$3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland?

$3000 - $4000 a month is not that much in the US. If you are manage to live on that in the US, you will be just fine in Poland IMHO.

If you don't have a wife and kids to support you'll live quite well, things in the States are much cheaper than in Europe and not just gasoline.

It also depends on where you live in the US. You're absolutely right PennBoy, in general people can live a pretty good life with $4000.00 here. The question is, did she mean before or after taxes? If PP or Marek11111 had this kind of money to live, I bet they wouldn't say even one bad word about America, lol

Yes 4 grand after taxes for a single man/woman is enough to live pretty comfortably.


LOL

PennBoy
But the OP does have a family. Plus he is self employed, which means he pays his own health insurance which is probably six times more of what it would be in Poland. Now add mortgage to that, car payments/insurance, food etc. A family's life in the NYC area on $4,000 would not be a picnic. I guess Colorado is somewhat cheaper.

s2ggod2, if you go to Poland, just make sure you buy all the clothes you need in the US. They are very expensive there, especially the kids wear. I guess you can also have all necessary furniture shipped to Poland, maybe even your car, but I'm not sure about it. If you don't have to start from scratch you will be just fine on the money you have.

New York is expensive here in Pennsylvania home prices for example are 3x (suburbs) to 5x (city) less.


I haven't been in Poland a few years so i dunno but i hear most things are more expensive than in the States, yet people's salaries are much lower.

Check your tax liabilities.
if you end up double taxed that would be unpleasant.

you can't really compare this situation with Poland unless you go by 1:1 that means
$4000.00 = 4000PLN. Of course, if you take $4000.00 to Poland and exchange it into PLN, you'll definitely live a better life over there.

Now I'll give you some facts of how much you got to make to live in NC where I live,
if you have to rent a house or pay mortgage (not even a trailer), you can find one for a $400.00-600.00 (unless you want to live in a really nice house). Water bill about $10-15, power (of course it depends on your personal use) $40-120, car insurance (I know one for) $98.00/2 months, food (it depends again) $150 / person, car payment (it depends again) for one, why not just buy a car that you can afford to pay in cash for to avoid month payments? So where are we at, let me see, about $700.00 and if you have a family of 4, just add another $500.00 for food. Now tell me, you can't live with $4000.00 here.

I meant s2good2 should buy the clothes in the US and bring them over to Poland if he moves. You are right, manufactured goods more expensive in Poland, relatively to earnings even the food is more expensive. But the rent and the services are cheaper there.


Rent/mortgage (2 bedroom apartment/small house): $2000 - $2,500
Utilities / Cable /Phones: $400
Health insurance: for a family $700 - $ 900
Groceries: $600 - $800
Car insurance/Gas: $200 (in most households 2 cars are a necessity)
Childcare ?
Extras ?

No way, couldn't make it on $ 4,000...

not for Poles though. We've paid 1000.00 pln for a month for a house (nothing special) in Mikolajki and everyone was saying that it was cheap. You can get a house in NC for that kind of money too. In my eyes, Poland is even more expensive than the US (OK, at least NC).

Hello, I am S2good's wife. I am that Polish wife that "makes" my Husband go back to foreign country ;)
I have been in the US for 12 years and gotta say I am still homesick and still can not tell you where exactly is my HOME. I worry about my parents, I have darling older brothers who are taking care of them, but I am the youngest and they have been caring for them for so long so now its my turn. I am absolutely aware of the cost of food, clothes and gas (scary!!). We are very thrifty, my Hubby cooks 99% of the meals at home. Not huge on restaurant, or precooked meals (salt, fat and additives, ugh). I am scared that my hubby will just get frustrated with all the obstacles (and I know there will be many, its Poland!) that we will meet. I am all set up on sending via sea (so much cheaper) clothes for us. I am ready to go to work, even part time, if needed full time / if I find one, for crying out loud I can even babysit and teach kiddos English! I have lots of friends and some family, we wont be abandoned and all by our own. How hard is it to find a job there? Would it be a good idea to contact some of the American companies and look for job there?

are you serious?

I'm on the same boat. Except my husband won't even consider moving to Poland.
I wish you the best of luck with your plans.


