Is it possible to live in Puerto Plata on RD$20,000/mth?

Buddhadread

New member
Jun 22, 2004
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By live I mean,
Apartment rental
Transportation via bus, motoconcho, taxi
Electric and Water bills
Cable TV bill
Telephone bill
Groceries
Clothing (the odd shirt or pair of jeans as needed)
Bar-hopping every Thurs. and Friday, and Ok Saturday too

Any help is much appreciated!
 

MrMike

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Mar 2, 2003
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It depends on what you call living.

The apartment is going to suck,

There will be no backup power, so don't worry about cable since you need electricity to watch TV.

You will have to pick one night a week to go bar-hopping, and maybe skip it if you had to buy groceries or clothes that week.

get a mobile phone on a prepaid plan so you don't get a phone bill.

20,000 pesos a month is 400 bucks, the cost of living is low here, but not that low, and it's not really living either.
 

Chris_NJ

Bronze
Dec 17, 2003
614
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Plenty of Dominicans do it for less...

I am not an expert but will say it is possible if:

If you get a very basic apartment and don't get ripped off.
If you stick with motoconcho/buses and not taxis.
If you don't talk too much on the phone.
If you are very careful/economical food shopper.
Buy clothes very sparingly.

The barhopping 3 days/week is what really could bust the budget. If barhopping means drinking copious amounts of topshelf liquor and buying others drinks, ending up in motels - than 20,000/month is out of the question. If you stick with Presidentes and always keep your eye on the budget you could do it (just not live like a king).
 

miguel

I didn't last long...
Jul 2, 2003
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Man, you are a funny guy!!

Buddhadread said:
By live I mean,
1-Apartment rental
2-Transportation via bus, motoconcho, taxi
3-Electric and Water bills
4-Cable TV bill
5-Telephone bill
6-Groceries
7-Clothing (the odd shirt or pair of jeans as needed)
8-Bar-hopping every Thurs. and Friday, and Ok Saturday too

Any help is much appreciated!
If you really want to make it with that amount of money; 1- very cheap rental. 2- travel by bus. 3- use very little electricity (as if you could) and do not waste the water. 4- stick to regular tv channels. 5- Get a 100 minutes a month phone plan. 6- eat ok. 7- bring you own "odd shirt and pair of jeans" with you. 8- Forget about 2 of those 3 days. Locals can make it with less, but then again, they are locals.
and 9- if you have hangers-on that would go with you wherever you go and you have to treat them to beverages and food, forget about all of the above and stay put where you are!!.
 

Buddhadread

New member
Jun 22, 2004
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Reality Check....

Thanks for the reality check. You see i applied for a job in POP which could get me that much a mth. All the responses I can agree with, but I have only been to POP twice.
Long term plan is to find a situation I can be happy in. I'm not a big drinker, just a social one, so I probably would bust the budget there.
Hmmmm....you've given me a lot to think about.

Oh and the $20,000 would only supplement my meager funds. I would only need to live this way until I found a suitable place to buy or build my own home.

If I had my own home paid for clear, then could I live according to the plan above?

Thank you for the previous responses. You guys are great!
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
13,884
495
83
No! RD$20,000/month is not enough to do all the things you listed.

Many Dominicans live on that or less per month, but they eat rice and beans with a little goat or chicken, don't have cable tv, travel by moto concho or guagua, depending on where they are going, and have minimal housing accomodations, compared with what you are accustomed to.

You can live here for that amount if you really want to and are willing to make all the adjustments in life style that will be required.
 

ricktoronto

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
4,837
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Ask Osama Bin Laden

Buddhadread said:
By live I mean,
Apartment rental
Transportation via bus, motoconcho, taxi
Electric and Water bills
Cable TV bill
Telephone bill
Groceries
Clothing (the odd shirt or pair of jeans as needed)
Bar-hopping every Thurs. and Friday, and Ok Saturday too

Any help is much appreciated!

You'll be living in a cave too like him with this meager budget.
 

Lambada

Gold
Mar 4, 2004
9,478
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www.ginniebedggood.com
If you are saying you have separate funds to buy or build a house, then if you are young & optimistic in outlook, it is probably a very good idea to come down, take the 20,000 peso a month job & force yourself to live within your means. You will learn so much and have added respect for Dominicans who live on far less. And if this is only for a short time frame, you can put up with the discomforts noted above. If however, you are not adaptable & simply HAVE to have all your creature comforts.......best advice would be to stay home!
p.s. Having just seen your other thread.....can you not live on the boat & save rent?
 
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MrMike

Silver
Mar 2, 2003
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www.azconatechnologies.com
I know you're not asking for life advice or anything, but you should think about how to make more money rather than live on less. You know as well as most of us that owning a house can be just as expensive as renting an apartment.

