03 Dec 2011 12:04 PM:

 We were one of those families with no income. My husband lost his job in 2009, then at the end of 2009 my boss started to have financial problems and chose not to pay me, although I still had to work. We were living on just 600€ a month, burning through our savings to make ends meet. I lost my job in the new year, his Paro stopped in June and we were back to living on nothing by November. I'd worked for my company for 2 years, he'd worked for his for 6. Trying to live on credit cards is hard. Especially when you have no way of paying them back, but you've got to eat. By June 2011 our situation was dire so we chose to move to the UK to look for work. My husband isn't British. He speaks over 6 languages and is university educated... as am I, but there was just no work. Trying to feed two kids was impossible. Our electric got cut off, our boiler broke down. We used to take them to the municiple swimming pool just for a hot shower and reduced ourselves to trash diving just to get things like clothes and shoes. It was the lowest we've ever been at. Eventually we were evicted for not paying our mortgage. There was nothing to pay with. 

We weren't the only ones either. We knew of several other families in similar situations, they were relying on hand outs from family to eat and pay their bills. I had no family and DH's family weren't any more financially better off than we were. We feared for Spain too. We didn't want to leave. My husband had spent his entire life there. But as more and more of our friends were choosing to leave, so did we.

Despite what people say, England isn't that bad. People complain a lot but we know that at least, if we both loose our jobs again we won't face starving kids or our electricity being cut off or have to rummage through bins just to get clothes. At least not for the forseeable future. The weather might be crap,.. and things might be expensive, but at least we have hot water and a roof over our head and clean clothes on our backs. 

My husband was looking for a job in Spain for 2 years... and never had a single offer. He came to the UK and found something in 3 weeks, earning more money than he has ever seen in his life for a job that was lower than his previous one. 

Spain is a wonderful country and we wish we could have stayed.  The people are generous and kind, we had many wonderful friends and experiences, but when it comes down to trying to survive,  the Spanish government really just doesn't care that much. 

Thread: I'm worried for Spain

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