cost of living

premadonna

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Jul 5, 2004
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hey I am planning to move to the Dominican Republic I needed some information before doing so. I knwo that went I move there I will have 40 thousand pesos I was wondering if that will be enough to get by? Also I'm unsure of what currency they use if its American Dollars or Pesos espically when it comes to renting out a place. if Someone could get back to me and let me know I would greatly apperciate it. Thank you.
 

caro

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Sep 24, 2003
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hello

look I m just coming back of 3 month overthere and I can tell you with 40 thousand of peso you can t go far a way....propably after 1 month you gonna come back to your country and hope you have money for your ticket....look if you don t have job waiting for you overthere...I don t see how you can do that...me by month I spend around 30 thousand and I can t buy everything I want...so I don t see how you can think to move on 40 thousand!!!!!
 

carlos

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premadonna said:
hey I am planning to move to the Dominican Republic I needed some information before doing so. I knwo that went I move there I will have 40 thousand pesos I was wondering if that will be enough to get by? Also I'm unsure of what currency they use if its American Dollars or Pesos espically when it comes to renting out a place. if Someone could get back to me and let me know I would greatly apperciate it. Thank you.

do you mean 40k dollars?
 

BushBaby

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I'll give you BASIC & low cost end of budgeting your monthly outgoings & then YOU work out whether you could survive.

Furnished 1 b/r Apartment RD $10,000 per month MINIMUM 1 months Dep & 1 month in advance = RD $20,000. Food shoping (eating IN rather than out, it is a lot cheaper) RD $10,000 per month. Transportation around town RD $3,000 p.m. Basic health insurance, RD $500 p.m. Scams & other unexpected outgoings in first 2 months, RD $8,000!!

Total outgoings in first 2 months (without nights out or any other fun/entertainment) will be in excess of RD $55,000 - Net loss RD $15,000.

Sorry to disappoint you but you had better save up to RD $100,000 to give yourself a fighting chance & hope to get a job that pays RD $20,000 per month within the first 3 months of being here!! NOT a optimistic outlook though as jobs are hard to find these days even at RD $10,000 p.m.!

Good luck to you - Grahame.
 

ricktoronto

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premadonna said:
hey I am planning to move to the Dominican Republic I needed some information before doing so. I knwo that went I move there I will have 40 thousand pesos I was wondering if that will be enough to get by? Also I'm unsure of what currency they use if its American Dollars or Pesos espically when it comes to renting out a place. if Someone could get back to me and let me know I would greatly apperciate it. Thank you.

And you will be fine. Less than $1000 US, even a month that's thin, if that is the total pot, you're screwed. You can search on the 1000 threads on various costs of living here too if you want to do some research.
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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Lets look at this another way.

Can you move ANYWHERE on US$900? I wouldn't even want to move from one apartment to another in the US with that as my budget. The security deposit alone would use up all the money.
 

jsizemore

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Aug 6, 2003
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Could be done

I would not like the idea of coming down hoping to get money there. If I hade money coming in that did not depend on a job in the Dr I would be compfratable with $900 a month US.
I was on full party mode for $20 US a day other than lodging. If a person has $900 a month they can make it. It is a matter of lifestyle expectations.
Of course I live for months at a time shairing a bedroom with 32 of my not so closest friends.
John
P.S. I am slightly drunk. this is my last weekend off before I go on my final Deployment before retirment so my post may be a little wierd tonight.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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I understood your post in another way. Let's see--

If it is the way I inderstand it, you will have an income of RD$40,000 a month. If this is correct, then you can live here pretty nicely if you do not expect to have all the luxury items you may or may not be accustomed to.

Your first trip to a supermarket will give you a minor heart attack, but once that has passed, you should be able to do very well.

I do hope I have the right interpretation, since there is no way that you can survive here on just RD$40,000 and no income...

HB
 

Larry

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Mar 22, 2002
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I would not move down there unless I was worth AT LEAST $250 - $300k ( that's USD) and I would not be living an extravagent lifestyle on that. Your first plan of attack has to be to purchase your place to live ASAP because 10 years from now, it will cost you a fortune to rent anywhere that is a popular area (SD, Samana, Sosua,Cabarete, etc.). Ater that is out of the way, you need to have at least a couple of hundred grand floating around in things in the US or Europe or wherever you are from that is going to provide you with enough interest or rental income or what have you to live on. When you have all that in order, you can move. Until then, it's plan plan plan. If you have a way of making a living in the DR then everything I said is not applicable to you but I, myself, have no way of earning a living down there and will be happy eating,drinking, having sex, fishing and playing golf until I die.
Larry
 

Larry

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Mar 22, 2002
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How much would I need? I think after my home and car were paid for I could live on $1,000 USD per month but that is today. I don't know how the cost of living will fluctuate in the future. I also do not live there so there could be a lot of things I am not aware of and not taking into considerstion.
Larry
 
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jsizemore

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I agree

I figure $600 a month would allow me to eat out at the little comidas once a day and I could drink a couple of beers a day if i chose.
One night a week of total partying. Each trip down I spend less and less.
So if I could keep housing to about $300 with utilities I could do fine. I figured on around a $1000 US total as long as I did not need to generate an income othwer wise.
Only 321 days until retirment life is good
John
 

Voyager

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"Making ends meet" is not enough! (for me!)

