Cost of living? (renters, insurance, mortgage)

[NEOhioBound]

I keep telling my husband that I really want to try to get located to England - there isn't a US Army base there that we know of, so we don't know how likely that will happen- but he retires in a couple years so maybe then

What I am curious about is what the cost of living is in England and how Americans are excepted over there? I am so interested in the cultural and the beautiful landscape.. and I probably watch too much BBC... actually, it is practically all I watch anymore, but the buildings are gorgeous and I would love to learn more about the land

[richt71]

Hi,
There's a US satelite spying base not far from me and there's a airbase in the South but I don't think there's any army bases.
Cost of living I'll give you a rough guildline on costs - Council Tax (property tax) $150-$200 a month based on property, TV license (need this otherwise they fine you!) $20 a month, Electric/gas $220 a month, water $60 a month, Phone rental $20 a month (can get packages with broadband and/or cable/satelite included). Groceries I'd say a very modest living at $200 a month.
Oh yes you asked if American's are accepted - of course. Most communities are very mixed nowadays. In my street there's an American lady, a Canadian couple and a Indian couple.
Hope that helps!

[trionetriathlon]

Wow Rich! You do live modestly!!! How do you do it?? I suppose it depends on where you live, how many in family, etc etc. Also, Americans have to remember that our dollar is cut in half over here and cola is about +10% (very rough estimate) for us on top of that. We find groceries to be incredibly expensive over here; not only double for the American dollar, but overall, more expensive. Also, Rich, didn't you mean pounds, not dollar when you gave amounts?? $200.00 a month for groceries seems very very low.... just curious...

Although exciting, remember that life as an ex-pat is just that; you are an ex-pat. We have found that although we are accepted, we are not British, and we are often reminded of that. I do not mean this in a bad way; it is just that everyday life is very different.(food, appliances, schooling, etc). I would suggest that anyone considering a move in either direction to, if possible, spend at least a month in a location before making a final decision. Visiting a place is just visiting a place. Living in a place is completely different!!

Perhaps retiring would feel different than moving over with children. If you can wait until retirement, then try living in temp housing for 6 months or more, I would go that route before 'giving it all up'. Just my two-cents worth!

[LINCOLNSHIRE]

Originally Posted by NEOhioBound

I keep telling my husband that I really want to try to get located to England - there isn't a US Army base there that we know of, so we don't know how likely that will happen- but he retires in a couple years so maybe then

How about getting a move by internal means to a USAF base?? I worked at RAF Milldenhall [Suffolk] in the 80s for two years. It`s USAF in all but name.
I lived at Brandon and loved going to work. Everything on base was half the price as it was off...

[richt71]

Originally Posted by trionetriathlon

Wow Rich! You do live modestly!!! How do you do it?? I suppose it depends on where you live, how many in family, etc etc. Also, Americans have to remember that our dollar is cut in half over here and cola is about +10% (very rough estimate) for us on top of that. We find groceries to be incredibly expensive over here; not only double for the American dollar, but overall, more expensive. Also, Rich, didn't you mean pounds, not dollar when you gave amounts?? $200.00 a month for groceries seems very very low.... just curious...

Although exciting, remember that life as an ex-pat is just that; you are an ex-pat. We have found that although we are accepted, we are not British, and we are often reminded of that. I do not mean this in a bad way; it is just that everyday life is very different.(food, appliances, schooling, etc). I would suggest that anyone considering a move in either direction to, if possible, spend at least a month in a location before making a final decision. Visiting a place is just visiting a place. Living in a place is completely different!!

Perhaps retiring would feel different than moving over with children. If you can wait until retirement, then try living in temp housing for 6 months or more, I would go that route before 'giving it all up'. Just my two-cents worth!

LOL. I do live modesty! I live by myself in a terrace house (townhouse) near York centre. The figures are in dollars. As you say though the groceries are the bare minimum and the gas/electric is probably pretty low.
I'm sorry you still don't feel like you belong. As I posted in another thread on my street there's an American couple, a Canadian and an Indian one. I don't really think about it - more are they good regular people!

[richt71]

Originally Posted by trionetriathlon

Wow Rich! You do live modestly!!! How do you do it?? I suppose it depends on where you live, how many in family, etc etc. Also, Americans have to remember that our dollar is cut in half over here and cola is about +10% (very rough estimate) for us on top of that. We find groceries to be incredibly expensive over here; not only double for the American dollar, but overall, more expensive. Also, Rich, didn't you mean pounds, not dollar when you gave amounts?? $200.00 a month for groceries seems very very low.... just curious...

Although exciting, remember that life as an ex-pat is just that; you are an ex-pat. We have found that although we are accepted, we are not British, and we are often reminded of that. I do not mean this in a bad way; it is just that everyday life is very different.(food, appliances, schooling, etc). I would suggest that anyone considering a move in either direction to, if possible, spend at least a month in a location before making a final decision. Visiting a place is just visiting a place. Living in a place is completely different!!

Perhaps retiring would feel different than moving over with children. If you can wait until retirement, then try living in temp housing for 6 months or more, I would go that route before 'giving it all up'. Just my two-cents worth!

Sorry meant to add I never go why we in the UK pay the same amount in pounds as you guys in the US pay in dollars for food from major fast food places like McDonalds or pizza hut? I'm not a fan of either TBH but noticed this.

[NEOhioBound]

he is a Recruiter for the Army and they don't have Army Recruiters for the US at all in the UK. Which is disappointing..

