We moved to Radanovo a little over 6 months ago planning to limit ourselves to a budget of 400euros (775.00 lev) per month.
Since being here I have kept a record of everything we’ve spent and can happily say that we have over spent by only 113.00 lev!

We put 200.00 lev by every mth to cover the cost of Water, electric, wood and any other household bills and 575.00 lev every mth for food, drink and diesel.

Over the 6 mth period our average utility bills have been:
Water:16.00 lev
Electicity: 55.00 lev
Internet: 25.00 lev
Proxy server: 19.50 lev (We stream and download all our telly through the internet)

We paid 400 lev for 8 cubic of wood which will hopefully see us through the winter (already had around 2 cubic)

Every mth we manage to spend the other 575.00 lev! (incl diesel approx 60-80 lev).

I must stress that this budget is purely for our day to day living costs and doesn’t cover things like car insurance, medical costs etc.

We feel that we have a nice standard of living here and certainly don’t go hungry....lets see how the next 6 mths go!

I would be interested to hear how our budget compares to other peoples.

Congratulations!

We do exactly the same, every time we spend anything, it goes in the spreadsheet.

800 leva a month is certainly a reasonable budget, still being able to eat well, cover the diesel and have the odd drop or two of wine!

I think a lot of people seem to manage on about 200 leva a week but then I think the fuel cost tends to eat away at most of it diesel and petrol are going up all the time

I think if you became self-sufficient you could save quite a lot more lets be honest the Bulgarian's seem to manage on a lot less not that I'm advocating living as they do but it makes you think if they can! then why not grow as much as you can and save even more

We grew tomatos, cucumbers and potatoes this year which did save us some money however whilst every thing is in season stuff is so cheap I'm not really sure that it's worth the time and effort especially as our neighbors still kept giving us buckets full of stuff anyway....they odviously weren't that impressed with our efforts!

borntolaze wrote:

our neighbors still kept giving us buckets full of stuff anyway....they odviously weren't that impressed with our efforts!

I think its second nature to Bulgarians they seem to be able to grow anything anywhere

Your list is about the same as ours Borntolaze. Ours does include all extra costs so far, but we don't have a car so we save loads there. In actual fact, we mostly live happily on much less than 800levas a month usually but I have taken the average which includes the house tax, re-registration and all the extras that Bulgaria seems to throw at us!
100levs a week more than covers our food budget but is bumped up a bit by my hero's beers which he does deserve for all the wood chopping he does for me.
I am amazed that your wood, tok, water etc are just about the same as ours. I know people who spend much more than this but of course. it depends so much on your lifestyle. I am very happy in our village and rarely go to town nowadays. My hero never leaves the village.
We do grow a lot of veggies (by British standards) but the weather this year put paid to some of the crops. Potatoes, peppers, carrots, squash, runner beans all did well. Tomatoes and fruit a disaster. Its not just the money, but carrying veg from town is a problem for me being so heavy and there is little for sale in the village shops because the locals grow their own. I know we have some from our neighbours, but I am very independent and I also know that their need is greater than mine. They preserve everything by bottling and pickling but my hero cannot eat spicy stuff so I have already got loads of chutneys to get through.
Everyone is different but its good to read other people's budgets and I am happy to read that Borntolaze's list is so like ours. I sometimes think everyone spends so much more than us.

I forgot to mention that we have animals to feed too. However, I have been buying the cheap offal and chicken bits that can be used for soup too and I cook it up with cheap rice and pasta or stale bread. One 20kg bag of biscuits last for ages for the dog and 9 cats. Rabbit (sadly lost our 5year old this week) has greens and leftover veggies plus a bag of pellets which lasts quite a long time. About 9levs.
Chickens have corn, wheat or mash which we buy in big sacks at about 9levs plus any waste veggies, bread etc.
They are all very healthy, as are we, because we eat no convenience foods and everything is cooked fresh each day which has the added bonus of keeping me busy while my hero is out chopping or digging!

Bigsavak - I would like to comment on your post that Bulgarians live on far less. This is certainly true for most villagers. However, becoming self-sufficient is not as easy as it seems and the locals have lifetimes of experience which we Brits have to learn. How to prepare the ground, what to sow and where, plus the continuing propogating. Unless you have done all this on a large scale (not a small back yard in Britain) this is very difficult for a beginner unless you are a very keen gardener. Even then, Bulgarian soil and ways of doing things are very different and then, of course, there is the climate.
Our villagers still have animals for their own consumption and every bit of the animal is either cooked or preserved in some way by making into sausages, salami, fat rendering and bottling. Similarly all the veggies are never wasted but bottled, pickled or made into Lutensia. They pick nettles for both animals and making soup (which is actually very nice because I have made it). I could go on but their diet is very limited and they cook nowhere near the choice of dishes that I do although I am careful to waste nothing. Some still grind their own flour to make bread. No wonder they are up at 5.30am.
I know this because every fiesta I have ever been to always consists of Russian salad, Lutensia, salads, chicken and/or selection of cold meats and cheese. A special lamb soup for St. Georges Day and local lamb for Easter, Goose for Christmas. There is very little variation on this in our village and everyone always brings a selection of chocolates, biscuits or bread (bought or homemade)
Their animals are mostly fed on bread and whatever they can forage. The bakery sells old bread cheaper. My eggs are loved by the locals because they have extra feed besides their free-ranging on a large plot of land.
Our villagers are mostly a happy lot and I think the ailments they have in old age are mostly diabetic (too much sugar maybe) or stomach problems from too much rakia (mostly the men).
Now there is nothing wrong with their diet except perhaps for the high sugar content which is also in the soft drinks they seem to consume in great quantity, even adding it to the homemade wine or rakia, but I do have a limit to how Bulgarian I can become. I respect them for all their self-sufficiency but I admit to not having the ability to do anywhere near as much. We do grow some things on instruction from our good neighbours who give us plants and we swop flower cuttings because I buy some unusual ones from the bazaar. Its all very pleasant and always a lot to learn. I do make jam, chutneys and pickles and bottle tomatoes when we have a good year. Both of us are constantly learning the ways of a Bulgarian village life and it makes me unusually grateful for my basic British pension of around 396GBP which we manage to live on without touching savings. How many Brits would say that!

