Island Cost of Living?

[Gillian76]

Following on from my thread about our possible move, I am pleased to update the DH has been asked for interview in a fortnight.

Now I am really starting to worry about all the nitty gritty (although convinced in my head it will in principle be a good move, all things considered!). People say that the cost of island living is higher but I'm wondering exactly what that means.

In terms of housing, we could rent or buy something fairly substantial for around £150k. That bit I think will be fine. In terms of the running of the house, is gas, electricity, etc more expensive? And groceries? At the moment I spend about £80 for a week's shopping (there are 5 of us). Does anyone know how that might "transalte"?

I have accepted that most of the birthday/Christmas/clothing shopping will be done on trips to the mainland so probably comparable.

Thanks in advance to anyone with advice

Oh and I'm assuming petrol is dearer too?

I know someone who's moved to Orkney. It took them a little while to find a house as they don't go up for sale very often. They got a 3 bedromm (i think) detached with a fair bit of land for £160k. Yes petrol is dear but you may use less as you'll go to shops less.

Good luck.

I would try to have 1 big mainland shopping trip a month to stock up. Also I think there are special ferry fares for resident islanders.

Wher are you moving to, Gillian? The skye bridge tolls have now been abolished. Have you checked out CalMac for their ferry fares?

If you buy a house with central heating, it will either run from gas from a tank or through bottles as there is no main town gas, or oil, and there will be a tank in the back garden. We have oil, our tank is 1200litres, normal for a house (we have 3bed, 2 reception and 2 bathroomed bungalow, new, so insulation is good. Ours also heats our water) and usually fill it twice a year- we filled it last week and it cost £445. IFAIK there are only 3 companies who deliver to us, we're on the west coast (Gairloch) let me know if you want the phone nos.

We have never switched our electric supplier from Scottish Hydro, and our average quarterly bill is about £100. I don't think it's higher than your average.

As for groceries, I think there is a fiar sized Safeway in Stornoway, and a Co-Op in Portree, maybe a Safeway too. But they don't all have the same prices as the town equivalent so that may be a bit annoying. Milk may be over £1 for 2L. I think you'll struggle to do your groceries for less than £100 unless you live on "value" everything. You may not be able to get much organic etc.

Petrol is a big problem here, I think it's around £1.05 and probably nearer £1.10 on the islands. We have a diesel car, always have done (we think it's essential) and fill everytime we're in Inverness.

HTH

Oh I think you can get a book of tickets for ferries which work out cheaper. Try www.calmac.co.uk

Thanks girls.

Potentially moving to the Uists, so mainland trips for groceries probably not an option.

Is that price for deisel Bramblina? Have just bought a petrol Zafira at Christmas so we'll be sticking with that for a while.

Bumping in case Miaou or Bensmum are around.

Yes that is diesel but I don't think there's a great deal of difference in the price of petrol and diesel, just you get soooo much further with diesel IME, we have a 4yr old vectra 2l turbo and get 45 mpg.

Gillian, I live in the Outer Hebrides (Harris) and can fill you in on the details if you like.
Havent got time at the moment but will post later.
Petrol is the biggie, other costs are similar though, adn council tax is a real bargin!

Oh harrisey that would be great!

We're unsure as to whether to rent or buy. Property we're looking at seems very affordable, but houses seem to be on the market for ages. What worries me is that if things go pear shaped (and I'm 99% sure they won't!) we'll be stuck with a house we can't sell.

The dilemma is whether to buy and have room for relatives, etc to stay or rent a house which will probably be smaller and relatives have to kip on the floor or pay for accommodation (all our family are here, near Glasgow).

I work at the moment albeit part time, but I bring in about £500 a month. Looks like we'll have to do without that as I don't know whether I'd be likely to get a job.

Sorry to be so long winded. Any advice would be great

Harrisey, where have you gone?

Hi Gillian, I'm here. Been frantically looking for a house in Glasgow the last coupel of days,as we are moving in August.

Well, the Outer Hebrides. I don't knwo too much about the 'Southern Isles' as we call them up here in Lewis/Harris, I have been there twice though, and a lot of things will be similar price wise.