Where is that. It sounds somewhat familiar.

jeez girl, where do you live? You definitely got to move, lol


Masurian Lakes

He'll love the food, especially meat.


very noble and typically Polish, you got to do what got to do no matter the personal sacrifice.


Be under no illusions its tough, baby sitting will hardly pay the rent.


very hard


Wouldnt hurt.

Unless your husband starts a business or speaks fluent Polish he hasnt got a chance in hell of earning more than 1000 PLN / month.

Whoa, that seems incredible. I live in Sweden and it is considered to be one of the most expensive countries in the world, yet a couple can get by on 1000 zloty a month for groceries.

I will take some more examples: Broadband and cable TV is 100 zloty a month depending on connection speed and selection of channels. The rent for a two bedroom apartment centrally located in the 13th largest city in Sweden is 1350 zloty a month.

Health care is subsidized and no health insurance is therefore needed. There are pay as you go SIM cards that charge 0,50 zloty to start the call and then you can talk for as long as you wish.

I usually buy cheap clothes and pay 50 zloty for a pair of jeans or a sweater. A pair of shoes for 75 zloty. Car insurance for a Ford Focus from 2008 would cost about 210 zloty a month.

Education is free in Sweden and kindergarten is free when the children reaches 4 years of age. Both the mother and father have the right to paid leave from their job for 480 days total to attend to the child.

A couple living in an apartment would pay about 200 zloty a month for electricity. Water and heating is included in the rent in Sweden.

Unemployment is very high in Sweden and many Swedish people live on welfare which is 1840 zloty a month in Stockholm (a bit less in smaller cities). The government provides in addition to this aid to pay for the rent. On welfare people can enjoy a normal standard of living in Sweden.

According to statistics, consumer prices are 79% higher in Stockholm than in Warsaw. Groceries prices are 117% higher in Stockholm than in Warsaw. Restaurant prices are 118% higher in Stockholm than in Warsaw. The local purchasing power is 39% higher in Stockholm than in Warsaw.

The United States is definitely not a country where I would like to live if what you write is true. The median income in Sweden is according to the latest statistics $2,727 a month before taxes, meaning that a couple would have a combined income of $5454 a month before taxes.

Please keep in mind the cost figures I gave above, and then kindly answer me how people in the United States get by if they have such high monthly expenses to pay in relation to their income? People in Sweden are not rich.

In Sweden a couple can get by on 5000 zloty a month including all expenses. This figure is based on the couple living in a centrally located one bedroom apartment in the 13th largest city in Sweden. According to your figures I conclude that a couple in the United States need to have a combined income of over $4000 a month (before taxes?) to enjoy a normal standard of living, correct?

Those are Manhattan/San Francisco prices. Median income in Manhattan is close to $10k/mo. Using your couple examples gives you 20k before taxes.

All depends on where you're at.

Far too pessimistic.

As I have said , I will not be... Un-Employed while in Poland I have a Business that I would be able to run while in Poland. I will have approx. 3000.00 to 4000.00 dollars after tax to live with my wife and son. We also have family in Gdynia that would most likely help us out to start. I am more concerned with (Now after all of your kind remarks on this thread) Is ...what changes will I have to deal with, what are the customs in Poland, What not to ..or what too talk about. What will I have a problem dealing with. This is what my Polish wife is worried about for me? She does not want to move there and then have me say...2 months later.. "I can't handle this I want to go home." <----- exactly what she said. So I want to be prepared when I get there!

Yet again Thank you ALL for your comments.... They are really helping us !

There's a lot of stuff on this forum about living in Poland, the most recent is "Why I moved back to Poland from Canada" by Aphrodisiac. She talks a lot about the living conditions in Poland. Moved back from Canada to Poland:). Here are the reasons why.

There are others.

s2good2 - I've sent you an email if you want to make contact.
I'm an Irish ex-pat who moved from Vancouver B.C. to near Gdynia 10 years ago.
I don't do numbers (unlike some other posters) but I can give you my opinion of what it's like to move to Poland - and the Trojmiasto area in particular.

cjj

I move to Poland just over from the UK. I found it painless to be honest, even though I can't speak Polish.

