Costs of living in Barcelona

Hi guys!

First of all I'm glad that someway, somehow life and destiny brought you here.

Second, if you're here it means you might be planning or already coming to live Barcelona, or just curious, idk which I like the most :)

So, to be really honest I've never ever planned to live in Spain, things just happened reeeeally fast for me and changed ALL my plans (but that's a story you can find in another post).

I'd no expectations, watched some videos but believe me, it changes when you see it in person. I was seeing some vlogs, pictures and thinking ''ok, we will see''. But when I started to walk around and see how clean it is, bins on every block, a LOT of trees, a great weather and such a good and happy energy around, I can't describe, you just feel good.

Let's go to the point...

If you are not a big fan of walking as I am, here is a good new our public transport works and it's also much cleaner than other cities in Europe and Latin America. One thing I love, is that we have 24hs bus service and metro during the weekends. Besides that, you can use your ticket for bus, metro and tram. Find the options and prices here.

In the beginning of this year (2020) they changed the tickets prices and for the people who lives here it's now much cheaper and for tourists it's a bit more expensive than it was before.

When it comes to food, Barcelona follows the price range of Italy and Madrid, and as a big city, it will be always more expensive in the touristic areas. But in general you can find lunch menus for 12-20€ in differents types of restaurants. Don't forget to check my list of restaurants in Barcelona.

Grocery shopping is not too expensive either, we have many supermarkets options and you will go to one or another depending on the neighborhood you live (Mercadona, Condis, Dia, Bon Preu, Consum, Carrefour, Aldi, Capabro, etc). you shouldn't spend more than 30€ to fill your cabinets for a week if you are buying for one person only.

One personal thing I still don't know if I like it or not, is that you can't really compare prices (well, I couldn't) some of the supermarkets doesn't work with the same products so if you want a specific condensed milk you won't find the same brand in Mercadona and Carrefour for example, but if it's something that both have, the price is normally the same.

The public health system is free, but to use there's some things you need to know and documents you should present before requiring the TSI (check it here), sadly having this isn't enough to do or renew your NIE, in that case you need to contract a health insurance, prices always depends on your age, etc. Some of the options we have are Adeslas, Sanitas, Mapfre, etc. You can always ask for a doctor appointments from their app, and if you're lucky, you can even schedule for the same day.

But sadly that's not everything, in the end you're leaving your country and now you gotta pay rent, but, how much it costs to rent a place in here? Is it expensive? Is it cheap? Well, it all depends on your financial situation, there's properties for everyone.

One common thing in here is to rent a room and live with a family, or people from your age. Normally for renting a room prices start on 300-350€ and can cost you 600€ for a room in a shared apartment, most of places are including the bills (water, electricity, internet, etc) but always ask the landlord to confirm. Besides that, 80% of places for rent ask for a security deposit, that they will give you back when you leave the place, but, you always need to tell them a month before you leave and of course, everything needs to be on its place.

If you don't know where you can start looking for a place, here are some of the options that helped me: Badi, Spot a Home, Housing Anywhere, Piso compartido, and there's also some groups on Facebook such as 'Alquiler de habitaciones Barcelona', 'Pisos y habitaciones de alquiler en Barcelona', just copy and paste this on facebook and ask to join the groups.

One last thing about renting a room, most of the websites have the options of looking for a female/male only house, and you can also set the ages. Don't forget to give a nice introduction about yourself, what you like to do in your free time, how's your personality, make it cool.

Ok, after all, you preferred to rent a place for your own, that's AMAZING! But, be fast, and prepare all your documents. You can always check on Idealista, Apartment Barcelona, Spot a Home, A Properties for example. The renting system here is REALLY fast, you can look for a apartment, decide to go for it and in the next morning isn't available anymore. The prices for renting an apartment here starts on 700€ and can go to 8,000€, it all depends. I prepared a list with some of things you should be aware of and also some Rental Advice from the town hall. Here's what you will need:

- Current NIE / DNI - Deposit equivalent to 1-3 monthly payment (depends on the owner) - A person as a guarantee - Payroll or regular income for the last 3-6 months - Pay expenses and taxes of the agency

Be careful with places you see that are modern, brand new and super cheap compared to the rest, as a person who rented a room and an apartment already I've seen many fake offers and people losing their money, if you can ALWAYS ask to see the entire place, in person or on video call and never believe when some people say the owner is from X country and it's not here now bla bla bla, always see the place by pictures and video call so you see it right in the moment.

Anyway guys, I think this is the most basic things you need to know to start planning your life in here.

Hope you guys liked the article, and if you have any doubts you can always send me an email and I will try to help you.

See ya!