UK living? Gathering info...
We are looking into the feasibility of possibly moving to the UK in a couple of years (from the US), and I'm trying to get a general idea what the average cost of living is (probably varies widely, depending on the area), things like health insurance, rent, cost of sending your kid to university, car insurance etc
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We are not used to much here, in the way of wealth!*g*
More the opposite.
We do own a small house (well, it's not paid off for many more years), but it's only a two bedroom and overall no bigger than my parents' flat in Germany.
Nothing like the types of places seen on TV! :)
My husband loves gardening, though, so that might be a problem!
I've looked around a little at activity co-ordinator jobs I could find online, and the wages were anything from minimum to much more, but mostly fairly low.
Would the wages quoted be before income tax, and how much is income tax in the UK?
And what's the cost of living for a family of three, used to fairly frugal living (foodwise and such)?
Like, how much is a liter (gallon, pint?) of milk, a pound of coffee, a loaf of bread, cheese, butter, spaghetti, potatoes etc.
Oh, even if I knew, I'd first have to figure out UK currency. ;)
And commuting costs (bus, train etc.)
Also, when you rent here, they want "first, last and security".
Is that the same in the UK?
If we sold our house, we'd have a little bit of money to keep us going for a couple of years, even without a job, but we wouldn't want to do that, of course!
Oh, and is education free? Cheap? Depends?
Our daughter would be in University by then, probably have done a year or two here already, but not done yet.
She's bright and loves school, has good grades here, and is doing IHS (International High School), which is supposed to uphold the same standards as many other countries (Europe).
I love thinking about this possibility, and Pros locations would be a humongous bonus, of course! *g*
But I've always loved travel, and changes, and when I lived in Germany (and thought that would always be my home base for travel), I kept England, Scottland, Ireland for when I was older, because it was close, never thinking I'd be living in the US!
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in Norwich, east England - a university town
in Folkstone, Kent - near Channel! - I reordered list from lower rent to higher
within 30 miles of Lancaster (north England) - starting around £200pcm
within 30 miles of Cambridge (east England but nearer London) - and this includes a 3 bedroom house for £165!
Council Tax might or might not be included in this (I only rent where it is), agents charge exhorbitant fees and I get around that by not using them - there are plenty of private ads in the papers too. Usually you pay a month's rent in advance and a security deposit as well. There's a scheme that landlords can sign up for now too where the deposit is looked after by a neutral body, so that landlords/tenants are all safer from being ripped off - I look for landlords who sign up to this.
Like, how much is a liter (gallon, pint?) of milk, a pound of coffee, a loaf of bread, cheese, butter, spaghetti, potatoes etc.
Try Sainsbury's Online shopping
or
Tesco but that seems to want you to register before you can even see prices...
eg - fresh baked bread in Sainsburys from about £1.00 a loaf - that's about US$1.67. I use XE Currency converter
And commuting costs (bus, train etc.)
Depends where you live and work, of course... I live about 7 miles from a city centre, and if I commuted every day it would cost me about £9.00pw - US$15.00. What I do though is drive to the Park and Ride (free) and walk to work for free. *g*
School is free until you're at university level - and in fact in some circumstances you can be paid for staying on at school post-16. Check out this government site about University costs and how it all works.
Living in the UK doesn't have to be expensive - even in the south-east, which is traditionally the most expensive part of the country. (And btw, when people talk about "the south" they generally mean "the south east") I've been surprised at the prices down here - if you're looking for posh it's here in abundance, but actually us normal people do live here too... *g*
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