Cost of living in Brussels

I'm fully aware of current prices for housing in Brussels as I help people daily to move and 2k for an apartment is top end prices. As Santireyes79 has found out, you can pay an awful lot less.

40% of children at our children's French school do not speak French at home, many of whom did not start in French but moved here. Almost 10% of the school population speak English, the majority can read and write in English, despite being educated in French. Many come, many go, they return to English or Spanish or German etc, there is no obligation to continue in French abroad. In any case, it is completely untrue that you cannot continue in French around the world, 480 French schools in 130 countries in the world, at low cost, even lower cost if you have French nationality. http://www.aefe.fr/tous-publics/le-rese … ayonnement

I pay under 100 euro a year for contributions to the mutuelle which covers me and 4 children. I pay 5 euro out of my pocket to visit the GP.

I did not question your knowledge of rent rates here in Brussels. Sure, I will be more than ecstatic if I find a place with low rents, but I did not have the luxury of time nor was I lucky. There are always trade offs: location, space, etc - you know what I mean. I'm quite happy where I am despite the prohibitive price. It could have been worse.

I did not say that you cannot continue in French at all, just that there are more countries where English is offered as a medium of instruction. Do you have the figures for English schools? For example, there is no French school in Botswana, at least when I lived there (2006-2010). The other option is to use CNED (distance learning) which we opted for a while in Bissau. For us, and that's US, the probability of finding an English school is higher than a French one. Besides, we are not in favor of disrupting learning methods, for lack of a better term, by switching to different systems and languages. My kids are already confronted with this: 4 languages at the same time and it's driving them bonkers.

Yes, Belgium has a very good health insurance system funded from taxes and contributions.

"You'll find an English-taught curriculum almost anywhere in the world, but not French or Flemish"

130 out of 196 countries is the coverage in the world for AEFE schools. For English speaking children who are educated in French in Belgium, there is no obligation for them to continue in French, should they move abroad, they could continue in English at an English medium school. There is a limited number of Dutch language schools in the world (not Flemish, the language is Dutch), but certainly a large network of French schools. This is why diplomats of English speaking countries often educate their children in the AEFE system which gives more likelihood of same teaching methods and same curricula than at English medium international schools which follow many different curricula and teaching methods.

If you are unemployed, you're not contributing in taxes or social security, but payment into the mutuelle still gives access to low cost health.

Almost is the key word here. That was true for us in Botswana. Adopting the same system is a personal choice if there are options which was why I said we will be obliged to follow through with either French or English. I am not speaking for others. 130/196 is not bad, but it did not help us in BW.

Thank you for the correction re Flemish Dutch.

You can't pay taxes if you're unemployed which is why the welfare system in Europe overall is better than elsewhere.

Bonjours à tous!

I will be moving to Brussels in September and am in the middle of creating a budget. So, this thread is of great help to me! I'm wondering how much it generally costs to do laundry at a laundromat. I'm probably going to be living in Schaerbeek, if that helps! I see that there's a Salon Lavoir kind of close by.

Thanks for any help!

Best,

Kay

[Moderated: Off topic]

Hi
I am a student outside of EU and I have received a PhD studentship to study in ULB, Brussels, The studentship pays me  Euro 35000. Will it be enough for me to cover my expenses.  Please let me know

Thank you

Seriously 35000? Well a family of 4 kids has the right to 13000 euro a year to live on and many thousands of families have that much, I think you could save 2/3 of your bursary per year.

about basic needs, you could if you put your children in local schools suffice with 4000euros per month.
But I do not know about taxes on your salary, you could ask the belgian embassy about this.

