THE COST OF MOVING TO ITALY & LIVING WELL AS AN EXPAT: Budget Plan, Finding a Home, Motivation

[Music] hello okay so I'm really hoping this will be helpful if I'm totally honest I was kind of nervous about this subject because in the past it's only caused me pain it's only caused it just been really tiring because it attracts so much hate and trolls and just just people being really negative nasty and it's not even really that creatively fulfilling for me I'd much prefer to do like one of my poetry pieces or talk you know show beautiful cinematic gardening or cooking but I know that so many of you out there have asked for this or are struggling with how to move to a foreign country even if not Italy specifically and so my intention here is to us to be helpful if you're Italian totally understand if you feel frustrated or noise because IKEA quiz sister and you know who is this is this foreign girl who's selling la dolce vita I'm not if you actually look at all of my videos and all of my work have made over a hundred videos and in almost all of them I've talked about how life it's not easy in Italy at all more difficult it's hard to get a job it's hard to learn Italian it's hard to make friends in Italy it's hard hard hard but if you're still interested after knowing all of this then keep watching you know there was nothing around when I first moved to Italy I just sort of did it all on my own but you have to be someone who is motivated and here's an afraid of hard work and research and saving and making sacrifices I've certainly made I made a lot of sacrifices to live here and although many Italians will say it's not it's not as beautiful as Kylie says I can speak for my my experience it's it's one of the most incredible countries in the world and sure there's lots that is difficult and hard but you know what like life life can be hard everywhere you can be lonely bankrupt insecure heartbroken unfairly judged or treaters anywhere in the world so you know what you might as well do it in a country where there is such cultural and natural and culinary beauty I think anyway that's probably why you're watching this right you probably probably value these things to societally a non capisco key possess a facility on Austria Odisha a symbol of evil in Italia Dolce Vita taro sip NC KCl única cosa que esta diciendo a Lauren on a mr. Becerra Mila body Casa Viva Saudi read the book quasi D&E in Italia north on telly difficult are not possible re I can't give up honestly I can't it's an in spite of all of the problems I love this country with all my heart and so yes it's difficult but I I'm sorry in my case it's also worth it it is I've lived in many countries in the world and it's corruption and unemployment and all of this stuff it exists in many many places now let's talk about the budget although I seem like someone who is dreamy and whimsical and blah blah blah actually I like to refer to myself as a pragmatic dreamer because I I don't believe in just dreaming I believe in executing dreams in order to execute dreams you need to be quite specific and not afraid of the specifics so what might happen what probably will happen today is you make this budget and then you'll just throw your hands up and say ah ok well that's it then I guess I can't afford to go or I guess this this dream is never going to happen not necessarily just take a breath you're doing things that are out of the ordinary joy that is living in a foreign country and making it work and being able to potentially even you know find a job and make a real life there is is not the average part and so of course it's going to be harder I've been there I've done all of the calculations and then had that moment where you just feel like crying because you think well I just I can't I don't have this number that it you know you work out how much it's going to cost you and you just think guys I can't make that happen there are so many ways that we can adjust our lifestyle in the lead up to moving overseas to save money but also then finding thinking laterally about how to make it work when you once you live over here and I always advise everyone to change your date of departure if you're thinking oh I must live I must live initially I must I have to do it next year push it back if you can do it you don't give yourself at least 12 months to save and learn and the thing is chances are if you're thinking of moving to Italy you can always be better at the language I mean I for me I'm never finished I'm just a perpetual student because I've never I'm never at a stage where I can say oh I'm done with learning Italian so the time that you are waiting you'll find it will also fly because once you make a decision to make this big life change it's funny it's like this armor you can almost withstand everything suddenly your office that was really boring people that surround you that don't really understand you a city that doesn't inspire you all of these things living in a horrible place because it's low rent and you're trying to save money I mean all these things you can withstand because suddenly something has shifted because you've said right you are you have a plan now and I think dreaming without direction without specifics is is a good luck to you I couldn't do it I need to dream with pragmatism with a plan strategy of okay where am I going how long is it going to take how much is it gonna cost what's my one of my goals I mean as much as it can be overwhelming I also find it quite exciting