Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

gfplux

Hello Mioiere,
Good luck with your journey. I will also be on the French roads on Sunday. I will leave Luxembourg at 7.00 am I will pass by Metz, Nancy, Dijon, through Lyon, then by Avignon. I hope to arrive in Sainte Maxime late in the afternoon. I will be there for the weeks returning to Luxi on 22nd March.
How long is journey, I can't remember where you are travelling to.

donny-gal

Hi everyone

Yes the £ is terrible, thought it may bounce a little after the interest rate cut last week as it normally does but the IMF statement probably did it this time.:eek:

I see it is a £27m Euromillions Rollover this Friday, so maybe worth investing a € or 2 7DW & DS! Maybe we should have an Living abroad lucky dip, with a ticket from each country, I am sure we could manage to share the £27M. :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

We have not gone mad this time, and had more meals at home, but that is really by choice, as while you enjoy the change of eating out when just here for a short time, but not for longer. We had a Chinese on St Patrick’s Day but kept to the 6.95€ menu del dia, which is your welcome with a glass of (weak) Sangria, prawn crackers, starter of salad or soup or spring roll, choice of main course + rice or special egg fried rice or noodles, dessert or coffee, half a bottle of wine, and a liquer with your bill. I had Duck with Orange which was a whole breast so not bad value. I prefer this to the Wok Buffets which have now sprung up everywhere, you can eat all you like, but I think folk eat more than they want with that “just to make sure I get my monies worth”, they give you a bottle of wine between 2 to take home, so you have to buy drinks and they charge 8.95€ ish, plus you have to serve yourself, if I go out I like to be served at the table. Food to eat in I think is cheaper than the UK (unless your want British Specialities), petrol certainly is gas to and it is being reduce next month. Our supermarkets are certainly having a war reducing different thing each week as they are in England. Council Tax certainly is cheaper, though it is hard to compare accurately as there are charges in the water for waste disposal, and electicity is I think possibly on a par, though 7DW may have more idea on that as I am still awaiting copies of my Jan/Feb electricity bills, due to the Correos changing all postal addresses and chaos reigning.

Good look with the move M, I am sure it will go fine, just make sure your baking stuff is well stocked in the van.

Have a good holiday gfplux

Well unfortunately my BP has not gone down, and after consulting with my UK Dr (who is Spanish) via email (the wonders of modern technology) he recommends I see someone out here, and so I have an appointment on Friday, today is a local holiday here (something about Farmer’s Day I hear) so making no bookings or decisions about the return trip until after then, current vague plans are to depart on Wedneday.

Take care – DG

seven-day-weekend

Donny-gal as regards the Council Tax, I think it depends where you live; here in the sticks we pay as much PER YEAR as we did per month in the UK, so it is certainly a lot cheaper, but talking to people who live in or near Malaga or other cities, it is on a par with the UK. Water and Waste disposal rates ditto. We don't have to pay the irrigation water tax as we don't have any land, but our friends who have a garden pay the grand sum of four euros a year for theirs. The Alpujarras has plenty of water as the area relies on springs and snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada; our village in particular is blessed with two permanent springs.

Electricity I agree is on a par with the UK, telephony and internet is more expensive - we pay 22 euros a month for dial-up internet!

Grocery shopping here I find has gone up, they seem to have increased their prices for the recession (!).

Merrywidow

Hi there Donny-Gal and SDW - sorry to hear about the BP Donny - what is causing that. Did you get a reply from Verdun about the Caravan knees up? It would be a shame if you have to delay your departure, but I guess your health is more important. I too have pills for the high BP but that is part and parcel of my Diabetes. Shopping has definitely gone up here despite Tesco making great claims of reductions. I have my Tesco stuff delivered hence I have an invoice which I can check back on. I am ordering less, but the bottom line is getting higher each week.

SDW -that Internet dial up is very expensive. My BP Broadband cost £17 per month with free weekend calls etc. Am I right in assuming Spain has no Broadband or is it too pricey?

Francophile

I know how you feel about the exchange rate Droopsnout. It seems that and everything else we have invested our hard earned money into ( in the hope of having a comfortable retirement) have gone done the tubes. However last October I found out I had Breast Cancer and believe me losing money was the least of our worries. I used to wish I could win the lottery. Now I just thank God I'm alive.

droopsnout

Thanks for bringing everything into perspective, Francophile.

