Why Country Life Costs You £264 More A Week Than A City Dweller

[SarahBell]

Higher fuel costs, cash machine charges, energy bills and insurance?

Living in the city means you still have no local bank.

It's a journey into Oldham to go to my branch which involves either expensive bus fare, or a car journey with associated parking costs.

I have free cash machines at the local supermarkets though.

I'm pretty certain insurance is cheaper in the country. I know my mum's insurance costs are 1/5 of ours.

Does petrol cost a bit more? It varies round here though - if you use the garage half way up to Oldham you'll pay several pence per litre more.

Higher fuel charges?

I got myself a log burner to cut down on the amount of expensive energy we use. (Ok I really wanted to play bonfires indoors)

[Lepista]

It's all OK, cos all farmers are minted, innit.

[rxe]

Hmmm.

We moved out to the country a few years ago.

Insurance - way down. 50% less, both car and house We don't have a flood risk.

Home energy - way down. We spend more time outside, and have a log burner (and somewhere to store logs)

Driving - yes - more of this. Petrol bills are up. On the flip side, friends come to see us, so we do less driving at the weekend.

Banks and cashpoints - never been to my local branch, never been charged for cash

[Austin Allegro]

If you have a stove or fireplaces, I would guess that heating is essentially free. A friend of mine in the country gets scrap timber and firewood for virtually nothing, people know he uses it and are happy to offload it rather than dump it.

[Lepista]

I just have to add... the headline grammar is atrocious, if you read it properly it doesn't make sense.

[BalancedBear]

I live in the country. Heating oil is more than gas, but we burn logs too which are cheap. I work from home in a great home office, so no need to commute. Insurance is cheaper as there is less crime. I tend to fuel the car en-route when passing cheaper fuel stations. I get cash from the local post office, as there is no fee to withdraw cash there. Sounds to me like the DM are just trying to give a worst-case scenario - probably based on what a city dweller would do without adapting to the new environment.

[concerned_money]

that article is horse poo !

I get green wood & season it in my garden cheaper than mains gas !

I have energy security,3 years of warmth all stacked up.

I have oil, lpg, electric, wood, solidfuel, solar - let the Russians turn off the gas

I fill up in town,I shop in town, have 3mb broadand & don't need contents insurance as we lie in the safest ward in the UK according to the stats ie my insurance is down.

For the record, life in the country is awsome, we have great neighbours, NO crime, NO chav's, No parking fees, NO crowds, NO noise other than the buzzards and duck/cows/sheep occasional tractor.

Farmer helps out in snowy weather, great community, awsome heritage pubs, red phone boxes and best of all it's hideously white & english with zero muliKulti "enrichment"

Schools areasgoodas privateie 70%+ A-C, great peer groups/teachers/extra curricular.

this properganda article is funny as..........we want the animal in the small city farm easier to watch them says the master

[worried1]

I fill up in town,I shop in town, have 3mb broadand & don't need contents insurance as we lie in the safest ward in the UK according to the stats ie my insurance is down.

The article seems to suggest that people that live in the country stay in the country all the time. I'd have thought most people go into a local town at least once a week and then benefit from the same prices as everyone else.

Of course, if they were to shop only in the village store and fill up in the village petrol station they would pay a lot more, but it would be a tiny proportion of people who actually do that.

[Chuffy Chuffnell]

Living in the countryside only costs more if you try to live the same lifestyle as a city dweller.

But any sensible person living in the countryside lives a completely different life. It's only some of the "moved out London" brigade that struggle to adapt, with their poncy green wellies and such in the supermarket..!

You buy less cr@p, you don't need a holiday every 5 minutes because of stress, indeed entertaining yourself is much cheaper albeit perhaps less exciting - but as I said, it's a lifestyle choice.

Insurance costs less, as has been pointed out. And renting is also cheaper. And you get a bigger house for your money too.

I live in a small town in the countryside and I'm very content and yet don't have a large income at all. There is less need to be rich out here.. anyone on £40k a year here would be loaded lol. As for broadband: mine's very quick as I live not far from the exchange.

A final thing to add: you don't need to send your kids to some expensive school to avoid the local comp, as most (state) schools are decent enough.

Edited April 12, 2012 by Chuffy Chuffnell

[winkie]

Living in the countryside only costs more if you try to live the same lifestyle as a city dweller.

But any sensible person living in the countryside lives a completely different life. It's only some of the "moved out London" brigade that struggle to adapt, with their poncy green wellies and such in the supermarket..!

You buy less cr@p, you don't need a holiday every 5 minutes because of stress, indeed entertaining yourself is much cheaper albeit perhaps less exciting - but as I said, it's a lifestyle choice.

Insurance costs less, as has been pointed out. And renting is also cheaper. And you get a bigger house for your money too.

I live in a small town in the countryside and I'm very content and yet don't have a large income at all. There is less need to be rich out here.. anyone on £40k a year here would be loaded lol. As for broadband: mine's very quick as I live not far from the exchange.

A final thing to add: you don't need to send your kids to some expensive school to avoid the local comp, as most (state) schools are decent enough.

I can relate to all of that....I lived in North London for all my life within a five mile radius, much of the family still do...the place has changed immensely over that time, many places are now unrecognisable to how they once were, some good some not too good, the worst part is the high numbers of people and the growing concrete and traffic, the restrictions, the cameras, the air quality and the people that are forever rushing around with a mobile phone attached to their ears with short fuses......

