Is spain cheaper than the UK??

[Paula]

Yes don't underestimate the cost of the visitors!!

I would like to have in my hand what the last 3 summers have cost in visitors. Much as I like to see everyone, if they were visiting in the UK they would maybe stay over one night, whereas here you get the company for a week, and all the costs that go with it. Not to mention the laundry, don't get me onto how many sheets and towels I wash through july and August.!!
Only close family want to visit in the winter, the summer I run what amounts to a hotel booking system. Everyone goes off back to the UK suitably refreshed and by September I feel like Basil Fawlty on a bad day.

Trying hard to find a way to let people down gently for this summer

[pigs-might-fly]

As another poster has mentioned, many contributors to these forums, are in a way "intellectual snobs". They see little good in their fellow British and no bad in the Spanish amongst whom we lpermanent residents live.
I think that the Spanish culture and the British culture are too different ever to be truly compatible.
The whole way of life and living are poles apart.
This is not a critisism, merely an observation!
I am perfectly happy to pass the time of day with the Spanish whom we know, having learned enough of the language to get by, but I am much happier socialising with people who, by and large, share the language and culture into which I was born.
I did not move to Spain to become "Spanish" or, indeed because I love the Spanish way of life - it is quite alien to a somewhat more reserved British norm. This is not to say that either one is superior - just very different.
I moved here because the cost of living and housing, particularly is overall, cheaper than in the UK and the weather is much better. (We would probably be on some sort of means tested benefits in the UK, given our modest income),
I obey Spanish laws, pay Spanish taxes, and as long as it suits me to live here I will.
I came for selfish reasons and I shall go, if I do, for selfish reasons
I am not a hypocrite in this, unlike some who see a need to justify their move in moral terms!

[spanish_lad]

moving soon ... thats very detailed, it seems like you´ve thought it out really well, made alot of long term plans.

i suppose really that you are on the other side of the fence tbh, your going to be living off a uk pension - not needing to earn a living in spain.

i agree that in your case living in spain would be cheaper for you.

i wish you all the sucess in the world

[spanish hopes]

wish you all the sucess in the world

You two faced little creep!!!

[spanish_lad]

wish you all the sucess in the world

You two faced little creep!!!

not at all. now i see that she doesn´t have to work i can agree that she would find life better in spain if she has a uk pension income.

as i said, good luck and all the sucess in the world wished to moving soon.

now, her story has ended and we all agree she would be better off (she will have more income in ten years than i ever had working !) we should get back to the thread.

does anyone have anything else have anything to say on wether spain is cheaper than the uk ?

[Nikvin]

Personally I think Spain IS cheaper than the yUK. However I live inland , not in an expensive coastal resort. I buy from Spanish shops, and if needed use Spanish tradesmen.
Yes I work, mainly to pay the social security and receive health cover.
Private health insurance is Not an option as we both have pre existing conditions that would make cover extremely expensive if not impossible, and we have 3 children to consider too.
Ok I am on a pension, for medical retirement, index linked taxed in yUK, and we could and often do manage on just that, and my main reason for working is primarily to legally be in the system, and indeed some months, I dont make enough, to cover the payment, but then again, I dont want to work 24/7, so shortage of funds is our own fault.

I see and hear a lot of people complaining about the cost of living, but they shop nearly exclusively in British supermarkets, for british products, so their food bills are high, especially as many of the products are available in Spanish shops, at cheaper prices.

Nights out can be very cheap, but then if you prop up the bar night after night, well it all adds up.

Work is available...................if you speak Spanish, but many speak not a word, and make no effort to learn, and that somewhat restricts the opportunities. Many come out having been "promised" jobs, by their friendly estate agent, but once the slae is through, that promised job tends to vanish!!

A few things are more expensive, and everyone has different tastes, priorities etc, so a lot will depend on that, but personally, I and the family have a better lifestyle, in all respects, than we could have in the UK, even if we could generate more income there, and that due to many personal circumstances is doubtful.

[Moving Soon]

Thank you for your good wishes, Spanish Lad, and good luck to you too.

I do hope you manage to find something as you sound as though you really want to work and not sit around, people like you deserve to succeed. I do know people living in Spain who have the same attitude, do speak fluent Spanish and have skills you would imagine would be in demand, eg the building trade, and they still struggle due to contracts coming to an end, employers not paying on time, etc. I am not brave enough to chance coming out to Spain and face that.

