Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

droopsnout

Welcome to the thread, TonyH. It's nice to have new faces.

If you've read the thread this far, you'll know that I live in SW France, too. We're on the borders of the Gers, Lot-et-Garonne and Tarn-et-Garonne counties. We've lived here for nearly six years now.

TonyH wrote: »

The cost of living is roughly two-thirds of life in the UK with electricity being about the same cost, internet access (broadband) including telephone line rental and call package about 55 euros a month (all world-wide and local calls included).

I wouldn't like to either agree or disagree on your estimate of the cost of living.I can add my own two pennorth on particular prices, and add other info, if it's not too boring.

My internet access provides free calls to the EU plus America and Canada, and of course nationally within France. For that I pay 30 euros monthly. I could add my telephone rental to the Internet subs, and reduce my outgoings, but I don't fully trust my ISP with the phone line! Phone line costs 16 euros a month rental, so a total of 48 euros a month.

TonyH wrote: »

No road fund licence for motorbikes or cars. TV licence roughly 100 euros p.a. (unless in an exempt group). Diesel for the car about the equivalent of £1 a litre (and that is unusually high).

No car tax, no - but tolls to pay on the motorway. If, like us, you rarely use the motorways, you're a winner, but if you pay a lot of tolls, motoring can be expensive.

Whereas diesel is more expensive than petrol in the UK, here it's cheaper. The last price I saw for diesel was 1.309€ a litre - about £1.04. Petrol is about 1.42€ a litre - £1.13.

TonyH wrote: »

Beef and lamb we find quite expensive and we grow most of our own veg but the supermarkets and shops have plenty of variety and at a reasonable price, also there are always very good special prices on offer.

Yes, red meat is dear. Pork is good value. Poultry is dear compared to UK, but probably better quality. Cod is currently 17.50€ a kilo here (£6.34/lb). It is wise to stock up the freezer when meat and fish are on promotion.

TonyH wrote: »

Medical care has been a problem in the recent past, but mostly now sorted although there is usually a top-up insurance required. However, French health care is first class with a no waiting policy. Serious illnesses (cancer, heart probs etc) are treated 100 percent free. Our doctor speaks English and the cost per visit is about 21 euros with roughly 75% refunded on the Carte Vitale.

I was briefly hospitalised in February and have nothing but praise for my care. A top-up insurance is virtually indispensible: residents would be very foolish not to have one. The reason for this is that the French state reimburses costs to the patient up to a certain point only, and the rest is claimed from insurance. The insurance premiums do NOT depend on your medical history. There are no tests or questionnaires to complete when you take out a policy. Our policy, to cover husband and wife in a rural location, in our mid-50s, is 90€ (£72) a month.

TonyH wrote: »

If required a UK driving licence can be exchanged for the same category French licence free of charge.

However, there is a good reason for not doing so. If you have a French licence and commit an offence, you have to pay your fine and suffer a point penalty. However, if your licence is a UK one, there is as yet no method for them to administer a points penalty, and you just get away with it! (Although I did once hear of someone in that position being asked to exchange their licence so that the penalty could be applied).

TonyH wrote: »

House prices have risen, but not as dramatically as the UK.

And are falling again.

TonyH wrote: »

Water, strangely enough, is cheap but the abonnement (contract paid twice yearly) is expensive at 90 + euros every 6 months.

I use about 130000 litres a year (which includes topping up a small swimming pool) and pay 28€ (£22) a month.

TonyH wrote: »

Rates (fonciere and habitation) can be dear in a large town, but small villages (like ours) and country houses are as cheap as chips.

Our local taxes amount to approx 1240€ a year, which I pay in ten monthly instalments of 124€ (£99).

TonyH wrote: »

Oh, and MoT is once every 2 years and is half the price of the UK. The folk are friendly, but the driving is appalling with tailgating being the main sport. Get a French registered car and this drops off quite nicely as the locals don't know who is driving.

I must say that the driving standard in my area is very good, as people are so laid back. It is not the same if you venture into the bigger cities. Middle-lane hogging on motorways is much less frequent. Being cut up is more common. Around here, in town, people will stop their cars to shake hands and say hello to people they recognise walking in the street. The traffic just waits patiently.

I've just got rid of my UK RH-drive but French-registered vehicle at the end of its long and much-loved life, and I've got a LH-drive replacement. I haven't noticed any change of approach to me when driving locally, but I've yet to go into an urban area. (Our nearest shop is five miles away).

Financially speaking, the biggest problem has been the collapse of the pound against the euro, as I have detailed in previous posts. Since buying our house here, I have lost roughly 30% of the value of my pension simply in exchange rate variation.

It is very, very useful to be able to speak French. People's attitudes to you are completely different when you speak to them in their own language.

seven-day-weekend

Hi Tony H and welcome to the forum. I'm in a small village up a mountain in southern Spain.

I would say our cost of living is about 2/3 that of the UK too, when we first came it was about half, it has gone up dramatically. And of course we have the same problems with the exchange rate and Occupational Pensions.

Notable costs : Road tax for a 1.9 diesel people carrier 79 euros a year. ITV (MOT) once every two years for vehicles under ten years old, then once a year.

'Council' Tax : Around 80 euros a year

Our water is not metered (although some parts of Spain are) and the rates are around 20 euros a year.

