‘I left UK as it cost me £3k a month just to feel depressed’

A woman who claimed she was spending “almost £3,000 per month to feel depressed” in the UK has revealed details of her new life abroad, and how she’s saving a substantial amount of money. Renae Smith took to TikTok to share how her new life on the continent has brought her “pure joy” – at a cost of just £706 (€800) per month.

“I paid £2,200 per month for my rent in the UK plus council tax, which was around £240 per month and electricity and gas, which was around £140,” she explained in a video. “That’s how much it cost me to live in the UK, but now I pay €800 and I live here.” Renae panned her camera to show the breathtaking view from her home in Greece, situated just yards from the sea with a mountainous backdrop.

She then gave her followers a quick tour of her new property, a beautiful open-plan Mediterranean stone villa equipped with everything she could possibly need.

“It just makes no sense,” Renae confessed. “I just can’t live in the UK anymore, I had to pack up and come here because I can look at this every morning for €800 a month and walk there… it’s the sea.”

She concluded: “Make it make sense, why would I stay in the UK?” However, numerous TikTok users expressed doubts over Renae’s value for money in their responses.

One person highlighted: “€800 to €1,000 euros is the average Greek salary. Greeks definitely cannot afford this rent.” Another agreed, saying: “Now guys, paying €800 rent a month in Greece is the equivalent of paying £2,500 of rent in the UK.”

Whilst a third critic commented: “But do we forget that where rents are cheaper work also pays less? Is hard for locals to afford those houses sometimes, so unless you still work remotely in UK or something like that… it isn’t always worth it.”

Replying, Renae said: “Yes. But my income is from the UK. Not Greece. I work remotely.”

Elsewhere, meanwhile, a Greek man who has made the opposite journey to Renae sided with her, saying: “As a Greek living in the north west [of England], I’m just putting up with the UK for another four years then off to Santorini to work six months every year and chill the other half. Living in the UK is a miserable existence.”

And a British woman praised her move: “What a beautiful life you are living. This is what I want.”

Renae subsequently addressed the backlash after her “last post making a lot of people angry” in a bid to silence her critics. “I’m not saying €800 a month is cheap for a Greek person to rent on a seasonal island like where I live,” she explained.

“I’m not saying that. I’m saying that in the UK I was paying £3,000 to live in suburbia and I was miserable, but here I rent an off-season Airbnb, which for me is much cheaper and I’m happy, living on a beautiful island where I get to run around in November in a t-shirt.”

She continued: “Secondly, I know people can’t just up and move to Greece. But since 2017, I, myself, have been manufacturing my business so that I can do that. That’s been a goal of mine since then that I have worked towards.

“So am I stoked that I can do it? Yes. But does that mean I’m putting you down because you can’t? No, but I’m allowed to be proud and happy for myself.”