OH! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD Please answer my question?

Question

Can anyone please help us? My husband has been offered a job in UK for 3500 pounds per month. He is an IT analyst. But the thing is that we don’t know anything about UK. Can anyone please tell us about the cost of living in UK? We have no children and are not planning any in the near future. And once my husband gets the job can I work too? What are the cheapest rents that we can get for the cheapest house? How much money will we need on food monthly? MOST IMPORTANT....How much will be the tax on this 3500 salary? What will be the electricity, water, and other bills? What will be our major expenses?
Your answers will be much appreciated, and will help us make the most important decision in our life. Please do answer

Answer 1

everything depends upon what city u will live in. london for example can be expensive. 3500pounds will have about 22% tax deducted. but outside of london u could rent a small house or apartment from about 200-400 per month, this is quite cheap. expect maybe 60pound per month for utility bills, but probably no more. from supermarkets, try tesco or asda for the really cheap stuff and expect 200 per month to eat. but 3500 is very good money and really u can afford to go much more than my estimates.

ps, my estimates may be a little off cos i havent lived there for 4 years so its all from memory.

pps, u will have to pay tv lisence, and council tax but i dont know how much these are

Answer 2

London is very expensive.

The world's 50 most expensive big cities
(The index is based on cost of living expressed in US dollars. Therefore, if the dollar weakens against the local currency of a city, the city becomes more expensive and moves up the index, even if prices expressed in local currency remain the same or even go down.)

1 Moscow Russia
2 Seoul South Korea
3 Tokyo Japan
4 Hong Kong China
5 London UK
6 Osaka Japan
7 Geneva Switzerland
8 Copenhagen Denmark
9 Houston, TX, USA
9 Zurich Switzerland
10 Oslo Norway
11 New York USA
12 St Petersburg Russia
13 Milan Italy
14 Beijing China
15 Istanbul Turkey
16 Paris France
17 Singapore Singapore
18 Dublin Ireland
19 Sydney Australia
20 Shanghai China
21 Rome Italy
22 Kiev Ukraine
23 Vienna Austria
24 Tel Aviv Israel
25 Helsinki Finland
26 Dubai United Arab Emirates
27 Douala Cameroon
28 Taipei Taiwan
29 Los Angeles USA
30 Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates

Answer 3

First of all, it will all depend on where he is looking to live, as the cost of living varies greatly around hte country. With that sort of salary, I am making the assumption that it will be in the south of the country, where the average house price is around £300,000. His salary will also put him into the higher end of the tax bracket, being 40% of his wage.

Other costs to take into consideration are the utility bills. Again, these are higher in the south and I would estimate that it would come to around £2,500 annually, if you count in the community charge (council tax).

If you decided to rent instead of buy, you would need to realistically look to be paying at least £600 per month, though some letting agencies do put in the utility costs with the rent.

I cannot say anything about your chances of working in England as I do not know your particulars or skills range. What I would suggesst is that you contact the British consulate in your own country and seek advice from them.

If all of the above sounds negative, let me assure you that it is not. I have travelled extensively around the Northern hemisphere and I would not want to live anywhere but England. We have a lot to offer, but the only way to know that for sure is to come find out for yourself.

Best of luck with your decision.

Answer 4

3500 pounds a month is not much if you are living in London, where flats will run you 1500-2000 pounds a month at least. Food is very expensive (think 10 pounds per meal per person min). Transportation also very expensive unless you take the bus whereever you go. Taxes are high but get you decent health care and education. Not sure about the rest.

Answer 5

£3.5k a month is a good after tax (net) salary. Especially if you are working for a second wage. If it is before tax (gross) then it is still OK, but considerably less. If you are living in London it is not really worth it - it is not enough.
Don't forget though, Britain is an expensive country. In the mid 1990s, thousands of nurses from poorer overseas countries came to work in the UK to divert our nursing crisis. The wages promised were a fortune compared to what they were working for in India, Africa and Asia. BUT..rent, National Insurnace, Community charge, gas and electric are the most expensive in the world, food is taxed highly as most consumables are... it is not cheap to live in the UK. You will need excellent English skills too.
Most of my nursing colleagues oonly lastested a few months then went back home to families as they could not save or send much money home.

Answer 6

i need to know the area to be able to give you an exact cost of living in my area for a two bedroom house it £650 a month food is around £350 a month depending on what sort of itms i buy electricity i around £50 a month and gas is also £50 a month the amount of tax depends on your tax code water is around £50 a month
i am from south east england Kent
London is more expensive

Answer 7

Try asking your question on the UK and Ireland Yahoo Answers site. Also, if there's a British flag at the bottom of your screen on this site, you could ask someone who actually lives there and who would know real answers, instead of just speculated ones. Good luck. Sounds like a real adventure.

Answer 8

can i answer just because i want to and not for the love of GOD?

Well start by telling us where you are from?
Where will you live as the cost of living is different depending on what part of the UK you are going to.
what size house will you live in as council tax and the cost of living will depend on that.
Without this information its a non brainer.

Answer 9

How much do you make now? Count about 40% for tax. There wll be other expenses. Google around for rough numbers.

UKs just fine if you are from Asia. But Canada or Australia are much better options.

Answer 10

Try this Currency Converter

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

this one too

http://www.concierge.com/tools/currency

You probably won't know until you actually go there and visit, see what its like, meet people in the UK and talk to them. Take a week vacation to see if this where you could live for a while.