[katy]

Why all this comments re. shopping at Brit shops. I live on the coast and there aren't any here! Inland isn't any cheaper, most people inland go to the large supermarkets, Eroski, Cayetano, mercadona, Alcampo the same ones on the coast (Ok some are French owned!)

I have lived in Spain a long time, speak the language, lived inland, and, apart from local taxes prices aren't any different. I don't think buying the odd packet of Bisto is going to increase the food budget much. Everyone who lives on the coast doesn't "prop up bars" although if they do they can find lots who serve coffee and brandy for 1.5 euros and about the same for a pint.

Living inland/coast is a personal choice but don't make out that you are a superior being because of this (for some its because they didn't have a large enough budget to buy nearer the coast).

I suppose you can expect stupid statements from someone who feels they must prefix the word UK everytime and is medically retired from there, on a pension, working here, not a bad lifestyle!

[MaggieMay]

I'll second that there are no British supermarkets on the coast.
Unless you count a couple of dingy little shops piled high with custard creams, heinz baked beans, and gravy granules. Can't see that everyone is blowing their budget on that.

Nor are there opportunities, whether or not you speak Spanish. Thats why all the fluent in more than one language Spanish university graduates are working in bars and restaurants earning diddlysquat.

Spain is fine for those that can afford to come here and have financial security, i.e. pensions , investments, salary from the UK. Its not somewhere I would have come to had I not been financially secure, it's not cheap to live here unless you want to live like they did back in the dark ages. And many seem to, but thats not for me

There are the odd few that are making some money in their own businesses, but thats getting harder now with more and more competition for the same work.
I didn't like the UK particularly the weather, but there are opportunities there workwise and we were able to earn good money that has put us in the position of being able to choose to move to Spain. I will also keep a house there, and I'm not sure I would have made the move at all if I couldn't.
I have also been in the unfortunate position of having to rely on the UK NHS system for some serious medical matters, which threw some concern over treatment in Spain. Maybe I was just unlucky on that one.
Anyone describing the UK as "YUK" lets hope all goes well for you in Spain, as "YUK" is where you may have to return to if things don't work out.

[kevin77]

Ok I am on a pension, for medical retirement, index linked taxed in yUK,

You are very lucky Nikvin to have an index linked 'medical retirement' pension from yUK and still be fit enough to work. So yUK hasn't let you down there.
Maybe when you do become too ill to work you can also go back to yUK to claim your free health care, or you can choose the Spanish system. Or use both!

FyUKing hell!

[spanish hopes]

Very adolescent signature kevin, loses any credibility from any argument you try to make I'm afraid.

[kevin77]

And calling UK, yUK is not adolescent then?

[spanish hopes]

Indeed it is and it is also incorporated in your childishly obscene signature.
Whilst I do enjoy your provocative style of posting I don't really see any reason for you to sink to these levels. No-one gives any credence to any of your postings nor mine for that matter. You go out to get a reaction but have done yourself no favours with this topperesque style. No I am not accusing you of being him.

[Blubba]

And calling UK, yUK is not adolescent then?

Kevin, he's an ex 5crew, what do you want intelligence, one on Mr Barraclough!!

[kevin77]

There he goes with the 'Sherriff of A.com' persona again.
Why does he bring '*yawn*' into every thread? Has spanish hopes infact been *yawn* all along.
If Admin want to delete my post thats fair enough, they have the authority - but i'm not going to be censored by a jumped up fyUKing little fascist like that!

[Blubba]

There he goes with the 'Sherriff of A.com' persona again.
Why does he bring '*yawn*' into every thread? Has spanish hopes infact been *yawn* all along.
If Admin want to delete my post thats fair enough, they have the authority - but i'm not going to be censored by a jumped up fyUKing little fascist like that!

Good for you Kev, It seems strange to me that nobody else has mentioned the fact that he always brings *yawn* into it, which leads me to believe that all the ones who agree with him are actually one and the same, I suspect that he's been turned over (intellectually) by You know who and is now completely obsessed by him/her, he has, by his own admission accused seven people up to date of being you know who and has also a list of possibles, the only thing I can think is that he must lead a very empty and lonely life, still he is an ex 5crew and probably looking over his shoulder all the time!

Ignore him he will eventually get dumped by admin when they get fed up of him and his neighbourhood watch attitude, I'm surprised at some of the others siding with him though, I won't mention any names!

[spanish hopes]

Well alan I am not surprised that you are siding with kevin, you will grasp any straw in the hopes that it will support your daftness, but to be happy with kevin as a cohort is sinking to new depths even for you.