I have my own internet business so I work from home and earn $7,500 and that is not just a lot of money, its a massive income.

You should be very able to live on $4000 per month, its fours time a Polish average wage.

Many things in Poland are much cheaper than the UK. However, somethings like clothes are cheaper in the UK. I simply fly back and do shopping there for the stuff that is not available in Poland. You would probably do best to ship as much from the US as you can. There is a lot of things that you may miss from the US, especially food. You can get steak and good fish, but its very rare in Poland, you have to goto specialist suppliers and its very expensive. I taught myself how to cook my own food that would be difficult to get in Poland. I bought a breadmaking machine to give me the best pizza's, learnt how to make India, Mexican and Thai food and sourced/shipped over the specialist ingredients from the UK.

Again, Poland is not a jail; you can travel to other European countries and buy food/goods there. The internet makes everything much easier as well. Skype and other services give me a US phone number with unlimited US calls for instance.

Petrol prices in europe are high of course, but you should not need to do much if any driving. Getting a LPG (propane) powered car will help - its half the price of gasoline. Propane is 12.5 PLN per US gallon, which is just over $4.

That is just unavoidable ;) If I understand correctly it is not only moving from USA to Poland but also from relatively small town to not so small agglomeration. If I were you I would rather go for a flat as close to your parents as possible, close to the boy school at the same time. Otherwise traffic will kill your spirit fast... I mean USA is kind of culture derived around car. In Poland you need to switch off to strategy the less you need to use the car the better.

PS. by "close" I mean in walking or worse in public transport range.

Very Good info..Thanx !!!!! You are right! here I use the car to go to King Soopers (Food Store) and it is only 5 mins walking or by car 45 seconds! I know I will be doing a lot of walking there (too expensive to ship car) but it will be good for me ! and public transportation is GREAT in Gdynia.


DID not think of that! I was thinking "holy crap, I have to fly back to America to get what I need or have someone in America ship it to me" but you are right I can go to UK or for that matter any where in Europe to get to hard to find or "cheap" things ! NICE YOU ALL are starting to make me feel a little less worried about this move THANKS!


I got it and will email soon ! thanks!


Great Site ..Thank you !

There is only so much you can prepare in advance, most of it has been covered in this thread already. Everyone is different some see adventure, others only see problems. Moving to Poland is " A work in progress" you can only address certain issues, when you are on the ground, because we all react in different ways to the same situation. On a side note, procrastination is the biggest theft of life. Your wife will always worry about you, she's Polish and worrying is part of the national psyche. I personally think its about time you sat down with your wife and worked out what is best for your family, instead of looking for decisions to be made for you, on a forum. Good luck in your new adventure.

And for the lazy american in you, most grocery places deliver on large orders :)

Cars in Poland are quite expensive in comparison to the US. If your wife is returning to Poland, she has the right to import her personal goods without duty, as long as she can prove she has resided outside Poland legally for a period of time. I believe the goods you import must be older than six months, so you must have receipts for all, car inclusive.

Turkey !!! But true :)

so, my last question is: does my husband need a work permit to work there? as far as I know he does. As far as I know and employer has to apply for that not my husband, right?

I am a citizen of Poland and he is legaly my husband (I also changed my name in Poland). He claims that he can work wherever and our marriage certificate is basicaly his work permit.

I do not want to go there on "maybe we will work maybe we dont". I understand we have a business that can be taken care of from Poland but it might end anytime and then what? ...

He thinks that it is as easy as in US. oh, I just lost my job, I will sell stuff on ebay or amazon and we will make the ends meet. As far as I know there is no opporunities in Pl to work somewhere on the side especially that he can not do any phisical work. We are argueing cause I am much realistic he sits on "maybe".

This post is Because we "just" got into an argument about going... I am the one willing to move from the US to Poland and she is giving me ultimatums??? What?? yes it is true as with ANY job it may end at sometime HOWEVER we have been doing this job for over 6 years now.. I think it is more of her trying to find a reason not to go back and to blame it on someone(ME) or something else! She is scared and does not want to admit!

Anyway thank you all for your help and opinions but it looks like she made her mind up and we are not going !

Again thank you !