Fantatic It make you stop and think just how little you really can live on if you have to, and how well you can live on that too. Well done to you all Thanks for all this valuable and useful information.

Oddy

We think we have problems here in the UK but lets face it we have forgotten what its like to be self sufficient I am staggered at how easy you people make it sound to be able to live on so little and I must say it does give me hope for my future in Bulgaria

Well I for one am really pleased that these posts are helpful. I realise that we have integrated into village life here so much now that we forget how different it must be for newcomers from the UK. I must admit that we definitely could not live so cheaply in Britain. Maybe in the future even Bulgaria will be more expensive but thats when I will just have to dip into savings. I would suggest here that the 400euros is only at the present moment in Bulgaria and people should always have a bit put away for that rainy day or the future. Elderly Bulgarian villagers all seem to get support from families who either visit to help with the garden on weekends or move Granny into their home in the town. I am generalising of course and we do have some old villagers who manage on their own on very little money. These are the people we try to help in little ways or give the odd gift of something homemade. Particularly for the old men who seem to live on cyrene cheese, bread and biscuits!
I do think that people in Britain today have completely lost the plot about what they need to live a comfortable life and this is the main reason that so many find the transition to Bulgaria so difficult. I can understand their expectations but it is not generally able to have the standard of living that the British are used to here in a Bulgarian village even if you have a bigger budget. There is so much to learn to accept. Yes there are changes to be made in Bulgaria and maybe we Brits can help in some ways like Oddie does with her Orphanage charity and others with the stray dogs support and even me in a very small way, getting our village Rockfest up and running to help put our place on the map. Its all about integration and understanding the lifestyle of the average village Bulgarian.

I have to thank someone who has increased my karma rating over this subject. I wish more people would read Borntolaze's topic '400euro budget' because it has thrown up some interesting points. From someone who has been on various forums for a long time, I have noticed that there has been a subtle change in topics and questions asked. More about supermarkets and where to get high-end or unusual products in Bulgaria and much less about village life. Nothing terribly wrong in that but I believe it would lead to a more contented lifestyle if folks paid more attention to the village Bulgarian lifestyle. Not forgetting, that even our 400 euro budget, is way more than the locals get. I know of people in our village who have to live on 120lev per month pension or even less having worked many years for this. They go without electric if they can't pay their bill one month. And although they get cheaper wood and the Pensioner's Club sells some things cheaper,how they cope with the rising costs in Bulgaria I have no idea, but they do. Therefore, even we two 'poor' Brits, by UK standards, who would be claiming benefits there, can understand that we are expected to help the economy in the country and not just live as the Buglarians do. So, in a very small way, by using the local shop to buy most things, we are helping our village. By using the small local bars instead of going into town we are helping. Every little thing makes a difference don't you think?
As for self-sufficiency, I respect the locals knowledge on this and how they have, over the years acquired the tools and skills to make everything for themselves from goats cheese to shoes. Yes, in the cellar of the house we bought, we found spinning equipment and homemade wool and string and wooden lasts for children's and adults shoes. The beds were obviously homemade and quite comfortable. Wish we had kept them now and not given them away! The only 'modern' furniture left was the 1970's bookcases/glass cabinets which was the only type available in the days of Communism. We still use these having adapted them for various things because they were so big. These things were in the front of the house which was kept for 'best visitors' like the old-fashioned 'front room' in Britain that I remember.
I could not begin to be totally self-sufficient because there is so much to learn from rearing the animals to making all the produce, but I am happy to add to the economy in my small ways and I hope that this insight might help some British people to understand more about why things are as they are in villages and why we are respected as contributors and not takers. Its a lack of understanding and sensitivity that I find hard to forgive, so if I can help people to see Bulgarian ways in a different light to what they are used to, I will be happy.

Good write up oldun and its always clearer when someone writes from experience and not hearsay thank you

Very good and interesting post. Thanks Oldun. It just goes to show we can do a change on how we live, we have had to do the same in Turkey, meat is very expensive here, we feel we will be growing feathers soon. Electric has gone up and gas. So we have tightened the strings a bit more, but feel we can't carry on with all the other costs they want from us to stay. Really enjoyed this thanks again.