because it signals to your subconscious this is happening and it doesn't matter if it's like okay it's happening in 24 months or it's happening in six months the the fact is once you start that plan the countdown is is is quite exciting and you'll be surprised at what you can endure or what you can do without even in the lead up because once you know where you what it's all for where you're going I for me I find it always gives me these extras reserves of energy and discipline and willpower so I want you to go and get a book that we can an exercise book or notepad where we can write down your budget I'm going to give you basically the outline and then you can fill in this sort of custom details according to your lifestyle and your priorities because look one thing I must say is Spectre I'll talk about this while you go and get the notepad okay and I'll talk to the people who are cynics and like ready to write a negative comment a case of the nice people you go away and get a book like this and and a pen don't write it on your phone write it on pen and paper it's lovely and and to the people who are just sitting there like angry with your life and you know about to go hating on me because I seem optimistic look I go and watch more videos where I talk about how I've been depressed and suicidal at times at times go and watch the videos where I'm like crying and saying I don't believe in you know hard work doesn't get one anywhere I mean I have these low days too but on the whole I am an optimist I don't believe in just thinking positive and hoping that life will work out because oh it's Italy and no it won't it'll be a disaster unless you have a plan like come on okay I'm just here editing and I thought I'd add this bit in look maybe you're not a hater maybe you just you're in some financial difficulty like many people and I understand it's very easy to make assumptions about people because you look at someone who seems undeserving or for whom life seems easy and you think gosh oh why why is it not that way for me too and I just wanted to make it clear that well I've always had part-time jobs even since I was 10 years old delivering newspapers I worked really hard to get an academic scholarship so that I could get a degree so that I could get a job as a magazine editor and even then I'd leave the office at 9:00 p.m. and then go straight to a restaurant where I worked as a waitress and a cook also that I could save money because I don't believe in taking any money from any help from you know family members I've always done it all on my own and truth is it's much easier and more comforting to label someone as undeserving to just discard them and say oh no they didn't they didn't really work for that or they took some shortcut because then it means that we're off the hook right then we don't have to confront the excuses were making for ourselves we don't have to confront our own levels of discipline and initiative and resilience ultimately I just want to give you hope I know what it's like to grind away for years at your goals and then feel like not only you don't make it progress maybe you're even going backwards but do you know what's worse do you know what can really handicap your your productivity is if you let any of your precious time and brainpower and emotional sanity go towards thinking of others and lamenting how unfair things are even if we're right right even if that person isn't deserving what what are you gonna get out of complaining I mean I think that you've still just got to get out there accept that life is not always fair and just give it your best shot and keep working hard I mean that's anyway that's how I see it right so when I move to a foreign country I make two categories setup costs and ongoing monthly costs under our one-off setup costs I include the following return airfare definitely make sure you have a return ticket because you want to be able to just live freely and know that if for example like a family member back home gets sick you have that that flight already paid for that you might just have to pay to change the date but you have basically covered your way home also for the visa they will stipulate that you need to show that you have a return ticket then there's travel insurance I've used a company that's called Columbus I mean not I'm not like sponsored by them or anything I just I don't know I found them and they seemed fairly good I have not ever claimed on them though so don't know how good they are claims but they seemed quite good and that was a thousand year for the year these are application I get lots of emails from people saying Kylie how do I get a visa and it's like well this is a very good sign if you it's almost like this is a true test of your love the whole virtually the whole visa experience Italian consulate so that particular guide they just they just have no have no comment sense so that's that they can't do anything just why don't I just I can't run presenting my passport the the money for the for the visa and and just wanted him to hold on to this and start the application process no you have to go back over to Italy and then come back is it worth it is it I can't advise you I can only say for Australians I'm Australian we're only allowed in the Schengen zone the Schengen zone I like Ashley in France etc we're allowed to stay for three months 90 days they're very strict they will check so don't think you can sort of just wing it you can't you know you certainly can't work on a