Cost of living a very conservative life

Hi Rod007 and welcome to Expat.com!

A new thread has been created in Izmir forum for better visibility.

Hope that you'll soon be enlightened.

Harmonie.

Sort of depends on WHERE you want to live.

Cities are expensive generally. I live in a tiny village now (after 10 years in Istanbul). I'm often shocked at how little it costs to survive.

Hi
Which part do want to live in istanbul? Asia or europe? Because there are quality and price differences. But if you want a suggestion; i can suggest you asia part as its cheaper and silent. Kadikoy and bostanci and suadiye are the most elite and beautiful aeras and these aeares are close the most popular street named Bagdat Street.

It is the same as asking what's the cost of living and how much is a 1 bedroom flat in Britain - it depends on exactly where it is you want live, as it varies by location.
There is a website numbeo.com which gives free comparisons between the costs of different cities in different countries. Just choose the location nearest to where you are living now and the one nearest to where you want to go, and it will produce comparative lists.

HI Rod,


Depending on the area you live in it various greatly as do the standards. I've lived in Istanbul for 6 plus years . You can live in places far out on the Asian side or European side for 800-1000TL( middle class area with fair to good standards).

For a central apartment in a middle class area on the European and Key areas near the coast on the Asian side e.g. Kadikoy near the ferry,   ranges from 1100-1600TL (2+1) on average.Average standards in Istanbul. There are cheaper areas like Levent 4, Tarlabasi, Tepebasi (central), Gulbag, Gultepe / working class . Can still be nice depending on what you want.


If you are wanted to rent in the posher or more popular areas you can expect much higher e.g. Bebek, Etiler, Ulus, Moda, Better parts of Taksim. Starting at 1500TL is the norm for a 2+1. Studio's and 1 bedrooms are not as popular but with some work can be found.


Now factor in utilities in the summer on average 200-300TL. eg. Aidat (basic), gas, electric, internet, digiturk, water, phone.

Food: 300-400 a month
Transport without Taxi's : 200 TL on average

With no indication of the preferred location, all anyone responding can really do (other than visit the website I suggested or similar) is say how it is where they are.
In Didim, 1 bedroom apartments  are around but there are not so many of them. Apartments don't have storage space other than what you get from the furniture you put in, and I would advise in any case that for that reason it is better to have two bedrooms.
There is just my wife Carol and myself, we have two bedrooms and the second one is where we put everything we want to keep but don't have an everyday use for.

You can rent a furnished two bed apartment from 300TL a month upwards, but if you want something nice then it would be in the 350-450TL range ( I am talking of a 12 month rental period).

Our bills (electric, mains water, bottled water, bottled gas, telephone and internet, council tax, satellite tv) average 300TL a month, but obviously with anything like this it depends on useage. If you need to have the aircon on 24/7 then you will pay accordingly.

We own our apartment so there are no rental costs, and we don't have a car. We both smoke (we buy tobacco and "tubes" from the local market and make our own. They come out looking just like those you would get in a packet, but at a fraction of the cost). I like a drink but Carol only drinks coke, we don't eat out except on special occasions.
We are fine on around 1300TL a month total living costs (about £460). If we were renting, it would be maybe 1750TL (£620).

The other point here is that one person's "conservative" could be another's "extravagant" lifestyle, or somewhere in between.