This month 65 Degrees North starts a series of articles with a bit of a financial overview, for those of you planning to come and stay in Oulu. In our monthly interviews we will ask several foreigners of various nationalities, marital, family and work backgrounds about the costs of living in Oulu.

The first person I talked to was a middle-aged lady from Indonesia, living alone in her two-room flat in Koskela, a beautiful and quiet area of Oulu.
For her 40m² apartment, rented from the Sivaka company (the most popular house renting company in Oulu), she pays a monthly rent of 315€, including the water bills. Her electricity bills are usually 22€-25 € monthly and insurance payment is 15€.

Since Kartini travels by bus to work and school everyday, it is economical to purchase a monthly bus ticket. This enables its owner to move freely on every bus around Oulu. It costs 46€.

Kartini, like most other people living in Oulu, owns a mobile phone, like as many others, she also has Internet connection. After all, Oulu is a high technology town. She pays for both, phone bill and Internet connection around 65€.

These were the steady costs of living. What about the other expenses waiting for us? Like food, clothes and leisure?

Kartini originally comes from a country of very different culture and economic system from Finland. So it was very interesting to find out if she considers living here much more expensive then in her home country.

“What kind of food do you find more expensive here?” – I asked her. “Few items such as potatoes, chicken meat, apples, mandarins and some other fruits are actually cheaper here than in Indonesia!” – Kartini said. Not many but after all we always think, that there is no more expensive place to live than Finland.

Having said that, she also admitted, that her monthly food spending range from 120€ to 150€, which is definitely more than she would spend as a single person in her Indonesia.

“But although I now live only 150km from the Arctic Circle, I have absolutely no trouble finding ethnic Asian food or food products in the shops in Oulu. And such food prices are not any higher than the average Finnish food prices”- said Kartini.  So, she is still able to cook and eat the same way she used to when living in Indonesia.

And always a hot topic for ladies: clothing! Naturally, Kartini needs to buy few more warm outfits now then when she lived in Indonesia. She says that clothes prices are higher here than in Indonesia but also peoples’ incomes are relatively higher in Finland.  She is very well dressed and fashion-conscious lady, yet she manages to keep up her appearance by spending only 50-100€ per month.

‘What is her secret?’ I wondered. How can she be so elegant and stylish looking, yet so economical?  Kartini knows, that the best time to do a proper shopping, not just the window one, is the sale time. And Oulu shops offer sales all around the year. “Of course, you have to be fast and determined to put up with hundreds of other females rummaging through the fashion departments. But the effort pays back” - Kartini says, “On a good sale I manage to get a lot of trendy clothes, sometimes over 50% off the asking price”.

For someone with a modest income but good taste for clothes, she suggested shops such as: Lindex, Anttila and H&M. If you want to splash-out more, Stockman or Viima would be a very good choice for a place to dress yourself up.

“What about household and interior decorating items?” I asked her. “I don’t buy a lot of furniture or household equipment these days”. “I already own a lot of things having lived here ten years.” – she smiles.  But it’s also good to mention, that almost all rented accommodation places in Oulu are very well prepared, many with fully fitted kitchens, equipped with all the necessities. There is no need to buy wardrobes, dishwashers, kitchen units or even shower curtain. Everything is waiting either new or well checked and repaired if need be, for the new lodger.

“A good shop for buying nice, yet not wallet destroying’ household items is the Kodin Anttila mega store” says Kartini. “For some unique decorating pieces however, there is no better place to shop than many of the fantastic flea markets and second hand shops in Oulu”- she added.  

What advice would you give to any newcomer to Oulu in respect to living costs and budget planning?” I asked Kartini at the end of our interview.
“For someone, from outside Europe, the prices here might be a big shock at first. But don’t compare them to prices in your home country”- she said. “The incomes are after all different too. Just start planning your spending carefully. It might look as a very tight budget at first, but slowly you will adjust to thinking and also shopping in a different, more Finnish way. Then your living here won’t seem much more expensive than before.”

THIS  MONTH’S TIP FOR THE NEWCOMERS TO OULU (from our friend Kartini):
"If you come here for a definite period of time, do not go splashing-out on very expensive furniture, you can find good and almost unused staff in many second hand shops. After all you will leave it behind one day."