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05/05/2008, 20:29 Rob Roy Joined on 11/03/2006 19 - Correze Posts 663 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? Sara, I think you should be proud to be a stay at home mum - it's the most important job in the world. The only thing I would like to ask you is why you are thinking of moving to the Dordogne? It is quite an expensive area in which to buy property, and from what I understand (I might be wrong) the local taxes can be higher than some other rural areas of France. You mentioned about your husband needing to fly to the UK from Bergerac - where does he need to fly to, could you not use another local airport instead, that might have cheaper flights anyway ? (if it's Ryanair then Bergerac is always one of the most expensive). Re: your living costs, if you can grow a load of your own veg, keep some chickens, rabbits etc then you can cut down on your weekly shopping bills, and once you get to know your neighbours you'll find you'll be given all sort of produce in exchange for whatever you can offer (not necessarily foodstuffs). At least that is our experience. Good luck with your plans.    Report

06/05/2008, 12:19 blackcat Joined on 16/04/2008 Posts 30 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? Yes, I am proud of being a stay at home mum and was astounded at the reaction of the lady on that forum and gave my reply as well as I could without being too rude! What she didnt know is that Id also been a working mum for 11 years prior to my present 4 years at home so had seen things from both view points. But I guess thats the trouble with forums, unless you post up your life story noone really knows the full picture. We are looking to move around that area because the children would like to be around some british families like us, at least for the first couple of years. I have had some lovely e-mails from mums living in the Bergerac/Eymet area who have been most encouraging and given me so much information. Some also have husbands that commute to the UK and have made it work for them so I found that very reassuring too.            Report

06/05/2008, 13:14 Belle Joined on 05/03/2008 Posts 109 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? sara did you get my mail giving you a break down of our costs    Report

06/05/2008, 18:48 Sprogster Joined on 23/08/2004 Var & C.I. Posts 294 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? sara77, It seems to me that the main issue is the practicality of maintaining the best of both worlds on a long term basis, where you and the children enjoy the perceived better quality of life in France, whilst your husband continues to work in the UK where you say his trade is paid three times as much as compared to what he could earn in France. The best way for you to find out would be to move to France for a year and rent a house, to see if the dream lives up to reality and experience what are the financial implications, which can be complicated if your husband continues to work and be resident in the UK. For example, your husband is obliged to continue to pay UK National Insurance if he works in the UK, so do you have to pay the equivalent French charges as well and what exactly would be your situation with regards to French health care under the new rules in this situation?      Report

06/05/2008, 19:15 Scooby Joined on 25/09/2007 Peak District Posts 245 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France?  Sprogster wrote: The best way for you to find out would be to move to France for a year and rent a house, to see if the dream lives up to reality and experience what are the financial implications, which can be complicated if your husband continues to work and be resident in the UK. Agree totally Sprogster    Report

06/05/2008, 19:24 cooperlola Joined on 05/05/2006 72 - Sarthe - home of les 24 heures du Mans Posts 6,376 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France?  Sprogster wrote: what are the financial implications, which can be complicated if your husband continues to work and be resident in the UK. For example, your husband is obliged to continue to pay UK National Insurance if he works in the UK, so do you have to pay the equivalent French charges as well and what exactly would be your situation with regards to French health care under the new rules in this situation?   The dependent families, living in the EU, of a UK resident, are entitled to health cover via an E109.  Healthcare Issues Site    Report

06/05/2008, 20:44 blackcat Joined on 16/04/2008 Posts 30 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? Agree renting is the best way to go, but only plan to do it for as long as it takes us to find a suitable property. We will still have a property in the UK to come back to if things dont work out (I would be inclined to give it 18 months to 2 years based on my friends experiences who have moved away). We are selling one property in the UK to finance our french home. We have another property that is being rented out in the UK. If we buy in France and decide to return then we will still have a nice holiday home in France and a home in the UK We are looking into the financial implications, which I guess we wont be fully up to date on until we are there and have established our residency. There are a couple of ladies that have kindly e-mailed me, their husbands work in the UK and they are offering advice for which I will be very grateful for!      Report

06/05/2008, 22:00 citygirl Joined on 06/05/2008 Posts 1 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? What does your husband do for a living Sara?  Is it something that will make it easy for him to find work in France eventually? I too don't think that 1500 euros a month would be enough.  Even 2000 would be a push unless you don't intend doing anything much outside the home and never want to travel anywhere other than around your immediate area.  Isn't the Dordogne one of the more expensive areas to look for a house? Why not try it for a year, but just renting somewhere and not giving up you house in the UK.  Once you have sold that and have that extra money (which you are probably telling yourselves you won't touch, but in all honesty you probably will), then it would be harder for you to return to the UK to live. You can have a great lifestyle in France but try factoring in that it might cost you the same as you currently spend in the UK and even a little more in time with the cost of living rising.    Report

07/05/2008, 8:30 blackcat Joined on 16/04/2008 Posts 30 Re: Cost of Living for familes in France? Hi citygirl I see that 2000 euros a month is a more realistic figure, thanks. My husband is a senior construction engineer, his average UK wage (for his senior skills) is £40k - £45k.  He is looking into acquiring inspector status which would pay more but would take him to other countries aside from the UK, which is his dream. Me, my mum and the kids just want a nice base where we can enjoy a quiet life, keep a few chickens, plant some veg, make some wine, the kids are really looking forward to it, maybe a B & B in years to come or a nice small family business. Ive been brought up in an italian family where this was the norm.    My mother in law has also decided to come out and buy herself an apartment. Our uncle is also looking into buying a holiday home nearby as he has just sold a property in Italy and has 2 UK homes. We have a uk property that we will make £1000 per month in rental profit, which will help towards our income. If we needed to return to the uk then we would live there, its quite big and has loads of potential to extend. We will definitely sell our current home as we want to use the equity to buy our french home, along with the investment my mum is making. She is able to support herself very well. Although we do plan to rent for as long as it takes to find suitable properties, we may want an outbuilding for mum to convert. To find an apartment nearby for my husbands mum too, all this could take a year easily, so hopefully we will have a good idea of french life by then.      Report

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France Forum » Living » Earning a Livin... » Cost of Living for familes in France?

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