Hello Almerimar, Almeria

Hi Everybody 

My name is Susan.  I am 60 years old.  I work in the NHS at the moment and want to change that! Overworked and underpaid for what I do. Quite frankly I am exhausted.   

I would like to retire before I get too old to realise any of my dreams.  My state pension doesn't kick in until I am 66 but  I have a small private pension. One of my desires is to spend a lot of time in Spain,  preferably Almeria.  Such a gorgeous place and ideal for the lifestyle I have in mind, doing not very much, wandering around, walking, sight seeing and getting to know a few of the local customs and people. Perhaps even getting involved with the  local community.   I have visited for the last 8 years and love it so much, staying with my sister who has an apartment there so I have a good insight into some of the pitfalls - such as spending too much time in a bar!

My questions are:  On an income of a 1000 euros would I have enough money to rent and live. I intend to stay 3 months at a time as I am aware of the residency rules that apply.   The type of  apartment I have in mind would cost 350 euros a month, so that leaves me with about 750 euros for everything else! Is it possible? Some sound advice would be welcome.

That's it for now.  Any comments would be welcome.   

Hi, and welcome. You have to also factor in your utility bills. Electricity, even for the frugal, will be around a hundred euro a month. Yes, 100. Water and rubbish collection about 30 euro a month or more. So that's at least 130 out of your 750 left. It wouldn't really leave you that much for spending too much time in a bar.

We have discuss this in previous posts and the consensus was that a thousand euro a month would give you a fairly good lifestyle but that was without paying rent. Remember, if you are only staying for up to 3 months at a time (and you could only do that twice year) you would have to save for flights going home as well. You also have to take into account your health situation as you would only be covered for emergency treatment in Spain.

I would be one of the last to put anyone off coming to live in Spain as we absolutely love it here and the life. OK, there are two of us and we get through about 800 euro a month which covers food, a bit of travel, eating out on a fairly regular basis. But we have no rent, local taxes and insurances are separate to that as is buying anything large we may need. I do feel you would be scraping the barrel a bit.

I know it seems a long time off until you're 66 but maybe just visiting your sister occasionally until the state pension kicks in which would go a long way to allowing you to live that bit more comfortably.