Cost of living in France

Sent by Busk in March 2007

Paris France near the Bastille

Rent 1100 euros for 45 m sq.

Phone 40 euro per month

Food 200 euro per week for 2

Gas 10 euro month

Health care is free.

50% income and other taxes.

From Haute Savoie (near Chamonix)

Three bedroomed small house cost 257,000 euros (and that was apparently a bargain!)

Public Transport is good quality - daily commute to Geneva by train only 110 euros a month

> food costs around 700 euros per month for family of 4

> Healthcare costs are more because I work in Switzerland - approx 90 euros per month

> Good idea not to have electric heating - we do, and it costs a fortune - over 1000 euros per year. Ouch!

> SFR phone costs around 40 euros per month, Neuf Telecom internet and land lines (to UK also) for 34.95 per month. TV - we have Canal+ so we can flick through endless channels before finding something interesting - around 35 euros per month.

> traditional restaurant, three course meal for 2 with bottle of wine, around 60 euros.

> although my old college friends wouldn't believe me, I couldn't actually say how much a beer costs in a pub, as I spend my evenings changing nappies rather than swigging beer.

For newcomers to French, if you think that something is excessively expensive, you should shrug your shoulders in a Gallic fashion and mumble something like 'ouais mais c'est une arnaque, ça'.

For anyone whose income is paid in GBP (e.g. pension or savings interest) or who is in the process of converting their GBP to Euros the cost of living has gone up by around 30% since the middle of the year because of the exchange rate. Today we are almost on parity.  Although France is going into a recession too there will undoubtedly be a lag before the Euro to GBP rates start to improve (from the GB perspective) and the French economy looks set to weather the storm better than the UK because of their lower levels of indebtedness etc. so their currency may well remain stronger for a long time.

Times could get tough, but we're still committed to the French life, so "tant pis!".  As Voltaire put it, "Il faut cultiver son jardin" (though he was being ironic at the time....) and in the words of Monty Python - "Always look on the bright side of life."

Bonne année à toutes et à tous!