Petrol is the thing that everybody notices is expensive when they move up here, or even come on holiday. Our local petrol is 1.06 at the moment, but it does tend to fluctuate quite a lot. And of course with it being a rural area you do tend to doa lot of driving.
Gas - well if you want gas it will have to be Calor cylinders, as there is no mains gas outside of Stornoway. We (and a lot of people) have a gas hob as there are more frequent power cuts here than other places - mainly because of the winds being so strong. So it is good to have agas hob to cook on on the infrequent occasions when we need it!
Electricity - as far as I am aware as you are part of the national grid it is similar prices to elsewhere. We're with Scottish Hydro - I'm not sure that there is the option to choose a different supplier up here, I dont think so or dh would have found something cheaper!!
Groceries I think you will find will be a little more expensive. There is a Coop in Balinvanich I think , so it will be coop prices which are a little more expensive than say Safeway. There are 5 of us and I spend about 100 per week on groceries - but that migh be the wine of course lol!
But we find that because the opportuites to do things liek eat out are much less, we spend less money. And property prices are low (though rising) so housing costs are cheap. Council tax - we have just been reassessed at Band E and I was going to tell you what it is, but cant find the statement right now.
Travel is the other expensive thing - flights are BA and there are no budget airlines or anythnig serving the islands. You can travel from Berneray (off N Uist) to Skye and from Lochboisdale to Oban - though that is an overnight trip and I wouldnt like to do it with kids. We use the same ferry as the N Uist one (it runs alternately to Harris and Uist) and its a nice enough boat with a soft play. its about 2 - 2.5 hours drive to Inverness from the terminal in Uig. Inverness is great for shopping - on our way home we always stop in tesco and stock up on things that you cant get over here (Organic stuff, nice tins of fancy beans, wild rice etc ....
They have just introduced an Islander Air Pass, which gets you 40% off the costs of flights within the islands or to the mainland, and there is talk of it being introduced for the ferries as well. But I have no idea of the timescale for that. For the ferries you can buy a 6 journey ticket which works out at 10 - 20% cheaper, if you are going to do 3 return trips in the course of the year, which you will.
i have come to rely on the internet for shopping for things like presents, but you have to watch as some sites charge more for offshopre delivery - Amazon dont! Lush does! I'm not sure about clothes shopping in the Uists, limited I would think. In Sty we have a Mackays, and Woolies is good for kids clothes. I but kids clothes on the internet as well.
There are so many benefits to Island living. The schools are excellent, the health service is amazing, the beaches! The fresh air! Its so safe! We love it here, adn though we are moving to Glasgow in August we are planning on returning and we're not sellig out house in Harris. There are more and more cultural events going on here as well now. The Hebridean Celtic Festival is on 13th - 16th july - Houhouse Flowers, etc playing, and there are events all over the Hebrides throughout the summer.
We moved up here for 6 months - 10 years ago! I had my children up here, we have had a fabulous family life here, and there are so many things I am going to miss, while looking forward to city life for a change.
What else do you want to know? Feel free to CAT me or ask here. When are you thinking of moving? What is it your husband is going to do there? Are you a SAHM or are you going to look for a job as well? It s shame I am leaving just as you are comeing as it is quite easy to travel between the islands - we could have had a Hebridean meet up!
Where are you moving from? It is going to be a big change, wherever you are comeing from, but I heartily recommend it!

pokes nose in

do you mind me asking what jobs there are to do for incomers on the islands?

Lots of service jobs - biggest employer in Outer Hebrides is the Council (including education) and then the Health Board.
Many incomers farm or fish, as well as running tourism services - self catering, B&B, hotel work. There is a college which employs a lot of people and Stornoway has a lot of minor offices, banks, shops etc. People work in the fish farms, fish processing and on the ferries. There is a lot of work in the building trade. more people are beginning to do teleworking.
People often have more than one job. For example, my husband is the local GP and we also run 2 self catering holiday properties and I do occasional supply teaching. Our neighbours - well he is a joiner, she is a legal firm's tele-secretary and they also have a croft (small farm) - will sheep and highland cattle. Another neighbour is a forester and a volunteer coordinator. Yet another is a fisherman and a crofter.
There's lots to do!

sounds very exicting, I want to come too

DH is a teacher. I am a primary teacher but don't know how much work I'd get because I have no Gaelic.

I've been in the school at Linaclete, is it the secondary that he will be working in? I'm also a teacher and CNES (the council) have always been a good employer to me.
There is a bit of a debate going on in the Uists at the moment as the council is consolidating primary services and talking about making one of the primary schools Gaelic only. There is English provision in the islands though and you should probably put your name down if you want to work as you never know when they might find someone.
I dont know how old your children are but if any are preschool then you would have the option of putting them into Gaelic education from the word go - we have done this with my dd1 (the only one of ours who is in school) and she has done very well - there is a thread on it in Language/Bilingualism if you are interested. But if your kids are already in English language provision then the council has to provide english schooling for them.
The schools are very good, the classes are small and I really enjoyed teaching secondary here.

Gillian, I can't really add anything to the good advice you have already been given here - plus the island I was on (and bensmum is on) is far smaller so things like petrol/shops etc were a different proposition (there is only one mile of road there!!). Everything I can think of has already been mentioned

Good luck to your dh

Harrisey I CAT'd you. Did you get it yet?

gillian htis sounds so scarey

are you SURE?

We love to visit our pals outside Dunoon, Argyll. You take a ferry across Loch Long. You can drive, so it's still technically on the mainland, but it's a looooonggg way round on a lot of single track roads.

Love to visit, that is.

Wouldn't want to live there. Especially now.

Midgie city.

I don't think I'll ever be SURE. But I fancy giving it a damn good shot. I think DH would love the job and the schooling will be great for the kids.

I would like to have more children (well 1 more at least ) and if we can make it on DH's salary I will. After that, I would probably go back to teaching, if I can.

DH lived there for 4 years before marriage and kids and I did visit a few times. I think I had rose tinted specs on though!

We will be up for a week from Saturday and the interview is on Monday. Think we'll know for sure after the week.

I'm not a big shopping fan tbh and don't like all the rushing about of town living. And besides, Boden and Next deliver

we were up there for a holiday recently. There are a couple of decent supermarkets (co-op and something else I think). Don't think there was anything much missing from their range - can't say I noticed the price being extortionate.

Not sure about house prices - but there are lots and lots of new builds going on - so presumably it is within the budget of at least a proportion of the population.