Hola from Barcelona!

[wannasave]

Hi everyone,

I'm a guy in his late twenties living in Spain for the past 5 years. I had a strong economic setback 1 1/2 years ago and thus had to learn frugality "to make ends meet". Now it's not such a hard chore and I'm on my way to financial independence. I cannot move from Spain right now, even though it's quite difficult to save right now and being ERE-type frugal will only get you to afford to pay the bills, but I am investing in job experience and studies so that in the future I can get a higher paying job-own business, here or somewhere else in Europe that, coupled with frugality, will allow me to become FI.

I'm about halfway through the book, and it has completely revolutionized my way of thinking-acting-being. I highly recommend it to anyone that has only been following the blog so far.

I'd love to meet people in similar situations, share experiences and knowledge.

[bradley]

Welcome! I'm curious. What makes you want to move out of Spain? I lived in Madrid for a year, albeit as a carefree student, but I always wondered what life for a resident was like.

[Jautenim]

Well, for once salaries are very low and costs are pretty damn high. In Barcelona most jobs pay around 1000€/mo. and renting your own (small) flat costs at least ~700€/mo.

I earn substantially more than that but is still less than half what I could easily fetch abroad.

[JL13]

Wow, I was actually considering living in Barcelona part time during retirement because living costs seem to low. Airbnb has 28 rooms available for less than $500 per month (EU450).

It's true though, EU1,000 per month is pretty low income! Where are there better opportunities to earn?