Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

Merrywidow

Hi droopsnout - I'm here too, Hi SDW - sad news from your village. The article on the front page of this bulletin today was very interesting - savings and the recession. Why is it that people take out "a hugh mortgage" - tomorrow always comes. I am finding it a little sad as I have for the last few years since my husband died, been planning my exit from this country. Looks like I can forget it for a while. The value of my house 2 years ago would have bought me a lovely similar house in Holland with quite a bit over for the future but the current value of the Euro and the loss of equity in my house makes it all look a bit pear shaped. A house similar to mine sold last week for £30,000 less than it would have brought 2 years ago. Hey Ho - I wonder how long it will last?

seven-day-weekend

Hi there Merry Widow - well the 'huge mortgage' in this particular instance was taken out by a young couple who were coming here to Spain to start a mountain biking business.

Had they checked whether there were any mountain biking businesses nearby? NO. (There are two very successful ones (at each end of the Alpujarras).
Did they know any mountain biking tracks? NO
Had they got a Business Plan? NO
Any Insurance? NO
Had they run a business before NO
Had they got a website? NO
Do they speak Spanish? Not a word
Had they an alternative source of income? NO

Oh .... and do they have any bikes? NO

Now I know were not the first and they won't be the last to come here so unprepared - but why oh do people think it is going to be easier to run a business in another country where they don't know the rules or speak the language than it is in the UK?

They only ever had one person take up thieir holiday and had to give him a refund as they left him stranded up a mountain!

They lived off borrowed money from the bank for a year, then parents helped them out.

The outcome was inevitable really.

donny-gal

Yes I am here too!

Yesterday I visited our local Iceland, we had forgotten to bring out some brown malt vinegar, and was told this was probably the cheapest, decided to call on the way home from DH getting his blood test results, his Cholesteral was now at a OK level, but needs to stay on the tablets, will sort these out in the UK when we get back as they are 27€ a month.:eek: We were surprised at how busy it was for a Wednesday lunchtime. They had a massive range of UK goods, everything from the frozen food you expected, to books/magazines, diy stuff, dried/tinned food, shampoos/etc., fresh foods, (including Bramley Apples sold in 2's) - no I didn't check the price, should have. But the prices:eek: :eek: :eek: no wonder the ex-pats were calling it dear to live out here if they want pre-made frozen food, small example was if it was marked up at £1 it was 1.25€. As most are retired or not working, then surely they have time to cook, I am not a cookaholic by any sense of the word, but manage without buying premade frozen dishes. A frozen chicken was over 7€ not a big one either, you can pre-cooked ones for less than that.

I still think it is cheaper to live out here if you have no mortgage. If you need work for an income, then it has always been dodgy. I think some are going back on the home of Pension Credits, but think they are short sighted.

If you want to sell, advertise in Scandinavian/Dutch/Belgium estate agents, that is who is buying.

DG

carrots

Hello everyone!

Droopsnout, you sound quite homesick for France. No chance of you becoming an ex-expat, then!

Merrywidow, I do commiserate. It's a hard thing when your dreams get further out of reach. More by good luck than good management, I sold up and moved to France at a pretty good time, but had little more than one year of living my envisaged great lifestyle before this disaster struck. I thought I had escaped at last from my life of penny-pinching financial anxiety. My only consolation is that I'm now penny-pinching in a better climate. However, I have burnt my bridges - I do hope the time will soon come when you'll be able to cross yours.

SDW, this young couple and her parents apparently have something to go back to. But what were they thinking? Bad planning or no planning at all was the main reason for expats returning even at the height of the boom. It makes one wonder how they'll fare in a crisis, even in the UK. Oh well, at least they'll be able to speak the language.

donny-gal, I agree with you that it's still much cheaper to live here if you have no mortgage. I'm sure my French friends don't believe me when I tell them how much it cost me to live in England. I reckon there would be widespread civil unrest here if one tried to impose the British cost of living. (BTW, your Iceland sounds amazing. It was a real event for me when the local supermarket got in some Scottish cheddar!)

gpflux, I hope you had fun in the Schwarzwald and didn't eat so much kirschtorten than you bust out of your lederhosen!

droopsnout

Just wrote a long-ish post and lost the lot because I wasn't logged in ... Here's a part of it.

I have to tell you of a little incident which happened in town last week.

The shop assistant greeted me with, "Are you all right there, mate?"

Now, a number of responses went through my head, but I closed my eyes, took a breath and said, "I hate being called 'mate'. I'll go elsewhere."

Last year, an assistant asked me, "Can I help you, pal?"

What has happened to "sir" or "madam"? Or even to using nothing at all? Our continental neighbours seem to have no trouble in calling me "monsieur", "señor" or "signor". They don't seem to feel that they are either obsequious or socially inferior by calling me "mister" or "sir".

So why do we have to suffer the over-familiarity of "pal" or "mate"?

Of course, my family sees this as further evidence that I'm just a grumpy old man.

Merrywidow

Oh Droopsnout - I know what you mean. Surely its those people who F and blind and those that call you 'mate' and pal' who are to blame. Just the pure lack of a decent vocabulary forces them to inject their own version of English. On a different level, whenever I am someplace that requires an appointment, they always shout out my Christian name because they can't be bothered to try and pronounce my Dutch surname. I was thrilled when the receptionists in the doctor's surgery took pride in pronouncing my name correctly, they are all over 50. The oldies are still the best.

Merrywidow

Hi Carrots - an interesting post to us all. Thanks for your kind words, but I should point out that I forgot to mention that I have a 96 year old mother in a care home here in Tunbridge Wells who is anchoring me firmly in the UK as long as she lives. I am the only person she has left.

Merrywidow

and by the way Droopsnout - I think I too could join the grumpy old women club. When the snows hit the South East a few weeks ago, the television showed all the notices outside the closed schools "Due to snow etc etc" My English teacher would be turning in her grave, I can hear her voice now "Only trains and buses are due, everthing else is owing" You as a teacher must abhor the misuse of our language?

seven-day-weekend

Hi droopsnout!

Yes, we do get called señor and señora here, but my husband has also been frequently called 'hombre' (man). He doesn't mind, he thinks it's quite funny!

droopsnout

"Due to" instead of "Owing to" ...

"Different to" ...

"None" followed by plural verb ...

"Less" when we should say "fewer" ...

I hate 'em all!! LOL! (And I think I've heard them all on Sky News this morning!)