I am just trying to be realistic.
I will like that you do your math and tell me how a gringo can live confortably here paying 4,000pesos in bills.
Confortably means that you need at least 1 air cond. 8 hours of use (just to sleep), and your bill will be around 5-6000pesos a month.
if you dont use AC, them you can have a 1000pesos elect. bill. (but you wont sleep confortably in a 100F degree, humid and mosquitos)
you can save not having cable tv. be prepared to learn spanish fluent to see local channels with Novelas and merengue 24 hours.
you can save the 1000 pesos in gas. cooking with lena as haitian do it.
Santo domingo is an expensive city to live. I am a medium class, and need at least 3,000 dlls to live without the confort I would live for much less in fort lauderdale or miami.
Mentira! My electric bill comes to 900 pesos for 110V power, 3 BR apartment, and RD$1.200 more-or-less for AC, 1 unit, 18000 BTU. I turn it on whenever I am home and feel hot! I do no have it on 8 hours during nite, I put on 1 hour self timer. I use 2-3 cycles during the evening. By 12 midnight the room is very comfortable. By 5 am in the morning the room is quite cold! That's with 3 one-hour cycles. Now when it's extremely hot I may use more, but then compensate when it's raining (like today) and almost don't use AC at all. So my powerbill is about 2.100 pesos.
My gas for cooking comes at about 250 pesos per month. And the stove runs many hours per day.
I get water from public system for which there is no charge and when necessary buy a truckload of water. Monthly cost about 300 pesos because we alternate.
My phone with Internet is 1300 pesos with taxes, local line plus 512 kbps Internet. Sufficient for my home use, I can use VOIP well and I even download something form megaupload now and then. Now you can have 512 kbps Internet form Orange for 850 pesos including taxes.
I have pirated satellite TV so I don't pay for TV. Anyway, cable is about 500 pesos per month. I was offered to "share" the subscription by the neighbors so that's an option in case satellite TV goes down or something.
My rent is 9000 pesos for the whole-floor 3 BR apartment, about 1300 sq ft (130 sq mts) in one of the best neighborhoods in Higuey (yes, it was a steal-deal I know).
My cellphone is 1800 pesos with taxes for 1000 minutes and unlimited in-fleet calling. I do about 1500 minutes per month of infleet and 900-1000 minutes of outside calling from callphone.
I use VOIP to call USA, Europe, etc. and now even the Dominican Republic for just 370 pesos per month, unlimited! Better quality than Vonage. No long term contract. I was up and running in less than 5 minutes. I will make a post about this service in the next few days. I can use the same account to call from ATA adapter, softphone and even my Nokia cellphone over WIFI or GPRS.
Now I am working on awesome integration to link VOIP/GSM gateway, infleet calling, Asterisk server, Wind IP inbound and my VOIP outbound into one neat system that will allow me to make and receive free international calls on my cellphone anywhere in the DR, including calls onto US or other international numbers, all received at no cost to caller and no cost to me, and will also allow me to receive calls from my DR number when i travel abroad for free at no roaming charge! When I have this system running I will post details. I hope I will have time to complete the setup by Christmas so I can use it when I go visit my family.
My fuel costs are about 800 pesos per week, gasoline for scooter and gas (LPG) for car. I move around quite a lot. RT to Santo Domingo including city driving is about 1400 pesos in LPG.
Clothing I buy online e.g. aeropostale.com, plus some jeans in La Sirena or Lama when I find something I like, or I go to Megacentro.
Household help here is 4000 to 5000 pesos per month, 6 days a week, 9 to 7 job.
You can buy cheap food when you know how and where. Advantage of living in a smaller city is that you have all big supermarkets and farmer's market nearby and you can take advantage of promotions. Like today yucca at 3.95 pesos per pound in supermarket or plantains for 3 pesos, or huge platanos from the truck for 5 pesos (yes, I buy yucca and platanos because I love
pure de yuca and
mang?)!!!!. Yesterday tomatoes at 6.95 pesos per pound. Rice at 14 pesos per pound. I can get dominican churrasco at 60 pesos per pound, pierna de cerdo for 50 pesos per pound, both in the local market. I can buy potatoes for 14 pesos perpound when I buy 20 pounds in the market, when the supermarket charges 21 per pound. Chicken for 38 per pound when it's for 50 per pound in supermarket. I switched from Cyclon energy drinks first to Gladiator then to 911 and now to MegaEnergy which is made by the same company that makes Cyclon and even tastes the same but is bottled in Trinidad, 20oz bottle for just 22 pesos compared to small Cyclon can for 50. I can but pork chops for 60 0n Thursdays when they are on special and I can get basic meds (like basic antibiotics, painkillers, anti-inflamatory, etc.) in PromeseCal farmacy a full bag of stuff for 100 or 150 pesos.
You have to know where to shop for what and when, and you can buy 3 HUUUUGE bags of veggies for 300 pesos like I did yesterday or come home with 20 pounds of fresh meat for 800-1000 pesos.
