http://www.francethisway.com/wp Living in France and daily life for a UK expat in the French blog! Tue, 22 May 2012 06:28:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/make-a-living-online-in-france/2011/12/ http://www.francethisway.com/wp/make-a-living-online-in-france/2011/12/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:00:08 +0000 Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=3247 A long time ago I wrote a post about the kind of jobs that expats in France do or might consider doing to help make ends meet (see expat work in France). But times and ideas move on and recessions turn up unexpectedly so I thought I’d suggest a different idea. This is something I [...]]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/make-a-living-online-in-france/2011/12/feed/ 8 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/occupy-lot-et-garonne/2011/10/ http://www.francethisway.com/wp/occupy-lot-et-garonne/2011/10/#comments Sun, 23 Oct 2011 16:50:19 +0000 Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=3164 Nobody has called me yet to ask if I would like to contribute my share of the next 100 billion euro bailout fund, must be a problem with the answering machine perhaps. Still, just in case M. Sarkozy et Mme Merkel are reading this in a tea break at the ‘Hey, lets save the euro [...]]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/occupy-lot-et-garonne/2011/10/feed/ 5 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/tax-on-your-second-home-in-france/2011/09/ http://www.francethisway.com/wp/tax-on-your-second-home-in-france/2011/09/#comments Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:41:15 +0000 Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=3099 Good news for anyone who has a second home in France and is worried they aren’t doing enough to help the French economy – you’re about to start! As part of the proposed budget changes in France it is planned that capital gains tax will be payable on any gain you make when you come [...]]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/tax-on-your-second-home-in-france/2011/09/feed/ 10 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/starting-a-business/2011/05/ http://www.francethisway.com/wp/starting-a-business/2011/05/#comments Mon, 23 May 2011 15:14:13 +0000 Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=2853 It’s a well known fact (among those who have never done it) that people who move to France have two choices: 1) sit around in the sun drinking too much until the money runs out, or 2) start a business, work hard for a few years, watch as the business fails under the terrible weight [...]]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/starting-a-business/2011/05/feed/ 7 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/an-everyday-tale-of-debt-collection/2011/02/ http://www.francethisway.com/wp/an-everyday-tale-of-debt-collection/2011/02/#comments Mon, 07 Feb 2011 06:43:22 +0000 Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=2646 It’s not the first time I’ve mentioned URSSAF – the agency that collects payments for social contributions (National Insurance) in France – and probably won’t be the last, but this is a story that exceeds even my low expectations so I thought I’d share it. The tale begins in November 2010, when we had received [...]]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/an-everyday-tale-of-debt-collection/2011/02/feed/ 11 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/france-this-way-and-charity-help/2011/01/ http://www.francethisway.com/wp/france-this-way-and-charity-help/2011/01/#comments Sun, 02 Jan 2011 10:46:14 +0000 Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=2567 Ah yes, New Years Resolutions, how quickly they get forgotten! In these hard times we have racked our brains and shaken our piggy bank to think of the easiest way possible for all of us (both francethisway ourselves and visitors to the francethisway site) to help those less fortunate than ourselves – and you don’t [...]]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/france-this-way-and-charity-help/2011/01/feed/ 44 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/bribery-in-france/2010/12/ http://www.francethisway.com/wp/bribery-in-france/2010/12/#comments Sat, 11 Dec 2010 11:29:22 +0000 Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=2519 An interesting survey came out recently (copy at global corruption barometer) that compared corruption in various countries around the world. Of course France and the UK are the countries most interesting to me but some of the other results were surprising as well – and others more predictable. My general perception has always been that [...]]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/bribery-in-france/2010/12/feed/ 8 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/loi-madelin/2010/09/ http://www.francethisway.com/wp/loi-madelin/2010/09/#comments Sun, 26 Sep 2010 15:06:18 +0000 Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=2325 The Loi Madelin – a French personal pension scheme – will be completely uninteresting to lots of people, but to those affected it might just save a lot of money. So I’ll tell you what I know about it just in case you are someone who might benefit… Broadly speaking, the Loi Madelin allows self-employed [...]]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/loi-madelin/2010/09/feed/ 3 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/french-payslips-and-forms/2010/09/ http://www.francethisway.com/wp/french-payslips-and-forms/2010/09/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:00:00 +0000 Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=2279 The French, as all expats quickly come to realise, like to make anything to do with paperwork more complicated than it need be, and whether it’s a Taxe d’Habitation bill, an invoice from URSSAF, or a payslip from an employer the main goal is to make sure that you haven’t got any idea how the [...]]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/french-payslips-and-forms/2010/09/feed/ 9 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/dont-bank-on-it/2010/02/ http://www.francethisway.com/wp/dont-bank-on-it/2010/02/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:29:25 +0000 Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=1695 We seem to get an increasing number of of odd phone calls, best described as the equivalent of spam emails, which usually start with a recorded message saying something like ‘Boris, you have missed a very important message – please press * to listen’ only to then have to listen to a recorded message starting  [...]]]> http://www.francethisway.com/wp/dont-bank-on-it/2010/02/feed/ 1