Living costs Espoo area

by **FreshStart** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:22 pm

SImple question:
Is 50 000 Eur/year enough to live simple life in Espoo area, i'll be the only employed have to support my wife(till she find a job(english speaking only)), 3 kids(7,4,2)?
Thanks

**Sponsor:**

by **Rip** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 8:40 pm

Yes (even if that is pre-tax income).

You should be able to find other threads regarding living costs. Apart from housing they don't vary that much based on location that they wouldn't be useful, even if they are given for another town. Housing will be clearly the biggest individual expense. That will depend on of course how much space you want to have. Different areas in Espoo also have different prices.

by **FreshStart** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:22 pm

It would be nice if it was after tax, but not in my case

. Do you know the range of rentals costs in Espoo area including monthly bills, 2 bedroom apartment?
Thanks

by **Rip** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 11:56 pm

http://asunnot.oikotie.fi/vuokrahaku

SIJAINTI (= Location) Espoo
and check option '3h' (= three rooms, which includes living room, so it is two bedrooms)
seuraava = next

The listed rent includes heating. It may or may not include (you'd need look the individual details) the water fee ('vesimaksu') (often around 15€/person/month). Electricity would be additional cost based on actual consumption.

This will help you to estimate the effect of taxes and mandatory pension and healthcare fees: http://prosentti.vero.fi/veropros_tieto ... nguage=ENG

For kids you can get the child benefit (lapsilisä). If/while your wife can't get a job she can apply for integration program and small subsidy while on it or alternatively, while the youngest kid is under three years old, for the child home care benefit for taking care of him/her at home.
http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english.nsf

by **FreshStart** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:38 am

Thanks Rip for the very helpful information!
We are coming form Macedonia, where the food and other domestic products are not so expensive.
Does any one with similar family like mine, knows approximately what is the monthly cost for all those supplies?
I was told that the total tax should be around 30% of the salary, including healthcare and everything else. I'm little bit afraid that after renting we will have in our monthly budget only around 2000 Eur, hope that is enough for five of us.
We will have A residence permit, is it possible to bring my car to Finland, is it gonna cost me to much for registrations and taxes (Toyota Corrola 2007)?
Is it really true that i don't need to pay anything for school, pre-school or doctors?

by **Rip** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:17 am

So you a from Macedonia (= outside EU). Is your work contract for two years or more? (open ended contract is fine, if you had an "A" permit then I guess your work contract is "good enough") I think that was the limit for getting KELA (national health&etc insurance) coverage, which apart from health care entitles you to some financial benefits (not big, but as your income would be in my opinion adequate but not big for the family size, smaller sums of money count too).

Try to check for the older threads related to importing cars (including problems encountered, such as the "value of the car" being not its value back home but its estimated value here which can be noticeably higher) and cost of various things. The official brochure in English regarding importing personal belongings in general, and cars in particular is here: http://www.tulli.fi/en/finnish_customs/ ... 011_en.pdf

School is free, so is pre-school. Public day care, if needed, is for a fee. For public health care seeing a doctor costs about 13€ during office hours and somewhat more in evenings or weekend, hospital stay about twice that amount per day (there are annual caps for both of those sums)

by **FreshStart** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:55 am

Yes, It is a permanent job position. Thanks again for the links! Does anyone know some programm of free courses for suomi language? Is it possible to find a part time second job in Espoo area?
Thanks

by **Rip** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 3:57 pm

Here is collection of local offerings of Finnish language courses. Typically they are not free; there is fairly lot of variation in prices: http://www.selma-net.fi/temporary/file. ... en2008.pdf

FreshStart wrote:Is it possible to find a part time second job in Espoo area?
Thanks

second job for you?

Potential problems:
A) Finding a job in the first place
B) your work contract may have some clause against working on the same field for another company
C) you residence permit may have condition that your only allowed to work on a certain sector
D) If A+B+C does not prevent you from getting a job, as your are already moderately high wage earner the tax (and other mandatory fees) you'd pay on additional income would be likely around 45%. The Finnish tax system does not take into account in anyway that you're not single responsible only for your own expenses.

