still non resident until we get our TIE.
IBI (council tax) €77 (£175)
Car Ins €35 (£8) had a classic car in the Uk with 3000 mile limit on policy.
Fuel €35 (£10) I worked 6 days a week with a company van in the Uk so petrol was only for Sundays in the classic.
Healthcare €138 (£0) we have private here but obviously NHS in the UK.
Home insurance, the building is covered by the community charge and we don't have contents (nor in the Uk)
Our food bill is around €80 a week for the 2 of us. Was over £100 in the uk. Which includes beer
We went out a couple of times a week in the UK but more here and I reckon we spend about the same €100
So thats about €924 a month here and I reckon we have a nicer life. Im not working so we are living off our savings and topping up from my private pension.
UK so was fully employed and so was the wife, outgoings in the Uk without rent £1281 so while more expensive its still comparable.
Its really only the healthcare that keeps it up and once this year is up I am considering lowering my cover to just emergencies only.
We've been here permanently since the middle of August, so you could say we have been settling in, so some of our usage amounts may be higher as Ive averaged only for the last 5 months..
But 'normal' outgoings here are as follows, in brackets were the Uk costs before we left. Based on the fact we had a 2 bed flat in Shoreham by sea and we now have a 3 bed flat in Xirles. Square metre about the same, 2nd floor.
Amounts are per month (but the community charge, water are quarterly) but I've divided them all to make it easier.
No rent or mortgage here but we rented in the uk (£950.00) Community charge here in Spain €36 Im not going to include this amount.
Water €14 (£38)
Gas 0 there is none, in the uk I paid a combined
Electric €75 (£140)
Mobile €24 (£10) here we have 2x lobster, in the Uk we had Virgin and had small allowances.
Home phone, internet, TV €42 (£100) but here we don't watch much TV and have no home phone, the internet is fibre but slow compared to the UK.
Bank Charges €24 (£0) our accounts are still non resident until we get our TIE.
IBI (council tax) €77 (£175)
Car Ins €35 (£8) had a classic car in the Uk with 3000 mile limit on policy.
Fuel €35 (£10) I worked 6 days a week with a company van in the Uk so petrol was only for Sundays in the classic.
Healthcare €138 (£0) we have private here but obviously NHS in the UK.
Home insurance, the building is covered by the community charge and we don't have contents (nor in the Uk)
Our food bill is around €80 a week for the 2 of us. Was over £100 in the uk. Which includes beer
We went out a couple of times a week in the UK but more here and I reckon we spend about the same €100
So thats about €924 a month here and I reckon we have a nicer life. Im not working so we are living off our savings and topping up from my private pension.
UK so was fully employed and so was the wife, outgoings in the Uk without rent £1281 so while more expensive its still comparable.
Its really only the healthcare that keeps it up and once this year is up I am considering lowering my cover to just emergencies only.
#21
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Costa Blanca
Posts: 3,142
Re: Is my move realistic?
well done good analysis - I would comment -
'Bank Charges €24 (£0) our accounts are still non-resident until we get our TIE.'
Don't assume getting TIE/being resident means free banking because it does not.
Depending on where you live I think you could save on comms costs. I pay 53€ to Movistar for ADSL 20MB/mobile/landline/ltd TV....
Assume you are not paying IBI 77€ a month!! unless you have a palace...if that is a month wow!!
I hope you continue to enjoy living in Spain.
'Bank Charges €24 (£0) our accounts are still non-resident until we get our TIE.'
Don't assume getting TIE/being resident means free banking because it does not.
Depending on where you live I think you could save on comms costs. I pay 53€ to Movistar for ADSL 20MB/mobile/landline/ltd TV....
Assume you are not paying IBI 77€ a month!! unless you have a palace...if that is a month wow!!
I hope you continue to enjoy living in Spain.
#22
Re: Is my move realistic?
How much do you pay for community charge? I understand this can be quite high for some.
#23
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2020
Location: Valencia
Posts: 504
Re: Is my move realistic?
