Monthly Expenses

twhitehead

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Nov 1, 2003
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I have gone through many of the old posts and have summarized what I think would be reasonable monthly costs for living in Northern DR. I have assumed that a house and car are owned outright. Please let me know if I am "out of it" with any expenses or if I am missing any that I should be aware of. Any comments would be welcomed. Thanks Tom


DR Expenses (US$)

Insurance:

House $100.00
Car $100.00
Life $100.00
Health $100.00

House:

Electricity $150.00
Water $75.00
Internet $50.00
TV $50.00
Phone $100.00
Security $100.00
Food $250.00
Car Gas $150.00
Car Repairs $100.00
Entertainment $200.00
Misc $400.00
Golf $200.00

Total $2,225.00
 

twhitehead

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Nov 1, 2003
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If I have overestimated costs by that much can you please show me for each category where I went wrong. Thanks for any input...tom
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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This is a generall high budget; you'll be living quite well.

You should not need car repairs - and if you do, car repairs don't cost much.

You may want to consider cost of gas for your generator

Water is too high; water is about $8/month

Phone probably won't be that high unless you're calling the US a lot

TV locally costs $10/month; I imagine it won't be $50/month unless you have satellite.

Security cost is high, I don't think you will need that
 

twhitehead

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Nov 1, 2003
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Thaks AdrianB. I would be looking at a Satelite. Never thought of Generator gas (thanks). With Water it looks like I am way to high. A monthly security fee seems to par for the course in the gated communities from my understanding. I looked at Juans costs and they seem very low. $1500/m as per erixxson post would be great to live on but that to me seems over optimistic from my understanding of prices. Any other info or comments would be great...tom
 

D & D

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Jul 17, 2003
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Costs

I think your groceries may be a little low. Granted, I do cook a lot (much more than beans and rice, not that there is anything wrong with that), do some baking and always have a supply of snacks on hand and our groceries run around $100/125 per week which is about what I spent back home (Georgia).

Also, you didn't mention domestic help, unless that is covered under miscellaneous. We have a housekeeper who comes in three days a week for RD$1500 per month and sometimes have a gardener/handyman for RD$150 per day.

Even though your water is high, you will have two different bills for that. Your cistern and bottled water. Our cistern water bill is RD$250 per month, but rarely do they provide enough water for our needs. We generally buy at least two additional truck loads per month at a cost of RD$400 for both. Bottle water is RD$15 for 5 gallons and we use between 8/10 per week depending on what I'm cooking and how much ice we make (lots). There are three of us full time (Danny, myself and his 91 year old mother) and our housekeeper for 3 days a week (with meals on wheels those 3 days for her family).

Groceries, electricity and L/P for the generator are our biggest expenses.

Dianne
 

D.D.

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Apr 27, 2002
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Meals on wheels

I have been looking for that description for ages. Dianne, You are too funny. My household staff consists of a cook, a cleaning lady, a babysitter, another full time lady who fills in for the day offs, a Gardner and a horse trainer. It is an invisible line item on my grocery bill with astronomical figures. Boy, them meals have huge wheels. Don?t they? like monster trucks! Could you please find me a name for another big expense line item for spoons, forks, knives and everything else in the kitchen that fits pockets? There is never enough of those and I am always buying utensils in large quantities. How about the children?s clothing? Holy macaroni! One of these days we are going to go broke.lol
 

Bolt

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Jun 12, 2002
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We are a family of 3. Our daughter now 9 years old attends the local school which is english speaking on American curriculum, so there are school fees, books and lunch money to find too.

I often check our expenses to make sure we are within reasonable budget and live in a rented 3 bed apartment and own an almost new car.

If we eat in most of the time and go out once a week then we need $1500 a month. Eating out almost everyday on reasoanble priced bar snack meals etc and enjoying a good few drinks a week increases our costs to $2000 per month.

But we are here to enjoy ourselves and have fun, not to see how cheap when can live here.

If we wanted to stay indoors and live on "beans on toast" we can do that just as well back in the UK!
 

DRdiving

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Nov 2, 2003
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Bolt, does that include your daughter's tuition and the rent for your apt? How much does an "almost new used car" cost there?
 

Bolt

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Yes it includes everything via cash out via ATM each month. But if you were to factor in little extras like flights back to homeland once or twice a year and clothing shopping trips etc then the average will be a bit more of course but im am just giving a guide to a typical month.

Have a search on the threads here for car prices and info but the rule of thumb is buy locally. Importing one from the US is more hassle then you can ever imagine and it will spends weeks in customs before you see it.

The older the car here the more expensive its is relativly speaking. Something fit for the scrapper still demands a high cash value as most average Dominicans cant afford better. That said, a visit to the capital and you will see more new SUV's then almost anywhere else in the world per sqaure mile!

Add roughly 20% to a new car price in the US bought locally here. If you intend to stay here long term then buy new or very nearly new (3-9 months old) and a good dealer should be able to provide some warranty on it. Older cars here have a really hard time over these roads.
 

Juan_Lopez

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Oct 21, 2003
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Just re-read twhitehead's first post which did mention Northern RD...... sorry as my figures are from Central RD. The Northern areas seem to generally have higher price tags on most items except for regulated things like cooking gas, diesel and water.

Other notes for my figures:

- I rarely pay for vegetables and fruit (A BIG SAVINGS) because we grow our own, have land and a family that supports this.

- I do not pay ANY help as I have 50 relatives within 'helping distance'

- Cost's for our meat's are lower. We don't raise animals but drive a few minutes and I can buy a cow, pig or a 40 peso gallina.

- I will have school fees to think about in another 2 years --thanks bolt ;) lol

- I have a seperate budget for myself and my wife if she tags along as I am working and entertaining a few times a month with clients that visit.

Below from previous post is a 'normal budget' or 'middle of the road' and what I pay and what one could expect if living in most any of the campos around santiago and the cibao.

<li>4500---food monthly visit (nacional)
<li>4500---health insurance (4 people)
<li>3500---car insurance
<li>3500---rent
<li>3000---food local (100 pesos x 30 days)
<li>2000---milk and diapers
<li> 800 ---salon
<li> 500 ---lights when we have them
<li> 500 ---tank of diesel
<li> 200 ---cable
<li>5000---misc.
 

paul

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Jan 1, 2002
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singles note

Just thought i would mention that for a single person like myself i can stay at a nice hotel- not fancy but with good security and a pool and maid service with laundry and kitchen - eat in resturants with american style menus three times a day and drink on the beach - three drinks a day or so- i am not a big drinker- for around $500 us a month in boca chica and i think we did better in the north as the hotels were less and bigger with a bigger pool etc- but most of my experience is from the boca chica area.
 

Barry

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Jun 28, 2003
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Singles + note

Did you mean 500 a month or a week ?

At 500 a month that comes to 17 US per day. I spend that on beer alone, Oh bye the way what do you do at night ?

No Chica expenses ?

Barry.