Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

EdInvestor

sandy2 wrote: »

Could she live part time in Spain and part time in England, that would alleviate a lot of the financial issues i think

Yes, the rules have recently changed:

Pensioners who are out of the country for up to 13 weeks will not lose the credit. Previously it was taken away once a pensioner was out of the country for four weeks or longer. Claimants had to reapply when they came back.

This is good news for those previously penalised for taking an extended trip overseas for religious reasons, to visit family or to have medical treatment.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/retirement/article.html?in_article_id=427414&in_page_id=6

seven-day-weekend

Well, if this doesn't sum up life here in the Spanish sticks, nothing ever will!

We have had an e-mail today from Claude, a French expat who left this village in 2005 to live in a monastery in Newton Abbott.

He has had enough of the monasterial life and is now going to live half the year in a van, and half on a mule. He is coming back to our village in March to buy the mule.

He wants us to measure Encarna, a mule who belongs to Cameron, a British expat here in the village, so that he can make a saddle for his mule.

I can't remember being asked to measure the height, width amd circumference of a mule when I lived in the West Midlands!

By the way, this guy Claude is nearly 70.....

We're looking forward to seeing his French face!

droopsnout

Wonderful! Just wonderful! Thanks for sharing that, s-d-w!

seven-day-weekend

Well Claude is here, looking fitter than ever, and is sleeping on a llama skin (!) in a white van and cooking on a one-burner stove.

He has taken possession of Hermano, a wonderful young mule, very alert and friendly. He has him on approval for two weeks, to 'road-test' him, some of which he has done today by loading him up and seeing how he does as a pack mule. Glad to say Hermano passed his test with flying colours!

I did Claude's washing in my washing machine and he now has it spread all over the olive trees drying - French underpants included!

In a few weeks he is going to walk to the French Alps with Hermano and then come back here to Spain on a bus to collect the van. When Hermano is not working he will live in a field with some horses.

At some point Claude will return to his monastery in Newton Abbot.

He was telling me that the villagers here call him 'El Loco' (The Crazy One) - I wonder why???

(People all have nicknames here, they call my husband El Rubio (The Blonde ONe). There is a local man who they call Juan de Oro (Juan of Gold) and another family who they call Los Caracoles (The Snails).)

Anyway, it's good to see Claude and share even a small part of his interesting and unusual life.

seven-day-weekend

Update on Claude - he has now added a dog to his entourage.

This in itself does not surprise me because when he lived in this village he was the local recognised dog trainer. But it was usually Border Collies (for herding the flock) and dogs like Pyrenean Mountain Dogs (for guarding the flock). He is a brilliant dog trainer and all 'his' dogs love and respect him. Agustin El Pastor (Agustin the Shepherd) has a dog called Pepe who has remembered Claude even after his three-year absence.
But much to my surprise, Claude has got himself...... a tiny Jack Russel!:eek:

Looking at this more closely though, I can see the reason for this. It is small enough to sleep in the 'camp' when Claude is travelling, can bark if there are any intruders and is small enough to ride on Hermano's back if he gets tired.

Claude is training him at the moment, but he is only a young dog and is wailing a bit! That won't cut any ice at all with Claude!

The dog's name is Pepito.

seven-day-weekend

By the way, I have changed all the names in this account, even all the animals, apart from Pepito.

However, if anyone is sufficiently interested, Claude made a video in English about ten years ago called 'Livestock Guarding Dogs' (under his real name). I think he made it for a Canadian organisation.

If anyone is sufficiently interested to track it down, they can not only know his real name but he even makes a guest appearance on the video!:rotfl:

droopsnout

So, fellow ex-pats in Europe, or those thinking of becoming ex-pats ...

How is the plunge in the value of sterling affecting you?

Belts are definitely being tightened here.

Bought house in 2002, when 1€ was 62.5p.
Value of euro today: 79.25p

Decline in value = ((79.25-62.5)/62.5)*100 = 26.8%

That's a helluva reduction in my pension!!!

seven-day-weekend

Yes, we are having to tighten belts too.

Our income has gone down by around E100 a month since 2004.

EdInvestor

I suppose the rise in the Euro will be reducing the impact of the fall in house prices though (in sterling terms)?

donny-gal

In the ex-pat belt where we have ours - that depends, there is certainly a glut of houses on the market, due to various factor, one being the tax changes in Germany, and the fact they are still building with many for sale. That means houses prices have not risen much in the last 5 years, so yes the impact of the Euro does mean if you get the same price in Euros then it does still, you may make enough to cover what you have done to it, costs of buying/selling etc. It is a buyers markets so there is no guarantee of getting as much as you paid Euro wise, the buyers locations have changed, it s now harder for Sterling buyers to get into the market, German buyers have diminished as above, the buyers now seem to be more Scandinavian, Dutch, French.
Yes, belts are being tightened, but they are over here too, petrol/diesel has gone up it was 1.09€ a litre for diesel at the February when I was last over there, still far cheaper than here. Overall I would say it is still cheaper to live over there than here by quite a margin.
DG