How to survive economical crisis?:

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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Right now, the people of DR are in serious economical crisis. If the current trend of peso devaluation and the price increase in all essential goods keep up, we will certainly have political / social unrest in this country. I am surprised to see the public patience has not spun out of control in times like these.
In order to survive this economical turmoil we have to take some drastic measures to weather the storm. Here is what I would recommend everyone to do (the people who live in DR and make money in pesos).

Stop spending unnecessary cash that need not be spent: ex: stop picking up restaurant bills for your buddies. Or taking out group of girls to look cool in public. Always invite one girl to a restaurant, which is not expensive. In fact, keep only 1 girlfriend who is unable to go out at nights (strict family). This way you get your fun in the daytime and not having to take her out at night to expensive places.
Stop buying imported items at the supermarket. Use as much local brand as possible. Eat lots of fruits and veggies to stay healthy and cut down on medical expenses.
Buy a pressure cooker so you cut down your cooking time thus saving precious propane cooking gas. Your gas tank will last longer. If you buy cheap hard meat (breast of beef) now you can cook it soft with your pressure cooker and enjoy it in a great tasty soup or stew. Pressure cookers also help you make great beans.

Buy a used small car (Toyota corolla) and save on gas an repairs. Gasoline will soon reach 80 pesos and then 100 pesos / gallon. Most people with huge SUVs are crying already.

Own a house or rent a house and run your business from within. Have your office installed in your home or apartment to save on additional rent, electric, phone etc. Now you can use one phone line for both business and home use.
Use your girlfriend as your secretary so you won?t have to fool around with 2 girls (if you are that type of a man). This way she won?t depend on you and will have her own salary to buy her own personal things. Not to mention, she might cook for you and more?..

Make friends with doctors and lawyers to help you out when you need them. Invite them to your house and treat them like personal friends. They are more useful than any sankie or puta that everyone seem to waste their time upon. Be smart and get to know the real Dominicans for a change.

Go out only once a week. If you go out on Friday, then stay home and watch a movie on Saturday. Try to figure out what bars have 2x1 drinks on certain days of the week. If you must go out on weekends and don?t have the cash to buy drinks, then drink your brugal at home and then go out. This way you won?t have to buy as many drinks in the discos.

I will leave this open for others to add to it.
Regards, AZB
 

Kiteman

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Aug 25, 2002
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Move to Cabarete

and have a business that has mostly foreigners as clients. While other areas of the country are suffering, Cabarete is experiencing a boom with an influx of American & Canadian visitors who are spending a lot of money. While construction in Santiago has fallen about 80%, Cabarete is full of new construction projects and land values are soaring. You must be smart and flexible to survive, and if you're truely savvy, prosper.
 

Jwb

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Jan 10, 2002
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what if you are vacationing

AZB, your advice is well taken. But what about the vacationer traveller who wants to have a good time but not blow the bank?

Do not hijack the thread. Start a new one under Travel.

Thanks, Rob.
 
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Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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It doesn't apply to tourists. If you have dollars or any other hard currency here these days you are laughing. Dominicans earning in pesos are doing the opposite.

Chiri
 

Criss Colon

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I like "Heinz" Catsup!

It cost about 3 times more than Dominican catsup which is very sweet

! Sooooo buy a bottle of Victorina Catsup.Pour in vinegar to just fill the empty space at the top of the bottle."Shake Like Hell" until you get a good mix.Tastes like "Heinz" to me!

Try only "sleeping" with only two girls at a time! This will save you 50% over 4 at a time!!


;) ;) ;) :cool: CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

If you Victorina in the large can,it is very very cheap!

Buy rice and beans in bulk,only when on sale!

Carne Molida 2do.,at Supermercado National is better than 1ro!
"Carpacio de pollo" is 10 pesos a pound.Has lots of breast meat on the bones!

I "hear" that some people in this country,"steal" electricity!! Could that be true?? You could really save that way!!!!:bandit: :cool:
 
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AZB

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If you like to steal then pay 500 pesos to a cable guy and have him connect you to cable line and have him install proper seals on the connection so it will look like a authentic paid connection. Chances are, you will not get caught in years. If when you do get caught, act as if you have no idea you even had cable TV because your line is not even connected to the TV. Then if they insist, become a customer and pay for 2 months and then cancel the service.
I have heard there are electric company guys who can do certain things to make your electric meter run really slow. I wouldn't steal the electric as I have seen some people get busted and had to pay 45-50k plus pesos fine or face legal actions. Not to mention the electric was suspended.
If things really become tough for some people then I will open up a new thread on "how to grab your neighbor's rooster in your backyard". I haven't perfected my technique yet as the damn chicken has slipped my trap a few times. I am still after the big rooster who keeps coming into my yard but the damn thing can fly and is too quick. I am waiting for him to become old and slow so I can make a nice sancocho in the near future. meanwhile, I wait and wait and hoping to catch him while he is taking a nap under the aguacate tree.
 

