Other countries/islands that have a better lifestyle than the U.K.

[nellytheelephant1980]

Do these places exist?
I'm genuinely really unhappy in this country and we are looking to go elsewhere. We work to pay the bills and hardly get by. We are both professionals with no debt. Our professions could move elsewhere easily.

Is there anywhere in the world with lower costs of living and just a happier way of life? Is any country escaping these energy bills and petrol prices for example?

I don't think anywhere is perfect but I'm quite happy in Italy but then again I don't buy petrol!

Will you be prepared to learn another language?

It's going to depend on what is important to you. Somewhere with more reliable warmer weather for longer may mean cheaper heating bills but would you then need air conditioning? Portugal is cheaper to live in than the UK but what's your EU passport status?

Yes, definitely

Define “happier way of life”

Lower cost of living basically. Decent healthcare.

It isn't the most exotic choice and tax is high but Belgium is a great place to live. There are lots of jobs that only use English, weekends are sacrosanct and working culture is normally flexible regarding your working hours, as long as you do your hours, if you see what I mean.
If you pay Belgium tax you normally get meal cheques, I used to get 8 euros a day on a debit card to spend in shops or restaurants for lunch. Some people used this money for lunch and some for their weekly shop.

Bavaria
DH is fromMunich and he always bangs about how we should move there but life got in the way. We have just spent 2 weeks there and when we arrived back at the UK airport the contrast between the place and people here and there was pretty shocking.
I have had to go into 2 local town centres this week and both are awful in comparison to where we have just been.
I know nowhere is perfect but we are now making a 5 year plan to leave The UK, the poverty, dirt, degradation and general standard of living are definitely getting worse

Bavaria is lovely but a bit right-wing. I wouod be looking for a more socialist society where everyone is looked after. It also depends on whether you need to work OP!

You say professional with no debts. Surely you are in a better position than most to cope with the cost of living and could you manage some form of private healthcare?

Should you move abroad it is likely that you will need some form of health insurance, you will also need to maintain your NI contributions for a state pension.

Austria is great! Vienna always tops those highest standard of living rankings. There's a large expat & international community so even though you do need to learn some German, it's very easy and comfortable for english speakers to live here. The overall quality of life (shops, brands, restaurants, infrastructure) is very high but costs less than Germany, Switzerland or Scandinavia. It's famous for public transport so many people get around without cars. However cars are relatively cheap to buy and maintain as there's no congestion charge and you can get very reduced rates for resident street parking.

Obviously people are also moaning about the recent price increases and property in particular have gone up a lot the past 10 years. However rent is mostly affordable and you can get stunning places compared to the UK. Medical care is excellent, and things like not being able to access a dentist is unheard of. Even with zero insurance you will be able to get treated for emergencies anywhere. There is no waiting at most A&Es, especially out of hours.

We're in rural France for much of the year. Love it. Fantastic scenery, longer summer than the UK, less populated, much less traffic, much more house for your money.

The outstanding thing here though is the kindness of people. Everyone has much more time for each other, they aren't rushing about trying to earn enough to pay off a huge mortgage. Some things do cost more, but when you consider the price of property, that offsets so much of it.

The healthcare system is fantastic. I had to visit the equivalent of an A & E yesterday. We're waited maybe 15 - 20 mins to be triaged, then I was sent straight to the specialist department for my issue. In less than 40 minutes, I'd seen the consultant twice, had 4 sets of investigations done including scans, been diagnosed, advised, and was on my way home again.

If you have any out patient x rays or scans, you usually leave with the results, or they will be emailed to you within hours. If you need to see a consultant, often you can book direct. Honestly, as an ex NHS employee, I'm astonished every time we use the system here.

Family time is sacrosanct here, everywhere closed for lunch and you'd be pushed to find any shops open on Sunday afternoons. If you want fast free internet shopping, or deliveroo, our area definitely isn't for you though

I'm genuinely really unhappy in this country and we are looking to go elsewhere. We work to pay the bills and hardly get by. We are both professionals with no debt. Our professions could move elsewhere easily.