Thanks for all the feedback. I am hoping we can take vacation/holiday within the next year to check the country side out

Originally Posted by LINCOLNSHIRE

How about getting a move by internal means to a USAF base?? I worked at RAF Milldenhall [Suffolk] in the 80s for two years. It`s USAF in all but name.
I lived at Brandon and loved going to work. Everything on base was half the price as it was off...

[delusianne]

Originally Posted by richt71

Cost of living I'll give you a rough guildline on costs - Council Tax (property tax) $150-$200 a month based on property, TV license (need this otherwise they fine you!) $20 a month, Electric/gas $220 a month, water $60 a month, Phone rental $20 a month (can get packages with broadband and/or cable/satelite included). Groceries I'd say a very modest living at $200 a month.

Hi richt71, I'm puzzled about some of the UK fees and taxes you mention, could you elaborate on some for me please?

Council tax, $150-200/month - is this a tax you pay when you own your place? Pay your mortgage plus a monthly property tax? We pay property taxes annually so I guess that's the same, but $2400/year sounds high to me (though I live in a small rural town and wouldnt know, and I know space is at a premium in the UK).

Is a council tax a municipal tax? In the US we have federal, state and local taxes. You don't have states...do you have a similar regional-government tax? What do you call your federal tax?

TV license and phone license - ? Are these taxes to the gov't? In the US you buy the TV and then the only further charge on it goes to the electric company for the electricity you use to run it. Programming is paid for by advertising.

A landline phone, you buy the hardware phone and pay the phone company a set fee every month to use their wires and services (plus a thousand little fees and charges that cover routing, etc.).

Do you have more than one phone company? The U.S. had only AT & T until, I believe, the early 80s.

In the small town where I live, the electricity, water and trash bills are all paid in one bill to the local electric company, which contracts with the water department and trash subcontractors.

Thank you - I just find this economics-of-nations stuff fascinating

[RH1]

Originally Posted by delusianne

Hi richt71, I'm puzzled about some of the UK fees and taxes you mention, could you elaborate on some for me please?

Council tax, $150-200/month - is this a tax you pay when you own your place? Pay your mortgage plus a monthly property tax? We pay property taxes annually so I guess that's the same, but $2400/year sounds high to me (though I live in a small rural town and wouldnt know, and I know space is at a premium in the UK).

Hi - I can answer a few of these for now - yes this is an additional tax to your mortgage. It goes to the local council to pay for things like the local police, council housing, refuse collection, all sorts of local services. The rates vary a lot across the country because they're decided locally. It's also divided up into bands according to the value of your house. If you're curious about a particular area you can look it up here: Council Tax Valuation List or see bands here: Council Tax - who pays and how much : Directgov - Home and community
Mine is about £85 a month at the moment.

Originally Posted by delusianne

Is a council tax a municipal tax? In the US we have federal, state and local taxes. You don't have states...do you have a similar regional-government tax? What do you call your federal tax?

Hope someone else can help with this! I'm guessing we don't have state taxes as we don't have states. So I'd say this is a local tax - for instance in Lincoln we have Lincoln City Council and Lincolnshire County Council - I pay tax to the City Council. Federal would be government taxes, like the tax you pay on your income, and National Insurance which gives you a state pension when you retire.

Originally Posted by delusianne

TV license and phone license - ? Are these taxes to the gov't? In the US you buy the TV and then the only further charge on it goes to the electric company for the electricity you use to run it. Programming is paid for by advertising.

The TV license goes to the BBC who don't advertise. I think that's a Godsend actually - I can't stand all the programmes on Sky who seem to be going down the route of [my understanding of] US advertising where you get ads quite frequently.

So we're now in quite an awkward position because cable TV has given us about a million channels that you have to pay someone like Sky to get, but on top of that you have to have a TV license too. If you have an operating TV that's plugged to an aerial you have to have a TV license or you get fined quite heavily.

Originally Posted by delusianne

A landline phone, you buy the hardware phone and pay the phone company a set fee every month to use their wires and services (plus a thousand little fees and charges that cover routing, etc.)

Do you have more than one phone company? The U.S. had only AT & T until, I believe, the early 80s..

Yeah we do now. I pay BT (British Telecom) for my line rental (the set fee) but another company for call charges. The whole thing's a minefield now, there are so many companies vying for your business.

Originally Posted by delusianne

In the small town where I live, the electricity, water and trash bills are all paid in one bill to the local electric company, which contracts with the water department and trash subcontractors.

Thank you - I just find this economics-of-nations stuff fascinating

That sounds nice and straightforward! We pay water and electric (and gas) separately (again, there are now loads of companies vying for your money), the trash collection comes from coucil tax as I mentioned above.

Actually, this sounds like a really stupid question but what's the equivalent of gas there? Because I know you call our 'petrol' gas don't you? And I hear propane being talked about a lot, but I thought that had to be bought in tanks. Do you have combustible fuels piped into your house at all? Most people here have a combination of gas and electric things in their house, for example you might have gas central heating and a gas cooker and maybe a gas fire in one or two rooms, then everything else is electric. Or some people have electric cookers and no gas fire but still gas central heating.

Just when you think you know about a country...

[AlexisT]

propane = calor gas. Depending on where you live in the US you may or may not have mains gas (which is also called gas; yes, it's confusing!). propane is mainly used for BBQ tanks though, not heating the house! if you don't have mains gas, most homes up North will have an oil tank for heating/hot water as electric heating is too expensive for frequent use.

to the OP, council tax is our local tax. Renters and owners pay it. Income tax is only paid to the central government. Taxes are a lot simpler here.

Otherwise, the cost of living is pretty high IMO.