tourist visa that's three months I think it's the same for Canadians and Americans so go just type in Italian consulate your city and look at their website it's it's it's going to be frustrating are you going to be infuriated because the visa process is this way for most countries are not just italy but they will tell you for example oh you need to book your flight and you need to show a ticket in order to apply for the visa but then you say but when will i have the visa and they're like oh we can't tell you a date so then you have to purchase a ticket in order to get the visa apply for the visa but you don't know when you'll be able to leave so and then you say to the milk and I just put a blender that's it can I print that soon I'm thinking Italian can I just put a reservation on the on the flight no has the flight has to be bought out in for this type of stuff can drive you crazy but come on it's worth it I like to put in a taxi fare from the airport because you'll have a really heavy suitcase and you want to just arrive calmly at your accommodation and you won't you'll be a bit sort of overwhelmed because we won't necessarily you know how to deal with all the public transport so I would add in 40 to 50 euro for a taxi fare this is in in Italy they have fixed fares so oftentimes there will just be you know checked when you get to the taxi because some some of them try to rip you off but there is usually a fixed fare from the airport to the city centre language school calls for two weeks or one month language school this is debatable I mean it might be a luxury but if you're sort of struggling and you're at that beginner stage you might want to book into a two week or one month course just to sort of get that that intro and that confidence I guess to speak because it is a big change right when you go from just studying your grammar books to being out in the street and someone firing rapid-fire Italian at you have met a lot of foreigners who do live for years in Italy without really finding that I suppose that that confidence to to actually start speaking and interacting a bicycle if you followed me on Instagram you know how much I love my bicycles I've always had a bicycle and I find it so convenient in summer like literally from from June July August I mean Italian cities are so humid and hot and to get around places you really want that speed and that just that cool breeze in your face and also for doing shopping I mean you're probably if you're on a budget you don't want to shop right near your house which might be a supermarket with with with slightly more expensive items you might want to sort of cycle out to somewhere that has a bit more choice and is a bit bit bit better prices in that case you want to get a a bicycle with a chesty knob with a little basket so that you can sort of load up your your groceries and a move about the city freely and with and also because in the first six months you'll probably be getting lost a lot so it's quite helpful to have the bicycle a bicycle costs between 130 and 200 euro generally for a new bicycle with a chest you know with a with a basket and also a high quality look bicycles are stolen all the time they ever as soon as your bicycle are there like a pillar over on all the all your neighbors will be saying - are they're going to steal it from you also there's so much drama involved in where you keep your bicycle because in a lot of Italian palazzi they the older neighbors or even some of the younger ones that are just a bit you know antipasto she they complain if you tie up your bicycle in the courtyard now I don't know why because I mean it's it's really if you keep your bicycle out at nighttime it's it's a highly likely that they will steal it I sometimes in one place I lived in Rome I would carry my bicycle up five flights of stairs every night and then yeah and then some in my second other place in Roman forest over there I kept it tied outside but I kept it tied to the gates of a church and I was like hoping that someone would would think twice before stealing also I used to leave a little bit you know I used to leave a little note on my bicycle saying please don't rob me my my owner is a student they saw a student and yeah that seemed to work a lot I've also had times like in Florence last year I stupid stupidly I don't know what I was distracted I guess and I left my key in the lock and left my bicycle thinking I changed it up but I left the key in the lock walked away did two hours of running around running errands then I came back in some kind soul had taken out the key and put it in my basket for me so that others didn't see it and steal it isn't that kind so you also have these exceptions but but that's not that's not the norm mostly bicycles do get stolen a lot and I would recommend so when you oh this is important yeah when you when you're negotiating with your landlord do ask Oh is there somewhere I can keep my bicycle inside in the courtyard or is there a place within the parts or where all the neighbors are happy for me to tie up my bicycle because then you get like I mean I would have such rude neighbors who would just leave these horrible notes on my bicycle be like in this can't be here and bla bla bla even though it was not general now if STD unless soon oh I didn't give any it wasn't annoying anyone but but yeah they whatever you'll you'll discover this the joys of arguing with your neighbors but but yeah this is a good thing to negotiate before you move in because