How much money do you need to live without problems in a new place. This question is asked by everyone who is thinking about relocation.
Would €1000 a month be enough to live comfortably in Spain for two adults and a dog? This question was discussed not so long ago by online-community of expats.
Most of the participants in the conversation immediately noted that this is a rather difficult task if there are expenses for rent or mortgages. If there are not, there may be different cases. It depends on area, type of the property, taxes. Lifestyle also plays an important role.
We collected a few real stories of expats, who’s costs are less than €1000 a month.
Living on €1000 in Martos, Andalucia, Jaen province
This couple is from UK. They moved to Spain in 2015. He is 68, she is 60. They have a house with terrace and 3 bedrooms in Martos, Andalucia, Jaen province. There is no rent or mortgage loan.
The property tax rates around €120 per year. Electricity – around €50 a month, gas – €45 a month in winter, up to €15 a month summer. House insurance is around €200 a year.
There are no British shops near by, that’s why all shopping done in local fruit and veg shops, Mercadonna, Dia or Carrefour. S1 form (healthcare certificate that entitles you and any dependants to healthcare in EU countries on the same basis as the residents have) gives the right to receive medical treatment free here. Car expenses – around €500 a year.
– It is possible to live on €1000 in Spain, if you are not down the pub every night. We do go out at least once week coffee and churros or tostada, drink is from supermarket and mostly drunk at home. We live in a town of just under 25000 people. There are officially 65 registered Brits, Irish/Scots here, so we have to integrate with our neighbors, who are all either Spanish or North African. We have more friends here than in the village we left in the UK. We are happy and contented even though living on the state old age pension of just under £180 a week. This wouldn’t have covered our rent rates gas and electricity in UK. So no food, car, dogs etc. That’s why we moved. We are just so sad that our children and grandchildren currently don’t have the opportunity to do the same thing we did due to the B word (Brexit), – the man and his wife comment to us.
Living on €1000 in Caudete, the province of Albacete
Another story is from Teresa. Now she is 56, her husband – Stewart – is 71. They are from UK. They purchased the house in Spain in July 2004 and moved across in March 2005. In January 2013 they sold the first property they had purchased in Spain and bought an old farm property with land requiring reformation.
– In the UK we both had high pressure jobs and as the youngest child was 18 and leaving home we decided to take stock of our lives and try something different. Spain was the perfect choice for us as the weather is much better than the UK, a big factor for us. Equally, flights are readily available to return to the UK to assist the children or parents if the need arose and also for them to come and visit us. The criteria was we could be back in the UK within 6 hours if needed – they comment to our portal.
The place to live in Spain
The couple lives in Caudete, in the province of Albacete. It takes approximately an hour from Alicante and an hour and a quarter from both Valencia and Murcia to get here. Caudete is just having the infrastructure improved and a new motorway is being built to join the A31 and the A35 (they are creating the A33) and this will reduce the time to Valencia and Murcia for citizens.
The area has hot, dry summers and cold winters.
We enjoy the change of the seasons and hate high humidity so the coast was not a choice for us. We knew we wanted to be inland and here we feel we have the perfect balance, – Teresa says.
The property
Stewart and Teresa have a 190sqm one-story house on two plots totalling 48,000 sqm, they are separated by a track. They live on the top plot and have fenced off approximately 3,000sqm to create a garden around the property. The rest is an olive grove. On the bottom plot the first section is fruit and nut trees (approx 2,000sqm).
There are 4 double bedrooms in the house, although one is used as a snug, a lounge, and kitchen-diner. There is a family bathroom and en-suite. The house has central heating heated by a pellet boiler and a log burner in the lounge. The owners have installed solar for electricity as the property is not connected to the mains and they have agricultural water but have installed filters so that they can drink it. Also they created a pool in the garden.
Water, gas, electric, house tax, house insurance, post box (they do not get post delivered in the countryside), wood (for the log burner), pellets (for the central heating) and internet are their property expenses. For this they budget for 290€ per month.
Food
As we live inland there are no “British Shops” so we only source local products. We grow our own vegetables and fruit and any excess of this is preserved or frozen. We budget for 275€/month for food, however 2021 we have spent 253,94€ per month on average. This is all food and drink requirements for 2 adults, – Teresa says.
Pets
The couple has a dog. Her name is Missy, she is 2. Man and his wife got her from a dog pound. They budget 50€ a month for all her requirements. She has all her vaccinations in accordance with Spanish law, has her pet passport. She has just had her Leishman test and vaccination and this was 100€ (annual), the remaining vaccinations are 80€/annum and then she has Advantix treatment for ticks/fleas/parasites and worming tablets every other month (16€ for both).
Healthcare
Both – Stewart and Teresa – worked in Spain and paid Social Security. So they don’t have any medical costs now. The man is over pension age and so they still get it free.
Cars
Also they budget 202.50€/month for 2 cars:
- insurance
- road tax
- 1 service per car per year ITV and fuel
In conclusion
– As you can see, for everything mentioned above we budget 817.50/€ month. This then gives us just under 200€ a month for any going out or to purchase anything we need. We do have a savings pot if so needed but to be fair we seldom touch that as we manage with the money we have. The savings pot is topped up from the money we receive for our olives. We have approximately 300 olive trees and look after them ourselves, – Teresa says.
Someone says that living on €1000 in Spain is a very sad story. But people are very, very different and derive happiness from different things. My husband and I live in a lovely location, no neighbors, peace and quiet in our beautiful home and garden. We have never been rich (with lots of money) but in my opinion I am exceedingly rich with a wonderful family and friends and a beautiful home.
I do not need to go out shopping for lots of things as there is nothing I need. For me, I get so much delight and pleasure from growing our own produce (from seed) then picking and using them in the food that we eat. I enjoy cooking and baking, we have great fun with our friends when they visit us or we visit them. Where we live there are no expensive restaurants but plenty of places to sit and relax and enjoy tapas. We have no debt, we can pay for all we have without a problem, and we have no need to have more than we have or show off to anyone, we are who we are and for us being true to ourselves is the most important thing of all.