To sell up and move to Spain ?

[MijasMaddie]

Hi MN’s!

I’ve nc! So in a nutshell.. I’ve got two DC (sons) 8yrs and 10yrs. DH is 13 years older than me. (I’m mid thirties he’s late 40s)

He works in financial sales and I’m a small business owner (pet care/boarding).

We have a home in a lovely place on the outskirts of London. BUT we are struggling to live!

My DH has unfortunately been out of work/made redundant SO many times! We’ve been together 13 years and it seems every 2/3 years he is out of work.

A couple of years ago he had to ‘leave’ instead of being pushed and was out of work nearly a whole year! This has put us in such a bad financial situation.

We now pay the mortgage and the bills but we have hardly anything to live on. The mortgage and outgoings are huge.

Credit cards maxed out. I’m in touch with debt companies etc only so much can be done!

Life is a hamster wheel and borrowing from Peter to pay Paul etc..

AIBU to sell up and move to Spain? We attended Spanish lessons (myself, DH, DC) but stopped a couple of years ago! So we are no way fluent!

I have no money nor does DH but we have money in our home. After selling our home we could have enough to buy a three bed apartment in Southern Spain (ideally Calahonda area).

DH is saying he’ll have to stay here and rent a room outskirts of London to work his job in the city etc.

I could get rid of my debts and this misarable life but I will also have burnt all bridges to ever be able to come back.

My youngest is 8 and a young sweet 8. He’d be happy and make friends anywhere. But my eldest is 10 going on Kevin the Teenager! I’d have to put them through Spanish state school (also thinking of doing Cambridge p/t home school modules) if he hated it then he’ll hate me!!

Pros - I’d have the debts and financial burdens weighing me down gone. I’d be living in a sunny climate.
I am qualified in beauty industry, massage, animal pet training care..

Cons- what if it all goes wrong?

I’ve wanted to move to Southern Spain since 2013. I love it there. I fully appreciate living there is different to a holiday.

Only other option is to sell this house and rent there for a year (?)

Are kids that are about to turn 9 and 11 too old to be put in a Spanish state school?

I cannot go on like this 😑 too over drawn too broke. Don’t know how I’ll afford food for this week!

The thought of selling up and being able to buy a spacious penthouse in Spain has never been so tempting.

Ps. I have experience in beauty, make up, massage in case you wondered what I’d do over there. Also a very experienced animal carer.

• also Brexit is a factor but as it stands I know I can still go there ...

Please give me some advice (shake some sense into me!) thank you! X

Wow thank you everyone for all the helpful replies!

Oliversmumarmy- good points and I didn’t even think about my boys getting attached to somewhere up north if I went in this direction! Such a good point! Children are so resilient and don’t have fear compared to us adults! (IMO)

As to everyone else saying why don’t I don’t I consider moving somewhere cheaper .. I think it’s because I come from a not so nice area in Cambs and I made it work for myself to make a move to where u am now.
May I add (sorry I’m typing on a whim and over a muddy field as I type) the debts are not MY debts ... they are DH’s debts that he accumulated and never told me about!

A page before a lovely lady mentioned moving to Yorkshire and could be mortgage free .. I’ve been Yorkshire lots and the people are lovely!

I’m looking into TEFL right now.

Lastly I made a 5 year plan to make the move to Spain in 2013.

I paid for our family to take Spanish lessons which we attended weekly .. did the the studying with my LO’s.
Made wonderful Spanish speaking friends in my community and church. My DC are still friends with their DC.
Took my dc to Spain.
Knew I needed to SAVE for my plan so I started a business from scratch (one that my then LO’s had to be with me as childcare out of question and no family network) and made a success of it!

I’ve had to work 7 days a week but it’s really busy and just me running it. It’s paid the bills and let me save and even afforded a once in a lifetime dream holiday that I paid for completely alone, (no one thought I could)

So
During all of this plan
H loses jobs and Brexit happens!

HTMS .. I’m trying to look at a small screen with the sun reflecting.. thank you everyone again 😊

May I add (sorry I’m typing on a whim and over a muddy field as I type) the debts are not MY debts ... they are DH’s debts that he accumulated and never told me about!

Drip feeding again

Peli- oh for crying out loud I’m hardly going to expect to write a bio/essay! I’m sure you have rl friends that you don’t know the ins and outs of!

