What little things have you been priced out of?

claire16c

euronorris wrote: »

Some things are, and some things aren't. Swings and roundabouts. But, getting my haircut is €37, plus a small tip, so €40.

I don't know about the wages being higher, per se. When I moved here, my salary was on a par with what I was earning in the UK (when exchange rate is considered), but the cost of living is higher. If you have a mortgage, it'll be fairly cheap (as the government will give you the tax back on your mortgage payments). But if you're renting privately (social housing was never an option for me), then it's very expensive. Dependant on location of course. But our rent, for a very small one bedroom place, is €925pm!!!

It's not just the rent that's more expensive, you have to factor in health insurance too. For decent cover, you're looking at around €130pm, plus an excess of at least €260 (set by law). And certain things aren't covered by insurers - contraceptive pill for one. Used to be, but they changed the law, so now insurance companies won't cover it. Though they will cover you for other forms of contraception (such as IUD, implant, etc).

There are benefits though: - employers have to pay your commuting costs (up to a certain limit). So what I spend on public transport is reimbursed. If you have a car, you get a mileage allowance (think it's 17 cents per mile).

You also get holiday allowance. This is 8% of your salary, paid out once a year in May. Effectively, another month's salary.

And council tax tends to be a lot lower. It was just over €350 for 2012. Yes, the whole of 2012! It's less if you are a 1 person household.

Oh, and (I don't know how much you expect to earn, so this is a guess) you would most likely be taxed at the standard rate - 42%. Earn over 75k (I think! It's around that) and the tax rate jumps up to 52%. Hearing someone say on the UK news last night that the 50% tax, that has just been dropped, was the highest rate in europe made me laugh out loud. It's actually higher here in NL, and Sweden is very high! In fact, most European countries have higher taxes.

Anyway, there are pros and cons. Dutch is desirable, but certainly not essential. I have come across very few people who don't speak fluent English, and even then I've always gotten by with a combination of English and Dutch. But, I would recommend it learning the language. Makes things a LOT easier on you, and will really help you to integrate, settle and feel at home.

xxx

You clearly havent met my family in Holland - their English is dreadful :rotfl:Well actually 2 of them speak great English, and some of the others speak barely a word! The youger ones are the best.

42%:eek: Omg no wonder you have cut down on so much stuff! Is there actually any benefit to you living there if so much of your salary disappears each month? How much is the tax free allowance there?

Youd pay around £750 a month for a 1 bed flat where I live, so thats normal to me - but not on a wage that was getting taxed at that rate!!

Thats pretty strange about the law in terms of contraception - I wonder if that will have any effect on their very low teenage pregnancy rates?

For me, the only thing weve really cut down on is cinema and restaurant visits. When I met my OH ten years ago, I was a student and I could go to the cinema for £2 in Manchester, and around £4 where I live in the South, now its about £8.50 each! And now we tend to do more cooking at home for fun instead of going out.

I also stopped buying magazines. I hate coffee so I never got why anyone would spend so much money on that anyway. I dont get my hair cut that often, but I have long hair, and Im also lazy and cant be bothered to get it cut unless it really needs it.

BitterAndTwisted

It's not the many small things I've been priced out of, it's the big things. Like being able to have the central-heating on in the middle of winter.

Take-out coffees and glossy mags were a thing of the past a long, long time ago. I'm now found scouring the reduced sections in the supermarket. But it's not all doom and gloom: I've re-found my joy of cooking from scratch and have taken up baking with a vegeance

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Food.

Can't afford for there to be choices and snacks now - everything is pretty basic - as DD would just aimlessly munch until it was all gone in a day, probably leaving half of it uneaten but unable to be saved for another day as it had bitemarks in it. Or fingermarks in the cream cheese, or smoked salmon trimmings left out on the worktop overnight.


I cringe at the thought of buying meat. Can't remember the last time I had a Sunday dinner. When I do get something nice, I tend to do a 66/33 split where DD gets 2/3 of it. Cooking for pleasure isn't an option anymore, as that entails buying nice ingredients and taking time, compared to sticking something on the hob/in the oven for 12 minutes and dumping it on a plate.

I've also cut down to no more than 2 meals a day (usually just the one) for myself and I don't get the things I like but she doesn't. So no pickles, olives, beetroot, radishes, spring onions and the like, or other vegetables such as swede, squash, parsnips or sweet potatoes. It's all about what she likes to eat now.

I've also stopped having milk in drinks, so have black coffee and don't have more than a couple of cups of tea a week.


Magazines are boring (except for my bass one), and I went spare at DD the other day, as she picked out a bunch of books in WHSmith and only told me after it had been rung up that she didn't have the money for them, but they were books and that's what her Dad's maintenance is for, so she'd used the money he had given her to pass on to me for them. So she was on the receiving end of an earbashing about !!!!!! did she think the cat was going to eat for the week now she'd spent £35 of somebody else's money on books she could have got free from the library.

Mrs_Imp

I'm jut about to be priced out of going to work. After childcare and petrol I take home about £20 a week. Petrol's going up soon, and so will childcare, but I'm having another pay freeze (third year). Soon the numbers just won't add up. It's odd when work becomes an unaffordable luxury!

liney

Can't remember the last time I bought a lipstick, or a magazine.

