Research Your Living Expenses

Before moving to Spain  to teach English with the Auxiliares de Conversacion program, I did a lot of research to try to figure out what my living expenses would be. There are some really great resources with sample budgets from different cities, like this series by COMO Consulting. Obviously, there won’t be information for every possible city. Neither of my two cities (Huelva, Andalusia and Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country) were included, but you can still use them as a benchmark to get a pretty good idea.

Something to keep in mind when looking at other people’s living expenses is that even though you see WHAT they spend, you don’t often get a glimpse into HOW they spend. That is what I intend to do with this post. I’m going to use examples of my living expenses from Huelva and from Vitoria-Gasteiz, but the techniques for cutting costs should be applicable in any city.

MY LIVING EXPENSES

Rent: 225

Groceries: 65

Phone: 10

Electricity: 25

Internet: 16

TOTAL: 341 euros

This is my share of required monthly living expenses in northern Spain. Everything else is variable. If you can keep your core living expenses at around half of your income, you’ll have a lot more flexibility for some of the other things you’d like to do, such as traveling, shopping, and saving.

But how do you keep your expenses so low? The cost of living difference does most of the work for you. The north of Spain is considered an expensive region in comparison to other communities in Spain, but with a little planning, you can make it work. Here is a breakdown of my living expenses in the north and the south, and how different choices affect the price.

RENT

My first year in Andalusia, I spent 180 euros a month for a large bedroom in a three bedroom apartment that I shared with two other girls. I could have gotten away with a much lower price if I didn’t have a large bed (135 cm) and live right in the city center. My roommates, for example, paid 160 euros each, since they had smaller rooms and smaller beds.

This was my room:

This year, my rent is 45 euros more per month, but it is well worth it because of what I save in transportation to work.

TRANSPORTATION

In Huelva, I paid 40 euros a month between buses and carpools. In Vitoria-Gasteiz, I walk  20 minutes for FREE! The choice of living where you teach and living in a larger city will affect your core living expenses. However, that doesn’t mean it will always be cheaper to live where you teach. In smaller pueblos, it may be hard to find roommates, so keep that in mind when choosing where to live.




Although this year I lived in an apartment that cost more, I made up for most of it in the 40 euros a month that I DON’T pay in transportation. When you account for this difference, I’m only paying 5 euros more a month for a lot more convenience: I’ve cut my commute considerably and get to live with no roommates other than my partner.

PHONE

That 10 euro phone bill is probably looking amazing to anyone in the US. I think I was paying about $50 a month back home. Here in Spain, there are plenty of low cost no-contract plans. I use Orange, but there are a lot of companies and I’m not really partial to one or the other. My plan includes 1 GB of data per month, plus 20 cents per call, regardless of length. If you run out of data, it will slow down unless you decide to renew your month early.

You may notice I’ve said nothing about texting. You can forget about texting here. Everyone uses WhatsApp, which pulls from your data. Also, as of June 2017, there is no more international roaming within the European Union! Enjoy your mobile freedom.

Lower phone bills are just one of the perks of living abroad. You’ll have it covered in less than 1 hour of work per month!

ELECTRICITY, GAS, WATER

Your utility bills (called gastos) may or may not be included in the price of your apartment. Some “all bills included” places aren’t worth it, because they charge you according to how high they THINK you might spend. I personally prefer places without them included so I know that I won’t have higher living expenses paying for something I didn’t use. However, if you find a place with these things included, and the price seems comparable to other places you’ve seen without them included, don’t rule it out. Take a look at the place and make sure to ask questions.

Things like electricity and internet will obviously vary depending on how many people you live with. Try not to use more electricity than necessary, as it is more expensive in Europe than in the States. Turn off appliances when you aren’t using them. If you choose an apartment with good natural lighting, that’s a pretty good start.

FOOD

Groceries is the category with the most potential to save money, but you need to be creative. If you shop with someone else and share expenses, as long as you are both of a similar mindset, you can get your grocery costs very low. My partner and I spend about 130 euros total per month, or 65 euros each. Last year, on my own, I spent about 80 euros per month, so doubling up with someone is a great idea, as long as you are willing to cook and eat together.

Any time we spend under, the remaining money will be kicked over into a bulk purchases fund for things like buying an entire wheel of cheese, which is more cost effective, but requires a larger purchase price.

Whether you’re going to share groceries or go it alone, my number one tip for keeping costs down is to know your prices. Make a list of your most common grocery essentials. For me, those are things like onions, green peppers, potatoes, chicken, tomato sauce, pasta, rice, and bananas. This is by no means all that I eat, but I tend to buy these things regularly.

With your list, grab a pen and write down the price per kilo for each item at the three closest stores to your apartment. For me, those stores are Mercadona, Simply, and Carrefour. This will help you get an idea where you can get each item for the least amount of money.

Once you have a good idea of the prices, you can decide if it’s worth it for you to go to different stores for different products, or if you prefer to just pick the store with the lowest average cost. For me, the lowest average cost is Mercadona, so if I need a lot of items, I will go there. However, if all I need is potatoes, I might choose Simply instead. I typically only go to Carrefour for convenience after work. There is only one item I prefer to buy there: pesto sauce. The Gallo brand pesto is delicious and only $1.79 per jar. Watch for their buy-one-get-one-half-off sales, and you can get them for 1.34 euros each!

One added benefit of low grocery costs is that the more economical meals you are able to eat at home, the less you will spend eating at restaurants.

What are some of your favorite meals to prepare at home?