By the way, B, C (or D that much) would not be problems in case your wife would happen to find employment (although you should make sure you understand the effects if she were in some unemployment office organized integration program)

by **biscayne** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 9:14 pm

You will get by on the salary you are quoting (50k before tax), but you will not be able to save much towards buying your own home if you plan on staying in Finland and building a life there as your handle suggests (Freshstart). With 3 kids and a wife to support, that salary will not go very far. Rent and food will eat up a lot of it, if you plan on having a car that will be an extra expense, and then the kids will want activities etc. (dance class, sports, all that stuff). If you really do plan to stay, I would suggest paying a little bit more for rent to be in an area without too many foreigners (so not Itakeskus, or East Helsinki) because that way the kids will integrate more easily. Get the wife learning Finnish asap so that she can get employed, that way you can get ahead faster, especially if she has a good profession.

Rent for a 3 room apartment in Espoo runs anywhere from 700euro to thousands, depending on the area. Bear in mind the cheapest areas will have more social problems.

by **FreshStart** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 9:36 pm

Thanks for the helpful advice biscayne.
I understand that faster integration is very important for comfortable life. I hope that my wife will find a god job before learning suomi, after some time, she is IT specialist, anyway she will need to take care of the youngest in the first year.
I know that learning the language will take couple of years. Anyway not planning to buy a house in near future, about the car, i'm planing to move my current car, since i know that same cars in Finland are much more expensive. Still i think that we can manage to live an middle class life in Finland at the beginning. And about all the activities for the kids, i just hope that they will be happy there and we will provide everything that they need.

by **carlito9** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:33 am

Accomodation price : i'm student so i live in student building, i pay 211,75 euros per month for a two people flat with two bedrooms, one kitchen and one bathroom.

Public transportation fares : in tampere, 33 euros/month student bus card, one trip for students with student card 1,05/trip or 2 euros for one trip if you don't have any card. travel guide

Food price : around 130 euros/month

Beer : between 3 and 4 euros

by **APJ585** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:59 pm

Rip wrote:Yes (even if that is pre-tax income).

You should be able to find other threads regarding living costs. Apart from housing they don't vary that much based on location that they wouldn't be useful, even if they are given for another town. Housing will be clearly the biggest individual expense. That will depend on of course how much space you want to have. Different areas in Espoo also have different prices.

Dear RIP,

I am visiting Finland for the first time on a business trip for 3 weeks most probably in the 3rd week of Sep.Will it be possible for u to arrange for my stay for that duration or maybe be guide me through.I am looking for a reasonable and not very expensive (200-300euros)apartment/room for myself with al basic amenities and I am ok for sharing aswell. I wll be travelling to Jorvas everyday for work.So pls. let me know the bus connectivity from Espoo.I shall be really gr8ful if you can help me with the same.

by **tizlit** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 5:22 am

In Helsinki, which is more or less the same than in Espoo, a small 2room flat costs minimum of 800 Euros (and this in cheap areas), if you want anything decent, so you will need a bigger accommodation for your children, I would prepare somewhere over 1000 e per month.
Food costs - growing children need to eat well.
Transportation - in Helsinki the monthly ticket costs about 45 Euro, should you live in Espoo and work in Helsinki, you need another type, which more expensive, around 80 E I believe. Of course cheaper if you have a car.

by **Rip** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:17 am

APJ585 wrote:I am looking for a reasonable and not very expensive (200-300euros)apartment/room for myself with al basic amenities and I am ok for sharing aswell. I wll be travelling to Jorvas everyday for work.So pls. let me know the bus connectivity from Espoo.I shall be really gr8ful if you can help me with the same.

Public transportation connections:
http://www.hsl.fi/EN/Pages/default.aspx

200-300€ seems low even in a shared apartment. You can try the housing section of the board. Beware of scammers that may be attracted by the smell of desperation.