People have various reasons for relocating to another country. Get away from the "ratrace" (moving from USA to DR), get away from persecution (moving from Saddam's Iraq to Scandinavia), get away from rain and move to sun (move from UK to Spain), etc. etc.

The way I see it, one major reason for relocating is to improve your standard of living! To be able to afford a lifestyle you could only dream about at home.

But yet, I see all these posts about how much you need for bare survival in DR!?!? As someone so wisely said on this board: "If I wanted to be poor, I could stay in NYC!"

If I were to live in DR, I want to be able to afford a trip to London, just to see the latest exhibition at National Gallery. No planning, no saving, just get up and go! That is what I used to do when I lived in Scandinavia, and albeit Scandinavia certainly is closer to London than DR is, it is a reflection on my personal view on the necessary pre-requisites for relocating.
 

BushBaby

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Voyager said:
People have various reasons for relocating to another country. Get away from the "ratrace" (moving from USA to DR), get away from persecution (moving from Saddam's Iraq to Scandinavia), get away from rain and move to sun (move from UK to Spain), etc. etc.

The way I see it, one major reason for relocating is to improve your standard of living! To be able to afford a lifestyle you could only dream about at home.

But yet, I see all these posts about how much you need for bare survival in DR!?!? As someone so wisely said on this board: "If I wanted to be poor, I could stay in NYC!"

If I were to live in DR, I want to be able to afford a trip to London, just to see the latest exhibition at National Gallery. No planning, no saving, just get up and go! That is what I used to do when I lived in Scandinavia, and albeit Scandinavia certainly is closer to London than DR is, it is a reflection on my personal view on the necessary pre-requisites for relocating.

John,
I think we can all accept your ideas that moving home can be for a multitude of reasons & "Improving ones standard of living" may NOT necessarily be one of them (look at the missionary & voluntary workers), but what we are talking about here IS survival level. Most of us (except the good curmudgeon who is obviously in a state of euphoia now that he has his new Generator working) saw the poster as saying she is coming here with just RD $40,000 & could she live on that - that answer is a BIG, FAT resounding NO!! If HB is correct in his assumption & she DOES have a RD $40K p.m INCOME, then maybe she could get by & even save a bit for trips back to her homeland. Once Premadona gets back to us & confirms her capital/income situation, we can give better advice & even make suggestions as to how to proceed in her quest for a new life! - Grahame.
 

Adrian Bye

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jsizemore said:
I figure $600 a month would allow me to eat out at the little comidas once a day and I could drink a couple of beers a day if i chose.
One night a week of total partying. Each trip down I spend less and less.
So if I could keep housing to about $300 with utilities I could do fine. I figured on around a $1000 US total as long as I did not need to generate an income othwer wise.
Only 321 days until retirment life is good
John

You won't have air conditioning, or be running a generator if thats your monthly budget.

You also won't be protected if the value of the peso changes again.. it was quite a bit more expensive here a few years ago, and over time that may happen again. I would not assume the exchange rate will stay exactly where it is for the next 20-30 years.
 
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Voyager

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BushBaby said:
John,
I think we can all accept your ideas that moving home can be for a multitude of reasons & "Improving ones standard of living" may NOT necessarily be one of them (look at the missionary & voluntary workers), but what we are talking about here IS survival level. Most of us (except the good curmudgeon who is obviously in a state of euphoia now that he has his new Generator working) saw the poster as saying she is coming here with just RD $40,000 & could she live on that - that answer is a BIG, FAT resounding NO!! If HB is correct in his assumption & she DOES have a RD $40K p.m INCOME, then maybe she could get by & even save a bit for trips back to her homeland. Once Premadona gets back to us & confirms her capital/income situation, we can give better advice & even make suggestions as to how to proceed in her quest for a new life! - Grahame.

Hello Grahame!

Sure, I appreciate that! I was only trying a wee little generalization here. And I did try to make clear that my words were my personal, egomaniac view on the fine art of relocation.

We have a saying in Sweden that "It is better to be Happy, Healthy and Rich than to be Sad, Sick and Poor!"

If I do not maximise the "Happy", the "Healthy" and the "Rich" bits, I am not sure I want to relocate... Because even if social security in Sweden is crumbling a bit, I'd much rather be "down and out" there, than in DR.

On the other hand, what is the definition of "Happy"? I thought once that I knew...
 

jsizemore

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Aug 6, 2003
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$1000

My pension will be more. I just put the $1000 a month as a level I would feel would let me keep up motivation if I decided I needed to save some money. Actually I am considering doing a few years in the merchant marines after retirement. I could do 60 days on with 30 days off and then slowly get used to the DR and face my rip offs and hard knocks with less consequences.
Also by doing the merchants marines I could maintain my home in the US until I really decide what my commitment to living in the DR is. I am still trying to decide if I am going to be there year round or if I want to spend my winters there.
I do know that with a lifetime of living by what most Americans would consider subhuman standards I am not used to having much in comforts. I pay a mortgage on a house now that I sleep in less than three months a year. I could make it just fine on $1000 US a month. Especially if I were to come down and try to homestead.
John
 

Lambada

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jsizemore, sorry to be formal but there are now 2 "johns" on this thread, I think the most important thing you said was that each time you come down you spend less & less. This means you are learning the ropes & are resourceful. This, I believe, is far more important than how much money you have, once, of course, a basic comfort level has been achieved.
 

jsizemore

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no problem

Whenevere I see a post that uses John I see if it could have refered to one of mine. I think this time I got my wires crossed.
John