But this is the whole point! Cotton wool is critical, if you value your time.
If I read Tom's posts (and mine previously) I would consider it impossible to move to the DR.. that you couldn't possibly manage here.
Oh, btw, did I mention we get natural gas piped in as well?
So, some numbers:
My rent is just under RD $20,000/month. Thats a huge amount to pay for Santiago. But turned into USD, and divided by 46 its only US $434/month. At 35:1 its $571/month.
- I have no electricity problems
- I have no gas problems
- The building has a security guard (mostly)
- The apartment has a burglar alarm
- I even have redundant internet connections (DSL/cable)
As an amount of money, someone earning USD that is making a living on the internet should be able to pay US $434/month to live in a stable work environment.
Whats your time worth? How much do you earn per hour?
Do you want to be building your business project, or trying to find propane?
And the next stage is when I can afford to put down US$20,000 or so to buy a big diesel generator + underground tank for a house, and pay people to maintain it all for me. But I would definitely not try to do this now, as I'm not ready for it.
My point is, it was a mistake for me not to move into one of these buildings sooner. I could have afforded it a long time ago. Instead I wasted time on infrastructure problems like this.
And my time is valuable.