1000 Euros per month

Baz1946 if it is so cheep to live in Spain why have most of the O.A.Ps come back the UK, I know the answer to that one it is for the £6.00 Chinese or Indian  take away for two that can be bought from any Asda or Tesco in the U.K or you can  sit down in one of the many chinese or indian resturants and a meal for two with all the trimmings cost you £25.00 with a bottel of wine or if you that does not take your fancy just pop in to Whitherspoons or many of the other larg pub chains and buy a sit down meal for two for £6.00 .

Price's in Spain are far more expensive than the UK

Windtaker, I really don't know how you can say that, especially going back and forth as you do. When we go back to the UK 3 or 4 times a year the prices make me wince. Of course, as someone else said, if you are going to shop in Iceland prices will be more expensive - they use an excahnge rate of 1-75 yes 1-75. As the pound as grown stronger aganst the Euro Iceland have upped the prices to keep pace

 why have most of the O.A.Ps come back the UK

Multipal reasons but not I fancy to enjoy a ready meal from Tesco or a night out at Whitherspoons

TeamGB: In our area they have a lunch break but kindly leave a little note in explanation and ask that clients still leave coins in the container provided

We have a friendly tramp sits outside the local supermarket everyday all day with his lovable pooch. Never begs or asks for anything, doesn't even have a bowl or cup for coins. I started buying the occassional treat for the dog. Now, several times when passing, The Benevolent Tramp (as I like to call him) gives me a tin of cat food for our moggie, or maybe a packet of ham (says he doesn't like ham) for me. I'd love to know his story! All I know is that he's origianlly from Lithuania and at night he goes down to the beach (the police move him on from there in the daytime). I presume he sleeps there. I guess he pays no IBI/rent/electric/water/taxes etc. I doubt he spends anywhere near €1000 a month, but he seems remarkably jolly and I rather envy him.

You cut your cloth accordingly personally I like to spend 5000 euros a month get drunk every night lie on the beach all day and eat the finest food known to man 

I hate these 1 post wonders they should be banned a bit like Ebay wasting my three brain cells after two bottles of the finest Rioja and the ** EDITED - Against forum rules **

Love Hugh

Soory aboot spellinn bit pissard now

This message was last edited by hughjardon on 23/09/2015.

Its Wetherspoons NOT Whitherspoons

I do the shopping in both Spain and the UK and from my experience it's a lot cheaper in Spain.  Having said that we buy different goods, a lot more fruit & veg in Spain and we tend to cook ourselves in Spain rather than buy prepared foods and take aways as we do in the UK.

I'm sure it's possible but in practice, as far as we're concerned, any attempt on living on €1,000 pm for the two of us would probably end in divorce.  So with all the lawyers fees, extra expense of two households it would be a false economy (there's probably another reason tucked away there somewhere also).

Baz1946 if it is so cheep to live in Spain why have most of the O.A.Ps come back the UK, I know the answer to that one it is for the £6.00 Chinese or Indian  take away for two that can be bought from any Asda or Tesco in the U.K or you can  sit down in one of the many chinese or indian resturants and a meal for two with all the trimmings cost you £25.00 with a bottel of wine or if you that does not take your fancy just pop in to Whitherspoons or many of the other larg pub chains and buy a sit down meal for two for £6.00 .

Windtalker you did say prices in Spain were so much dearer then the UK, I did ask you what prices, meaning what are you comparing goods for goods.

I should think that one good reason for the O.A.Ps coming back is as they get older perhaps they want the security of having kids close by, and a good few other reasons as well, and it's not the £6.00 Chinese meal either because this is Spain and they use the Euro.

We have sat in many a UK Chinese restaurant and have never had the good fortune to pay £25.00 for two, more like £40.00 ish, and these were middle of the road places, as I said 6.50€ each in Spain x 2 = 13.00€, a shade different to £40.00 for two, and to be honest not that much different in quality of food and surroundings either.

I also have been in the spoons, once, a real eye opener that was, our local farmer came in with his pig and ordered two meals, one each, the pig saw his and ran out.

