The Cost of Living in Norway

T took this picture on a hike.  There are sheep everywhere.  It is a very pretty place, but expensive to live here.

So here is the breakdown on living here.  Our rent is 5000+ dollars depending on the exchange rate.  The military only gives us an allotment of 4500+/-.  We looked at over 20 houses to rent.  They were ok, but most only had one bathroom, and after living in a hotel for a month and one bathroom I did  not think that we could do that for three years.  All of the house were laid out wired from an American perspective, but some more than others.  One house we looked at had a basement room that you went right into from the stairs and it was a bathroom.  You went down the stairs and rightbtobthebleft of the door was a toilet.  If that was the only room not so bad, but there were rooms off of that room.  Anyway that is the house story.  Internet, electric, phone, and cable cost us about 550+/- a month.  We can't really use the phone, because each call cost money per minute.  I only use it to call London for approval for dr appointments.  It is a toll free number so I think I don't have to pay for it. More on the dr thing another time.

So lets talk about food.  Milk is 4.30 a half gallon, if you can find a half gallon.  Most places only have it by the quart and then it is about 3.00.  Grapes are about 4.55 for .55 pounds.  A dozen eggs are 7.00.  A pepper mix which is one red, one yellow, and one green is about 3 dollars (I believe that was on sale).  2.9 pounds of bananas was 3.85.  A pint of coffee creamer is 3.00.  A head of iceberg lettuce is 2.75.  A fourth a pound of ham lunch meat is 4.21 and salami for the same amount is 6.00.  A single cucumber is 2.88.  A half a pound of tomatoes is 2.60.  That is just a few of the prices.

I do try to shop the sales.  So if nectarines are on sale we may have them this time instead of apples.  Sometimes there is not much on sale and you just have to pay the price.  The don't have coupons, but I have found a place that I would call the big lots of Norway.  We are still trying to do the Dave Ramsey program and pay with cash, but it has been hard gettingnangood idea of a budget. We think we may have one now, but exchange rates sometimes make it difficult.  

Next time I will talk about the shopette and the cellar, which are places to shop on the base.  I hope you find good deals this week.