I moved my family from boring Portsmouth to Spain & save £1K a month – I rent two villas with pools & eat out for £11

TEARING unfastened the curtains, Nicola Powles smiles arsenic the warm  sunshine hits her face.

She slips into a brace of shorts for the sunny February time without a 2nd thought of putting the heating on.

But Nicola isn’t enjoying a interruption distant from the freezing UK temperatures with immoderate wintertime sun.

In information she’s ditched “boring Britain” altogether, upping sticks for sunny Spain and urging radical to “get retired present portion you can”.

Nicola present wakes up astir mornings to sunshine and ne'er little than an mean of 17-degree temperatures and says she is amended disconnected than ever before.

The existent property agent, from Portsmouth, near the UK metropolis aft struggling to marque ends conscionable each month.

“My advice? Get retired present portion you can,” Nicola says.

“It’s a shame but Britain is rapidly becoming a 3rd satellite state with thing to connection for the radical who unrecorded there.

“It’s a scary state with [crime] retired of control, you can’t spot a doc and ambulances don’t arrive.

“It’s ever grey – wherever volition it end?”

Now Nicola estimates that she saves £1,000 successful bills and rent each month.

“It’s truthful hard to get unchangeable connected your feet, with thing truly to amusement for it,” she says.

“If you privation to unrecorded disconnected benefits, past enactment successful the UK.

“If you privation changeless sunshine and a cheaper mode of living, past Spain is the spot for you.

“So galore things are overmuch cheaper here, for example; eating out, intoxicant and petrol.

“I tin get a three-course meal, including a drink, successful a section edifice for £11.

“The hospitals present are besides amazing, there’s hardly immoderate hold clip dissimilar successful the UK.

“And owe rates are less, the streets are precise harmless and I really consciousness comfy walking unsocial astatine nighttime successful my village.”

According to Kanan, a survey overseas company, the mean outgo of surviving for a family-of-four successful the UK was astir £2,200 per month, excluding rent, successful 2024.

In Spain, this fig was recovered to beryllium overmuch little – astir £1,400, excluding rent.

Nicola took the plunge aft going connected a three-day travel overseas to the Costa Del Sol for conscionable £99.

Three weeks later, she packed up and moved her full family, including her present ex-husband, 2 children, 2 horses and their 2 dogs – and has ne'er looked back.

The mum adds: “I recovered a three-day exploration travel to Spain done a question agent.

“All I wanted was a spot of sun, I didn’t mean to determination there.

“But successful the UK, beingness was a changeless hamster wheel.

“Luckily, my ex-husband, who was connected the travel with me, besides loved the thought of moving.

“As our kids were lone young astatine the time, it was casual capable to get them enrolled successful schoolhouse and larn the language.

“I was determined to marque the gorgeous weather, stunning onshore and affable locals an mundane occurrence for us.

“In the UK, we were paying the aforesaid magnitude of rent for 1 location than what we were doing for 2 successful Spain, which some included a pool.”

Nicola has present lived successful Malaga for 24 years and though prices person changed, she says it’s inactive cheaper than the UK.

She says that she has nary plans of ever returning to the UK.

She said: “Life is amazing, filled with lukewarm days and precocious airy evenings.

“I’ve made immoderate fantastic friends and I americium truthful overmuch much relaxed.

“I don’t fret implicit whether I’ll beryllium capable to wage the bills oregon moving each hours.

“If I bash miss home, I’m lone a two-hour formation away.”

Nicola present runs her ain institution helping chap expats instrumentality the plunge and determination to Spain.

She’s besides bought and renovated aggregate properties, earning a whopping £100,000 successful nett overall.

But she says that wannabe expats should beryllium mindful of rules and regulations erstwhile it comes to moving to Spain.

She adds: “Always usage a section lawyer, arsenic seashore and state rules are precise antithetic successful each town.

“And beryllium alert that astir each agents stock a database of each the properties available, truthful you tin take conscionable 1 cause to presumption anything.”

Nicola’s household person present returned to the UK and portion she misses them she says she can’t bring herself to instrumentality to the UK.

“I miss my girl and grandchildren, who unrecorded successful Britain, but the state has thing to connection maine anymore,” she admits.

“The lone mode I’m ever returning to the UK is successful a coffin.”