Budgeting for the 'setup tax' — the first three months cost double

OP here — naming it 'the setup tax' has genuinely helped me stop panicking about the numbers. Ours went mostly on the rental deposit + agency fee combo, then furnishing an empty flat. I'd tell anyone to budget a whole extra month's costs on top of what they expect.

The deposits stack up terrifyingly — rent, utilities, sometimes a phone contract, each wanting money up front before anything's running. I'd say have several months' expenses liquid on arrival, not just the first month's rent.

Duplicate subscriptions got me — paying for the old country's phone/streaming while setting up the new ones, for a couple of overlapping months. Small individually, painful together. Cancel the old stuff on a schedule.

With kids the setup tax was brutal — school registration, uniforms, activity deposits, kitting out their rooms, all at once. Families should pad the estimate even more; the per-person costs multiply fast.

The invisible one was 'newcomer inefficiency' — I overpaid for everything because I didn't know where the cheap options were yet. That premium fades as you learn the city, but budget for being fleeced a bit at first.

Second-hand marketplaces cut my furniture setup tax to almost nothing — people leaving the country practically give away good stuff. Furnishing new was where friends blew their budgets; I dodged most of it.

Mine was double what I planned too, and I wish I'd known that's NORMAL rather than me overspending. It's a one-off hump, not your new baseline — month four onwards, real life turned out much cheaper.

Keep a buffer specifically for the surprise official fees — permits, registrations, translations, apostilles. Individually small, collectively a real chunk, and they all seem to fall due in the same chaotic first month.