Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

seven-day-weekend

Near Trevelez....could be one of the Poqueira Gorge villages - Capiliera, Bubion, Pampaniera, or maybe Portugos, Pitres, Mecina Fondales, Busquistar or Juviles. Or maybe Orgiva or Lanjaron.

A bit further away are Berchules, Cadiar, Mecina Bombaron, Yegen, Valor , Yator, Ugijar and Cherin.

Take your pick!

missile

Sorry, but I really can't remember. I have some photos but there are no names.

seven-day-weekend

Not to worry!

lesandflynny

Hi 7 day weekend,

Just an update on our home hunt 1st.....we are booked to visit the coastal areas of Granada in February in search of our furure home, we have plans to view albunol and the surrounding areas. We have decided that whilst the children are young and we are learning Spainsh it will be better to be in the villages where the schools are and other social events. I just wanted to say that it was your tips on the areas that got me looking around there, thanks.

As for TV - sky, well I have to confess that this will be on my list of luxary's when I move. We already have it in our apartment in Mojacar and we use a 1.3 metre dish, we had it painted the same colour as the apartment to blend it in, it works too (giggle giggle -). I would aim to reduce my hours in front of the TV, but I have to confess that it is my stress buster from time to time, nothing like a good storyline in Coronation Street to take one away to fairy land (ha ha ha).

There is lots of technical advice regarding the purchase and instalation of these things in Southern Spain but hubby researched ours, I can ask him to advice if you like? PM me. I ahve to say as a novice though, 1.9 metres sounds huge to me, is this really neccessary..... what size do your neighbours /friends use? If your small dish already picks up the astral footprint then surley this is a good sign. If you have the equitment to aling it then perhaps you might find it cheaper to buy the dish yourself and replace the one you already have? The reciever box needed is a pace 2000, these are available off ebay at about £40, perhaps soembody could bring it over when they visit save on the postage too. As I understand though, and as with everything, you get what you pay for. There are bigs threads on this topic on viva almeria, I have just tried to find it for you but cannot seem to locate. Have a good looka round this and viva Granada to see the experiences of others.

However, and like missile says, technology is moving so quickly now. We can buy TV cards in the uk and watch Tv via the internet....... don't ask me the technicals of this though, I can abrley work my mobile phone. This may be a cheaper option all round.

Nice to catch up, I will keep you updated with the visit to Albunol.

seven-day-weekend

Hi les and flynny

Glad your househunting has started.

Er....Albunol itself IMHO is a dump surrounded by plastic greenhouses. I personally would not want to live there. However, you may still wish to visit.

You could however, go further inland towards and into the Alpujarras and try Albondon, Alcolea, Berchules, Cadiar, Mecina Bombaron, Yegen, Valor , Yator, Ugijar and Cherin.

As regards the TV, we were told that English TV will sometimes pick up on a 1.25 m dish, although we would not be able to get some of the channels. To get them all we will need a 1.9m. Most people we know who have satellite have 1.5 - 1.9m. We have plugged in a box that received on a 1.25m dish and it just said 'signal is weak' and would not receive any UK channels.

We have been quoted 250 euros for a 1.25m satellite, but decided we didn't really want to spend this much on the TV. We'll make do with what we have. (Although I would love to be able to watch Corrie!). But thanks for your offer of help, much appreciated.

Happy house hunting!

missile

To get the most from the system you need to tweak the box to amplify the signal strength. Apparently Grundig are better than Pace. We use a Sky+ box which has a better amplifier built in. Where we are there are a number of companies offering a relay service, i.e. they have a HUGE dish which beams the signal to your tiny receiver.

Most expat communities are well served by the local press. May I suggest this as a good source of info for anyone contemplating a move. On Costa Blanca we have several and most will forward to UK addresses and some are available on line see http://www.costablanca-news.com/

It was really cold here last night, had to put a jumper on, but the sun has his hat on today.

seven-day-weekend

Cold here too at night because of the altitude (just over 1000m, higher than the summit of Snowdon), but lovely in the daytime - and I don't think I'd get away with just a Calor Gas heater on low and a jumper if I stood on Snowdon's summit in January!

lessonlearned

I have resolved that by this time next year I shall be in Spain.

My OH is currently in Spain staying at our apartment. He has been ill for some time and has been struggling of late. I packed him off to Spain in the hope that the warmer weather would help him. In the meantime I have remained here to do some decorating in preparation for putting our UK property on the market. We're hoping that our house sells quickly so that we can get out to Spain as soon as possible.

In view of my husband's illness it looks as if we will have to bring our retirement forward (he has been off work now for almost six months and looks unlikely to be able to return to full time employment). So thanks for the recent info posted about Incapacity Benefit and Nationwide for money transfers. It was very helpful.

As you can imagine my husband's long term illness has had quite an impact on our finances and we are hoping that living in Spain will not only improve his health but also our wealth.

Any other tips any of you may have would be very gratefully received. (I'm already quite an OSer and neither of us are materialistic).

I am looking forward to pottering about in the sun and keep plugging away at my Spanish in preparation. Slow progress though!

missile

I do not wish to pry into the nature of your OHs illness, but do consider the local services when choosing where to live.

If you think he might need urgent attention it may not be wise to live in a remote fica. We made visits to see the doctor, emergency centre and local hospitals before we chose where to stay.

We also chose an alarm system which is linked to an emergency response (in English) for fire/police/medical. Never had to use it and hopefully never will, but nice to have.

seven-day-weekend

seven-day-weekend wrote:

My husband receives IB in Spain (he was receiving it in the UK before we came), and he also gets his teacher's pension. He is registered at our Spanish address and the IB is dealt with by The Pension Service at Tyneview Park, Newcastle and the phone number is 0191 218 7647. This is the office that deals with non-UK residents.

He was also sent a form E121 which, once registered with the Spanish Seguridad Social, entitles him to free healthcare in Spain for as long as he is on the benefit.

Hope this helps.

Good advice missile and welcome to Spain lessonlearned.

Glad you found the medical advice helpful.

Further to what I posted previously about IB (above), my E106 medical cover (available from UK if you've paid enough NI and lasts about two years) expired on January 6th and they have added me on to my husband's E121 as his dependent as I have no income. I had to ask for this but there were no problems.

This will cover us both for as long as he is on the Benefit.

Then when I am 60 (three years time, I'm 57 tomorrow!) I can apply for an E121 in my own right and then it will be permanent.

Don't know whether I mentioned it earlier, but my husband's IB has recently been under review and I'm pleased to report that he passed his Personal Capability Assessment based on the questionnaire and Drs report, he did not have to go for a medical.:T

Hope this helps.