The big issue with these sorts of plans is having right to work and live in the country/island you fancy.

I'd certainly caution against thinking your professions magically give the right to go and live/work full time anywhere in the world..... I'm afraid it doesn't always work like that.

Maybe a better starting point is finding out which countries would accept you and then coming back and asking which of those have a better lifestyle than the UK.

Not my experience at all. Everything is much more communal and egalitarian from what I have seen
However I haven’t lived there to be fair so I could be wrong

^ This. Rational approach to strategic decision making.

I'm in Western Australia and life is pretty sweet. There aren't enough houses to go round though, as they can't build them quick enough for the increasing population. And it is pretty far away from everywhere else. But the weather is great, I pay $30 a week in power bills for a four bedroomed house with pool (thank you solar!), and there is plenty of work to go around. If you can get a visa, its a pretty great place to live.

Thanks so far everyone. Lots to think about

I'm an OT and my husband a teacher by the way.

We love the IOM, but think cost of living is high there too

Our son has got Type 1 diabetes so that needs consideration too

I'd move back to Italy like a shot if DH was fluent and we had jobs to go to.

Although, the supermarket seems considerably more expensive than the last time we came (October).

Yes. Australia and New Zeland have fantastic quality of life. America ok depending where you live / how much money you have.

Most of Europe has vastly superior quality of life to the UK, have a google. If I coupd be bothered to learn a language I’d move to one of Austria, Gemany, North Italy, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway… Sigh.

A colleague was about to buy a property in france until he discovered he could only stay 90 days a year (brexit related) unless he took on citizenship. Appreciate this may not be accurate but may have some influence on your decision if it is..

I live on the IOM,..very good quality of life, low tax, good pension from government job. 20 minutes after leaving work yesterday I was swimming on a gorgeous sandy beach.

rent is expensive but not like London or Channel Islands.

All countries have ups and downs! Cheaper cost of living usually means lower wages so you may not be better off. Better healthcare often means higher costs to you directly/indirectly and sometimes it's a case of different priorities not better.

There's no place that's a utopia, sometimes it's a case of where you fit - I like it where I live, by the (sort of) beach, great restaurants and bars etc but that wouldn't suit someone needing a secondary school because the local one isn't the best.

But if you are professionals with no debt and can work anywhere, why not move to a cheaper part of the U.K rather than abroad?
A household income of say £80k wouldn’t get you much in London, but a fab lifestyle where I live in the Midlands.

We are in the exact same situation. Both of us have good careers, no debt, good wage.
It amazes me how people automatically think those on good salaries are not struggling too.
90% of the UK live to their income.
We have a nice home, nice cars, nice caravan, Holidays, good tv packages, lovely garden - basically our life is very nice and we was financially comfortable a year ago.
We didn't put ourselves through training courses which cost thousands, night schools and stressful career ladders to earn the money we earn and then not be able to have nice things. So that's the life we have been living. But now all of a sudden its a struggle and we live month to month. We are tied into contracts with tv, insurances, caravan storage, etc etc so we cant exactly "Cut down".. We buy home brand food now, we don't go out once a month like we use to, we literally are month to month.
That is what surprises me the most, No one can understand how on our wages we live month to month, flip that the other way round.. how is it on good wages can we not afford to go for a £50 meal once a month.
Doesn't matter if you are a household on benefits or 75k a year, majority of us live the same, we have the nice things in life which we can (well could a year ago) afford.

We have been dabbling with the idea of North France or Germany. We both meet the criteria for visa's BUT.. I am not convinced the cost of day to day life is much better than the UK. Yes property is cheaper, but its not day to day.

How about SE Asia? Some obvious drawbacks, such as pollution and being overly hot at times, but a much better standard of living with higher disposable income, and good internationals schools will provide very good private health care.