The avarage costs in Brussels for one person:

- accomodation (appartment, or house) 500-800/month
- water and electricity 100/month
- public transport (metro, bus or taxi) You can get an anual season ticket for public transport 200/year
- monthly household shopping 150/month
- average price for bread, butter, milk, eggs, kg of meat... Bread: 2 euros, Butter: 1 euro
- medical insurance
- visit to the house doctor 25 euros for a visit
- school fees (specify which school) Public/Catholic school: 250 euros for the books, 150 the rest
- petrol Dieseloil 1,3 euros/L
- average price of a good menu in a traditional restaurant 30 eyros
- a beer or a coffee in a bar or pub 2 euros
- a cinema ticket 10 euros + 10 euros for the food and drinks (It is very expensive in the cinema)

Please fill in my survey concerning cross-cultural integration! It would help me a lot.
The link: esurveycreator.com/s/c24597c

Thank you in advance!

Hello everybody! This is my first post in expat-blog forums.
I am thinking of applying for a paid 5-month Translation traineeship in the European Commission.
The grant supplied is 1.070 euros per month.
I know that I am not going to be able to live on that in Brussels and would have to dip into my savings. 
My question is how much more money would I need per month to cover the absolute essentials (rent, utilities, groceries and transportation)? I wouldn't like to share a flat.
And can you find an appartment to rent for only 5 months?
Thanks!

hi guys ive been looking at this post and just want to see how things have changed in terms of costs and pricing...
what do u think a couple needs to live comfortably (net) in brussels per month?
not an extravagant lifestyle, but not counting every euro either.
any ideas? thanks in advance !

A decent but not extravagant salary in Belgium is in the area of 2500 net. Less than that and you have to start looking a little more closely and watching your budget. I live outside of Brussels and we made do with 1600 net but we were always on the verge of catastrophe. Keeping the budget was paramount and not always easily done...Whenever we managed to save a little to the side something always came up that needed to be paid...ie heat oil, car repair ....etc....
If both of you work you can get by with 1500 net each by month and not have to worry too much.

Salut a tous My name is Sam. I currently live and work in toronto, Canada. I am considering to accept a potential offer for an expat senior process engineer position im Brussels.
1- Anyome could assist me in terms of how much I could expect as salary range & overall package( the work involves 25% travel)
2- how about living expenses for a couple living in Brussels, I heard its a pretty expensive city to stay in ? Should we expect more than 3000 per month for expenses (including everything)
3- for a 5000-5500  gross pay per month, how much shoukd i expect to pay tax?

Thanks lot.for your help& replies it is very much appreciated
sam
4- after receiving my permit B as work visa could my wife work in belgium ? Or does she have to find an employer to sponsor her?

Thanks a lot for thr help

Thanks million for the help

Hi, I am an Indian living in Dubai for over 8 yrs. I have 2 kids aged 6 and 4, and my husband is getting a career opportunity in Brussels. I need tips /advice on schooling. My kids do not know french. and Private schools are unaffordable. Will really appreciate if fellow Indians can help.

To Dadvani:

You're right, international schools in Belgium are ridiculously expensive - a situation supported by corporates for their expat employees, but few others. I know of no parents who would pay upwards of 25k euros / year for each child out of their pockets (the actual amount varies with the class / age of the child and from school to school.) Are you sure your husband's company cannot subsidize part of the tuition fee? It would be unreasonable for them to expect him to move if he cannot educate his children at a reasonable cost.

A much cheaper option is to try the bilingual (French-English) schools, and for this there is some very informative input from schoolmum at https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=160435  ("French / English bilingual schools in Brussel")

I'd suggest going through that thread before bombarding her with questions - there's a vast amount of information there which could answer most of them (and you may wish to move your questions to that thread - you will probably get better responses there, because it is about bilingual education).

A French-language commune-run public school would be the cheapest, but very difficult (and possibly psychologically damaging) to your children. I don't think the school will make any special effort to accommodate your children there (in fact I'm not sure they will admit them).

I would go for the middle-of-the-road option of bilingual schools, but know nothing of them (schoolmum appears much better prepared to advise you).

In any case, try to get your kids to start learning French as soon as possible (while still in Dubai). I think we underestimate children's ability to learn, and if they undergo an intensive program, you may be surprised at how well they do..