Monthly costs of living In BG

The Bulgarian minimum wage is currently 650 lev per month, so I guess that is what the government thinks is enough to live on! As you and hubby are working age, you'll also need to factor in paying the social services fund, as well as living expenses.

Yes, @janemulberry gives a great reference point, the Bulgarian minimum monthly wage/salary. So if you compare your expected income with this, then it gives you a pretty good idea of how easy/difficult your life could be here.

To give a more concrete example, we have a small apartment in Plovdiv for when we want to see the bright lights of the big city. And when I want to be a bit warmer than our village house in winter. :-)

I have just paid the monthly electricity bill and it was 7 euros (yes, I've been staying here all month). The 50gb A1 home internet is another 8 euros. My water hasn't been billed yet, but it's in the order of 2 or 3 euros. No gas here (heat by AC unit). My property tax bill here (equivalent of the UK's council tax) is about 6 euros per month. That's a monster total of, roughly, 24 euros per month.

As a comparison, my UK council tax bill alone was more like 120 euros monthly, and each of my gas, water, and electricity were significantly more than my Bulgarian total.

Is it possible to pay by direct debit or direct bank transfer for all utility bills and council tax etc and how do I go about this. Thanks for any suggestions. It would be easier than having to remember to go into a town to pay before threats of getting cut off and worse the thought of the water or electricity companies actually carrying it out when I am not around to pay. I really could do with getting on top of that Cyrillic script. Thanks in anticipation.

Utility bills are cheaper as Gwynj describes (although mine are a fair bit higher than his) Some things are not that much cheaper, eg cost of running a car and many groceries if you shop in places like Lidl which seems to have a large presence in BG.
I think if you only had the minimum wage,  you would need to be quite frugal (which I am not!) .Hope the house search is going well.

I do not want to mislead, and @ScarlettR is absolutely correct that these are rather small bills... for a very small (or "bijou", as we prefer to say, ho ho) apartment. And it's in the middle of a middle floor, so it also benefits from being heated by all our neighbours. :-)

A village house is bigger and more expensive to run, and heating it in winter might be a significant expense.

Our village house is rather large, and even with the insulation and double-glazing it is costly to heat in winter. But if you have a wood burner, and collect your own logs from the local forest (as many do round my village), maybe it's fine. I heat with AC units, and I had a 500 leva leccy bill in December last year (when it was -13 degrees). It was quite comfy, actually, but as I know a month in Plovdiv will bring it down to 20 leva or so, it's a no-brainer for a cheapskate like me. :-)

As for paying your bills, @nettie605 I don't think you need to stress unduly.

It is not like the UK where there are standing charges and big disconnection and late fees. And, for example, if you don't pay your council tax you are in for some major drama! :-)

I don't believe I've ever received a bill, they don't send them out. Electricity doesn't have standing charges, so no usage = no bill (pretty much). If you don't pay, they do disconnect, but it's easy/quick to turn it back on again when you do pay. (And any re-connection fee is very small.) The water bill I didn't pay for a couple of years, until I found out how to do it. (Water company won't usually disconnect you anyway.)

Internet from the big guys (A1, Telenor, Vivacom etc) is on a contract, so you have to pay it every month. But my village internet (fibre to my house, great service) is same as the leccy: pay it if you want it. If not paid, it gets turned off. Pay it, and it comes back on an hour later. He also gives a good discount, so I just prepay a year and don't worry about it.

Property taxes, as far as I can tell, have no nasty enforcement. There are late fees (for registering the property, and for paying the due taxes), but they are quite small.

I was a couple of years in Plovdiv before I figured out that I had to register the property (I thought it would be automatic when I bought it), but it was no big deal.

I find the easiest payment method is easypay (epay.bg), which I do online. This is good for electricity and internet, among others.

Once I'd registered my property in Plovdiv, while I was there I got the PIN code needed for online access. So I can check (and pay) my taxes for properties/cars on the Plovdiv municipality website.

I have been paying my water at my local post office (with my account number).

I do agree that living on the minimum wage would need frugality, along with growing much of one's own food, using well water, etc.
OTOH, we are rather frugal and we need that much in the UK just to cover council tax and basic household bills (for a very small house), before we even go near the supermarket or online shopping!

Hi , thanks for all the replies,

I don't want to sound bad buy I am a stay at home mom and I don't actually work as such, well, I run house and I am on 24/7/365 shift .

Mu husband runs his own software company and we just lucky enough that he works from home. We live of annual licences that he sells .

Ireland is soo expensive( so is Poland , where I originally come from) comparing to BG that sometimes is hard to believe .
I do grocery  shopping around 2-3 times a week . it costs me about 350 euro a week .
Not to mention kids clothing/ toys/ dancing classes, drama classes, teak Won Do classes( Dancing 112 euro a month / teak won do 45 euros/ horse riding 40 mins 25 euros ) loaf of bread up to 3 e for good one, bluberies 5 e, stravberries 250 grams 4e  I don't drink but Pavel's beer costs up to 3 e each / internet 60 euros/ phones/ 40 euros him/ 40 me / 20 kids/ . not to mention everything else .

in BG - 28 leva monthly fitness club fee? Is this for real ? here we pay 40 e

would  500-600 euros weekly  and some bigger money twice a year ( 10000euros) for a family of four could secure us and give a piece of mind ?

I have already asked one of the members about this, but what do all think ?
If the costs of living are so small maybe I will even be able to safe aside and invest into something