- Thread starter Robert
- Start date
Living Costs in the Dominican Republic
better ask mods to delete your post or everyone will start to think you are one of the followers of the mighty cornholio, also known as yanandu
I think it's just the prices in the first part that need updated???...they're being pulled off an outdated article highlighted in the first part. I think the second part, where the prices are coming from Janet's supermarket are up to date.
yes, i meant the first post but i think it is not only prices, frank. shopping section needs to be reversed, so does communication (telephones are cheap but internet is not). furniture and appliances need revising (hand made by order wood furniture is cheap but quality modern pieces along with many appliances are expensive).
The worrying part for me is that someone is peddling this information to would-be expats.
maybe there was no bad intention, a person who noted the article sent it out because "you live in DR, it may interest you" but they have never been here themselves or they never noticed the prices. i have a friend who visit me regularly, she calls dominican money "thingies", she cannot remember they are pesos; she does not exchange money, we do it for her; she cannot comprehend the going rate yet everything in DR seems cheap to her
to me those numbers stunk to high heaven, starting from a family of four living comfortably in USA for 50k a year. i admit i have never been to america but i worked for an american company and i have friends in USA, i know 50k a year does not make a good living for parents with two kids... not even with extreme couponing.
but i still think it makes an interesting reading, if indeed gas price suggests it was written about 20 years ago it has a cool historical value reminds me of my in-law's stories involving centavos
to me those numbers stunk to high heaven, starting from a family of four living comfortably in USA for 50k a year. i admit i have never been to america but i worked for an american company and i have friends in USA, i know 50k a year does not make a good living for parents with two kids... not even with extreme couponing.
but i still think it makes an interesting reading, if indeed gas price suggests it was written about 20 years ago it has a cool historical value
reminds me of my in-law's stories involving centavos 
dv8, there ARE places in the US where a family of 4 could live comfortably on $50k a year in 2012. It's a big country.
Once you get away from the big cities/states [California, NYC, NJ, CT, Chicago, etc.] it's doable. Real estate taxes are very low in some places, exorbitant in others. That's a big variable. A cousin in NC owns 1/4 of a mountain, and pays only hundreds in taxes. I have a postage stamp sized lot in NJ, and we pay about $8K. My brother on Long Island pays over $10K real estate taxes on a modest home. A condo in south Jersey pays about $3K in taxes, my parents' condo in Florida was $300 a year.
And like DR, it's a question of lifestyles. Home-cooked meals or lots of restaurants? TJ Maxx or Lord & Taylor? Hyundai or Mercedes? Cable TV or Live Concerts? Pollo guisado or Filete? .....on and on.....
Once you get away from the big cities/states [California, NYC, NJ, CT, Chicago, etc.] it's doable. Real estate taxes are very low in some places, exorbitant in others. That's a big variable. A cousin in NC owns 1/4 of a mountain, and pays only hundreds in taxes. I have a postage stamp sized lot in NJ, and we pay about $8K. My brother on Long Island pays over $10K real estate taxes on a modest home. A condo in south Jersey pays about $3K in taxes, my parents' condo in Florida was $300 a year.
And like DR, it's a question of lifestyles. Home-cooked meals or lots of restaurants? TJ Maxx or Lord & Taylor? Hyundai or Mercedes? Cable TV or Live Concerts? Pollo guisado or Filete? .....on and on.....
really? with a yearly trip to mexico and to disney world? paying the mortgage? two cars? older kid in a university or college? for a total of 50k dollars?
you surprise me. i know it would not be possible where my friends are located: chicago, NYC, boston, miami.
you surprise me. i know it would not be possible where my friends are located: chicago, NYC, boston, miami.
Yes, they go on camping trips to the nearest national park, disney World of course corrupts the mind... , they probably bought a plot and built something basic extending it as the years went by - I have visited some wonderful US homes constructed in this mode and the family doesn't owe to the bankers and there is no risk of foreclosure as the economy collapses . Cars with attention can have a 20 year life. Plus in some places you see horses and carts. Tend to send their kids abroad to where higher education is not a rip off and not the most expensive in the World. Probably do some basic farming part time. In Alaska and elsewhere they hunt and fish.
In many parts of the US $20,000 is adequate for the family given that the family has built a house.
Many love their life and save for a rainy day!!
yapask1
In many parts of the US $20,000 is adequate for the family given that the family has built a house.
Many love their life and save for a rainy day!!
yapask1
I would think $50 could do it in some places.
Public schools, extended life cars (economical ones), not totally Yappy style living but responsible approach to living.
No Starbucks.......
Public schools, extended life cars (economical ones), not totally Yappy style living but responsible approach to living.
No Starbucks.......
Yannandu/Pi2/Yapaski/Whatever,
20k is well below the poverty line for a family of four in the U.S. They could probably be just fine if they chose to adopt the Unabomber lifestyle and raise half-homeschooled-half-feral children, hunt moose with bows and arrows (I'd really like to see that, btw,) and dress their wounds with moss and dog spit, but that just doesn't sound like they're having a very good time.
I agree with you (and your multiple personalities) that things would be MUCH better if they had a solar cooker and a family-sized nuclear reactor.
aranoid:Yes my grandfather used to talk of this approach - in the 30's poorer people would pay for treatment by a doctor by leaving eggs at his door for a number of weeks.
$50 a month ??? unless a gusher of crude and some means of refining it - on the other hand people of Europe after WW11 were still using wood burning cars.
yapask1
50k would be just fine in most areas in the southern and mid-western parts of the U.S., with the exception of Miami and perhaps Atlanta. A modest house in a "work/live/play" suburb (or area with good public transportation, which is admittedly rare in the south) with a decent school district is a lot more affordable than it was five years ago.
Yapaski is right in that a family camping trip would cost far less than a week at Disneyworld.
Agreed DR ob.....
Yappy will squeeze that down to $25 or so.... but thats just him.
Very doable at $50 as I think about..... especially if living in the old family home (inherited) as they often do in "that neck of the woods"....
Taking housing costs out of the equation is HUGE..... Don't sell the farm, Pa !!
Yappy will squeeze that down to $25 or so.... but thats just him.
Very doable at $50 as I think about..... especially if living in the old family home (inherited) as they often do in "that neck of the woods"....
Taking housing costs out of the equation is HUGE..... Don't sell the farm, Pa !!
I lived in nC on 5 acres and paid $700 a year in taxes, Now do not get me wrong. most of the land was steep as a cow;s face. But I had a geodesic Dome and rental cabin. Most of my friends.. except the doctors, the insurance agents, and the realtors made under $60k a year. Vacations were almost always to visit family or to camp at the national or state parks. Few ever went out of the country.
But lots spent a LOT of money on organic veggies!
As for Yappi and the DR.. I just came back from a long weekend in Las Terrenas with my nephew, to celebrate his 35th birthday. I think that we spent $400 each!!!!! I paid for the two sperate rooms at the chica friendly hotel and the birthday and lunch and dinner. I, of course, do not wish to know how he spent his.
After I left him in the care of my local Haitian friends
when I left the disco at 3 AM
After I left him in the care of my local Haitian friends
when I left the disco at 3 AM