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01/05/2008, 17:37 blackcat Joined on 16/04/2008 Posts 30 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? Thanks Lizzy for your reply, straight to the point! 1500 euro was the figure I had in my head and was hoping someone would confrm that.! How have you all settled in? Would be very interested to hear other families experiences. Thanks, Sara    Report

01/05/2008, 17:38 sweet 17 Joined on 05/08/2006 charente maritime Posts 2,858 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? No, not mandatory but then you have to think of paying 30 to 35% of many medications and treatments.  Plus, if you end up in hospital, you pay the "hotel" charges. Peace of mind equals paying for a good top-up or, if you are willing to chance getting ill and paying for a proportion of things like medicines, x-rays, physio, nursing care, etc. you will have to put aside a certain amount and hope that that is enough. If you are loaded, however, I guess it's not such a worry and, in that case, not a lot is mandatory!    Report

01/05/2008, 17:53 Will Joined on 22/09/2004 Sussex & 50 (Mortainais) Posts 5,072 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? As somebody who does, indeed, maintain households in both Britain and France, I would agree totally that cost of living is about the same. Of course some things are less and others more, but I would be very surprised if, comparing like for like, there was a significant overall difference in either country. I would also agree that if relying on sterling to live in France, then France is currently looking rather less attractive. Things do go up and down. Up to a couple of years ago I would have agreed with Val_2 about electricity being dearer in France, but now the positions have reversed. Similarly fuel costs were formerly less in France but are now much more on a par with Britain. Remember that your house in France is likely to be bigger and less well insulated than your house in Britain, so that will have a bearing on heating costs. And also remember that unless you live in a bigger town or city then opportunities for spending your money are rather fewer in France than you may be used to back home. Will intentionally blank signature http://www.vienormande.com    Report

01/05/2008, 18:28 blackcat Joined on 16/04/2008 Posts 30 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France?  Will wrote: I would also agree that if relying on sterling to live in France, then France is currently looking rather less attractive. Thanks for your reply, but could you elaborate on the above for me? My head is spinning! We are hoping he would only have to work in the Uk for 6 months at first while he achieved enough to live on in France for 12 months, then he could have plenty of time to sort out work in France. If not then its back to the UK again the following year! Also, as someone who is maintaining households in both countries, would you know anything about converting our savings into euros in another account, maybe off-shore account? Would you know if this is possible, as I would like to avoid problems with the pound getting any weaker. If we are looking to buy 18 months down the line I would like to see if there is a possibility of converting our money now.      Report

01/05/2008, 18:37 LyndaandRichard Joined on 01/05/2005 Posts 1,011 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? Last year you would get around €1.40 to your pound. At the mo, it's around the €1.27 mark. If you brought over £20k, last year, you would have got €28k, this year, around €25.4k. But you still get more euros for your pound. All my money is in Australia, so I only get 58 centimes to my dollar, which is harder. Obviously you'd lose a hell of a lot more more if you brought over hundreds of thousands. In a years time, it'll probably be different. There's a lot of doom and gloom around atm, but it'll pick up again, it always does. Your Property in France    Report

01/05/2008, 23:42 Sprogster Joined on 23/08/2004 Var & C.I. Posts 355 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? If you read the education section of the forum there is a general consensus that 11-12 is advised as the maximum age to risk moving a child into a different language educational system. One reason being is that in France the State has no obligation to educate children beyond 16 and if your 13 or 14 year old by the time you move has to re-take a year in France, because of a lack of fluency in French, they might not have time to catch up. Also don't forget that at 14 a child in the UK has started their GSCE syllabus.    Report

02/05/2008, 7:59 blackcat Joined on 16/04/2008 Posts 30 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? Hi. thanks for your reply. My daughter is 10 now, she'll be almost 12 when we move, as I said in my original post. She is currently eagerly taking french lessons so Im hoping she'll be well on the way to being fluent by the time we go.    Report

02/05/2008, 8:24 Will Joined on 22/09/2004 Sussex & 50 (Mortainais) Posts 5,072 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? The point I was making was that exchange rates are currently unfavourable to having a sterling income in a Eurozone country - as correctly identified by L&R. If you are worried that rates might fall lower, you could fix a rate with one of the currency exchange companies (look at Foreign Currencies Direct, HIFX or any of the hundreds of other players). I personally feel the rates will creep up again, perhaps not to a high level, but I'm no financial expert. Investing in an offshore euro account is an option of course, but you wouldn't get a good rate for your sterling at present, and I think you would get better interest rates leaving the money in sterling. But as I said, I'm no financial expert. Will intentionally blank signature http://www.vienormande.com    Report

02/05/2008, 8:35 Ron Avery Joined on 29/11/2004 Aveyron 12 Posts 3,355 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? Sara, lets cut to the chase.  You seem to think that  the cost of living in France is much less than in the UK and that 6 months work in the UK wil pay for a year's living in France, based mainly on the premise of cheap local produce.  That is just not the case, overall I find its a little bit cheaper to live here than in the UK but that all depends on what you drink, what you eat and where you live.  You should really take note of the posts above. If your household income is generated in the UK, you will not be living on 1500€ -2000€ you will be living on £X = Y€ and as we have found Y can be as much as Y/ 17% within 6 months.  You cannot just put £s away in an account and then get them out as euros at a rate that suits you, while the UK is not in the euro you are very much a hostage as we all are to the money market, you could lose or gain on exchange rates, at the moment the losses are crippling many people in France. You should also be aware that the price of heating a house and electricity for 5/6  people is not cheap,as Will has already pointed out, France is not immune to fuel cost hikes.   Kids clothes are not cheap, car parts are not cheap.  Others have also neglected to mention that although you are taxed a year behind, you still have to pay income tax up front each quarter on account based on your previous year's return, there is a balancing payment when your tax return is submitted, so 3 - 400€ plus 500€ for heating oil every quarter is going to make a big dent in your 1500€ a month isn't it, not everybody has acres of woodland to use for fuel. All in all, I really do not believe that you can keep a family of 5 on 1500€ a month and maintain a decent life style, even in rural France,  and you certainly will not find work easily in rural France, even if you speak French like a native.   Why not post a sensible answer, people will appreciate it more    Report

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