Friends ask me if I miss the shopping....I tell them that is the last thing I miss.....apart from family and friends, there is nothing I miss, I have almost surprised myself how easily I have settled into country living...I would now never go back, not to say I wouldn't move again, but not back to London.....Nice for a visit, then back to some peace.

[R K]

Many families face long journeys to visit a bank.

Every cloud..........

[trippytinker]

We live in the country, it's a 26 mile round trip to the nearest town, shop and 35 miles to the secondary schools, we use oil but as far as I can see it's not much more than gas, plus we have woodburners. Internet is slow but slightly better than dial-up but we have no mobile coverage at all & it's 5 miles in any direction to get any network other than Vodafone which I can get at the top of our field.

Transport is and always will be the biggest cost and the main reason we want to move into town.

[winkie]

We live in the country, it's a 26 mile round trip to the nearest town, shop and 35 miles to the secondary schools, we use oil but as far as I can see it's not much more than gas, plus we have woodburners. Internet is slow but slightly better than dial-up but we have no mobile coverage at all & it's 5 miles in any direction to get any network other than Vodafone which I can get at the top of our field.

Transport is and always will be the biggest cost and the main reason we want to move into town.

You sound like you are right out in the sticks, sounds rather isolated to me......only a certain kind of person would savor that kind of living, a step too far for some I am sure....I think young people are better off living near the larger towns and cities....the country is more of a middle age thing, when you have been there, done it and got the picture to prove it.

[olliegog]

You sound like you are right out in the sticks, sounds rather isolated to me......only a certain kind of person would savor that kind of living, a step too far for some I am sure....I think young people are better off living near the larger towns and cities....the country is more of a middle age thing, when you have been there, done it and got the picture to prove it.

+1

young families who have to face the school run/ getting to work and 'going shopping' for teenage children would find it more expensive to live in a rural area (not all rural areas are very remote). It is the active retired/ middle aged who benefit from country walking, gardening and all the things that are 'better' in the country. I live about 6 miles from a market town that has shops, library, pharmacist, doctors, vets, banks and estate agents (once a week visit is more than enough). Agree about the woodburning stoves

[tricksters]

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2127822/Why-country-life-costs-264-week-city-dweller.html#ixzz1roR9PteL

'Families living in the countryside must bring in £13,740 a year — or £264 a week — more than those living in the city just to get by, Money Mail research has found.

quote]

Absolute bilge. Total garbage. Some people in the countryside don't even earn 13,740 quid a year, never mind an extra 13,740.

There's a clue to the stupidity of it where it says "Money Mail research has found".....

[trippytinker]

When we moved here 15 years ago there were 3 pubs, 2 shops inc Post office and 2 schools in the village all within walking distance.

All gone now.

[bajista]

Thye failed to mention housing costs. Bet a 3 bed in central powys is cheaper than equivalent house in London.

But aside from that £13,740 more on insurance, yada yada...???!!!..My total household bills ( ex food) are only £3000 per year plus £1500 on petrol, and that's for a 4 bed house. I think someone got their decimal point in the wrong place.

[Oliver Sutton]

'The countryside isn't all Downton Abbey — many people are really struggling to get by,

yet get little or no relief from the Government

.'

...get in line everyone.

Almost every aspect of country life is subsidized. They pay the same amount for public services but these cost a lot more to deliver.

[MrPin]

The article sounds like an advert to get people to move into inner city newbuilds!

Wow! I don't want those property maintenance charges, and hefty car insurance, just for a faster internet!

[winkie]

Almost every aspect of country life is subsidized. They pay the same amount for public services but these cost a lot more to deliver.

How come?

[erat_forte]

Almost every aspect of country life is subsidized. They pay the same amount for public services but these cost a lot more to deliver.

Yes, it's not like the countryside produces anything that anyone actually wants, is it?

[winkie]

Yes, it's not like the countryside produces anything that anyone actually wants, is it?

Food.....what does the city produce?

[Oliver Sutton]

Yes, it's not like the countryside produces anything that anyone actually wants, is it?

Forgot about all the subsidies the farmers get.

[Chuffy Chuffnell]

Food....

And water. And minerals. And timber. And electricity production..!

Someone mentioned the school run... thing is, as I keep mentioning, there's 1) living in the middle of frickin' nowhere and 2) living in a small town. In my town, population 3000 and surrounded by miles and miles of countryside, there's a primary school and a secondary school. Indeed apart from those who come in from surrounding villages, almost all pupils walk or cycle to school as it's near and safe to do so. For those in nearby villages there are dedicated school buses.

I do live "rural" but not ridiculously rural. There are shops, a supermarket, even a swimming pool.. and decent broadband.

Edited April 12, 2012 by Chuffy Chuffnell

[longtomsilver]

I'm not seeing it.

I live in the countryside now and only yesterday had a tanker deliver me 500litres of energy dense oil. £335 is all it cost me to get through our cold spell and I doubt we will use much now until December.

We used/spent way more on mains gas when we were townies. Now calor gas f*** me that is expensive. A neighbour up the road converted to this before it became really expensive and pays out £3k a year to heat his similarly sized 3 bed property to ours.

Three good towns within 10miles of me so get the best of both worlds. I wake up to the smell of cow manure and can shop til I drop from home bargains and the like offsetting the 2litres of fuel I need to get me there.

Edited April 12, 2012 by longtomsilver