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Hi everyone, I've been reading your posts with interests - we live a very frugal life here in the uk, and i'm intrigued by the differences in our lifestyles - thought it might be fun to highlight some difference, and see if you ladies have any ideas to help me save even more! Pricewise, a £1 gets around $2 at the minute. So minimum wage here is around £5.50/hour (100 pence = £1), milk is around £1.09 for two pints, bread around 80p a loaf, potatoes £6 25kg sack, apples, pears around 4 for £1. this is just to give you some idea of basic prices. I spend around £60 a week on groceries, which is pretty low! but is still double your $50/$60 !!! Are our prices more? Also house prices - $100,000 seems to get a decent house in some areas, here £50,000 would buy nothing - you need £80 - £100,000 just for a basic terraced house. I'm also interested in your prevalence for eating out, which lots seem to give up to save money - is this restaurant eating, or mcdonalds type places? Here McD's is £5.00 a meal, £2 for kiddos, but our nearest one is 70 miles away (not that we would use it much anyway!) but a restaurant/pub type meal would be £30 - £50 just for a couple. In our family we grow our own, cook from scratch and bake bread etc, i'm not being nosy or judgemental in any way, i'm just really interested in our differing lifestyles. Any UK mums, i'm interested to hear if things are different in your part of the country too. thx Pauline
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Very interesting post! And thanks for clearing up where our money stands vs. you're money - I always get confused on that point. I live in Northern Idaho, about 35 miles from the Canadian Border, and I know prices differ throughout the country.
I usually bake my bread, though I am a little slow this week, but a loaf of nasty white bread was priced $0.87 last night at the store though sometimes you can get it on sale for $0.50. Anything that has nuts or considered healthy can go from $1.50 - $3.00. A gallon of milk here can be on sale at $1.99 though if you want organic (which I like to do) it was $6.00 when I looked last night. A 50 pound bag of flour (the size I buy and freeze) was about $9.00 last summer. The last time I bought it, I think it had gone up to about $11.00! Prices are climbing on so many things. Apples, when I buy in the States (I try to get these type of items in Canada because of selection) I won't go over $0.99 a pound. Truthfully with the exchange and the difference of types of weight I'm not sure what I'm paying when I go to Canada but Creston grows many of their fruits locally and it's wonderful.
Minium wage in Idaho is $5.25 an hour! Idaho is a very Republican state and that is a low figure for the country as a whole. Idaho housing use to be very cheap as well but, being very beautiful, property prices have gone way up. We just bought a basic house, with a large yard, and that was $160,000. About four years ago this house sold for $120,000 and about 10-15 years ago I was told it went for about $50,000 and had a bigger yard! Houses are selling in this area but they're not going to people from this area. We make above average salary in our county and I know we just barely were able to afford this house. Most young people are just starting to rent.
Eatting out is a struggle for us. Sometimes you just don't want to cook! But I feel we are getting a hand on this issue. I rarely go to McDonalds as their food makes me ill, unless it is their breakfast. The closest McD's to us is about 40 miles away. Not a lot of fast food chains in our town. Too small.
I hope that helps and remember those are just the prices in my town!
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Well, in most places here $100,000 for a house would not get much either! I heard on the news today the median price on a home across the nation is now $212,000 which was down from last year. Some places are more, obviously, and some are less. We bought our home in 2001 for $125,000. The same style home in our neighborhood sold for $297,000 2 years ago, but I think that has gone down a bit. I think we could get $275,000 for it now. It is a nice home, but not a mansion by any means. Home prices have just gone crazy in our area.
I know from experience when I was in England, granted I was in London and not doing grocery shopping, just sort of comparing prices for fun one day, food is more expensive there. It is hard to compare because we don't use the metric system either.
I can buy potatoes for $3 for 5 pounds (Yukon Gold which is more). I don't buy pears too much, but I can get a 5 pound bag of apples for $2.50. I bought two loaves of bread (at Sam's) for $2.50 so that is a bit more, but I buy more expensive bread which is better for us. I think there are 2 pints in a quart and 4 quarts in a gallon? Is that right? I bought a gallon of milk the other day for $3.14 so that is a lot less than you. (I think the equivalent would be $8 per gallon if my early morning math is correct! YIKES!)