afterwards your property or your landlord doesn't really care so it's good - it's good to ask if they can sort of include that in your in your package in your agreement what one year I remember item room I went to pasta producer this some used market and I found a secondhand bicycle or a secondhand helmet if you if you're looking for any of these things this is this is always an option to buy second-hand in a site that might be useful for you is subito food to eat okay now subito dot eat so we don't mean straight away and this is where a lot of Italians all over the country is selling secondhand goods all kinds of things furniture bicycles and all kinds of objects even objects for like 10 euro I mean I didn't even know why they bother but anyway this is this is quite useful and I've certainly found a lot of bargains this way another fantastic resource is the second hand stores now to find them you put into google your town or city initially and the search term Marrakech in Adela's Otto Marchetti no little market and booze Otto used so it can either be like a weekly or monthly open-air market or a fixed warehouse with secondhand goods and generally I find because they need so much space they're not going to be in the city center you need to catch a bus or ride your bicycle out there but consequently they are not frequented by tourists so you can get really good bargains and you only got a couple of locals a little few little old Senora hunting around for some sort of deal they often also deliver so if you even if you find like a table and you think oh I can't strap that to my bicycle although I have tried then you can just ask them if they will deliver it to your home and this is a really affordable way to you know you can furnish your home even cheaper I would say then you could going to Ikea because it's just you know the trouble of like sorting through and getting out to these these warehouses it's just I mean really I find it exciting because it's like an Aladdin's cave and there's initially there are really beautiful items if you're if you're prepared to hunt okay so what else do we have here rental bond which is called a kepada this is usually one month so about 1,000 euro a modem for fast Wi-Fi in your home which is about 100 euro most places will already have this but I'll go into detail about Wi-Fi options later on 300 euro for miscellaneous items that your rental apartment will be missing so this could be a vacuum cleaner a heavy blanket for winter a table for your balcony a full-length mirror sheets a little oven for example if you see in the ad for your apartment often a one-bedroom apartment will say that it has an angle Okuda instead of a cocina so an angle of cultura is literally a cooking corner and this means it really probably doesn't include an oven in which case it's quite simple to find a little little camp stove oven that you can put on the bench I find that there always is a little unforeseen costs I mean one place I moved into had nowhere to put my clothes so I had to buy a big clothes rack so and and coat hangers if you put aside I think about 300 euro this should cover furniture and these little items for cleaning and basically the the essentials really at the beginning of your Italian rental experience you don't want to start by getting into a fight with your landlord it's very difficult to basically articulate your rights and your and your grievances in Italian so I would say put aside this money just assuming that there will be something fundamental that is missing that you will probably be able to purchase secondhand accommodation this is a difficult one now I always advise to book yourself an Airbnb or some kind of short-term temporary rental situation and then go and negotiate or look at apartments in person it's it's pretty crucial because I know they're just they're just I have heard a lot of experiences of not just for not just foreigners but also Italians fighting with landlords because they're trying to rip them off or they're just not you know no everything's not completely clear or they're paying in arrow in the arrow means you know without without tax paying tax so it just it gets it can get quite exhausting fighting in a foreign language and this is no reflection on usually this is just it's just the case I mean I think that generally it's very difficult to fight with someone in Italian especially when you've just arrived and via email of things can get lost in translation I think it's much better even if you have to pay a bit more to find temporary accommodation it's better to really see the place in person and make sure then you can negotiate because you go in and you find oh like this isn't working or this window actually looks out of here and then even though even though you're actually desperate for an apartment where you really love it you need to as with any as with any rental agreement you need to make your demands then before you say yes because otherwise from then on it's just going to be a real struggle to get your landlord to do anything you know fix the toilet or deal with some issue that there in the beginning they said oh no that's not that won't happen yeah it will it will happen you'll have all kinds of things go wrong and so you want to negotiate a really good deal to begin with for a lot of apartments they include electricity and Wi-Fi they won't include the gas the heating because this can really vary and it depends on how much you use it now I've been really caught out