# cost of living in cds



## peepers (Jun 22, 2010)

cosmokramer said:


> I have lived in Spain for the last 7 years, and i can agree, that prices of food and other household groceries has risen massively in that time.
> The price of fuel is the obvious reason for this. Lots of people who live in the UK, including some of my friends, think that living here is really cheap, but its not now.
> The only things i still see that are cheap are Beer and Cigarettes, i dont mind the beer being cheap, but i dont smoke, so cigarette prices dont mean anything to me.
> Here's to hoping that fuel prices level out and hopefully drop soon.
> ...


Well thats me about to relocate to CDS and have 2 kids needing Int School, and a wife who is fully qualified as a fitness trainer,(she has a few job opps already at gyms) all in all our income before all that is £3k a month in my pension and for the rent of our house back in UK which is paid off. so the question is is it possible????????


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

peepers said:


> Well thats me about to relocate to CDS and have 2 kids needing Int School, and a wife who is fully qualified as a fitness trainer,(she has a few job opps already at gyms) all in all our income before all that is £3k a month in my pension and for the rent of our house back in UK which is paid off. so the question is is it possible????????



Two kids at international school - it depends on their ages as the schools are broken up into primary and secondary and go up accordingly. Two kids in secondary should be around 1000 - 1500€ a month, so as long as you get a fairly modest property you should be just about ok

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> Two kids at international school - it depends on their ages as the schools are broken up into primary and secondary and go up accordingly. Two kids in secondary should be around 1000 - 1500€ a month, so as long as you get a fairly modest property you should be just about ok
> 
> Jo xxx


yes, should be ok............as long as the house has tenants & they pay - especially if you are relying upon that rent to pay the rent here

I've known quite a few families have to return to the UK simply because they couldn't get reliable tenants in the UK

I do sound doom & gloom, don't I

but it needs to be taken into consideration - & IMO it's a better option than selling up & spending all the profit - you still have something to go back to if it _does_ all go wrong


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I've given you your own thread so that its easier to find

Jo xxx


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## peepers (Jun 22, 2010)

*jojo the guru*



jojo said:


> I've given you your own thread so that its easier to find
> 
> Jo xxx


Hi can you just briefly tell me how i start a thread and check replies, at the minute i dont even think Prof Steven Hawkins could work it out, and i have posted back to that couple about tan ex service man that is disabled and cant make ends meet etc. When they reply to the thread i will get notified the same as this???


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## Morten (Apr 20, 2011)

...and alternative could be to put the kids in public schools. Dont know their standard there, but here theyre said to be brilliant and used by heaps of expats too. Thatd save a huge amount of money in the process and make the 3k quite comfy.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

peepers said:


> Hi can you just briefly tell me how i start a thread and check replies, at the minute i dont even think Prof Steven Hawkins could work it out, and i have posted back to that couple about tan ex service man that is disabled and cant make ends meet etc. When they reply to the thread i will get notified the same as this???


you will be notified if you have set your options to be notified - which I guess you have if you got notification of the other posts

if you want to start a thread, just click on the 'new thread' button near the top of the page, after you have clicked on the Spain flag


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Morten said:


> ...and alternative could be to put the kids in public schools. Dont know their standard there, but here theyre said to be brilliant and used by heaps of expats too. Thatd save a huge amount of money in the process and make the 3k quite comfy.


yes - IMO the state schools are great - my 2 are in the state system

but it depends on the age of the child - it's generally accepted that many if not most children over the age of 10 will have problems learning spanish quickly enough to a high enough level to be able to study in it


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## peepers (Jun 22, 2010)

*Thanks*

My son is Autistic so learning Spanish is out hes 6, my little girl is 2and a half, my thought on this is she's bright as a button and its a no brainer, but wife seems to think that they should get the same , ( ill have a £60 colouring done on my hair every 3 weeks then lol).
That 3k a month is from pensions and as for the guarantee of the house renting we have done so in the passed and we rent to a really good national company that take care of the lot and pay when there is no tenant.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

peepers said:


> I'll have a £60 colouring done on my hair every 3 weeks then ...


You can save there then, only €20-€25 here for colour, cut and blowdry!


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## Morten (Apr 20, 2011)

Maybe consider a private tutor specialised in autism for the 6yo? From what ive heard special needs aint particularly well catered for here and usually integrated in the public schools.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> You can save there then, only €20-€25 here for colour, cut and blowdry!


Not in our village unless you want to run the risk of the local barber shop which probably charges less than that!
We pay 80 euros for cut, colour and dry at an English salon...well, it's a small 'boutique' haircutter in a room not much bigger than a cupboard
I don't mind trusting to my imperfect Spanish at doctor's, hospitals, garages etc.etc. but when it comes to hair......no way, Jose. It's go to be my number one language for that. Same in Prague.
Sadly, nature has not been kind to me so I need all the artifice available and it's got to be under my control
Even at a comparatively steep price and going without food.:violin:


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Not in our village unless you want to run the risk of the local barber shop which probably charges less than that!
> We pay 80 euros for cut, colour and dry at an English salon...


Blimey . It's €25 at the posh salon here, only €18 where I go! 

The barber charges €7 I think, but OH doesn't have enough hair to bother going these days.


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## peepers (Jun 22, 2010)

*a tangent*

ok from my thread i started about moving i am 100% up to date on the hair front in Spain lol. Wish i hadnt put it in now only kidding.thanks for help good advice always guys, like they say ever day is a school day


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

peepers said:


> ok from my thread i started about moving i am 100% up to date on the hair front in Spain lol. Wish i hadnt put it in now only kidding.thanks for help good advice always guys, like they say ever day is a school day


Its a great place to live as long as you have a steady income......and do your homework!!!!!

