Obviously it’s not our choice to live on a very low income but there is little we can do about it. If you want to be able to eat out occasionally, go on holiday, buy clothes regularly etc etc then I imagine 1,500€ would be about right. This assumes you have no mortgage/rent to pay.
I have had to learn how to live on such a small amount. When I lived in the UK and was working as a tax adviser in a large firm of accountants my monthly mortgage payments alone were this amount. I was earning a significant salary but working extremely long hours and spent very little time in my expensive house. I came to France for a complete change and hoped to start a business here. However, circumstances overtook me and this was never possible. I don’t miss the huge salary, big house, Porsche and other luxuries as much as you would think!!
Luxury now, for me, is a cup of tea made by someone else, my husband having a good health day, seeing my cats playing, walking in our beautiful village on a warm day… Priorities change and I am happier now than I was then.
Very interesting.
Because when Brexit happens the French Gov could possibly insist
that all people living here will need to verify that they are in receipt of the
min amount plus.???
Happiness for me is a cup of yogi tea and sesame biscuit with our friends
in the village or meeting up with others in Bergerac,
I think it’s only really a potential issue for new “inactif” arrivals. To get your carte de séjour permanente you will likely have to show you’ve met the conditions for five consecutive years (or possibly not necessarily consecutive, yet to be decided I believe). Once you have done your five years and qualified for full rights, it doesn’t matter if your income drops and you no longer do meet the conditions, you don’t lose your rights once you’ve got your CDS permanente (unless you leave France of course).
Though I suppose if you’ve been here for over five years but you haven’t met the conditions, then it could become an issue.
So that will possibly affect the British property purchasers unless they are
certain of adequate income.
Jobs/work is looking a little more vunerable with the closure of many companies and
what seems like supermarket cut backs. Is Britain going backwoods towards the early sixties?
Only for the poor, of course. Is it heading for the spam sandwich days?
Will every one be saving for their hip replacement or a date with the doc?
For so many Brexit was to get their Britain back…ironic I feel.
Oddly enough one of the people I know who voted in that direction has a couple of cruises
each year and one or 2 family holidays and days out in restaurants frequently and loves her way
of life. Her family is a great mix of European decent and beyond.
So why would someone like her vote for radical return to the past.
It can only be that she was thinking about how much UK paid to Brussels …but I am
pretty sure that her mind would not be focused on that or that she would equate to
why.
Oh I have diverted …
But just to say that I came here to have a better life …the last chapter, you could say.
Like most of you I will punctuate my time with a little luxury whether it be that cup
of tea with great friends or a visit down memory lane to posh hotel or a Michelin star
restaurant.
Nothing stops you working that little bit harder or longer to set your life style to the way
you want it. We are all different.
Matt…house insurance.
So everyone…how much do you spend on food and cleaning materials…and stuff
from the chemist.
Ladies do you ever buy a lipstick or a face cream or stuff like that?
Christmas time…a few gifts here and there, the cards and a special festive treats.
Vets bills.
No I don’t do lippy, never have, yucky stuff.
I buy skin cream from Lidl.
Food - depends how busy I am. If I have time to cook something elaborate I go shopping and treat myself but normally I’m working til well after 6pm and after that I just want to crash out, so it’s rice/couscous/pasta/quick simple stuff.
I’ve never added up what I spend on cleaning materials, I replace sprays and polishes and sponges etc as needed but I don’t buy them every week. Although I seem to get through washing up liquid quite fast and I get accused of using far more than necessary, but I like lots of bubbles. Same with loo rolls, I’m always buying them and 'im sometimes-indoors thinks I eat them.
The quick, simple stuff you describe, often turns out to be the most delicious
I tend to buy cleaning stuff/toilet rolls etc when they are on special offer…(but I have a cellar for storage…and yes, I like lots of bubbles too.
Food… again I buy when the offers are on…but I do have a chest freezer which allows me to take advantage of the Porc/Duck fairs… or whatever, when prices around here drop through the floor.
For that special treat… I buy smoked salmon (only that which has never been frozen)… at the once-a-year special-offer prices and freeze it in portions/slices for use throughout the year.
Although our Pharmacy is great for medications… I would not pay their prices for personal stuff… supermarkets seem to have an excellent choice at much lower prices… and I do not use nearly as much as when I was working in UK.
Our only real luxury are holidays for which we save up for over the course of the year or longer, if we go to the States it might cost us £5k but a week on a Greek island might only be £1k at the end of the season.
Over Christmas and the New Year, between 2 of us we got through: a goose, two lobsters, joints of beef and pork, duck confits, and numerous full-on Estonian-style cold tables ('im being Estonian).
So it’s looking like twice weekly visits to the gym for the next few months not that I’ve actually been at all yet this year.
We love a holiday and when others are cooking that is a pleasant change.
We love France and really like San Sebastien and Gretaria…where the cooking
is special.
Oh my goodness yes , my skin is very dry and sensitive so i buy good marks to make sure it doesn’t do any more damage to my poor old skin.
I put on light makeup three times a week and clean my skin every evening.
I have diabetes so have to careful , and other health problems also. Especially cream for my lips they get dreadfully dry so that is applied three times a day.
I have a special budget for beauty products.
That takes me back to much younger days… when we would scan the cheap holiday pages to find a firm offering the Special “baby/child comes free” breaks… which made it viable for our family of 3. Had to book it quickly… and well in advance…but what fun in the sun we all had… when the rest of the UK was enjoying winter…
not that I’ve actually been at all yet this year.
when the rest of the UK was enjoying winter…