Moving Back to the UK from Holland - Advice as to Cost of Living In the UK

Tulips48

Hi Everyone,

My husband has just been offered a permanent job in London and we are looking at moving back to the UK from Holland.

Idea will be to rent our house in Holland out whilst marketing it at the same time.

We both feel totally out of touch with the UK pricing at the moment and are desperatly trying to get a handle on general cost of living for a couple living in the South East renting a three bedroom house.

We are coming over this weekend to view some rental properties but need help on the following averages:-)

Monthly

Electricity
Gas
Water
Food (we like to eat fresh food not processed so shopping will mostly milk, bread, meat, fish and fresh veg and fruit)
Telephone
Internet
TV licence
Digital TV package
Car insurance (landrover disco two drivers both over 45 no accidents etc)
Petrol

What would you say would be a good basic wage that would allow two old duffers to live comfortably and have a bit of fun i.e. the odd meal out or evening in the pub.

Any input gratefully received

Notmyrealname

No idea about the cost of the housing as I'm in the north east but for the rest of it, about

£100 a month over a year for gas/electric
Water about £30-£40 a month
Food around £300 a month
Telephone/Internet around £20 a month.
Digital TV from nothing (Freeview/Freesat) to £70/£80 for Sky/Virgin.
Car insurance, probably another £50-£100 a month.
Petrol is currently about £6.50 a gallon.

princeofpounds

Where in the South East? London is not Maidstone

missile

Cost of housing depends on where you choose to rent.

Cost of living in the UK is comparible to Netherlands.

Tulips48

We are looking at Faversham, Ashford area which is an easy commute with some nice rural properties to rent and accesss to a railway station....well thats the plan!

Already looks a lot cheaper than NL to be honest which is great.

Gonzo33

I have been looking at price comparison sites for insurance and such like because we are moving back from Cyprus soon. With regard to car insurance many insurers take no claims from up to 24 months ago, so if you have been out of the country less time than that you can take advantage of that if you can get confirmation from your previous insurers.

Uk_Lover

Food and things like that are cheaper here than there. But I've only been to Amsterdam so guess prices are inflated a bit like London. Ashford is an easy commute but the rail ticket is hardly cheap. Must be over 3k a year ?

Tulips48

Gonzo33 wrote: »

I have been looking at price comparison sites for insurance and such like because we are moving back from Cyprus soon. With regard to car insurance many insurers take no claims from up to 24 months ago, so if you have been out of the country less time than that you can take advantage of that if you can get confirmation from your previous insurers.

Sadly my husband has been living out of the UK for 23 years and I have been living away for over 10.

I used to live in Cyprus....fantastic place shame no jobs for OH there or I would be straight back.