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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Now if you able to live in a campo (but still near a major city) you can try growing your own food. Just get up and become a weekend farmer for a day and do some backyard work. You can grow your own tomatoes, potatoes, yuca, cabbage, melons, cucumbers, plant a mango tree to give you mangoes every season, plant a aguacate tree, an orange tree and a few banana trees. It rains so much that you won't even have to water the plants. Just sit back and let them grow and enjoy the fruits and fresh organic veggies.
Then if you have more space, grow your own chickens and eat fresh eggs daily and every once in a while, kill a chicken or 2 and enjoy free-range, drug-free, hormone-free meat.
 

GringoCArlos

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Jan 9, 2002
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OK, AZB I will tell you a few more pointers so that you can survive a little longer without turning into skin and bones.

Instead of eating a big expensive breakfast with expensive eggs and carne, buy 2 or 3 guineos and then fix a plate of spaghetti every morning. (700,000 Haitianos in the DR can't be wrong can they??)

Eat the guineos and save the skins. After you finish your spaghetti, drink 3 glasses of water, and you will be full until mediadia.

Using the banana skins, clean and polish up your shoes. It will look as good as limpiabota, but you just saved ANOTHER 5 pesos by shining your own. Nobody will be the wiser, unless you decide to tell them, and your shoes will be shined every day.

On your way to the office, keep an eye out for a newspaper someone has discarded, and you will save ANOTHER 10 pesos by not having to actually BUY your own. You can also place this in your waiting area for your clients to enjoy.

Make as your personal requirement for any new girlfriends, that they fix and bring your lunch to your office - just explain to them that you are just too busy to get out for lunch, but that you would REALLY like to see them, and then always remember to book a few clients right at 12 so she will believe you.

Free Lunch! ANOTHER 40 pesos saved, and you could have a girlfriend for every day of the week, so they don't feel put out by supplying your lunch every single day, and you get the joy of keeping 5 girls happy for nothing.

Nobody wants to eat the same thing every day right?

Arrange for your better-off clients to "invite" you to dinner. Make that your goal in acquiring new clients. ANOTHER 200 or 300 pesos saved for every day you can pull this off (unless you get someone to take you to a really swanky place on a regular basis).

On the weekends, go look for girlfriends in the campo. If they need money, they won't ask for as much as a city girl who is in "society". Just remember, this is only temporary, and it's not forever. Just until the boom years come back after all of the country's debts are paid off, hehehehehe.

So, in conclusion:
Save $30 daily for desayuno.
Save $5 daily for limpiabota.
Save $10 daily for newspapers.
Save $40 daily for lunch.
Save $300 3X a week for dinner.
Save ($2000 ??) 4X a month on city chicas versus camposinas.

I figure that these things will save you AT LEAST 3500 pesos a month, even if you decide to maintain your current stable of high-class, high-maintenance flock of chicas.

Suerte!
 

AZB

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GringoCarlos, you are a genius. Now why didn't I think of all that by myself?
 

Tony C

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This is pathetic.

I read all these suggestions and I have to ask my myself: "Whats the point?"
Polish my shoes with Banana peels? Read discarded newspapers? Whats next? Go through your neighbors Garbage?
Move to the DR and live like Georgia trailer-trash!!!!
Sure sounds like Paradise to me!
 

AZB

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LOL tonyC, I was thinking of the same when I read Gringocarlos's post. I am sure he was joking.
But, can you seriously polish shoes with banana peels?
 

Kiteman

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Aug 25, 2002
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I agree Tony C !

Which is my point exactly! Not everybody is suffering like our poor Chiropractor in Santiago. The difference is that he chooses to stay in a economically depressed zone (and complain like an old woman) instead of moving to a dynamic growing area. The ability to adjust to changing economic conditions can be the difference in shining your shoes with bananas or buying new shoes when the old ones need a shining. Enough with the whining please!!!
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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With the internet, you can still live in an economically depressed zone, and do just fine. More professions that you might realize can be adapted. AZB - you should think about this.
 

AZB

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God, people just can't read.

Funny how one person thought the chiropractor is suffering, everyone jumps on the same bandwagon.

Where did I ever mention that I am dirt poor? This post was directed towards the poor foreigners who have opened up small bars on the beach and the ones who live on a small income in the north coast. Just because I didn't make a fuss over gringocarlos' post, everyone seem to think I am the one living on eating bananas and polishing my shoes with its peels.

