As Renae Wasik sips the final drops from her glass of wine and puts the fork on her plate, a smile spreads across her face when the waiter approaches with the bill.
The mum, who spent the day working from her garden while watching her daughter play under an orange tree, doesn’t worry about enjoying restaurant visits anymore – not since she moved to paradise.
The 43-year-old and her husband Pawel packed up their lives in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, and moved to the breathtaking island of Lefkada with their two-year-old daughter Rocca, in November last year.
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Ever since, constantly checking their bank balance to make sure they stay on budget has become a thing of the past.
Whereas the cost of living crisis and a sky-high £3,000 rent left them trapped at home most nights in Britain, here in Lefkada, they go out every week.
Dinner with a glass of wine in their local restaurant, which streams movies during the meal, costs just £11.30 per person.
The same price gets you a bus to Athens, should a weekend away be on the cards for the family, as well as two pork gyros with chips and drinks.
A flat white at the café is a meagre £2.18 – though that’s the tourist price, meaning locals like Renae pay even less.
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If she fancies on the marina pint, it’s even cheaper at £1.74.
Although supermarket prices for meal are similar in price – at £6 for a packet of 500g mince – the fruit and veg at the local market is so cheap that you can get enough greens for £20 for three meals a day for a whole week.
Meanwhile, Renae gets freshly-pressed olive oil for free from a friend.
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Even if she did have to pay, a nearby factory charges just 87p per litre.
“We spend less and live better – way, way better,” said Renae.
“I got dinner the other night for both of us for £11 and three ice creams for £7.
“I was like ‘Oh wow this is cheap’.
“[Another example of savings and the sense of community is how] we get olive oil from a friend of ours, who gives us 2L plastic bottles whenever we need them for free.
“It is freshly pressed and the deepest green you’ve ever seen.
“We don’t have to buy it because every property here has olive trees and when you collect your olives, you take them to the factory and they press it for you for something like €1 per litre.
“Honey is very similar.
“We get it for free from neighbours as well.
“I usually make some sort of olive and honey cake in exchange with the oranges that we have in our garden.
“It’s not about earning more – it’s about needing less, and choosing a different way to live.
“We are so happy and relaxed [now].”
Renae, who is head of the PR firm, The Atticism, and Pawel, who runs a painting and decorating business, first felt the inspiration to move during a holiday to the very island where they now live.
They spotted a plot of land for sale and took a picture of it.
At the time, they had already started talking about leaving Britain due to the “stressful” lifestyle and extreme cost of living.
Spontaneously, the pair put an offer in for the land, which was instantly accepted – making their dream a reality.
Renae said: “That was the moment where everything shifted.
“It was like, okay… this is real now.
“We’ve either just made a huge mistake or we’re about to completely change our lives.
“This forced the conversation into something concrete.
“It stopped being a ‘one day’ idea and became a now decision.”
For now, while their permanent house is being built, they rent a two-bed flat, which includes utilities, although they will need to cover the cost of gas for cooking once the canister runs out.
Some outgoings remain similar to Britain, such as the gym at approximately £43 per month.
But with the couple’s rent sitting at just £430 per month, a shocking £99 per week, they have much more disposable cash to splurge.
Plus, the seasons also affect costs – for the better.
While Brits dread energy bills and food cost rises, in Lefkada, prices go lower in the off-season.
Renae said: “In winter, we get things cheaper.
“It’s not advertised but it just seems to work out like that.
“And if you buy fruit and veg at the local markets (not for tourists) you can get enough for the whole week (3 meals a day) for €25-30.”
“There’s a cafe/bar in our village that isn’t really open for business in off season but we messaged them for my husband’s birthday and they opened for us, so we invited the village down.
“It’s on the beach.
“We just told anyone to come and we met all the new people.”
Renae said she is currently forking out around €2.009 for fuel but in a small town, she doesn’t need to go far.
The family live just 10 minutes from the beach in a coastal town called Vasiliki – which has just over 400 residents.
The island itself is home to approximately 23,000 people.
Most days, the mum simply enjoys the pleasures of nature and sunshine in utopia.
She said: “In the UK, I worked from home, inside, at a desk, with the heater on most of the year.
“Now I’m sitting outside under an orange tree while my daughter plays in the dirt, and I work like this most days.
“Technically, you can do anything in the UK but the reality of how you live day-to-day is completely different.
“So many people moan at me about the fact that ‘You can do that in the UK’.
“And sure – but do you? Every day?
“Our weekend is spent on the boats (a flotilla where we all go somewhere with five boats full of people) for free basically, apart from [the cost of sandwiches] – or we go to the waterfalls or a friend’s bbq.
“Or we just walk to our village and hang out on the marina and all the kids play and we have drinks, but we pay local prices – like €2 a beer.”
Although the change in lifestyle has benefited the family hugely in many ways, they did have to adjust to one particular aspect: the convenience of ordering food at the push of a button.
Renae said: “I miss Deliveroo, UberEats, Waitrose and M&S.
“I miss being able to get any ingredient I want within 20 minutes – but you adapt.
“And what I’ve swapped it for – the peace, the space, the beauty – is worth it.”
The par’s daughter Rocca will start preschool next year when she turns three – with childcare set to cost the pair nothing.
Renae also has two adult daughters, Kyah, 24, and Paris, 23, who are still living in the UK.
She added: “My eldest is flying here, my middle will be here in May, and my brother is coming, so I have lots of contact still.”
“But the kids don’t want to come [and live here].
“They’ve got lives and partners in the UK.
“Who knows what the future will bring.
“My brother from Australia is keen!”
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