Now I've read your latest update (and no I don't think you're drip-feeding) you seem a lot more organised and determined than you appeared before.

I'm so sorry that you had your plans scuppered somewhat by your DH losing his job and accumulating debt you didn't know about. It must be heartbreaking after all the hard work you put in.

I do think that Golondrina is talking sense though, however detached she came across. It seems you either need to already have a job there or have enough money to be financially independent.

I mentioned upthread that you should contact all the people you said you know or know of who have successfully made a move to Spain/Europe, to ask how they managed it. Have you done this yet?

Forks - first of all thank you!

I have messaged friends but I truly think/believe it’s their husbands that have made it work for them (but they never say that!) not to mention some have MLM side businesses so I really think they want to sell people a ‘dream’ (if I can do it so can anyone type of thing!) obviously selling some shakes etc will
Not give me the DREAM so while I’ve been a customer to them I politely decline when they give me an ‘amazing opportunity’ (sales pitch!!)

Just enrolled back into Spanish plus found fortnightly free lessons (amazing) and have a TEFL brochure coming tomorrow to look into teaching English from home/laptop while still in the UK.

Thank you again for the great advice

Very best of luck OP - If things really start developing for you I'd love to see an update on here!!

As to everyone else saying why don’t I don’t I consider moving somewhere cheaper .. I think it’s because I come from a not so nice area in Cambs and I made it work for myself to make a move to where u am now.

Sorry, I still don't understand this at all. I grew up in Texas and didn't like it there at all. I now live in upstate New York. By your reasoning, I can never move to any other state because I was once unhappy in Texas. Do you view moving anywhere outside of London as regressing or backsliding? You seem to view it as shameful to move away from London after working so hard to get there. Surely, there are many wonderful parts of the U.K that are nicer than the not so nice area of Cambs that you lived in? It seems that you are trapping/hampering yourself with an all or nothing way of thinking.

If you really wish to move to Spain, the suggestions that others have made--move somewhere cheaper in the UK, get a handle on your debts, save, continue learning the language, etc. are the way to go.

I do think that the impulse move to other countries was much easier in past decades than it is now, for multiple reasons.

Sorry that your husband hid his debts from you--that's truly awful.

The CELTA qualification is well respected and I found it fascinating and genuinely useful. You can do it over a year or as a one month intensive course. I did it as an intensive course and be warned, it is intensive, but also a terrific experience. The cost is around £1,700 in northern centres I think.
At around the same time I studied for a PTLLs entry level teaching qualification which was relatively cheap and took around 12 weeks I think, maybe less. It's pretty basic, but together with the CELTA it was enough to redirect my career into teaching EFL/ESOL, although I did already have a degree in English Language and Literature, however I don't think that is essential.
I got a temporary job teaching IELTS at a university summer school for foreign students planning to join undergraduate and graduate business courses in the September. That was relatively well paid but a maximum of 8 weeks income.
I also volunteered for a year teaching at a charity working with refugees and asylum seekers before getting a low paid zero hours contract at our local FE College in the UK, - even these low paid roles are very hard to come by. Within a couple of years, after a very lucky and freakishly good interview, I was promoted to a permanent, better paid (but not well paid) job leading a newly created team. They also funded me to do a post-compulsory PGCE.
I would find it relatively easy I think to get a (poorly paid) job teaching English here in Portugal or do it on a self-employed basis, and I may do it in the future part time because I love it. It is definitely not a pot of gold though.
For the two years it took me to change career and start earning marginally more than peanuts, I largely lived off 14K of savings accrued from my previous job, which was better paid but not fulfilling. I went without a car, - cycling the 5k to work , or getting the bus in snow, and forgoing all luxuries.
None of this enabled our move to Portugal 8 years later, that is down to my much higher earning DH, however it is a potential route to a job.

To teach in Spain you would need a proper TEFL qualification, so a CELTA or TESOL. There are cheaper online courses that probably promise you a lot, but they aren't worth it as no (good) language school will employ you without a proper qualification. It's a means to support yourself abroad but not much else: you won't make an awful lot of money teaching. Summer schools here in the UK are good by the way to gain experience.

A commenter got a job offered which meant having an NIE to become a resident through TEFL.
Other commenters are saying best to get a TEFL etc

Looking into it and about to go forward with a 140 hour course and now commenters saying a TEFL isn’t good enough to be able to get a job abroad. Kill. Me.