Listen up everyone you brain dead, thoughtless cuba-libre drinking pale faced, viagra chewing gringos. I am not at a point where I have to raise my own chickens and polish my shoes with banana peels. I travel more than many of you who make money in dollars. Watch me go to a nearby country soon with my buddy in sosua (can't mention the country's name). I will spend 3 days in playa dorada (this weekend) while many of you (so called rich folks) curl up under blanket to stay warm in canada o mennesota.
I still eat my ahi-bar steaks (fillet mignon) and treat my friends to dinner. I have everything gringos have in their houses in usa. My inverter is bigger than yours (hahahaha).
I can get up and go to USA Right now If I please and then head over to mexico to see my buddy missing_DR. Can you pack up and take a trip to DR? Just because I decide not to throw my money, that doesn't mean the chiro's office is all empty. I bet most foreigners living in DR can't afford to pay for my services in dominican pesos (the new rates). Thats why the chiro lives in santiago with the dominicans who do spend money. I used to work in the north coast, lost money (gringo based areas have the worst business outlook). In simple terms, if you open up a business in an area where the foreigners live, you will go belly up. Foreigners don't spend money, the dominicans do.
So please everyone, stop feeling sorry for me. I still live better than many of you in the north coast or in USA.
have a nice day,
AZB

P.S. I was just in USA, believe me, you folks are not living in paradise either. I know how many people are jobless in many major cities and how many more have to cling on to jobs they hate. We are still better off here than in USA. Thanks god.
Funny how foreigners still think dominicans are dirt poor. Which century do you all live in?

P.S. For all of you who missed the humor, Gringocarlos was joking. I have spoken to him on the phone and trust me, he is a cool guy.

AdrianB. Now don't get defensive on this post. This post was written before I even read yours. IIt is for our genius kiteman.
Noew I am surprised to see that even you jumped on the bandwagon, considering you are the one who is doing exactly what I wrote ex: office within your home. No car and living in a small apartment etc etc. I never see you on the streets spending money so you must be saving like I mentioned. Good, I know you are a smart guy.
 
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Forbeca

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Mar 5, 2003
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Ok AZB, I know life is not that bad for you. Why else w/ you still be praising Santiago every chance you get.

I agree with you about people not reading correctly and jumping to conclusion. I see it happen time and time again (I'm guilty as well). I think we're so busy we don't have time to concentrate on what we're doing.

Have a nice day.
 
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AZB

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Its not really people's fault anymore when it comes to thinking. Why would people think when there are experts doing all the thinking for them?
What I am getting at is this: We have this american culture where people are just not allowed to think anymore. Their lives are so complicated and they are so busy in USA that they don't have time to raise their heads. Ex: People come home and get a dose of world affairs from CNN experts. We have talk shows and cross-fire talk shows where we have experts arguing points towards their advantage point of views. Thus forming your opinions and bending your minds towards what they want you to hear and think. This is so tightly controlled in usa that not a single person can think independently in usa anymore. We all want to hear what the media is saying and the media goes on telling folks "how americans are sick of this and that....how they won't put up with this and that...world terrorism, blah blah blah...". We all buy it and put our faith in these intellectuals like religious beliefs.
This is exactly what is happening on DR1. Remember my thread on my car stereo being stolen? One guy says I was robbed because I was with PPH. How stupid, and look, everyone jumped on the bandwagon and hijacked the thread. Even mondongo fell for it.
Now gringocarlos put up a post (as a joke) and how every dummy woke up to the thought maybe the chiro is suffering. No one reads anymore or use their brain cells. They just follow the leader like braindead zombies. Now wonder so many dominicans laugh at foreigners.
 

AZB

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"More professions that you might realize can be adapted. AZB - you should think about this." adrianB

I know there is tons of money to be made in internet business but I am not a type of nerd who would sit 24/7/365 in frot of PC and type away the precious moments of life in a room.I believe I am in the business of life to live and live a full life. Most internet nerds I see are nothing more than nerds. They maybe very smart but they really have no idea what is really going on in the real world. They always seem a little weird to me. i am not saying you are weird but I am talking about people in general who spend 24/7 in internet business. I am very happy with my prefession where I have the opportunity to help people and give them healthier pain-free life to live. This is my biggest reward. I like computers but I can't just confine myself to it 24/7. There is a whole world out there and someone has to live it.
 

Forbeca

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Mar 5, 2003
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AZB said:
This is exactly what is happening on DR1. Remember my thread on my car stereo being stolen? One guy says I was robbed because I was with PPH. How stupid, and look, everyone jumped on the bandwagon and hijacked the thread. Even mondongo fell for it.
Now gringocarlos put up a post (as a joke) and how every dummy woke up to the thought maybe the chiro is suffering. No one reads anymore or use their brain cells. They just follow the leader like braindead zombies. Now wonder so many dominicans laugh at foreigners.

True enough. Very few posters stand alone here. I admire the ones that do: Anna, Chiri, Porfio, Golo, etc. The rest are just friends having fun with each other (or so it seems to me).
 
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