We have had two items of unfortunate medical news ourselves this last week, too. Not as serious as yours, though.

I hope that you beat the monster with all flags flying high and proud. If anyone can defeat it, I would put my money on you, and the wonderful sense of humour you share with Mr Francophile.

Best wishes to you and all the family.

droopsnout

mioliere wrote: »

We leave on the Saturday night ferry

Hope your move goes smoothly, and that everything - including the family - arrives intact!

mioliere wrote: »

Droopsnout - it's very worrying seeing the value of the pound dropping like that, but I echo others who say that the situation here is going from bad to worse. The IMF said yesterday that the UK will be the last country to emerge from the recession, because it is in such a bad way.

Yes, I heard that news, too. Grim, isn't it? Oh, I'm sure that if you've both got work, and especially as Mr mioliere will be paid in euros, you will be better off in all ways over here in France.

Contrary to the impression I may have inadvertently given recently, I very much appreciate the life I have here. We both know that we would not be able to afford a rural location in England, nor the better climate, nor the crime-free life, the lack of intimidation in town centres, the warm evenings on the terrace ... Oh no, I know where I prefer to be for those and other reasons (as long-time readers of this thread will know very well).

mioliere wrote: »

I think, financially, we'll be a lot better off, with much lower overheads, but, of course, it remains to be seen.

I'm sure you will! Enjoy every moment of it.

seven-day-weekend

Merrywidow wrote: »

SDW -that Internet dial up is very expensive. My BP Broadband cost £17 per month with free weekend calls etc. Am I right in assuming Spain has no Broadband or is it too pricey?

Yes, it is possible here in the village to have ADSL, but it is 44 euros a month through Telefonica and they have told us that we (the SDW family) can't have it anyway as our phone line isn't suitable. (Don't know why). We wouldn't want it anyway at that price!!

There is a wireless connection available in the school library so if we desperately need a fast connection, we take the laptop down and use that.

droopsnout

donny-gal wrote: »

Well unfortunately my BP has not gone down, and after consulting with my UK Dr (who is Spanish) via email (the wonders of modern technology) he recommends I see someone out here, and so I have an appointment on Friday, today is a local holiday here (something about Farmer’s Day I hear) so making no bookings or decisions about the return trip until after then, current vague plans are to depart on Wedneday.

Sorry to read this, d-g. I reckon you need to spend more time there and less in Donny! Good luck with your appt tomorrow. We also have one, so keeping our fingers crossed for all concerned. Will be thinking of you.

mioliere

Good morning everyone.

Donny-gal - I hope your BP comes down and that you are able to make plans for your return trip. Good luck at the doctor's.

Francophile - I'm so sorry to hear about the breast cancer - life must indeed seem precious.

GFplux - I hope your journey goes well. We arrive in Le Havre (courtesy of LD Lines booked via myfreight.co.uk, at quite a good discount) early on Sunday morning, then we have a five hour drive down to Parthenay, in department 79, in the south west. We'll spend the next two nights there, then travel back to the UK with the empty truck, stay the night with friends, then drive both our cars over to France (this time with Brittany Ferries, Portsmouth to Caen - a slightly shorter drive, and I'm not looking forward to negotiating the Caen Peripherique!), so it will be a busy and tiring few days. My DH has his HGV licence, and a friend who has his own trucking company suggested he booked with myfreight.co.uk, which saved us around £150. The same friend (he delivers boats throughout Europe) asked DH if he would be interested in escort driving; because most of his loads are wide, they need to be accompanied on the journey, so DH may well be able to do a couple of runs a month, which could mean some steady income. Luckily, all three of the companies I do freelance work for have said I can continue working from France; I just hope it doesn't take too long to get settled so I can start working again. We have a much busier social life when we stay in France, because we have friends and some of DH's family close by, so I'll have to plan my working time more efficiently than I do here!

Well, this is our last day of frantic packing - I must admit that my temper has grown shorter by the day! What made me think doing this would be the same as moving within the UK, I don't know! The paperwork has been almost as bad as the packing! We go offline late this afternoon and get reconnected, hopefully, next Thursday. Our deal with France Telecom is 44 euros a month (with 60 euros refunded after the second month), for Broadband, phone and TV, which seems reasonable.

Well, I'd better go and get something constructive done. I hope you all have a good weekend and, for those of you travelling, have a safe journey.

Kathy