Cost of living is a major factor when choosing where to live or visit as a family. (It’s why we’ve still never been to Switzerland — one sandwich on a layover in Zurich cost me 40 francs 15 years ago, and that told me everything I needed to know.)
It’s why we lived in Mexico when we started teaching online. (Spoiler alert: Mexico City is more expensive than some U.S. cities now.)
It’s why when we visit expensive destinations, we find ways to do it on a budget — using apps like HomeExchange or traveling in the off-season.
But it’s not only the price that matters. If you’re not in a good financial situation and there’s no opportunity to get yourself out of it, then it doesn’t really matter if a piece of bread is 5 euro or 1 euro.
When talking about the price of a place, you have to consider your own circumstances. Price can be objective and subjective. And there are so many other factors that come into play.
The ‘Real’ Cost of Living in Portugal — Family of 3
Objectively, we still think Portugal is a very affordable place to live (even though prices have gone up), especially compared to Western Europe.
But you get what you pay for. Subjectively, the sunk cost was more than we could have ever imagined.
When we moved to Portugal, we initially rented a two-bedroom apartment for 1,000 euro. Coming from Jersey City — where we paid around $2,000 a month for a shoebox — this felt like a good deal. (Even though prices increased rapidly after the pandemic). We also had to pay for this apartment while we waited for our visa to be approved.
(That’s how Portugal can get you.)
Okay, so rent’s not so bad. Here’s what our monthly budget looked like in Porto over the two years we were living there:
Rent: $1,500 (on average from all the places we lived)
Health insurance: $130 (copays for emergency visits were around $50 each time — and we went often)
Groceries: $500–$1,000 (this depended on the month, but we were buying diapers and formula)
Restaurants/Takeout: $500
Uber: $100
Daycare: $350 to start, then free through the “Happy Creche” program
Childcare: 10 euro/hour (babysitter 2x/week at first, then for date nights)
Total: $3,000/month± (not bad, right?)
The Other Costs
But there are always the costs you don’t see.
We dealt with one apartment issue after the next. It became clear we had to increase our budget to avoid severe infrastructure or mold problems (and honestly, that made no difference).
By the end, we were paying around 1,300 euro a month for a 2-bedroom, semi-furnished, in the neighborhood of Antas (highly recommended).
But, we were still getting electrocuted in our apartment. So that should tell you what you need to know.
Another friend paid $4,000 for an entire house in Foz near the beach. It still had mildew issues.
Other costs:
Bureaucratic support: visas, accountant, consulting, navigating healthcare with a company…we had to pay for this help or we couldn’t get this stuff done.
Settling-in costs: thousands in deposits
Furniture: $8,000 when we moved into our final apartment
Of course, we also traveled occasionally.
And then there were the invisible costs:
Apartment deposits we never recovered.
Constant ear infections that we had to pay for emergency visits as waiting for an appointment in the public sector would have taken weeks.
A lot of wasted time.
The job situation also wasn’t great. When Hana lost a lot of work after we moved — and Max had quit his teaching job for us to be able to move — we were just getting by.
Though we’d worked online for five years and we always found our way, finding our way in Portugal with a kid was a different story. Our visa made it very difficult to seek work locally if push came to shove (which it kind of did). And we would have needed to live there five years for citizenship. That felt like we’d have to just survive, which wasn't the reason most people move abroad, let alone to a place like Porto.
The Cost of Living in Colombia — Family of 4
Believe it or not, Bogotá is more expensive than Porto in some ways. And sometimes that makes us cringe. We still love Europe. So the thought that we were able to live there and spend less — now that Hana has a full-time job and our work situation is more stable — does sting a bit.
But we get so much more for…a little bit .
Rent: $1,500 (bigger place, more central area, in a city of 11 million people)
Health insurance: $450 (expensive, but we feel the quality is much better, and copays are only $10)
Public health insurance: $100 (required)
Groceries: $500
Restaurants/Takeout: $750 (yes, a lot — but with a baby, we order more and we go on more dates)
Uber: $100
Jardín: $480 (private school)
Childcare: $80 (around $5/hour)
Here in Colombia, we’re also able to pay for things that either weren’t available in Portugal or would have cost much more:
Part-time cleaning help: $300 (3 days/week)
Part-time nanny: $400
Total: $4,800±/month
There was also childbirth. And a night nurse for the first few months.
Eventually, both kids will be in school. Maybe one day we’ll pay for things we never thought we’d pay for. Maybe have a car.
Certain things are cheaper in Portugal. There’s no doubt about that.
But, other things are cheaper here — things that matter for us in the stage of life we’re in right now.
Even though daycare was free in Portugal, the quality was…meh. (There was a major mold issue, though we loved the teachers.) If she had gone to international school there, it would have been about $1,000 a month — similar to what we’ll pay here in a few years.
But, we love our school here. We love our community. So much of it is priceless.
It also felt like we didn’t have much social mobility in Portugal. There weren’t job opportunities for us. And if we needed to cut costs or adjust, there wasn’t much wiggle-room to do that.
In Colombia, we can pay for extra help. But if times get tough, we can cut back.
Reduce help.
Save on lunches (menu del dia, instead of Korean, for example)
We’re closer to the U.S. time zone. It’s a Spanish-speaking country. Our residency isn’t tied to a job.
We have more options. Etc.
At the end of the day, it’s not always about what’s “more affordable.”
Money matters. We’ll admit; we didn’t realize how much our expenses would change once we had a child abroad. When you don’t have kids, you can just get up and go somewhere cheaper if things aren’t working out, or go back to your home country to work and save up again.
But, it’s different with kids.
One thing we did love about living in Europe: flights around the continent were cheap. So was renting a car.
But accommodations? Restaurants? Activities? Expensive.
Wine?
Cheese?
A few euros.
In LATAM, it’s the opposite. Flights may cost more. But once you’re there, it’s affordable.
Wine — imported, and expensive (although, we found that Ara grocery store sells Pingo Doce wine. Score!)
Cheese — not existent.
Both Colombia and Portugal are affordable destinations to travel and places to live, but we found Portugal only works if you’re able to ride out the waves (no pun intended).
Colombia is a place to build a life.
And, the day we decided to leave Portugal, Hana got a full-time job offer.
That stability has been a blessing.
And yes, we’ve wondered: now that we have that stability, does it make sense to move back to Europe?
Maybe.
But we’re happy for now.
If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Roammies Babysitter Network, read more here.
We also started our Facebook community last week, which will be where a lot of the conversations, babysitter recommendations, place recommendations, and other questions will take place.
And, as always, we’ll update the Roammies Directory once a month. If you have a place you’d like to contribute, fill out the form here.