No TV licence fee

Gas bottles ,the size that you put in a calor gas fire 14 euros (they were eight euros when we first came to live here four years ago). We use them for cooking, hot water and heating in the winter. Most of Spain does not have mains gas. And yes, you do need heating in southern Spain in the winter, especially at 1000m above sea level.

The roads are very good and usually traffic-free, apart from on the Costa del Sol in July and August (this is in Andalucia - I don't really know about other parts of Spain).

We have very few toll roads and those we do have are very cheap.

Telephones and internet are quite expensive imo. We pay 22 euros a month just for dial-up internet, plus Telefonica's line rental, plus 14 euros a month for unlimited calls to the UK and other European countries. And then of course the UVA is added (VAT).

The NHS is very good.

Fuel seems to keep step with the Uk and is usually the same in euros as it is in £s in the UK.

Welcome once again to the forum.

droopsnout

Sounds like I might save a few bob living in your attic, s-d-w!

TonyH_2

Hi We are in Dept 46 (Lot) so not that far away.

droopsnout

Quite close, Tony. We have some friends in Lauzerte and will be going to see them next Friday. Lauzerte is still in 82, but heading your way!

Merrywidow

Hallo there droopsnout and thank you for such a detailed breakdown of life in your part of the world. I absorb this kind of info as I am planning to make the move once my mother makes it to Happy Hour in the Heavens. She's nearly 96 and at 67 I am itching to make a fresh start again since my husband's death. They say every cloud etc...I worked in Holland for 25 years and now receive a Dutch pension straight into my UK account in Euros - guess what? I have profited from the pound crashing as my pension has gone up - some good things happen in this crazy world.

Hi there 7-D.W, and thanks for your info about life on your mountain. Glad to hear you made it back o.k. Remember the B&B we talked about for next time you are in England. You too Donny-Gal. Have hung onto all your tips for my trip in September. Googled Albir beach in Althea - Wow thats changed since the mid 70's when hubby and I spent every year there in a friend's flat. I think that big Hotel there is sitting on top of my friends flat! Might check it out. Thanks everybody for an enjoyable read.

seven-day-weekend

Merry Widow, when we are down your way we will certainly take up the B&B! (If you are not abroad by then of course!).

seven-day-weekend

We were talking to some other expats today (Dutch ) and had a very interesting conversation about language.

These people, like most Dutch, speak several European languages fluently. We were listening to 'Bridge over Troubled Water' by Simon and Garfunkel and the woman asked as what 'troubled water' meant. We thought she was joking at first as her English is so good. But her husband also said he wasn't sure. So we said that it meant not calm, no tranquillo as they say in Spanish, stirred up, bothered .. ''Ah! they said 'We thought it must mean something like that from the context. However, if you translate it literally into Dutch, it means water running with sewage'.

Don't know what Simon and Garfunkel would make of people thinking of sewage every time they sing their beautiful song.:eek:

Anyway, I then told them that there were some places in the UK, which, while officially speaking English, were very hard even for native English speakers to understand. They said it was the same in Holland. I also told them about the Spaniards from Madrid who came to our village and we understood them much better than we do the villagers, who have a very strong regional accent. The Madrilenos said they didn't understand the villagers either! (Made us feel a lot better!! :rotfl:)

I also remember our friend Pascal who is French (but spends his time living in either Spain or the UK) telling us he didn't understand the French that is spoken in Quebec.

A strange thing language.

Bridge over Troubled Water will never sound the same again.........

Merrywidow

Well I must confess to never hearing the troubled water translation in Dutch. And I lived there 25 years. Will check it out. The Dutch don't just learn 'several' languages, they learn basics such as English, French and German and others are an option. They Do Not graduate till all languages have been mastered and exams passed. My girlfriend's son had to do his last year again because he failed his German. The poor Dutch people have to learn these languages otherwise they can't leave the country because nobody else speaks their language. This in turn is very good for newcomers to their country. They give you six months to settle in and they then stop speaking English to you and only in Dutch. Its sink or swim time and I am still swimming as I have the family of my husband still in Holland and they wouldnt dream of speaking to me in English.

Come to think of it you might like this.......My Dutch brother in law met a Polish girl whilst he was on holiday in Germany. They conversed in German until they became close and married and she moved in with him in Holland along with her 2 year old daughter who only spoke Polish. Needless to say it was a struggle for me in the beginning as my German was very very rusty.

4 years down the line, Sister in Law is speaking fluent Dutch, (but Polish to children) little girl rattles on like a native Dutch and the new addition is 3 and also rattles off in both languages. We recently visited Polish family of my sister in law (who speak English not Dutch) and it was a hysterical mish mash of Polish, Dutch and English.

seven-day-weekend

We went for a glass of wine recently with Rolf, who is German. He had two other visitors, (a couple), she was Dutch and he was Spanish. The do not speak each others' language, so speak to each other in French (and live in France).

So, poor Rolf, was having to speak to her in German (even Rolf doesn't speak Dutch), him in Spanish and us in English.

The poor guy got muddled up on numerous occasions!

Another example of the trials of multi-lingualism: we asked our French friend Pascal to make a phone call for us to the Spanish Tax Office as it was far too complicated for our basic Spanish.

He was going along nicely with his fluent Spanish, then for some reason got muddled and started speaking to them in English. He very quickly realised what he was doing and apologised to them in French!