I have a friend who rents a house in Cabarete and sublets to tourists/visitors, doesn't make alot of money but at least his living is basically taken care of. Took him some time though to find the right place for the right price, some money to furnish it etc.

I used to have a 20k/mo income here, and I was very comfortable as a single guy, had lots of fun, but 20k was worth 3 times then what it is now.
 

Escott

Gold
Jan 14, 2002
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Buddhadread said:
Thanks for the reality check. You see i applied for a job in POP which could get me that much a mth. All the responses I can agree with, but I have only been to POP twice.
Long term plan is to find a situation I can be happy in. I'm not a big drinker, just a social one, so I probably would bust the budget there.
Hmmmm....you've given me a lot to think about.

Oh and the $20,000 would only supplement my meager funds. I would only need to live this way until I found a suitable place to buy or build my own home.

If I had my own home paid for clear, then could I live according to the plan above?

Thank you for the previous responses. You guys are great!
I spend more than that drinking water in bars! LOL I hope you are Dominican...
 

chuckuindy

Bronze
Mar 8, 2004
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Can you live on $20,000RDP per month? I?m not sure, but there are a lot of Dominican family?s who make it on less. A good example is my novia in La Romana. She lives with her sister and her 11mo. old little girl. When I first met her, she and her sister were making around $1,500RDP per week or $6,500RDP per month, combined income. They were both working 12hr days, 6 days per week. This is about the average wage for a non-skilled worker in La Romana. In fact most of the 10,000 workers in the Free Zone and at the CR Sugar Factory make less and work about the same number of hours. The lucky locals who work at Casa de Campo and other resorts will do a little better and some may make as much as $2,300 per week.

Based on the $6,500RDP income Tonya, Sonya and the baby are able to maintain an apartment, 2 rooms, 10X10 each w/elect. and cable TV. They share a single seat toilet with 6 other families and have no hot water for showers in the 6X6 shower stall, which has no light. Rent $1,500 per month.

They prepare 2 meals per day (2pm & 8pm) consisting of mostly beans and rice on a 2 burner propane stove, and normally buy their ingredients no more than an hour before they are prepared. Staple items such as cooking oil, tomato paste, spices, spaghetti, and drinking water are purchased from little mom & pop stores set up in the front end of their residences. Occasionally they will purchase meats such as chicken or goat. Each day you see the women bring home small baggies of food supplies, just purchased for that meal. Many families only eat one meal per day. Average daily food cost for the 3 of them is around $75RDP.

The use of taxies and motoconchos is a luxury and most of the time they will walk to the Dr. office or to purchase other needed supplies. Most neighborhoods in La Romano are very self-sufficient and almost anything you need is within walking distance.

Pampers and other baby related items drive up the budget but somehow they survive.

Could I live on $20,000RDP per month? I guess if I had to, but I am too first world to even consider it. Hopefully the money I send to my novia each month helps some what.
 

timelessdreams

New member
Apr 5, 2004
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Buddhadread said:
Thanks for the reality check. You see i applied for a job in POP which could get me that much a mth. All the responses I can agree with, but I have only been to POP twice.
Long term plan is to find a situation I can be happy in. I'm not a big drinker, just a social one, so I probably would bust the budget there.
Hmmmm....you've given me a lot to think about.

Oh and the $20,000 would only supplement my meager funds. I would only need to live this way until I found a suitable place to buy or build my own home.

If I had my own home paid for clear, then could I live according to the plan above?

Thank you for the previous responses. You guys are great!

Buddah~

Can you please tell us what kind of job you applied for?

Thanks,
Susie
 

Wales

English Twit!
May 21, 2004
185
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ricktoronto said:
You'll be living in a cave too like him with this meager budget.
I met him in 1982 in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, when I was GM of one of his brother's Companies, he did not live in a cave then.
 

miguel

I didn't last long...
Jul 2, 2003
5,261
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Of course!!

chuckuindy said:
Hopefully the money I send to my novia each month helps some what.


/QUOTE]You are a good man, Charlie Brown, and I am sure that they money you send her helps her a great deal. She is a good woman and you are a lucky old fart to have found her. I believe that all of us were very happy for you. Nice Gal, indeed.
 

Barnabe

Member
Dec 20, 2002
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If you're alone or with a dominican husband/wife, you can make it with 20000K and have fun.

You have to be well integrated. You might have more fun in private parties than in expensive bars/discos.

You have to be prepared or life without A/C, nice car, daily meat, etc.. But you can still have very healthy and cheap food, go to inespre. Drink rum/cuba libre on parties, not Presidente. Etc..

With kids, forget it. But without kids, the real question is : will you accept that life? Most Dominicans have to do with it, and many are still enjoying life.

Barnab?