@Barriej, are you including the stealth taxes with the water bill? Most of my bill is additional fees. Honestly I had no idea what to expect as I didn't have water bills in my last place so I thought this was ok. SO far this thread is telling me I need to kick Vodafone in to touch, go to Aldi, ditch the car and collect rainwater.
#24
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 287
Re: Is my move realistic?
We were advised to take out 1st loss insurance which covered our apartment for anything not covered by the communal insurance. It wasn't expensive and also included contents, water damage etc.
#25
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jun 2017
Location: Alicante
Posts: 924
Re: Is my move realistic?
If you want to talk annually then everything included we spend €15-15.5k pa which is around €3.5-4k less than we get from our 2 UK state pensions.
#26
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,008
Re: Is my move realistic?
Its not really a community as such just a few blocks spread around a tiny village.
Picture here.
#27
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,008
Re: Is my move realistic?
well done good analysis - I would comment -
'Bank Charges €24 (£0) our accounts are still non-resident until we get our TIE.'
Don't assume getting TIE/being resident means free banking because it does not.
Depending on where you live I think you could save on comms costs. I pay 53€ to Movistar for ADSL 20MB/mobile/landline/ltd TV....
Assume you are not paying IBI 77€ a month!! unless you have a palace...if that is a month wow!!
I hope you continue to enjoy living in Spain.
'Bank Charges €24 (£0) our accounts are still non-resident until we get our TIE.'
Don't assume getting TIE/being resident means free banking because it does not.
Depending on where you live I think you could save on comms costs. I pay 53€ to Movistar for ADSL 20MB/mobile/landline/ltd TV....
Assume you are not paying IBI 77€ a month!! unless you have a palace...if that is a month wow!!
I hope you continue to enjoy living in Spain.
My fault its €37 got confused there.
The IBI is weird cause I have to pay for the garage space, store room and the flat separately as each one has its own land registry number.
Santander will waive the charges once we are resident and I pay in my pension every month.
With the internet. The fibre line we have doesn't have TV option, we get digital from the ariel and dish on each block.
Thanks for the wishes, apart from getting bored (I went from a 12 hr 6 day a week job to well retired) we are doing OK. Having family close helps, and we have been coming here for over 10 years so we know some of the bar owners and the spanish bloke who sells great oranges, apples and veg and honey quite well.
#28
Re: Is my move realistic?
Err no, €11-1200 - €600 = €5-600 but yes, my WIFE and I do live on that and probably 6 months of the year there is something left over which goes towards paying annual occurring expenses such as insurances etc. with a few hundred top up from savings if needed.
If you want to talk annually then everything included we spend €15-15.5k pa which is around €3.5-4k less than we get from our 2 UK state pensions.
If you want to talk annually then everything included we spend €15-15.5k pa which is around €3.5-4k less than we get from our 2 UK state pensions.
So your annual expenditure is €15-15.5 and after rent €600 per month you spend another circa €600 per month and another €600/1100 per year to enjoy living the dream?
#29
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,008
Re: Is my move realistic?
Hi Barriej, I would check your community insurance. When we looked at ours it only covered the building, ie the outside walls and communal areas. It didn't cover the internal walls of our apartment, nor the bathroom or kitchen fittings, tiles, any decoration. It only covered the rebuilding of the shell.
We were advised to take out 1st loss insurance which covered our apartment for anything not covered by the communal insurance. It wasn't expensive and also included contents, water damage etc.
We were advised to take out 1st loss insurance which covered our apartment for anything not covered by the communal insurance. It wasn't expensive and also included contents, water damage etc.
But it is on the list of things to look at (only cause the wife keeps nagging me)
#30
Re: Is my move realistic?
Our community charge is €108 a quarter. But we don't have a pool. Just gardens and roof terraces (each stairwell has 6 flats) Included in this is the general upkeep of the building, the cleaner who comes in 3 times a week to do the stairwell, the auto gates on the underground parking.
Its not really a community as such just a few blocks spread around a tiny village.
Picture here.
Its not really a community as such just a few blocks spread around a tiny village.
Picture here.