Hello, french native here. I would like to say it depends where you live in France, some places are more expensive, some other are cheaper.
Avoid big cities with big infrastructures (high speed train stations, bus lines…) or just into a small city or hamlet close to it.
I live in Picardy, 10 kms far from the seashore (Baie de Somme - Côte d’Opale). I live in a 116m2 house with 4 rooms and 300m2 of garden. We pay per month
800€ per month of banking loan
house insurance is 30€
electricity is 80€
water is 20€
taxe foncière is 37€
taxe d’habitation is 40€
internet TV is 35€
our house uses fuel to warm, we pay the equivalent of 70€ per month on a full year
my wife drives a badass Peugeot 207 1.6l gas version with a 6 speed manual gearbox, really reliable but 6 liters/100 kms when she drives and 7 liters /100 kms when I drive. She used to pay 180€ of gas per month, now that the car has been converted to flexfuel E85, she just pays 100€ per month. Considering that when you work in France, you can substract a certain amount of this money to your fiscal net (frais kilométriques).
As for me, I commute by bicycle, as I am a fellow passionate cyclist, I ride my bike every day to work to save money, and that way I don’t need to waste my time to a gym center.
For healthcare, we both have mandatory employer mutuelle, I pay 40€ per month, everything is taken in charge, my wife pays 25€ per month, she just has to pay from her own pocket everything related to aesthetic surgery. Good thing as she is constantly teasing me with pornstar boobs.
Overall, I do consider that french people tend to pay daily higher prices and taxes, but finally it makes your life standards cheaper to my opinion.
I really think that France is not perfect, but to me it is a paradise filled with people who really think they live in hell.