This is a bit of a listy one, the expat situation versus my old London life and how they par financially.

My rent here is €675 inc bills (and I pay a premium for sea view!) compared to £2,400 plus bills back in London, this is a HUGE difference and means that life out here is a lot more flexible when it comes to committing to the nine to five, 46 weeks a year….   With this in mind, and from those perhaps looking to kick the office life to the kerb, but want to check their sums first, I’ve been asked to surmise what other costs are like; therefore here is a (somewhat bizarre = my life) selection of things I spend money on, and how they compare to back in London.

Expat wins:
– Rent and house prices, although there’s a fixed 10% charge for purchasing which is why I’m still renting at the moment.
– Utility bills are included in my rent, but I asked the letting agent; it’s €108 community fees (bins, gardeners and pools), €10 for water, €40 for electric.  I easily spent £250 a month in the UK, and was pretty frugal with heating.
– Food bills are €75 a week vs. accidentally and easily £25 a day if you don’t pay attention in London.  It is actually really difficult to spend money in the supermarket here, even if you pack a trolley full!  (Unless you go near green vegetables, see later)
– Cava/prosecco in the supermarket is €4 a bottle vs. £9 in London unless you catch a discount, when you may be lucky to find £7.  And if you drink the basic cava here it’s less than €2 a bottle.
– Water is €0.64 for 5 litres or €0.86 for 8 litres.  I don’t think anyone in London ever buys this much water as it is more expensive than wine.
– House wine out and about you’ll find €2.50 a glass is average (€1.80 in happy hour), or €3.90 somewhere a bit pricey vs. £5 minimum, or somewhere scarily around £9 in the City for a large glass.
– Pub food is generally between €5.50 and €8, which is still possible in rural England, but definitely not in London.
– Tips are received gratefully and usually less than 10% if at all, they certainly aren’t added to your bill ie expected.

UK wins:
– Fruit and veg are surprisingly expensive in Tenerife supermarkets, a bag of lemons is twice the UK price and a single broccoli is upward of €2.  Green beans rarely exist.  I understand locals shop at veg markets, unfortunately I don’t as yet have a car to facilitate roaming.
– Fresh fish is €9 for a large fillet in the supermarket, you’d spend half this in London.  Again I assume there are fish markets…  I call this a double win for the UK, the ease of being able to buy everything in one store. 
– Cocktails are usually over €5, I’ve certainly not seen them less, whereas they are £4.50 in happy hour at Dirty Martini!
– Gyms are €50 for a ten time pass or €35 a month, of course you can pay significantly more than this in London if you want to, but you can also get a monthly membership for less than £30.
– Commuting via public transport is not really a thing here, the bus will cost somewhere between €1.75 and €3, often to go the same journey, which is a lot for a slow and hourly service.  That said taxis are only €1 a minute and it takes about 25mins to get anywhere.
– Cat litter I put as a UK win because I could get litter delivered by Amazon, which does not work here as the Spanish parcel service is a disaster!  Therefore you have to buy it at the supermarket and it’s of course more expensive than online; I pay about €7 a month for basic litter here whereas used to pay £14 for two months to get posh stuff delivered to my door.
– GP appointments are not free, but I think are quite reasonable; as a “local” I pay €15 an appointment and a couple of EUR for prescriptions, so whilst more than London they’re a lot easier to get hold of!
– UK branded items (shampoo, Fairy, Bold [I appear to be allergic to Spanish soap], Twinings) are all twice the price here, which is to be expected, but kind of sad when they have the GBP price stamped on them…

Overall, I’m making it work.  I just have to go back to the UK occasionally, buy shampoo and eat loads of green beans!