I鈥檝e been living in Portugal now for almost 8 months so I鈥檇 like to share some things I learned the hard way.
First, all the videos and posts I鈥檝e read on the Internet about the cost of living are far from reality.
Without a 鈥渇iador,鈥� which is person basically responsible for you in case you don鈥檛 pay rent, I ended up having to pay 4 months in advance plus cau莽茫o plus the current 1.15 month for a place with 1 bedroom, very small. I gave up trying to find a place in Lisbon and I got lucky I found one in Alg茅s that鈥檚 not that far drive from Lisbon for 720/month.
Then you pay 35 in water for 2 people, 15 for gas, 45 electricity, and we use the minimum amount of everything possible.
We have no tv, only a washing machine, fridge, stove/oven, an electric juicer and a toaster and we have 2 computers charging and 2 cell phones charging occasionally.
We don鈥檛 even have light bulbs in most of the house because of the natural light.
We wash clothes once sometimes twice a week using just cold water.
We learned you must go to the water company to give your water meter count every month after paying 95 first month, 80 then 75 in water we finally got our first bill less than 40 euros. We don鈥檛 even shower everyday because we shower at the gym. We鈥檙e paying something else the building maybe because my neighbor pays only 15.
So here it is:
Tiny apartment T1: 鈧�720
Gas: 鈧�15
Water: 鈧�35
Electric: 鈧�45
Food: 鈧�250 (eating out once a week we spend around 250 a week in groceries including household products).
Health insurance: 鈧�360 (they make you pay for 60 days before you can even use it, so it ended up costing 350 per month for the 2nd most expensive option out of 4).
Transportation: 鈧�150 (1,50 or 2 per bus/train/metro x 21 days of work per month x 4 equals 147 per month (they do have the option to pay 40 but you need to be and EU citizen or a Portuguese resident or citizen otherwise you can鈥檛 buy that pass)). We walk to the gym.
They take 30-40% of what you make in taxes, and you make 20-25% of what you鈥檇 make in the US.
You鈥檇 need to make over 2000/month net to do the minimum possible. I don鈥檛 see how people survive with less than that unless they eat only noodles every day.
And also, yes there is public transportation and it鈥檚 awesome, but it takes me between 1-1:20h each way to go from Alg茅s to Lisbon where I work. It鈥檚 more worth buying a scooter than spending money in public transportation and save 50 minutes of your day to do something else. After 12 months You lost 1,800 in transportation and add another 10 months you have a new scooter.
The minimum wage is 650 I haven鈥檛 seen a flat with no bedroom that cost less than 550 in Lisbon area (not in the city you鈥檒l be lucky to find an 800/mo there). We looked for over 2 months and we got lucky to find a 1-bedroom that wasn鈥檛 2 hours drive from Lisbon.聽 How do people pay bills here with only 1 income?
But in the end, I love living here and I don鈥檛 regret it. Moneywise it鈥檚 not easy though.