wow I mean at the last last winter I my home was most of the time was quite cold and yet I had a really exorbitant bill as you can see here in summer August September just my gas bill in a one-bedroom apartment was 200 euro and then in the winter November December 356 which is a lot of money this is the most I've ever paid my bills in all my previous apartments in Rome on the Amalfi Coast in Florence have always been less to give you an alternate figure I asked a friend living in Rome and she sent me this message of her experience with bills it balances out so you'll get one bill which you'll think this is crazy and then the next month it will sort of even out and this is where it gets hard like for example when you you really want to make sure they're going in and reading the meter but also if it's long term if you're renting it for the year I guess it sort of evens out but if you're renting short more a short term like a six month period it can get difficult because the you know the bill that comes is not always indicative of the actual use for that that those previous months sometimes it's all over the place but within the year it said that it should eat even art so this is this is a difficult thing but I have often negotiated to have all of all of the electricity and gas and Wi-Fi and everything included just because it's so exhausting to debate with your with your landlord and also I find it really I mean like I've never had I've never had a credit card because I don't like to spend money I don't have and I find it because I like making budgets and lists and everything I find it really kind of worrying to not know from month to month like how much my bills are going to be my electricity bills and everything the reason I say to save up as much as you can is because the difference if you pay upfront because the thing is that they don't know you are you're just a foreigner they don't they can't trust you they don't know your families your reputation or anything so I understand why some Italians are reticent about taking on a foreigner as a tenant so I in order to show good faith like I that I'm trustworthy I like to pay sort of six months in advance and then it means that I've got no money told to live on but it does mean that my my I can negotiate a really good deal on my electricity and my gas and all the rest of it and have that be included or even just you know get a really low price for my actual rent and yeah it's it's not an option for everyone but that's why I you know made sure that I worked super hard before I moved to Italy so that I was able to have that possibility of you know offering to pay pay things in advance as aside from the fact that probably you you're not going to be guaranteed that you can get work so I like to have that you know my rent paid so that then I can just say right okay now all I have to do is try and work out how to make money for food [Music] okay so we start off in a very high-end neighborhood via Julia which is just mean Piazza Navona 1,800 beautiful turrets are great exposed timber beam ceilings but a lot of the apartments have these historic features so only got one bathroom and two bedrooms then interest even a much cheaper 1200 also with a Trotter also with characteristic features like the ceilings a lot more expensive campo de fiori which is beautiful square with the market 1700 and look at that view incredible but a little a great deal more expensive two thousand in Spaniards fine is a very touristy area so you're paying a lot that you're probably just paying for the area and frankly it's not even as beautiful as some other places thrust every a half the price but very very picturesque and this one 1200 again wonderful rooftop tatse which is crucial if you're living in Rome right in piazza navona and very well a nice finishings inside great view you want a view if you're in in your room because there's such beautiful views from most neighborhoods actually and you want as much natural light as possible because these old buildings can get quite dark and here again 1200 interest over a cute little Belkin chena the all the green I mean you've if you can afford it yeah I mean living in a place like this would be incredible because you have all these windows looking out into the green and high ceilings and antique furniture great big kitchen this 13750 company fury again that the square with the market and a nice little rooftop balcony this one in throw a stove it is 650 and a little looks like a courtyard these are all in Rome Rome is known for having great rooftops and balconies when you see Mauna ala kulli that basically just means like a studio apartment so it probably doesn't have a separate bedroom all we can go into the countryside look at this this is huskily just side of Florence scanned Ichi and this is 1202 bathrooms and how many bedrooms does it got yeah two bedrooms and two out three do aisle three so I guess it perhaps it even has four four bedrooms in total very high ceilings basically looks like a fairytale castle and you consider I mean really you could pay 1200 just for a one-bedroom in the city and this one to 1500 and it has a swimming pool and look at that it means the the like tuscan dream this one 1500 in a swimming pool in Engraving Chianti this one 500 but it's a part of a larger building but look you have a pool you have views of olive groves you have a beautiful place to dine outside of fresco let's go to the islands now Capri is probably the most expensive island