Possible move to Lausanne--what to budget?

[Linguaphile]

DH is considering a job in Lausanne, which seems appealing as our disposable income would be double our current one after taxes and major bills like utilities, rent and health insurance. I suppose I'm just wondering how much I should budget for things like food, etc? We currently keep our supermarket outgoings pretty low in the UK (maybe £300/month) and almost never eat out as we have young kids and can't be bothered, but I know that food there is ridiculously expensive. We're happy to shop at Aldi and head to France periodically for some things, but what's a realistic expectation for what we would spend? We've got twin toddlers and a baby in the way.

I'm in Geneva, currently on mat leave with number two, so trying to budget on food. I can manage 700 CHF a month (including alcohol and nappies for two), but it's really hard! I use lidl for the odd shop, but don't really go to France.
Although tbh, food costs pale in comparison to insurances, rent, crèche fees. Pm if you want more info.

Sorry just read first part of message more carefully! See you have already included all of this!

Nano that's really helpful, thanks! I was ball-parking around £1000/month, so it's good to know that it hopefully won't be worse than that. The twins will be potty trained by the time we go, which should help hugely with nappy costs, but what do nappies generally run price-wise? Been thinking I should just switch to cloth nappying (stock up on supplies before we go) for this new one if they're really pricey.

We decided it would be much more cost-effective for me to stay at home with the children than pay crèche fees! Not a problem as I'm already home anyway. Also happy to just use public transport as DH's office would be cycling distance away.

Any more advice about budgeting would be very helpful though!

Ok, so for me, the big things that I notice as being more expensive are:

• Rent (you have that already, and Lausanne is cheaper than geneva
• medical (ditto), but the care is excellent
• clothes (I buy most of mine in the UK / get delivered)
• toiletries and haircuts
• meals out (not a huge concern for you though, you say)
• electric goods

Mind you it's ages since I was in London so price may have equalised a bit.

Public transport generally very good, so you're fine to rely on that. If you wanted to shop in France you would need a car, but there is a mobility scheme which is good for rentals on a subscription basis.

Not sure what leisure activities you enjoy (probably not many with two toddlers and a new born!), but sports facilities are good and reasonably priced.

Cleaners about 30 CHF an hour, French teachers about 50 CHF for private lessons (maybe more).

Nappies - I usually buy lidl - 9 CHF for 56. Pampers about twice that. If you look at leshop.ch you'll get an idea of prices - it's online shopping for one of the large chains here.

Let me know if you need any more info!

no advice, but Lausanne is lovely. Much more character and cooler than Geneva

I might be a bit late for this thread, but just in case:

I also live in Switzerland. Some food items are ridiculously more expensive than e.g. going over the France. Meat is a big one, but the other I noticed recently (as we run out and I had to buy at one of the major chains) is Weetabix: costs 1.75 Euros for a pack of 24 in Carrefour in France. Costs 4.80 CHF (so around 4.75 Euros for comparison) in Migros in Geneva!

Another one is car insurance - if I compare the equivalent car/details in the UK, I would be paying about a third of what I pay here.

Internet/TV/phone will be around 100-130 CHF a month.

Check out the site www.comparis.ch - it is also in English and is great for making sure you have the best deals.

PM me if you like!

I'm in Lausanne. Unfortunatly i do spend about 1000.- a month on food. I consciously try to spend less. Coop is supposed to be the most expensive supermarket, Migros is meant to be cheaper and Aldi and Lidl cheaper even still. I wouldn't advise you try the Aldi on rue Saint Martin, it is constantly ransacked. I do find a lot of meat bargains at supermarkets on a Saturday night, they tend to discount 50% off, so have a look out for those. And if you want to go to France then Divonne is the easiest from Lausanne. The Carrefour is a supermarche not hypermarche but good enough.

And you mentioned you have twins; i am pretty sure there is a twin convention coming up soon in Lausanne. Might be a good starting point for you to meet a few other mums of twins.

So nice to hear that new people are moving in to the area, all we hear of is people moving out! Rent has dropped massively so you should grab a rental bargain.

I am moving to Lausanne with 3 boys (4,9,11) and husband for my job in july. Trying to work out where to live that is near good public (state) schools (I understand “all” are very good… but still) but still can have a garden and ideally be near the lake (maybe this is all unrealistic!!). I have visited twice to try to walk around and look. we also need to look at schools. Also in the process of salary negotiations so this thread is super helpful! Any other tips for helping kids to integrate into school (and improve their French!). Also trying to understand if they can do sport/music st school or if this is outside school usually (mainly for secondary school). Is there anything else I should be asking about in the salary/relocation package? Thanks!!

I'm in the German part and arrived here with young children but I have met families who have arrived here with older children and integrated well. It will be tough for the 11 year old though, so I would have a back up plan for international school, boarding school in England or moving to an English speaking country if language issues are holding them back.
Most children arriving without French will be sent to a special reception class until they are ready to join mainstream school.
There is a Facebook group Expat Mom's and Kids in Swiss Public schools, that you might find useful.

