Bink

I just meant that considering it's often easier, it's bloody expensive.
I should ask my gardener about laying my patio - I hadn't thought of him. I get him to do all kinds of other stuff for me, he's good and very reasonable!

shullen

Just moved to OK for six weeks, here is my list so far:

Cheaper than UK
Gas - we pay about $60 for 18 gallons in OK. That is far cheaper thank UK.
Certain brands of food and household item.
Generic brand prescriptions if you don't take into account of medical insurance monthly costs.
Certain procedures - just had all four of my wisdom teeth taken out under 100% coverage of our dental plan.
House price - we can't buy yet but for the same price, you certainly get a much bigger house than UK.

More expensive than UK
Car insurance - just get quoted for nearly $300 per month for two cars. That is far more expensive than UK.
Kids classes - I am paying twice the fees I paid in UK for dancing, swimming class etc for the girls.
Cable cost - again we are paying twice as we paid for Virgin in UK for cable/telephone/Internet package.
Used cars - US used cars seem to be dropping price far slower than UK equivalent.
House rent - we are paying a fortune for the rent every month. But also can't get out of the situation until we decide to stay in US.
Household appliances - they tend to be bigger in size comparing to UK. I guess that counts for the increase in price.

And many more of course. Despite some of my American friends kept telling me that it was cheaper in terms of living costs in US. So far I found the opposite.

SATX John

In my travels to and from and my family moving here, I would say:

1$ = 1 L

Based on your income this could be good or bad.

My in laws were shocked how cheap the following were:
Gas
Beef (meat in general)
Food in general
Major appliances
Seeing a private doctor
Owning a TV (No License)
Car prices

Their opposite was:
Cost of Hospital stays
Auto Insurance
Property Taxes
Various local / state taxes which they did not understand

Ash UK/US

I assume you mean gallon

Most people look at the price and compare, but usually they are not comparing apples for apples, yes the price in the US is less than the UK but (and I realize everyone has different circumstances) people in the US tend to drive further than those in the UK, my mum in the UK had a 12 mile round trip commute to work and my dad 3 miles (my dad would walk it when he work days and the weather was nice), we rode the bus to school. Here I have a 30 commute, my kids have to be driven to school.

Public transport is a more available option in the UK.

Cars in the US are often bigger and guzzle more gas.

Everything here is more spread out, walking to the store (or anywhere for that matter) is often not an option.

So yes gas/petrol is cheaper here but if you have a car that consumes more petrol and you drive twice as far is it really that much cheaper?

shullen

Completely agree. My first rental car in OK did 18 mpg, and that was considered efficient! Even my old 2005 civic in UK easily does 35 mpg in city.

SpoogleDrummer

Definitely doesn't apply to the whole US, $2500 a month for a house? If I spent that much around here it would take me a day to walk from one end to the other.

Bob

Indeed....and in some places, it wouldn't even get you a small apartment. Crazy ain't it.

Trixie_b

I think phones here in the US are extortionate. I've had cell phones in the UK, Australia, Spain and the US and the US is the only place I get charged for incoming calls and texts. The deals in the UK used to be (I've been gone a good few years now) used to be much more reasonable.

As for hair cuts. It depends on where you go. Even supercuts here is $40 and anytime I've tried them they screw my hair up.

Pulaski

I'm not sure what she means. Petrol is currently around £1.35/litre, so about £5/US gal, or $7.50ish/US gal.

S Folinsky

This has been discussed from time to time. Many Americans are outraged by the fact that the CALLER has to pay more to call a mobile while in the US, it doesn't matter.

This is related to the historical facts that in the US, mobiles started out as an adjunct to the land-line system. Think of the wireless phones used in homes now with only the base station being plugged into the wall. So the charge was for "air time" and not the phone call per se.

I still find it strange that the area code no longer really indicates where the phone might be. [One of my offspring lives in 315/585 area code but still has a 626 area code on her mobile]. But then it is nice to keep a number even when moving.

tuxedocat

Is produce cheaper in the UK? I don't think my friend in the UK gets how much higher produce is compared to cheap meat here.

S Folinsky

US prices vary dramatically -- compare Los Angeles with New Jersey -- a .70 difference.

Also, "regular" gasoline in the UK/Europe is "Premium" in the US. The NY Times had an article the other day that Ethanol is used to boost octane and there is a GLUT of ethanol has cause the price of premium to go UP compared to regular. I have not figured that one out.

Pulaski

I think you're more confused than she is- she quoted a pound sterling price for a litre, which, perhaps mistakenly, I assumed meant that she was talking about the price of petrol in the UK. Given the number she used I am now thinking she meant dollars/gal US.

I am well aware of the price variance across parts of the US. So far as the regular-premium price differential goes, I think that is a correction that is long overdue. Back in 2000 gas was around $1/gallon in VA (and I paid less on several occasions), and premium was 20¢ more, but that differential remained at 20¢ while the price climbed to over $4. Of course some of the discrepancy is caused by tax, but I have long expected to see the price difference to move to around 40¢-50¢.

scrubbedexpat099

Electricity is a lot cheaper.

There are well built houses, or have one built.

Hiro11

Not sure where some of you are coming from with cellphone pricing. We pay $130/month for two LTE smartphones on Sprint. Verizon and ATT are slightly higher. This seems comparable to what is quoted in the UK. Also, its worth noting that LTE is still rare in the UK.

Also, no one actually uses minutes anymore. Its all about data usage now. We have 1500 a month between the two of us and we never go higher than 500.