Cost of living

• The Nihes sites calculates it as:
  
  Estimated monthly expenses:
  Housing € 400
  Medical and health insurance € 42
  Food & beverage € 340
  Local transport € 46
  Other € 36
  Total € 864
  
  But the real cost is much highter (this calculation is for students). Housing for €400, is more for a single room. Health insurance is way more expensive.
  
  Housing is difficult, the prices vary a lot. To rent a cheap house (known as a "sociale huurwoning", costs till a maximum of about €500, excluding service costs, electricity and everything else), it's almost impossible if you don't live here already and have subscribed for searching for another house (a waitinglist can be as long as 8 years on average!).
  Renting a house in another way, is way expensive. A small apartment in a big city, could easily be at least €800. So you would have to search for that at first.
  
  The health insurance is at least €90 (and you have to be insured), but children below 18 are included for free with your own insurance. So you and your wife would pay €180 for that. Be careful, because it's a basic insurance.
  
  Food I would calculate less for it. For €200 per person per month, you can live quite good. That's because it gets more cheap when you buy food for the family (many products are made for a family of 3 or 4 persons).
  
  Then you would have to pay for transportation. The cost is way more than calculated above (students have their own transportationcard). If you can reach your work by public transport, you get a fee from your work, or get money back from the taxes. It depends on the distance.
  Driving a car around here, is really expensive. The fuel is about €1,50/l and the taxes are quite high. Still most people own a car and complain a lot about the costs.
  
  Electricity, gas and water costs depend on the size of your house at first. Calculate for an average house around €150-€200.
  
  Then there are the small expenses, like a phone, internet access, television and radio (cable most of the time). That can add up to €50, but could be more expensive, depending on your needs and usage.
  
  If you add all things up, it could mean about €2000 per month. But, since costs can vary a lot and also depends on the way you spend your money and live your life, it could be more cheap or more expensive.
  
  If you want to stay here permanently, it's worth to pay that sum of money. After some time, you could rent a more cheap house, or maybe you could buy a house (although prices are very, very high here).

  Johan 13 Oct 2008, 03:55 - Report

What's the real cost of living?