The second language is German and that forms part of the assessment for streaming at secondary, so it really helps if your child enjoys learning languages.

Sport/music is organised outside of school but often takes place on school premises.
I would not worry about schools as you don't get a choice. Just find somewhere you like to live.

Start learning with private French lessons asap and look for intensive French holiday camp courses for the holidays, with fun activities to keep up the motivation!

@hechtfan thanks very much. My eldest loves languages - he speaks Spanish already and is learning French at school but can do only basic transactions currently. We will plan to have some intensive immersion between now and August when they would start. For the German how much do they need to speak for the streaming assessment? I have joined expat mom's. I will find kids in swiss public schools.

That's great your eldest is already bilingual with a language similar to French. Spanish can be taken as a matura subject too, if that is the route he follows. I don't know the specifics about German, I think they only start in year 5 in Vaud so they can't be that far along by the time they do assessments for secondary school. By the time they get to the matura, they are expected to be B2 level in a second national language, so A Level standard - eg able to have an oral exam on a selection of novels.

I am close to Lausanne so I can answer a little. I would live outside of Lausanne, east along the lake. Or the villages around Vevey will get you more for your money, but still with easy transport links.

Schools are so hard to have an opinion on, as they don't compare them. But in general I think that if you stay away from really urban areas the schools are all great. They again, they are less diverse, so it depends on what you want.

Streaming for high school happens at the end of 8P (year 7 in UK). They use an average of the assessments you do throughout the year, plus your score for the end of year exams (like SATS). As a PP says they test French, maths and German as key subjects at this age. German is pretty low level, think like hobbies, days/times, small conversations. The key will be whether DC can learn German from French i.e. know that Gutentag means Bonjour etc as i know that's what my kids found hardest. Maths will be no problem for a kid coming from the UK. Your issue might well be French as they are reading novels, analysing texts, and constantly memorising conjugations. You might want to think about them dropping back a year to give them time to get up to speed on their French. Repeating years is fairly common.

As for sport and music, whilst these are subjects in school, any competitive sport or playing an instrument, is usually done on Wednesday afternoons, when there is no school for all kids.

I've been here 10 years now, and have 3 DDs at local schools, feel free to ask me anything.

Sorry, that was for @Happygolucky77

@PomPomChatton thanks so much for this. I guess it may happen that eldest is held back for a year because of his French. He is ahead with maths at an academically very selective private school in the UK. He is worried he will then be bored doing maths that is too easy. He also has dyslexia (but weirdly seems fine with spelling in French/Spanish as I guess it follows more logical rules). This may impact things too. I have to decide soon about this job. So many things to weigh up! I know that the kids would eventually be fine, it is just getting through the initial hard bit. They are worried about being bullied because they don’t speak French - I have told them this is not likely and I think we have enough time between now and august to really do a lot of French… and German 🙈 I will ask more questions in the next few days. I am so grateful for you answers and experience.

The Swiss system is great in some ways, but one big problem is that children who are really good at maths and science can only access the top streams and get the matura for university entrance if they also perform well in languages, although pathways are always open to get the matura later after doing an apprenticeship. The system is very unforgiving. Even Einstein had to repeat a year of school to get his French up to the required level to go to university in the German speaking part of Switzerland! I would read up as much as possible on the swiss system and maybe contact the swiss dyslexia organisation for advice.

Thanks for this. Is there a way to discuss children with the school in advance? Presumably once one has an address it is possible to ask about accommodations for the kids etc.

Once you have an address and register where you live/apply for permits etc, you can ask the Commune about who to contact.

Yes, your son may be bored in maths if he 're-doubles' as they call it, or he could look at it as an opportunity to practice his French and help his classmates. My daughter quite enjoys English lessons (they start this in 7P-UK y6) because she finds it funny listening to everyone butcher her mother tongue, and she's not bored at all.

We came here for an initial 2 years, and now I never want to leave. Better healthcare, well run public services, DD1 has SEN and is very well supported at school, outdoor lifestyle. What's not to love!

@PomPomChatton thanks! We have some SEN issues too (dyslexia) - so good to know. This is all helpful. It sounds like priority is to get an address. We would move at the beginning of July… do you think this is enough time to get sorted for the summer term? We will likely find somewhere to rent by May/June so we would have an address before I guess.

They are used to people arriving all the time, so the date you arrive shouldn't be an issue. Schools break up for the summer on the last Friday in June, but where I live, the letter indicating school places for the next school year often comes in mid/late-July. So everyone will be hearing at the same time as you.

Try and bring as much information with you about your DS's schooling (reports, grades, syllabus) and get it translated. Using Deepl to translate is good enough. Then the school board will have all the information they need to place your DS in the best year for him.