Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

LesD

Hi all. Just a note on money-saving in Spain...........

Sign up for the Carrefour Club card. (Just a loyalty card, not a credit card - although their credit card does give similar discount I think.) It gives small amounts of cashback on in-store purchases but really comes into its own with petrol/diesel purchases. Usually EIGHT percent cashback!

Perhaps DS can advise if the French stores have a similar card.

I have tried to use the Spanish card in France, but no joy I'm afraid.

droopsnout

Carrefour have their own loyalty card (and credit card) in France, but I am not aware of any regular cashback on fuel. They have just changed the way they reward cardholders, but there is a 5% discount on own-brand goods. They have a website for more info, but I confess that although I understand French very well, the actual offer is shrouded in mystery - not least because when you click on things it doesn't always tell you anything!

However, if you wish to join me in my state of bamboozlement, you can look at http://www.carrefour.fr/tout_savoir/.

Have fun!

WaxiesDargle

Hi all

I retired 3 years ago aged 50...just waiting for my last two kids to fly the nest...ones is 18 in June and soon to go to university and the other is 16 in May...so another couple of years yet at least...I have this mad idea of renting out my house and moving to somewhere warm!!...haven't got a clue where...hopeless like that

I could live on my occupational pension and rent income....everyone needs something to look forward to

droopsnout

Hi, Waxies.

Mad ideas ... something to look forward to ...

Nothing wrong with those things!

Welcome to the thread.

mommame

droopsnout wrote: »

Where does Mr Momma want to go to live, then?

Where we are, it is VERY rural.

When you read your local paper in the UK, what's in it? Muggings, robberies, vandalism, shops closing down, jobs lost ...

One of the village ladies here recently won a giant Easter egg from one of the local bakers. Nice! But also newsworthy here. She had to get herself all dolled up and she put on her rather straw-like wig, slapped on the Polyfilla and finger paints in order for two newspapers to take her photo!

That's what gets in our local paper.

Yet there can be sophistication. At the tourist office where I do a few hours a week, we have an art gallery, which has recently been deliberately pushed upmarket. A proper opening is carried out for each exhibition, there is a special gallery email newsletter, and the website has a page devoted to the artist and his/her work. (If you want a peep, it's at http://www.tourisme-coeurdelomagne.fr/galerie-exposition.html. I'm working on an English translation of the whole site at the mo). At the opening of the latest exhibition, eight paintings were sold within minutes!

But I must admit, I still prefer both the naive simplicity and the shrewd manoeuvring which make up country life.

Mommame, you say you won't have much to live on, when the great day comes. Which raises the interesting question of just how much DO you need to have to survive? There are so many variables, aren't there? Size of house affects maintenance costs, local taxes and energy expenditure, for instance. Would there be a mortgage? Might there be a pool to maintain? Would there be lots of visitors from the UK coming to stay, which can be quite costly?

I would say that, ignoring the mortgage side, you probably need a minimum net income of about 1000€ a month to live in France, but that would not allow you to eat out or go to cinema or theatre, or have anything other than a very basic and short holiday somewhere. If anyone is interested, I'd be quite happy to post here what our regular bills are.

I'm sorry to read that you are (if I interpret correctly) on a long-term course of treatment, and I hope you are fully well very soon. But are you sure that the authorities in Spain or France would not fund your medication? If you receive Incapacity Benefit, you may be able to enjoy very good health cover in another country. If you haven't yet made any firm enquiries, you might like to have a read here, and even better, send an email with your info to the address at the bottom of the home page. (I'm not suggesting you ever take out a policy with them, nor endorsing them. I have no connection with them, and don't have any business with them, but I do know that they specialise in expat healthcare).

If nothing else, their input may keep your dream alive, and, you never know, bring its fulfilment nearer.

Hi Droopsnout,my husband would prefer to live in Spain so we will have to see what happens in the future.
We intend selling this house and buying a ground floor flat in a gated community near where we live and probably live abroad in the winter months and we wont have to worry about security issues.

Not too bothered about the socializing side of things as we have simple tastes and I am just as happy to sit on my patio and have a glass of wine and listen to the birds singing,I did love to go for long rambling walks to nowhere in particular but alas no more as not very mobile,I'm sure we will manage.

droopsnout

Not sure that I would recommend France just for winter living - apart from the Riviera (which is mainly unaffordable for most of us). France doesn't benefit from the Gulf Stream like the UK does, and so temperatures can fall to low levels. We have experienced -10, and locals say it has been down to -14 in the past. In other areas it can be very wet, especially in the Massif Central. In the east it can be very cold in winter, with lots of snow. At the seaside, it can be very sad in winter.

So your husband is probably wise in his choice!

Savvy_Sue

Mind you, I think SDW would also say that not all of Spain is warm all through the winter ... and their levels of insulation and approach to central heating are possibly even less Finnish than ours! (DH spent some time there, and they used to joke that we Brits would heat our houses to be the same temperature inside as it was outside! Whereas they ALWAYS have excellent insulation and heating systems!)

You certainly have to choose your destination carefully.

droopsnout

Very true, Sue. And our friends in Spain have reported lots of rain this last winter, and leaks into their houses.

Australia sounds good ...

Savvy_Sue

droopsnout wrote: »

Australia sounds good ...

Canary Islands are slightly closer. I know they don't have perfect weather, but on our brief holidays there, at various seasons, we've never been cold! :rotfl:

queen_of_string

Just popping in briefly to say hi! I always thought I would like to live in France when I retired, but somehow I have landed in Canada at the age of 40 . Not at all bad, here on the west coast we have some very lovely summer weather and almost no winter at all this year. Here, as most places, it's expensive to live, food being a particular shocker.

Thought it might cheer one or two of you up to know that the cheapest of cheap wines here is around $15 or 10 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!! Despite it being grown and bottled very locally. I am investigating buying from the vineyard or making my own with some urgency!