Gas Prices.... Completely Outrageous!!! How Much Are They Where You Are???

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by Gypsy-Rhiannon

Yes... we have a home. I have no clue of the square foot but it's a reasonable size. You can see it online here:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetai...a_n=3&tr_t=buy

It doesn't show much but might give you an idea of size.

BTW... it's the house to the left

P.S If you want to nose at UK house prices this is a good site:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/





I'm seperating from my husband. The house we are in is up for sale and he has to pay for us to live in something smaller.

gosh, Im sorry what do you do for a living? will you be able to cope?

PS: your home is beautiful, Im sorry you're going thru this, it must be a wrench for the whole family....
PPS: Ive always loved the look of English homes, they have more character somehow...

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

what are the wages like over there?? just curious, trying to get a feel for your cost of living...

I guess wages can vary. Up to about a year ago I was earning around £500 ($1003) per month and my hubby was earning around £2000 ($4010) per month. We had a smaller mortgage then... £800 ($1604) per month. But then on top of that you have council tax. Insurance, utilities bills, running 2 cars, food etc. For us it has always been a struggle. We've never really had much money left over each month and this is why we have relied on credit, which can be dangerous! We moved to this house and took on a bigger mortgage as Mike was working abroad a lot and bringing home more money for those months. However on the months he wasn't abroad he went back down to basic wage (which didn't even cover all the bills). This was the initial reason for trying to sell the house as the mortgage was crippling us.

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

I find it odd, the idea of buying an apartment....here, you rent an apartment. the rents are pretty high, but not quite that high....I'd have to see what the going rate is in the Bay Area so I could compare....

I guess for some people that is all they can afford so they can get on the housing ladder. I know my sister in law wanted to live and work in London and all her and her partner could afford was an apartment. When they sold that and moved further up north they were able to afford a house

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

gosh, Im sorry what do you do for a living? will you be able to cope?

I work part-time. I'll have to cope! I do know there will be some benefits I'll be able to claim and Mike will have to pay an amount each month as we have 2 kids. And if I need to get a full time job then I'll have to

[Stew_Matthews]

UK house prices are terrible. For the last few years it has been impossible for younger people to buy. It would require two good wages and the ability to borrow three, four or five times your joint income. As as Pip indicated the mortgage repayments for most people are crippling.

When home, I'm in Holland Park, West London - in a Borough (area) called Hammersmith & Fulham. I inherited my home, a two bedroom flat - and not very big. For central Londoners, it is typical to pay an annual 'service charge' if you live in an apartment block. In theory it covers the cost of maintaining communal areas. My charge is £3500 per year. On top of that we all pay annual 'council tax' which is a local tax to pay for refuse collection, schools etc. Mine isn't too bad at £1500 per year. So people in my apartment block have to find £5,000/$10,000 each year even before they make their mortgage payments and pay their bills.

Of course the house price increases have driven up the cost of renting so it's a pretty dire situation. I just don't know how people manage, and as Bretonbanquet said, it isn't that UK wages are twice yours.

..............and don't get me onto the cost of jeans and cds....

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by Gypsy-Rhiannon

I work part-time. I'll have to cope! I do know there will be some benefits I'll be able to claim and Mike will have to pay an amount each month as we have 2 kids. And if I need to get a full time job then I'll have to

I forgot, you have a program over there if you're unemployed that is a bit different that OUR unemployment system. If I understand correctly, its a bit like our Public Assistance programs plus unemployment all in one right?
(here you only get about half what your working wage was--IF you worked!)

I think in New York you can purchase apartments too, but its just an odd notion to me. Here, in CA, people move in and out of apartments so quickly, it doesnt make sense to buy...I guess we're pretty mobile here, pretty much due to the job market...

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by Stew_Matthews

UK house prices are terrible. For the last few years it has been impossible for younger people to buy. It would require two good wages and the ability to borrow three, four or five times your joint income. As as Pip indicated the mortgage repayments for most people are crippling.

When home, I'm in Holland Park, West London - in a Borough (area) called Hammersmith & Fulham. I inherited my home, a two bedroom flat - and not very big. For central Londoners, it is typical to pay an annual 'service charge' if you live in an apartment block. In theory it covers the cost of maintaining communal areas. My charge is £3500 per year. On top of that we all pay annual 'council tax' which is a local tax to pay for refuse collection, schools etc. Mine isn't too bad at £1500 per year. So people in my apartment block have to find £5,000/$10,000 each year even before they make their mortgage payments and pay their bills.

Of course the house price increases have driven up the cost of renting so it's a pretty dire situation. I just don't know how people manage, and as Bretonbanquet said, it isn't that UK wages are twice yours.

..............and don't get me onto the cost of jeans and cds....

I think I may have not made myself clear re: the whole wage bit, all I was trying to say is that the value of the pound was twice that of the dollar. I dont know what wages are for different jobs over there, it would be interesting to find out...