Now don't bash around the subject gimme some good instance's where Spain is so much dearer the the UK now...After all you said it.

I would rather live on €1000 month in Sain than the equivalant in UK. Here in rural Granada we have superb neighbours who all have allotments which means we do not buy any veg from May to November, ( I pay them back by making chutney, jam and christmas cakes etc along with many other English recipies which they take great deliht in trying ).We also have a drink with our neighbours every night whilst discussing local and world affairs ( men drink whisky and women wine ( or in my case G & T ) We do not have a mortgage and our outgoings are minimal ( €80 IBI per year . €90 month elec, bottled gas which is pence per month in comparison to the uk, or should I say centimos ) a beer in the local bar including a tapas is a euro and everyone looks out for each other. All surplus produce from the allotments etc is distributeted to the poorer families and everyone knows each other so a great atmosphere., would not want to live anywhere else .

After doing back to Uk for weddinds etc would not move back again even though we have children and grandchildren therr

birdman

Its Wetherspoons NOT Whitherspoons

And that's the only spelling error you picked up on?

IMHO, anyone who thinks Spain is more expensive than UK is either a. Shopping at the wrong places or b. Buying the wrong stuff.

** EDITED - Inciting **

Spain is definitely cheaper than UK for most things. When I go to Spain and eat out I am pleasantly surprised how cheap the meals are, and especially the cost of drinks. However, some restaurants which cater for the Brit tourists seem to charge the equivalent of British prices. I ate out last week with wife and son at the Beefeater, average food. Two courses each and 2 bottles of beer, 2 glasses of wine and a pint of beer, the bill came to £51. The drinks alone were £23. The meals were reasonably priced for the UK as on a selected menu with lower prices.

my council tax is £2,600 pa, monthly bills for gas and electricity £100 each, admittedly for a reasonable size house but still eye watering. Chinese takeaway for 3 not loads £20, Indian takeaway for 5 last week £52.

Thanks for the replies so far that are actually relevant to the thread, just amazes me how personal these forums get. We live in Australia (own a property in Los Dolses) and believe you me, if you want high cost of living, then nowhere comes close to here.

Back to the thread....

** EDITED - off thread **

This message was last edited by Hephaestus on 24/09/2015.

Hi everyone,

I don't post very often as most is covered adequately by everyone else. We have a place on Las Ramblas( about 6yrs now) and travel over fairly often, I appreciate it is not "rural" Espania but as to prices I have found that eating out, drinks, supermarket shop and day to day living generally cheaper ( especially drinks). 

However in "my experience" furniture anything to do with a car and electrical goods are more expensive, so much so that it is often cheaper to ship it over ( live in Yorkshire).

mark

This message was last edited by jenno1739 on 24/09/2015.

That's a fair point re furniture Jenno1739 and also IT stuff, but when I replied my "Spain is cheaper" vote was based more on day to day living costs. 

Everything seems to be taxed in UK these days.  Where I am in the SE of England I could easily pay £50 or week or more on parking, tolll and "congestion" charges. 

Travel is a lot pricier in the UK with the cost of petrol, whereas in Spain we often use the train now the service is excellent.  I am continually pleasantly surprised how cheap it is in Spain to have your car serviced/repaired etc.  In fact all labour costs, be it electrician, plumber, builder are about a half of what you pay in the UK.

€1,000 a month is roughly equivalent to the UK state pension for a couple.  It would not be easy to survive on this in either location, possible in Spain, but a gruesome experience in the UK.

** EDITED - Off Thread **

Just by coincidence I came upon this site. It’s an expats comparison site.-  

https://expatexplorer.hsbc.com/survey/

 One can compare any two countries as the ‘best place’ to live.  Over all Spain comes 13th on the list UK 23^rd.

The results are analysed here:-   http://www.thelocal.es/20150923/reasons-why-you-should-and-should-not-be-an-expat-in-spain

Hi all!

Please try and keep the thread on track and please do not make the topic personal, that doesn't help anyone.

thanks