Jo xxx


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

jojo said:


> Its a great place to live as long as you have a steady income......and do your homework!!!!!
> 
> Jo xxx


xabiachica used to keep telling me to do my homework


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Stravinsky said:


> xabiachica used to keep telling me to do my homework


yeah - & you never did....actually that's not quite true - you mostly did - or was it mrs. stravinsky who did it



I took a day off sick today - so had to contact loads of students to cancel - almost all of them replied along the lines of

''hope you feel better soon - but at least I don't feel so guilty about not doing my homework now!!''


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> yalmost all of them replied along the lines of
> 
> ''hope you feel better soon - but at least I don't feel so guilty about not doing my homework now!!''


In Spanish?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Stravinsky said:


> In Spanish?


some of them:clap2:


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> Blimey . It's €25 at the posh salon here, only €18 where I go!
> 
> The barber charges €7 I think, but OH doesn't have enough hair to bother going these days.


Yes, I think we're paying over the odds.
When we lived in Prague and the exchange rate was very good we went to the best stylist in town...a bit like a top Mayfair salon as for us it was a cheap luxury.
So we thought 80 euros was quite cheap in comparison....
Then we saw prices in salon windows in Marbella for less than tha, around the 40 euro mark so we did start wonderint.
Problem is, we've got friendly with the very pleasant English woman who cuts/colours (she does it well, I must say, especially for Sandra) and we don't want to upset her.
Typically British.......
We made a lot of mistakes in our first few months here, all fortunately not that serious.


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## peepers (Jun 22, 2010)

*1Euro*



mrypg9 said:


> Yes, I think we're paying over the odds.
> When we lived in Prague and the exchange rate was very good we went to the best stylist in town...a bit like a top Mayfair salon as for us it was a cheap luxury.
> So we thought 80 euros was quite cheap in comparison....
> Then we saw prices in salon windows in Marbella for less than tha, around the 40 euro mark so we did start wonderint.
> ...


I love to read the threads as they all come back to the ,"if i knew then what i know now" .As a newbie i would ask any senior Expat to consider the following.
Put down onto paper or electronic copy all of the pit falls, procedures for Tax, schools , medical, social do and donts, and sell the copy for even 1 euro think how many people have asked the same question, even if it was 10 E i would of bought it.
A senior expat is sitting on a nice little earner, as the same Q's will get asked all the time year after year.???????


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> We pay 80 euros for cut, colour and dry at an English salon...well, it's a small 'boutique' haircutter in a room not much bigger than a cupboard


That's almost exactly what Mrs. Jimenata :mullet: pays in a very similar sounding establishment. In Estepona by any chance?

Anyway it's a lot of money - I would prefer her to have it done in the village - half the cost...


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

peepers said:


> I love to read the threads as they all come back to the ,"if i knew then what i know now" .As a newbie i would ask any senior Expat to consider the following.
> Put down onto paper or electronic copy all of the pit falls, procedures for Tax, schools , medical, social do and donts, and sell the copy for even 1 euro think how many people have asked the same question, even if it was 10 E i would of bought it.
> A senior expat is sitting on a nice little earner, as the same Q's will get asked all the time year after year.???????


Personally I would never trust advice I had to pay for .... I would question their motives! 

People share their advice and experiences for free on this forum and other similar ones because they like being helpful, which is much nicer don't you think?


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

peepers said:


> I love to read the threads as they all come back to the ,"if i knew then what i know now" .As a newbie i would ask any senior Expat to consider the following.
> Put down onto paper or electronic copy all of the pit falls, procedures for Tax, schools , medical, social do and donts, and sell the copy for even 1 euro think how many people have asked the same question, even if it was 10 E i would of bought it.
> A senior expat is sitting on a nice little earner, as the same Q's will get asked all the time year after year.???????


I think there are things you *need* to know and things you may *want* to know, depending on your chosen lifestyle in Spain. The latter will obviously very much depend on your individual circumstances.
The mistakes we made were comparatively trivial and we put it all down to experience. Life can be very easy here even with a slight knowledge of Spanish and a good attitude. Contrary to what a few seem to believe, Spain is not a backward developing country where, had it not been for we highly cultured Brits, the natives would still be riding donkeys and growing tomatoes for a living.
It is- inspite of its problems - the fourth largest economy in Europe and a member of the club of cultured, highly civilised once-great European imperial powers.
(If anyone disputes Spain's degree of culture and civilisation as compared to that of the UK I would say two words: Katie Price.)
I chuckle when I read posts about difficulties with getting residencias and so on. 
Compared to the CR, Spanish bureaucracy is a piece of cake. In the CR, corruption is a solution, not a problem. Agencies exist to help foreigners acquire all kinds of official documents: residence permits, car registration, enrolment in the health service, business start-ups...all of which should involve no charge but without the help of these agencies these things could take weeks or even months. The agency will get it all done in a matter of days...for a fat fee, part of which presumably goes as a bribe to the relevant officia/bureaucrat.
I came to the conclusion that Spanish officials are on the whole gentle easy-going souls who like to send people away happy and will do all they can to help you.
Czech bureaucrats and petty officials are miserable sods who like to send you away from their dark, smelly little offices as frustrated and miserable as they are.
Or maybe I've just been lucky with my smiling, friendly countenance and my limited but sufficient knowledge of Spanish...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

jimenato said:


> That's almost exactly what Mrs. Jimenata :mullet: pays in a very similar sounding establishment. In Estepona by any chance?
> 
> Anyway it's a lot of money - I would prefer her to have it done in the village - half the cost...


No, not Estepona. And don't be so parsimonious.


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