Thank you everyone for all your advice. I will pull this thread now. Have a wonderful Easter 🐣

chocolate That's not strictly true. I teach at the top language school in the area and that isn't a requirement. I wasn't even asked at some schools I interviewed for. If you want to try to get a job at a private international school, you may need one, but I know someone who is teaching at one and has the I-to-I certificate. You 100% need them to teach foreign students in the UK, but here, certainly in the south, it's pretty relaxed.

What’s happened to the weather today Expat?

I will pull this thread now

You're doing the right thing. We couldn't possibly leave the thread up to help anyone else who might consider moving to Spain in future.

I'm a tefl teacher of 20 years, now teaching at a university in England. I taught in Spain in my twenties with just a Celta and 18 months experience. I was in Barcelona and there was a lot of competition for tefl jobs - experience and a good level of Spanish was needed. I only got part time irregular work. It's not very well paid but you will have more luck in less popular / touristy areas of Spain. Oh and it's often evenings and Saturdays too. So worth looking into what the demand is before you do the Celta.

I wasn't going to come back to this thead after being called joyless and smug, but I'm sorry you're struggling OP.

If you really want to do a TEFL, you should do a recognised certificate like CELTA. Here is the Cambridge site explaining what the qualification involves and where you can do it in the UK. It's a very intensive course if you do it in a month. Any decent school will want a minimum of a recognised CELTA or TESOL. I've been in Andalucía for nearly 20 years and a good proportion of that in TEFL, not having a TESOl or CELTA will massively limit the jobs you can get. www.cambridgeenglish.org/cmp/take-celta-uk-ireland/

Almost all the work is teaching children (from as young as 3) and teenagers after school. Timetables are usually 4-10 pm. Some schools will want you to do Saturday mornings too.

In Andalucía a fulltime contract (teaching about 24 contact hours, then you have to add in prep time, which will be a lot in your first couple of years) will bring you in about €1200 net a month. It's a low paid industry with a lot of cowboys and the hours are fairly shit for anyone with a family (hence why I don't do it any more, took me many years to get out and into something else though).

If you want to be self employed you have to become an "autónoma" and although there is a tarifa plana offer to pay a reduced social security payment at first, it's only about a year's reduced payments, then you're on full whack like everyone else. Once you don't qualify for that you have to pay every month, whether you earn or not. The current minimum monthly SS contributions are €283. You'll also need to ay an accountant (gestor) to do your self employed paperwork if you don't speak Spanish. That's another €30 odd a month.

If you do a TEFL, there are websites to look for jobs on, spainwise.net is good. It's possible to get recruited from the UK and therefore have a job offer when you arrive.

Personally, I think you'd be much better to sort things out in the UK, (you might find even if it all works you can't stand teaching and I really don't think putting your eldest in a Sanish state school with no Sanish is a good idea at his/her age, it gives him/her very little time to become fluent enough to cope before high school apart from anything else) but that's basically the lie of the land as far as TEFL and Spain goes.

I think you should go for it, airb’n’b for a couple of months (summer holidays?) while you look for work and a longer term apartment let.

Always money to be made selling financial products to expats or certain international industries- could you qualify as an independent financial adviser, or offer administrative/social media support to an IFA? There are recruitment agencies who can give you further training and introduce you to companies.

MrsCarares It's lovely here! 🌞

*Casares

Why are you "pulling this thread" OP?

For the record I think golondrina has been incredibly helpful on this thread - she's given useful, realistic advice and has been treated very rudely by OP and cois. golondrina has never said its impossible to follow your dream OP but that you have to be realistic and plan and to think deeply about what the barriers are - not only in moving to Spain but the barriers to having a better life in England.

You can’t just “pull a thread” on a whim! The whole point of threads is that people other than the OP may benefit from them.

I agree that golondrina has been treated poorly on this thread and i'm not surprised to see the OP behaving childishly again by threatening to have the thread pulled.

OP I don't think I can add anything to what others have said on here. You've been given lots of good advice and threads like this should stand so that others can benefit from that information. You need to have a good long, realistic think about simple things you can do to improve your life in general and invest in the future you want.

in other childish behaviour the OP has returned to golondrinas thread about travelling in London and added a sarcastic dig..