I think the only REAL way to see the relative cost of gas there vs. here would be to compare what PERCENTAGE of your monthly outgo it represented when compared to what a person makes.

for example: if you were a single parent and if you only earned minimum wage in CA, (currently $6.75) and you worked a 40 hr week, you'd gross $270/week, x 4 = $1080/mo gross wages. tax represents about a third of that, leaving you with about $723.60 take home. If you rent an apartment in the Bay Area, thats your entire check. no money for bills. no money for gas. There are programs that subsidize housing costs if you are low income, but if you h ave to pay childcare on top of that, its just not do-able.

[Stew_Matthews]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

I think I may have not made myself clear re: the whole wage bit, all I was trying to say is that the value of the pound was twice that of the dollar. I dont know what wages are for different jobs over there, it would be interesting to find out...

I think the only REAL way to see the relative cost of gas there vs. here would be to compare what PERCENTAGE of your monthly outgo it represented when compared to what a person makes.

for example: if you were a single parent and if you only earned minimum wage in CA, (currently $6.75) and you worked a 40 hr week, you'd gross $270/week, x 4 = $1080/mo gross wages. tax represents about a third of that, leaving you with about $723.60 take home. If you rent an apartment in the Bay Area, thats your entire check. no money for bills. no money for gas. There are programs that subsidize housing costs if you are low income, but if you h ave to pay childcare on top of that, its just not do-able.

..........I couldn't re-live the petrol price debate ! It's not a definitive answer but I live in London and my brother lives in Monterey (CA) and we both agree that the UK is generally a more expensive place to live than the US.

Stew

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by Stew_Matthews

..........I couldn't re-live the petrol price debate ! It's not a definitive answer but I live in London and my brother lives in Monterey (CA) and we both agree that the UK is generally a more expensive place to live than the US.

Stew

Well, Breton said he paid $1.90 at the pump (US dollars) which translates to approx $7.60gal US.....without knowing what he earned in a month or what percentage of his take home gas represented, it really is hard to make a comparison....

I can say that for me, gas represents about one fifth of my take home. mortgage, a little more than one fourth. But I am lucky, I have a little home, in a pretty remote part of the state, so my home cost is not representative of what most californians pay. Gas, however is high throughout the state, and I do a fair bit of commuting, AND, my car is a gas hog.

And, California is generally more expensive than other states (please see my house price comparison chart a few posts back.)

ETA: Obviously, the cost of living in Europe is crazy. I dont see how people manage, really, unless there are programs there for people to take advantage of that help with costs...London is just beyond crazy. I guess there's even a new tax there because of congestion and whatnot, right? you have to pay just to enter London? Good Grief....

[strandinthewind]

I believe London is the most expensive city in the world to live in. If it is not still number one, it is up there.

Of course, I LOVE London But, the Cornish coast is dear to me as well as is Cardiff, which I hear is quite affordable.

[danax6]

Originally Posted by Gypsy-Rhiannon

Let's not even get started on that one! But yes... house prices are just ridiculous over here... let's just face it.. everything is bloody expensive over here!

House market is the same here, but I have a three-bedroom apartment for which I only pay €325 a month. €204 after deduction of government funding and since I split the rent with my sister, I pay €100 euro a month. (That's around $125)

It pays off to share an apartment with a college student...lots of funding.

Ofcourse, I live in Bum****, the Netherlands. There's no way you can get an apartment in Amsterdam or The Hague that cheap.

[JazmenFlowers]

I had people from San Francisco staying with me a couple years ago and they told me my house would sell for close to $1M in that market. I was shocked...the difference in markets is astounding.

[sara1998]

OMG! I'm seriously crying here, laughing at this whole thread.... haahah!!! I'm so sorry... everyone is so worked up. I've read through the entire thing and it's hilarious!!!

... anyhow... I'm paying right at $3 a gallon. I have a 15.5 gallon tank, and my Vue averages around 24 mpg. I get about 340 from a tank, and it hardly lasts me a week. I usually pay around $35 to $40 dollars every time I fill up. Not too bad.

[sara1998]

As far as housing is concerned... I remember going to San Fran and a 3 bed, 2 bath ranch, I'm guessing around 1500 square foot, would go for hunderds of thousands, if not over a million. You can buy that here for less than $100,000. Or, if you get a real nice one, it can be around $150,000. I could only imagine what my 4 bed, 2 1/2 bath with 2200 square foot would run there. It's stunning the difference depending on where you live.

[Sarah]

2.79 for regular here. sorry that it's more for some of you people, but it still pisses me off. it's like, one time i'll fill up and it'll be 2.29. then it's 2.49. then out of nowhere, 2.79 or 2.99. there's never any pattern to it really. it's like i just look over and bam, it's 50 cents more.

yesterday, i put in $25 for 3/4 tank (from empty). usually it's $30 to $35 to fill up from empty. sometimes i have to fill up once a week, sometimes i can make it last a week and a half or more.. it just depends on my work schedule and whether i go out of town to party on the weekends.

we should sue their goddamn asses off.