sandiego, usa to tampere, finland

[Hank W.]

Yeah, Lidl is pretty grim, although they do have some good stuff. I bought some kebab "meat" there once, and I couldn't even finish it because it was so greasy.

What to go for is the frozen stuff; especially fish and "pre-made" spring rolls and whatnot. Oh, and shoe polish is almost as good as the Finnish Army 'thin' polish

[Hank W.]

I think you're being given a little too bleak a picture here..

Depends on your income/lifestyle really. I can get by with maybe 50 for "food" (the 850 is the bar bill) in a month, but then again I have no family and eat at work...

[Hank W.]

However, compared to CA real estate, especially the overheated San Diego market, Finland is relatively inexpensive (even after adjusting for relative size). If you expect to be in Finland for at least a couple years, it's worth buying a home

Well, I don't know how overheated Finland is, but if you are paying 600 rent for 65m2, you can get a bank loan cheaper and after 20 years the flat is *yours*, so you don't have to live in sin. Everyone knows having debt in Finland is about the only lethal sin there is, right?

[net_bh]

Hi people,

Thanks for all that info.....I accepted the job and will be looking to move to Tampere sometime in October i think.

Hank: Thanks for the tip about anti-corrosion for cars....

Regarding the bed frame, heres the size from the catalog:
Length: 81 " = 206 cm, Width: 55 3/4 " = 142 cm, Headboard height: 35 3/8 " = 90cm
So I am hoping bedrooms are atleast 10' x 10'. I wont be getting any drawers, cabinets, sideboards etc as advised.
And hopefully the living room is a little bigger to fit a 2 seater sofa, recliner, 1-2 tables etc....with space left to walk around

[Hank W.]

Yeah, make a conversion table for imperial & metric for squares unless you want to get blank stares. Helps you a lot in figuring out apartment sizes too. I think 10x10 feet is a 3x3 ~9m2 bedroom. Not impossible at all. If you need a new mattrass the size 200x140 (205x140) is available (but rare) 120 wides or 2x80 =160 are more common.

BTW in Finland, there is no separation of 'bedrooms' necessarily. If a flat is 2 rooms = there is two rooms partitioned, (livingroom, bedroom) and not 2 bedrooms. If you want two bedrooms (and a sitting room) - you look for 3 rooms...

[Hank W.]

OH, one more thing about the car. Buy 4 plain rims. Rims here cost of course double, and you need them as you need to get winter tires for the car (studs). US tires probably will have some letter in the wrong place so they will be illegal, so no use buying them there unless you know exactly. And remember - in the USA you don't pay anything for services. In Finland it costs, so it won't be "cheaper" to change the tires every time onto your mags. And the mags will look like crap after one winter. Been thar seen dat.

[Alicia]

Food bill (but maybe I am just a girl....)

Regular breakfasts of brown bread, salami, cheese or muesli and yoghurt
Work lunches, 6 euro a day (meat, potatoes, salad, bread, milk, juice)
Dinner of rice, noodles or bread
Snacks of biscuits, chocolate, fruit

Pizza/kebab 1-2 a month
Restaurants (eg. American Diner, Vietamese) once a month

Other general groceries (ie. washing powder, loo paper)

WORK = 20 x 6 = 120 (SCHOOL = 20 x 2,50 = 50)
SHOPPING = 100
PIZZA/KEBAB = 15
RESTAURANTS = 30
GENERAL GROCERIES = 60
=== 325 (255) a month

I only eat meat at work or on weekends, so if you are going to eat meat twice a day it might be a bit more.

Whilst the food is expensive it is still other costs such as entertainment or alcohol that you should consider: gym memberships are 50-70 euro a month (though work may pay for a part or have discounts), alcohol <4 euro a drink, entry to nightclubs, movies at <7,50 and dvd hire costing.

[gnome]

I survive on my 390 € students allowance a month, out of which 210 € go to my rent... the rest is for food and everything else. I do take a student loan every now and then to get me through the tough times, but still I get by with less than I ever imagined possible. I still think I'll rather emigrate to the USA than make my own yankee move here and do slave labor with the crappy salaries and huge taxes

[Hank W.]

Make him do that and after that you won't hear any complaints about:
- how high the taxes are
- how the gas prices are high
- how much a new (anything) costs
...if an when you ever get back to the USA.

[teme]

I know more about Helsinki than Tampere, but here's my take:

Food - Your employer gives your lunch vouchers (Lounasseteli, current value 7,90) which gets you a decent lunch. As for eating out, good places are relatively inexpensive by international standards, the not so good ones relatively expensive. As a general rule, a place that accepts Plussakortti or any other loyalty card is overpriced and to be avoived if possible. For groceries, depends totally on what you eat, 300 to 600 a month would be typical I guess.

Drinks - Rule of thumb is that any wine below 10 euros a bottle is not very good, which is the same in dollars in States I've been told. Lager costs less than euro a bottle, and for reasons nobody quite understands, soft drinks cost about 1.50 a bottle. In a pub/club, roughly three to five euros a drink depending on the establishment.

Taxes - Use the tax percentage calculator at http://www.vero.fi/default.asp?language ... RO_ENGLISH
For example, out of 50k a year you pay 33% in taxes and alike payments. You may also eligeable for the furriner expert tax which is flat 25% or something like that, I don't really know about it.

Car - I don't need one, don't have one, don't really know the costs.

Housing - In tampere I'd guess 500+ a month to rent an appartment. Buying, sorry I don't have a clue about Tampere market. 100k for a good apartment? Interest rates are low, about 3% with bank margin. They are going to go up at some point, but I just don't see them going that high with Euro. (Markka was a very volatile small currency, which lead to double-digit rates at times.) Then you ofcourse you have to think about where dollar-euro rate is going...

[net_bh]

Hi all,

Now that the D-day has approached (13th Nov), I need a few more clarifications.

Hank: Regarding your comments about the rims, what are mags? So all i should do is ship the extra rims and buy tires when i get there?

And every winter-summer cycle, one has to change the tires from the normal ones to winter ones and vice versa? Wow....I have lived too long in California

Also, once the car gets there, I remember you recommending getting it rustproofed.

So the question is, do i get the possession of the car to do these things before i take it to customs/Tulli to get it cleared? Or does Tulli 'keep' it till it is cleared? In the latter case, wont it be too late to get it rustproofed?

Regards,
A

[Hank W.]

Hi all,
Hank: Regarding your comments about the rims, what are mags? So all i should do is ship the extra rims and buy tires when i get there?

mags= magnesium/alloy rims. the ones for summer & show off.

And every winter-summer cycle, one has to change the tires from the normal ones to winter ones and vice versa? Wow....I have lived too long in California

Naah, you have two cars, one for the summer and one called "bus" for the winter

So the question is, do i get the possession of the car to do these things before i take it to customs/Tulli to get it cleared? Or does Tulli 'keep' it till it is cleared? In the latter case, wont it be too late to get it rustproofed?

I think they slap you with the paperwork and you need to do X in Y days, like get your transfer sticketrs & such.