cost of living

We are hoping to relocate soon and were just wondering how much money on an average would you need to comfortably live ( just a rough estimate)per month.

Well this is a hard question to answer. It depends on what you mean by *comfortably* a lot of things have to be taken into account...

1 - How large you want your house to be?

2 - How many people are moving, and how many will be living in the house?

3 - What kind of work are you going to be looking for or resources will you be depending upon?

4 - Where do you want to live in the UK?

5 - Do you want a garden, pool, garage or jacuzzi?

6 - What would you say the average amount of money that you spend in the US is at present for foodstuffs, groceries and other everyday items?

7 - Will you be driving or travel via public transport when you journey?

8 - How much time and money will you devote to leisure?

9 - Will you be going back to the states regularly?

10 -  Will you have to pay money for child support or other constant outgoings that you have to account for?

Sorry, but these are just some questions you'd have to answer before you got a realistic estimate to your question.

Personally we spend £600 a month on rent at the moment; we're living in a one bedroom flat/appartment at the edge of greater london, we have a garden, and a parking space. Then you have phone, gas, electricity, water, cable connection, council tax, food, travel, entertainment (TV, movies, theatre, books, games etc.) that you will have to pay for too.  

As I said at the beginning there are so many variable factors that you have to take into account  that all this is probably useless.  Sorry, but with the information that you've posted that's as much as I can help.

I don't know that this is a realistic estimate, more of a way of wetting a finger and putting it up in the air. It's my theory of Burger King (and Hooters when they were here and what used to happen with books and computer things until the prices got better)...take the price you see listed in US dollars and translate directly to UK pounds and that's about the cost of living difference. For instance, you see a Whopper meal priced at 3.99 US and you can figure the same amount in the UK...3.99 pounds. Only, the currency rate is different...about 1.77 dollars=1 pound right now.

I know it sounds cynical, but, yes, the cost of living is about that much more here in the UK.

Yep, I'd agree with you Lisa E!  Here in SE England, at least, cost of living is pretty much Pounds for Dollars.  It's been an eye-opener, to say the least!

Stephanie

Another thing which kills me is the conversion of dollars for pounds from my US bank account to my UK bank account. For example, if you have $80,000.00 and divide it by 1.68, average exchange rate, you are left with £47,617.04. So, your 80K in the States is only worth roughly £48,000 here. That AND the price differences that LisaE stated. You can soon get the picture. Also, my experience has been that my earning ability is FAR less than what it was in the states. Sad but true story for me is that I worked my guts out in the States to earn and save what I was able to save. Seeing it dwindle away while I am trying to earn and live here is such a mental burden to me that I am going back to the states soon.
I am grateful for the experience here. I have not, by any means, lived high on the hog, yet I seem to watch penny by penny of my UK earnings and my US savings disappear  :-/
Melissa

We don't live in London, but in East Anglia. Rent in the area (we looked in many, many locations) for a 2 bedroom house runs from about £550 - £800. (Which is a lot of dollars!) - We're lucky with ours, it has a garden & is in a brilliant location, but it's Tiny like nobody's business. Feeling especially tinier now that my bump actually bumps into things. D'oh. We haven't found anything that's actually cheaper to buy in the UK than where I was from in the US, which is the midwest. Unless you count things like Coleman's mustard & other imported things like that. Figuring dollar for pound is safe, but it's also safe to automatically assume it will probably be more than that.  :-/