I put up a Cost of Living Questionnaire on the main site. If you could all take a minute to fill it out I will get the results up ASAP.

Please

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Cristina,

This is hard for me to fill out because I spend all day long in the studio separate from house where I have big phone and big electicity bills

Angie, just fill it out according to your house bills not studio bills.

Cristina,
Maybe another voice to mention might be condominium expenses. I'll have to check at home and will fill it out.

This will take a bit of time and digging. We've only received 2 water bills since we've been here, so I have no idea how far off that might be. Also, since we receive the utility bills for a 2 month period, I'll have to add them all together then divide by 12 to get a monthly average. Our phone bill includes the charge for the ISDN line, and at one time also included out internet charges as well, altho we have since changed plans. I'll do the best I can and post soon.

How about adding monthly rent/leasing? Also, trash tax and size of the house would help because the cost of the gas for heating depends more on the square meters of the hose than on the number of people in the household.

Okay I added a few more items from the suggestions here. Please folks, filling out this form will be a huge help. I only have 7 people who have filled it out so far.

Oh as a side note, for groceries, that is for food, cleaning supplies, beverages, etc.

I just updated my questionnaire with the garbage tax...and we went to the commune this morning to get it straightened out.

Also, the link to see the questionnaire results is still linking to the "how I came to live in Italy" stories.

Are the results (so far) posted somewhere now?

Well I put all of the numbers onto a spreadsheet and come up with some basic results but a heck of a lot of questions. (grocery costs ranging from €100/month for a family of 3 to €1000/month for a family of 4) I am really hoping we can get more responses.

For those who did respond, a few questions:

• When you put in the grocery amount, did you included food only or all items (cleaning, paper goods, beverages, etc.)
• For gas, I am assuming that the people who have the higher numbers are using GPL in the big gas tanks. Is this so?
• Are you including cell phone usage in your phone quote?

I am going to add a few things and be a little more specific with others and would be grateful to any all all who respond.

Dear Cristina, Did you ever get an answer to those questions? I'm also curious about property taxes, Internet service and cable TV. What about insurances? I'm sure the answers to some of these questions have already appeared on the site, but I can't find them at the moment. Best wishes, C.

Chrisalor,

What exactly do you need in the way of info on property taxes etc. I got most of the answers above and they are all on the Cost of LIving pages of the main site. Give me specifics of what you are looking for and I will do my best.

Thank you, Cristina. We're not there yet, we still have to find the spot. We imagine a place like Trani or near to it. Somewhere with a mild winter. We imagine a house with two bedrooms, two baths and maybe a huge general room that could serve as kitchen, living room and dining room. Also, Franco wants to know the cost of hired help. He has dreams of someone ironing everything. I know that costs vary from place to place, from north to south, from city to country, but maybe you can give us an idea. Thanks, Christine Raffini

When I broke my hand a few months back I paid someone €7 per hour to iron (about 3 hours per week) but I think anywhere from 10-15 should be the norm.

In my questions above to you, what info do you want on your questions above. DO you just need averages for internet and cable. Also for house taxes, the price depends on where, sioze of house, etc. I pay around €250 per year for a 1600 square foot house in the Chianti. My dad has a 3500 square foot place in a town outside of Asti and he pays around €300. If you live in centro storico you wil pay more but it is never an amount that brakes the bank. For insurance, that too depends so much onb what kind and for what so I would need you to give me more info again.

Cristina,

in the questionnaire results page I see that the electrical hookup is supposed to cost €500.I just paid €75.00 fee for hookup to a 3kW line. Maybe I am confusing hooking up the electricity with putting wires in etc, or maybe you have a >3kW line. I was wondering about the discrepancy.

I've just established a spreasheet to track our money and accounts....we use 3 different banks...the one in the states, the Postal Bank, and Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze. Here are some of my monthly numbers:

• SKY TV (BASIC WITH SPORTS OPTION) €30
  
• ISP (TISCALI FLAT 9-6 SERVICE) €15
  
• WATER €20
  
• PHONE (INCLUDES 2ND LINE FOR COMPUTER BUT NOT CELL PHONE €37
  
• CAR INSURANCE €94
  
• ACI (CAR TAX) €12
  
• GAS (FOR HEATING...WE'RE ON MAINS) €140
  
• ELECTICITY €54

I've just realized that I've forgotten to budget to the dreaded TV tax! (€100/yr)

Our cell phone usage is minimal...we've had the phone for over 2 years now and have used about €150.

I haven't put the garbage tax in because we're waiting to receive our bill this month. I hoping it's about €150/year, based on what they told us last fall. UPDATE! Our garbage tax,is €155/yr, based on 110 sq meters.

ICI is only €14/year so that's why it's not listed.

We just bought new tires for the car...that was €340. A new battery will be next on the list. An annual oil change seems to run around €150, but that's at the dealership with them performing all the "required" service of the warranty. Once the warranty is over we'll find other options for the oil change and tune-ups.

Food and household supplies are still the hardest to get a handle on. One week I might spend €50 at the COOP, and the next I might load up and spend over €100. I'm still trying to work that one out...and to include a budget for eating out.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Barb (and Art),

Barb, this is extremely helpful. Here we spend about $800 just on food, not including wine. Our property taxes and insurances are high. I think all in all Italy is considerably cheaper.

quote:

Originally posted by sab:
Maybe I am confusing hooking up the electricity with putting wires in etc,

Thanks for pointing this out. Let me get the exact wording and get back to you.

I think the larger number refers to upgrading from 3.3 to 4.6, but I didn't pay 500. Without the upgrade I couldn't use the oven, the stereo or TV and the computer all at once, which seems pretty normal to me.
Putting the wires in costs a LOT more, since the walls have to be tunneled, the conduits laid and the tunnel refilled and resurfaced.
Think ahead and lay conduit for phones and antenna at the same time.
Doubling outlets is a good move, too. I like having switched outlets for several reasons, one of which is that then transformers you may use don't get hot.

When we recently boosted our electric service to 4.5 kw we were charged 220 euro, not 500. Perhaps this depends on the area? Now we can run both bedroom air conditioners at the same time, should global warming require that.....

No more ICI for me after this year, now that I'm resident and the building is vincolato, we needn't pay it. Hurray!

My water seems ridiculously low: less than 10 euro per month.

Phone and gas are killers though. Garbage tax is high - 350 euro - due to size of the house (230 sq meters).

No one mentioned medical expenses. How much are insurances? I know they depend on age and your status as a resident or citizen. How much on average does a relatively healthy person spend on doctors and prescriptions? If you're over 65, do you pay anything?

For residents the health tax is based on income. IIRC it's 400 euro at the low end. Plus some co-payments.

I haven't been able to find out how high it can go.

What does a house being vincolo involve?

quote:

Originally posted by Nick:
For residents the health tax is based on income. IIRC it's 400 euro at the low end. Plus some co-payments.

We will be citizens. Will the cost be the same? Is this a per year cost? What does IIRC mean? Thanks for your input.

I don't think it matters if you're a citizen or not. It's for residents. I think it's yearly. The amount is supposed to vary with income but I haven't been able to find anything offical on that. All I found was an older rule that used to be a flat 200 euros a year.

IIRC means If I Recall Correctly.