I am due to move from the UK to the Zug area in the next couple of months and have been looking into various costs of living. Below are estimates I have made for various costs for 2 people living together (all figures in CHF:

Rent 2,600
Car Insurance 117
Health Insurance (2 people) 300
Food etc 1,000
Home insurance 25
Road tax 33
Work travel (train) 440
TV and radio licence 39
Electricity 50
TV sat/cable 50
Mobile phone (2 people) 100
Home ADSL 50

Could anyone let me know if I've over estimated (or under estimated) any of these, or if there's anything else I'm missing?

Looks plausible. My health insurance costs about 400/month, but there are many alternatives. Have a look at comparis.ch to get quotes for insurance. For other practicalities, I found the book "Living and working in Switzerland" really useful. And this site also offers a great search functionality which will help answer most any other question you might have.

Read that book on holiday - its very good - seems to cover most things - suppose i will know for sure when i get out there!

I like your Food etc 1,000. You will find the "ect" bit will add up to more than your food CHF 1000 a month for 2 people will mean taking packed lunches to work and eating out very little.

Zug electricity is quite expensive and just been hiked up again. I pay CHF 500 for electricity per quarter. Then there's rubbish bags (CHF 29 a roll of 10) and fire service taxes (CHF 100 per person per year).

Car insurance seems a little low too. We pay just less than 3k a year. Depends on how much your car is insured for though.

In terms of health insurance, it really depends on your deductable. My husband and I pay around 650 per month for the lowest deductable. You can save a lot by skipping a car and simply getting a couple GAs. Swiss public transport is amazing. You could easily get two 1st class GAs and come out ahead compared to owning a car. For two people 1000 francs food budget is good. My husband and I have heavy stuff delivered from Coop once a month for around 500 francs and buy fresh stuff each week with the rest.

If you have a landline, you'll have to pay Swisscom 25 francs per month. As far as mobile phones, it really depends how much you use them. 50 francs per person doesn't allow for much telephoning.

That is a good point about work lunches.

If you want to eat out for lunch in a restaurant with your colleagues each day you should add another 500-600 francs to your food budget per month per person. Some places have a cafeteria where prices are reduced.

You'll find details of the annual rail pass here.

Flat - You'll get a nice place for 2,600 for sure
Food - 1,000 will def cover 2 people for the month (unless this includes meals out)
Health Insurance - Mine costs 235 just for me, so 300 for both is maybe a bit low.
Road tax - I believe is 40 for the year unless it's gone up
Work travel - depends where you're working, but if you're looking to spend 440 just on tickets, then get a GA instead which covers all of CH and is about 300 per month
Phone/TV/Internet - Mine costs 75 for all three with Swisscom - not sure about Cablecom prices
Mobile - depends on how much you use I guess, 100 for a contract for two people is def possible
Car stuff / Home insurance / Electricity - I don't drive, and my home stuff is covered by my rent so I couldn't even hazard a guess

The only stuff that isn't covered there is social stuff but I'm guessing you're leaving that out of your standard budgeting (?). Typical meal out for two will average at 100-150, typical night on the town would run to 100 each, cinema tickets are 15-20 depending where you go, etc etc.

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Apartment example (from www.immozug.ch)

http://www.amtsblatt.ch/marktblatt/95/9500/562837/0

Basic translation, this is a 115 sqm apartment, with living / dining room, dining / kitchen, 2 balconies, price includes cleaning of any shared areas (e.g. hallways, stairs, washrooms) and a garage. 2,555 per month.

If you are looking for others on there make sure to check the Nebenkosten (NK) - this is the cleaning of shared areas and isn't always included - for example there's a real beauty there for 2,600 but the nebenkosten is 450.- per month on top, so you'd be paying over 3k.

Also forgot to mention, most places take a 2 to 3 month deposit on the flat before you move in - so you can expect to shell out up to 7,800.- as a lump sum - and no that doesn't cover the 1st months rent. (the good news is that deposit sits in a savings account and cannot be touched by either you or the landlord, and is returned to you plus the interest when you leave)

There are many cheaper places than this, too. Welcome & hope you like Zug as much as I do

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I'm not sure how nice the place will be for CHF2,600. The ones we saw about 3 years ago were going for around CHF4,000 per month. The only one that was priced at CHF2,200++ was right by a railway track.

But for groceries, two of us are eating/drinking well on about CHF550 a month, not including eating out.

I dunno, the two I found on immozug today looked nice enough to me!

Have to agree on groceries - I can eat like a king on 400chf a month to myself.

How true! I can bet my salary there is no EF member who lives in something remotely nice for anything less than 4000 per month

But going by the OP's choice of the figure 2600 rather than a round figure of 2500 or 3000, seems he has already found a house, so perhaps we can talk of somethign else.

not sure for zug, but in baar, my previous apartment, fully furnished, with 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen and a big balcony, cost CHF3500, so i expect the unfurnished apartment to be somewht lesser...

insurance itself, it is possible to be as per your estimates if you take up some super basic package where you need to call in to consult the doctor before goin to any hospital... check www.comparis.ch. My insurance cost me about CHF193/month.

if you live and work in canton Zug, then the monthly zugerpass is cheap, CHF62

for food, i supposed 1000 should be enough, though i think i spent about 1000 myself for breakfast, lunch, dinner, eating out, groceries and misc....

adsl is only 49 per month if you take cablecom, and u get a 10% discount if you order online

Haven't found a place yet - was just putting together a spreadsheet and that figure seemed about right based on some places I had seen on homegate

Really appreciate all the advice though - really useful - esp. the food and health insurance bits!

Be careful about this. Even in Switzerland there are lovely affordable places! I had a two room in Bern's center for 730 francs during my studies! It was old and gorgeous. Now my hubby and I have a 4 room, newly renovated place on the water for just over 1400 all inclusive. And it is in a real house (not a Hochhaus). Keep an open mind about what is possible and you may be surprised. Good luck!

You owe me your salary. I claim first. Send me a pm and i'll give you my bank details. I pay CHF 3,999 for a lovely pad.

Four rooms for just CHF1,400?! What's that in square meters?
Are the walls thick enough so you don't hear your neighbour's TV?
Do you have your own laundry room and cellar?

Teehee! We don't hear anything of our neighbors except the baby upstairs when it screams and I guess we have around 100m2. We have normal hardwood floors, but no Jugendstil features like crown moulding :-). We have a balcony big enough to sit on and an eat in kitchen with dishwasher and ceramic stovetop. There is a laundry room shared by the house (7 apartments) and we all have a cellar section. It really is lovely. But prices do differ depending on location, of course. I think Nidau is one of Kanton Bern's hidden treasures. My husband works in Bern and can be in his office one hour after stepping out the door in the morning. In our free time we can boat on or bike around the lake and Biel's main station is within walking distance.

In Bern itself one might find a 3 room comparable to our 4 room for the same price. In Zurich I don't know, but average Swiss people must live somewhere.

Expats seem to go for the most luxurious places in the best locations, wanting everything they had in their more spacious homelands. For this, you will most definitely pay through the nose. If you take a somewhat "normal" apartment by Swiss standards you can save so much money. What is wrong with a simpler life anyway?