We would not eat out near as much if we didn't have the convenience draw of pulling into a McD's! We try to not do that, but I would not eat out if McD's cost as much as it does in the UK! We did go there once (again in London) for a quick meal before a show and it was rather pricey!
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Great post. First there is the huge issue of size. The UK being smaller things are more uniform. But with the US there can be huge differences based on where you live. I for example live in the Seattle area where the average home price is $400,000. Also take in part there is a difference in our size of homes. our 1000sqft home is considered small by US standard. I think if it was in the UK it wouldn't be considered so small. The houses I have seen all seam more compact
Food prices vary greatly too depending on where you shop. There are some really nice markets but they can be pricey. Yes we all have this bad tendency to eat out. Its fast and conveniant and I don't have to cook. It is scary how much money can go to the daily latte if you are in that habbit. Yes eating out for us normally is a sit down and be served with a $30 tab.
Now the BIG difference. Healthcare!. Medical costs and insurance can be incredibly pricey. A hospital stay can easily cost $800-1500 a night and that is just for the bed space never mind any tests. Standard medical leave from work 12weeks and most of the time that is un-paid! I don't know exactly what it is in the UK but I have heard that your healthcare is more goverment regulated and I know that there are countries that give moms of new babies way more then 12 weeks before having to return to work. The goverment ran health care and benifits may be the reason for a lower min wage.
I was in the UK once for a weeks vacation. I found it delightful and there where places we visited that life just seamed to go at a slower pace.
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Pauline, First of all, Welcome!
What an interesting post. The prices you have described, even the housing prices, seem pretty comparable to where I live (Western NY, USA).
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Thanks for your replies ladies - that is so interesting! Even though the prices are different, the proportions seem about equal - apart from milk! We moved a couple of years ago from a remote scottish island, where were pretty much self-sufficient, to mainland scotland, albeit a small town, and i'm still amazed at how much things like milk cost, compared to the gallon i used to get from Hazel the goat! I think another thing i've noticed is that you seem to be able to buy in bulk more easily - a common size of, for instance, flour, is a 3Lb bag!!! Access to bulk buying in UK is only for businesses, something i don't have access to anymore. I think on medical grounds, certainly in scotland, we're really blessed. waiting lists in our area are relatively small, treatment is free, we only pay for dentistry. My son , now 14, has been ill since 6weeks old, and it would've crippled us financially to have paid all his medical bills as some of you guys do. How about petrol (gas?) we're around £7 a gallon, although it does go down to around £5 in the cities. Thanks for sharing ladies, its so lovely to meet you all. Pauline
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I buy organic milk for my boys. It is about $3.50 per half gal. Gas is around $3.00 right now, but is expected to get to $4.00 by the end of summer. Our health care system is in trouble. We pay $680 per month to have health insurance and that doesn't cover dental or the co-pays at the doctors office. I just went yesterday with my son and the co-pay was $40.00.
I'm so sorry to hear your son has been ill for so long. Would you mind me asking what is wrong?
Kelly
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Hi Pauline! Great idea for a post. I just noticed gas prices this morning taking my son to school, they are 3.49/gallon for regular in my area. That's pretty high for us. That seems about the same as yours I think.
I used to live in Scotland when I was little, and I have great memories of it.
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Gas around $3.40 where I am a gallon. I stayed a few days on a remote scottish Isle. I went on a trip to Iona in the off season and spent some time in Oben and passed through the big cities. So I know what you are talking about. I would also really love to take a longer visit to Scottland again, there was so much I didn't see and everyone seamed hospitable. The size of your grocery stores were way smaller then what I was used to. And other then in the large cities I didn't see chain stores and franchises the way we have here. Here even the smallest town seams to have a Starbucks and a McDonalds.
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Its so interesting ladies to hear abour your lives - thanks for responding. Ember - Mull was our home for years, we still spend a huge amount of time there- we're on Iona in july for the Piping Caleidh - I shall think of you! We're very near Oban now. treehugger thanks for asking, he has multiple allergies, asthma and very severe excema, anaphylaxis, a damaged immune system - most of him problems have come from side-effects of the drugs he needs to take - we finally left the island after we just make it to hospital one time by air-ambulance - he had crush fractures to his spine, and he had a reaction to the treatment which left him unable to walk. Guess what? he's doing great just now - is a great wee guy, very upbeat and positive - a real star in our lives.
Hope you all have a great day Pauline