and 2,200 this is very expensive option but there are others to be had like this for 400 a month also on Capri 1250 and has a view of the ocean great spot 1,300 anacapri which is beautiful much less touristy 600 in palermo palermo sicily in general is a great option that the prices are always going to be much cheaper than in Rome or Florence and you can get some really interesting look at that look at those frescoes in the ceiling for a thousand a month this one outside as well I mean you feel like you're living in a in one of these films with Sophia Loren 400 a month palermo again looking over the piazza 400 550 i mean 550 this is in the countryside bologna which is a smaller city 550 month but look really great details and a view very cute 800 in Trento which is in the north of Italy and the chanter historico Salerno going back down south 400 a month 3000 if you could afford to live in a mouthy 600 Catania which is Sicily 550 again Catania but look at beautiful Palazzo 850 and the historic center of Catania 850 look it's it's all I mean it's it there's so much relook at this okay Monica Monica which is where I filmed one of my episodes my TV show 290 and one and it's quite good this one for 16 you've got a little turret sir 1,400 in Venice okay this look at this 1,300 in Venice these are really really beautiful and look at that courtyard it's so it's so beautiful but it depends if you want to live in Venice I mean obviously the disadvantages there are fewer locals because it's all set up for tourism but this one 2000 with 1100 but very very alluring I mean Venice's in the hearts of so many people 1800 Florence high ceilings beautiful kitchen overlooking the garden 900 a month in Florence again really rustic details great view it's very so much this one really high ceilings big windows if you can afford it 2500 to look over the Duomo in Florence 1200 and a beautiful garden again frescoes above your bed it's quite a common thing if you couldn't pay around this price range 1500 to get a little bit out into the countryside and frescoes again it is impossible for me to show you a full cross-section of all rental properties in Italy I just tried to show you a few with some rustic features because I know a lot of expats are searching for that because let's face it if you save up and you make the sacrifice of being away from friends and family and making your job possibilities so much harder than you do probably want somewhere that will have some character and is in the historic center so that you can get out and be a part of a part of the city without too much trouble but I know I know living in the suburbs is cheaper I understand so don't get all crazy about that and as I've said before one of the great advantages of getting better at Italian is that you can negotiate much better deals or make friends with people I mean I have found almost all of my apartments initially fire friends not through a website and therefore I have secured much lower rates now I want to help you with a few other expenses to think about before you leave your country go and get a medical and dental checkup while you can still do it all in English get your international driver's license even if you don't plan on buying a car or owning a car you never know and at least that will be done and then you'll have that as an option renew your passport or else they can reject your visa application if it's expiry date isn't three months longer than the visa requested by a super-large durable suitcase because dragging it over cobblestone and probably up flights of stairs with no elevator in these old palazzi is tough and you want the largest case possible to pack your life into 32 kilograms which is the limit on Emirates get your phone unlocked so that you can use a foreign SIM card don't buy any new clothes trust me you'll want to observe the cultural subtleties and dressing easily is generally more conservative and formal for men and women so I would wait to buy locally before purchasing a new wardrobe in your home country which you'll probably find won't quite fit your lifestyle or your inspiration from Italian style once you get here there are plenty of markets selling cheap clothing and fantastic vintage stores advise your bank that you're leaving so they don't lock your card and also research whether your bank has a debit card for travellers like my Australian bankers it doesn't charge me for ATM withdrawals and you can easily pay seven to ten dollars just for taking out cash and your Lando will probably want to be paid in cash so this is important okay I'll pause here for now next episode i'll take you through ongoing monthly expenses we'll have a close look at my weekly grocery shop and i'll try to give you an itemized receipt so you can plan how to budget for food restaurants hairdressers doctors outings extracurricular activities domestic train travel thank you for watching thank you to my patrons who support me on patreon comm forward slash Collierville do give this video a like and come back on Sunday at 12 p.m. Italian time for part two Graziella prossima [Music]

Channel: Kylie Flavell

Views: 843,074

Keywords: move to Italy, Rome, Florence, Amalfi Coast, living in Italy, expat life Italy, Tuscany, buy home Italy, rent Italy, learn Italian, retire Italy, Venice, moving to Italy, cost of living Italy, visa Italy, how much does it cost to live in Italy

Id: C46-yiWD6qg

Length: 38min 21sec (2301 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 17 2020