Moving overseas is terrifying. Most people don’t think they could ever pick up and live abroad, especially with kids. We are sharing our expenses living in France for a year to help you see that your dream can be a reality. While our expenses may be different from what your family would spend, this is what my family of 4 spends per month in Nice, France. How Much Does It Cost to Live in France? January’s data is a little skewed. We were supposed to arrive in France on 1/6, but we had to push back our trip to 1/22 due to family obligations. We still paid 3 weeks rent, and the exchange rate at time of payment was approximately 1.23€ to the dollar.
View near our apartment
We are staying in a 2 bedroom apartment along the Port of Nice. We wanted a central location for experiencing the city on foot. We could have rented cheaper accommodations but the locations weren’t as central.
There are 10 days of food which include many start up necessities such a cleaning products, laundry detergent, olive oil, spices, etc. We also ended up eating out 3 times. Our budget allows for 1 meal out per week, so we blew that one this month.
We also spent 45€ for a taxi ride to the apartment from the airport and experienced a bit of a mishap with the tram that cost us an extra 6€.
Our US expenses are $260.25 total for our US car/umbrella policy and our storage unit for the items we kept for our return to the US. We also have an international health insurance policy (required for our Visa) that is $500 per month. This has excellent coverage and is a cheaper than most US policies. Fingers crossed we don’t need it!
The miscellaneous category this month includes our failed attempts at getting a SIM card plus 2€ in bathroom fees. Yep, 0.50€ to use a public toilet. Kids 12 and younger are free, thankfully.
Our only entertainment expense in January was 8€ (4€ per adult) to visit the garden in Eze.
All expenses have been adjusted to US dollars based on the current exchange rate which is at a low of just $1.13 per 1€.
View an interactive chart of our January 2015 expenses below:
Can’t view the chart? Click HERE.
Expenses:
| Grocery | $321.13 |
| Eating Out | $242.26 |
| Housing | $1,097.70 |
| Entertainment | $9.07 |
| Transportation | $94.19 |
| Health Insurance | $499.00 |
| US Car Insurance | $124.25 |
| US Storage unit | $136.00 |
| Miscellaneous | $61.94 |
| Total | $2,585.54 |
What are your expenses in France or living abroad?
You might also want to see one of my grocery shopping trips in Nice.
A lot of people would be surprised at how affordable certain parts of France are. Your graph is a great example of that! I envy you, I love the South of France 🙂
Great post! It’s always so interesting to see the breakdown of how much it costs to live in different parts of the world. Thanks for the look into your expenses for the month!
Very detailed graph, you must be very disciplined to track everything, I forget what I bought yesterday! I’m surprised that accommodation is such a large proportion of living expenses in France.
I’m moving to Japan next month so I think I’m in for a shock!
Yes, I have to record our expenses in my spreadsheet every night or every other night. Otherwise I won’t remember.
Very interesting report! Your view is incredible . . . 😉 I’m surprised to learn about the cost of health and insurance while living in France!
The health insurance cost isn’t too bad. Although we could have spent a little less if we weren’t dealing with Visa requirements.
Very detailed, but I don’t exactly get the point. I mean, I believe everyone spends different amount of money even if he/she is in the same place at the same time 😉
The point is that many people looking to live abroad don’t think they can afford it. Yes, everyone spends a different amount of money when they travel. It all depends on what your priorities are and the size of you family.
This expense post (and the ones to follow) are an answer to questions I’ve received. Someone can then adjust my budget according to their needs. It is also a reminder that there other monthly costs to consider such as insurance and incidentals.
This was an excellent, detailed article. Thanks for sharing great tips!
If our apartment had that view, the rest of France may never ever see us! Good information.
It is lovely isn’t it 🙂
This will be very helpful and eye opening to many people, I’m sure! I lived in Europe for three years, and I think people have the misconception that it is outrageously expensive, but it really all depends on where you live and what compromises you are willing to make.
Yes! Many people think it is too expensive to live in Europe when we are actually living on less than we did in the US. People just have to figure out their priorities.
I’m always interested to see how much it costs to travel or live abroad. I’ll be living abroad in France for a year in 2016, so this gives some insight. Only $9 on entertainment! That’s incredible.
There are so many free things to do here that spending money on entertainment isn’t always necessary. Plus most places are free for kids 12 and under (and some areas 18 and under). This is a huge budget saver.
What a great idea to share details of your budget while living abroad. I know your posts will help many people who are in the planning stages of making a similar leap of faith to fulfill their dreams.
Thank you. That is the hope. I know it was a big concern for my family.
I love reading these types of posts and thank you for being so detailed and up front. I find it really interesting to see how little people can live on anywhere in the world when they set their minds to it. To me it shows how caught up we get in the constant barrage of consumerism when we live in countries like the US and Canada.
My husband and I say that to ourselves everyday. My kids are finally starting to get over the “I want more, more, more”.
Wow this is great and so detailed. It’s crazy that you can spend less on an apartment in France than a lot of cities in the USA. I definitely have friends who are spending much more than that on their apartments in cities like DC, NY and San Francisco.
This is true. DC, NY and San Fran are crazy expensive! We are staying in a touristy area, so the rent is even higher here than in other areas of France.
Thanks for such a detailed account. We’re traveling full-time now in a variety of places and have found that it can be a lot less expensive than you think, particularly if you have a budge and stick to it.
Exactly Jennifer. You just have to be smart about your spending.