My hair is now down to 3 monthly cut and blow dry at £25 instead of 8 weekly colour, cut and blow dry at £110 (!)

I've always been a frugal food shopper. Most of my meat and fish comes from the whoopsy counter, but there are definately more people looking there now instead of turning their noses up as they walk by.

euronorris

claire16c wrote: »

You clearly havent met my family in Holland - their English is dreadful :rotfl:Well actually 2 of them speak great English, and some of the others speak barely a word! The youger ones are the best.

I have met one or two people who had limited English, but most people are very good. Even when they say they aren't (they just lack confidence).

Kids are amazing with the language though!

42%:eek: Omg no wonder you have cut down on so much stuff! Is there actually any benefit to you living there if so much of your salary disappears each month? How much is the tax free allowance there?

Yeah, it's 42%, but I can see (easily) where the money is being spent. I feel it's being used wisely, and a lot of things are better than the UK. Just an example: about 2 years ago, there was a big storm overnight. Trees down, roads blocked, trains blocked, debris everywhere. But workmen were out at about 7am already clearing it up. By the time I left work that day, it had all been cleared!!!

There is no tax free allowance, but the first tax bracket is fairly low(1.95% up to 18,945 + NI at 31.15%): http://www.expatax.nl/tax_rates_2012.php

Some expats, if they meet strict criteria, are entitled to a 30% tax exemption. This means that the first 30% of your gross salary is not taxed.

They complain about the train service here, but it is SO much more reliable and comfortable than the UK. Cheaper too.

Commuting costs are paid by work (by law!).

Healthcare: I may have to pay for insurance, but the treatment I receive has been brilliant and very, very fast (when compared to the UK - I'm told Belgium is even better). Complained about a ganglion in my wrist in Nov, saw consultant 2 weeks later, then anasthesiologist a week after that, and had the op to remove it on 6th Jan! And whenever I've had blood tests, the results have been back and available within 2 days! And they didn't get lost first!!

Youd pay around £750 a month for a 1 bed flat where I live, so thats normal to me - but not on a wage that was getting taxed at that rate!!

It's private renting (and thankfully shared between OH and I). So expensive. Social housing, which is not frowned upon like it is in the UK, is much, much cheaper (about half the cost). And a mortgage, for a bigger place, would probably work out cheaper, due to the tax back from the government!

Thats pretty strange about the law in terms of contraception - I wonder if that will have any effect on their very low teenage pregnancy rates?

I don't think so because it was the law for years. It changed about 5-10 years ago, and then recently they decided to change it back. I think they tried it as free, to see if the teen pregnancy rate dropped at all, and it didn't. Generally speaking, sexual education starts younger here, sex isn't a taboo subject, and teen pregnancy is very much frowned upon.

For me, the only thing weve really cut down on is cinema and restaurant visits. When I met my OH ten years ago, I was a student and I could go to the cinema for £2 in Manchester, and around £4 where I live in the South, now its about £8.50 each! And now we tend to do more cooking at home for fun instead of going out.

I also stopped buying magazines. I hate coffee so I never got why anyone would spend so much money on that anyway. I dont get my hair cut that often, but I have long hair, and Im also lazy and cant be bothered to get it cut unless it really needs it.

I also hate coffee, so that's never been an issue for me either. OH loves it, but always says he prefers it when I make it. God knows why, I don't do anything special. I think it's just a ploy to get me to make it more often! lol

Oh yes, I have long hair too. Covers a multitude of sins!

claire16c

My family has very varying levels of English. My Nan is Dutch and she has 7 siblings in their 80s/90s, and some are completely fluent, the others speak it 'ok'. Yet some of their children in their 50/60s- one of whom I met - her husband barely spoke a word, I mean he really understood nothing at all when I spoke to him! Yet 2 of her other nieces and nephews were fluent.

Then the ones who are my age, one of them I met had perfect English, and another could just say the basics. So in general the younger ones were better, but I was suprised how much it differs in people who have been brought up the same way/gone to the same schools etc.

Wow so even if you earn under €18k you pay 33% tax?

I suppose paying that much, you would damn well expect the service to be good!

Do you only have to pay for insurance because you are an expat though? Because you would think that if tax rates are so high wouldnt they include healthcare?

Commuting costs - that would be great if that was paid here. Although of course I guess it all depends on how much you get back from that. I.e if someone was commuting here into London to earn a higher salary, theyd get more out of it than someone driving 5 minutes down the road.

I think their sex education is definitely something the UK could learn from. I watched a tv show once where they sent some teenagers from the UK to a school there for a week or so, it was quite interesting!

hmm Ive also been told I make good cups of tea - and I dont drink that either - so perhaps it is a ploy!!

tesuhoha

Actually its the Sunday roast. A joint of beef, lamb or pork now is so expensive that we only have roast dinner on special occasions and I don't buy as much wine and beer. I buy 8 cans of lager on Friday evenings but once its gone its gone.

grey_lady

Well I'm stunned that Jojo wont buy meat and yet spends £35 on cat food! to be fair I've probably got the wrong end of the stick on that.

This thread has been an eyeopener.

Mely

I dont buy magazines anymore. I thought id give myself a treat and buy cosmopolitan for the clinique offer...what a waste of money! There was nothing in it worth reading! We have also cut down on car journeys/days out due to the price of petrol. Not fun!