The Cost of Living in Italy for Retirees: The Real Monthly Budget

so today i'm walking you through every line of a monthly budget with actual math for three kinds of town then the money you spend before you've even unpacked and where the visa income fits in i treat budgets the way i treat security i don't trust one number i trust the range and then i go poke the worst end of it with a stick a few weeks ago at dinner a guy found out what i do and leaned in italy yeah it's cheap my cousin lives there on 1500 a month and honestly the cousin probably does One person, little village down south, no car, inherited the apartment from an aunt.

Good for the cousin.

It's just not your number.

Numbers like that go wrong one of two ways.

They leave stuff out, or they come from a town you would never live in.

Italy isn't one priceless.

It's a bunch of priceless wearing one flag.

Saying the average cost of living in Italy is like saying the average temperature in a hospital.

It's technically a number, but it tells you jack shit.

When I started doing ours, my first spreadsheet had one cell, monthly budget, just sitting there looking at it.

It lasted about a day.

Camila walked past, looked at it and said, relax.

She says that about everything.

But one cell can't tell you anything.

It can't tell you which line moves when you change towns and which lines follow you wherever you go.

So I tore it up.

I built six lines and priced every one of them three ways.

And if you want to hear the sausage get made, hit follow in your podcast app.

I'm building our budget in public four years early, wrong numbers and all.

Okay, meet Rick and Donna.

They're a fictional couple, the numbers are illustrative, but the math is real.

Early 60s, retired, renting, no car for now.

Three towns.

A small town down south, a mid-sized city in the center or the north, and Rome or Milan, where you're paying for the zip code and the espresso in the corner.

Six lines.

so today i'm walking you through every line of a monthly budget with actual math for three kinds of town then the money you spend before you've even unpacked and where the visa income fits in i treat budgets the way i treat security i don't trust one number i trust the range and then i go poke the worst end of it with a stick a few weeks ago at dinner a guy found out what i do and leaned in italy yeah it's cheap my cousin lives there on 1500 a month and honestly the cousin probably does One person, little village down south, no car, inherited the apartment from an aunt.

Good for the cousin.

It's just not your number.

Numbers like that go wrong one of two ways.

They leave stuff out, or they come from a town you would never live in.

Italy isn't one priceless.

It's a bunch of priceless wearing one flag.

Saying the average cost of living in Italy is like saying the average temperature in a hospital.

It's technically a number, but it tells you jack shit.

When I started doing ours, my first spreadsheet had one cell, monthly budget, just sitting there looking at it.

It lasted about a day.

Camila walked past, looked at it and said, relax.

She says that about everything.

But one cell can't tell you anything.

It can't tell you which line moves when you change towns and which lines follow you wherever you go.

So I tore it up.

I built six lines and priced every one of them three ways.

And if you want to hear the sausage get made, hit follow in your podcast app.

I'm building our budget in public four years early, wrong numbers and all.

Okay, meet Rick and Donna.

They're a fictional couple, the numbers are illustrative, but the math is real.

Early 60s, retired, renting, no car for now.

Three towns.

A small town down south, a mid-sized city in the center or the north, and Rome or Milan, where you're paying for the zip code and the espresso in the corner.

Six lines.