Yes, possibly, just surprised that someone involved with so much charitable work spends so much on a week-ends diversions.
yapask1
- Thread starter Robert
- Start date
Living Costs in the Dominican Republic
Yes, possibly, just surprised that someone involved with so much charitable work spends so much on a week-ends diversions.
yapask1
yeah,
but did your friend also tell ya what the cost is to purchase such appartment in NY firstly before it could be rented? and then the comparison to the same appartment's building/purchase costs in the DR.
you guys compare things which can not be compared to each others.
basically,
it does not matter what the same thingy costs in NYC, Berlin, the Chinese Mountains or in Timbuktu, what matters is just what You/a specific Person/Family wants to have/needs as their minimum must haves and what they cost Here.
teh fact that the Car of the Mrs costs here in DR 150K$ is worthless to co,pare to the more expansive price for the same lil one in Germany and also worthless to compare it to the much cheaper price for the same Car in the USA.
the only thing what is important is firstluy:
how much Bucks do I have to allow the Mrs to buy again a new Car?
and 2ndly, what does da darn thingy cost me here in the DR, can I afford it?
teh fact that my Buddy Bob can get for the dame Car a better Deal in North Carolina at his beloved Lamborghini nDealer and the fact that it costs more when purchased in Barcelona/Spain is completely unimportant.
for Living Costs in any seeked to live in country it is firstly important "what Budget do ya have at hands EVERY MONTH" to spend, make a List of the things you need/of things you are not willing to live without, check the common prices for exactly those things at the seeked for country, then you can decide to move or to keep looking for a effordable other place.
Frank posted above very good Info, but I would by far not agree to all written there, and many even depend on the location where on the Island you want to Live, as they may be near the mentioned range at some locations but far off for an other.
let's take a simple example, a simple Beer, Local Beer.
yes, purchased at an every days Bar outside of the touristy Areas a cold Presidente Beer is cheaper than a average Beer at an every days Bar in Germany, BUT I get a Local Beer in San Juan at an every Days Bar cheaper than I get it in the DR.
and the prices to purchase such Beers in the DR to store them in the Fridge at Home are in the DR more expensive than to purchase a good German Beer in Germany to keep in the housefridge.
I purchased Cold Presidente Pequenas by the sixpack at a Gas Station in Florida/US CHEAPER than I do as a Businessman purchase the warm ones of the same Brand here in the DR directly from the Distributor.
and you need of course a bit of time to come around, with time at a new place in the DR a foreign non spanish speaker starts to purchase the daily Items on the upper scale of the price range, often at the Colmaditos(the most expensive place to purchase anything, but myself I simply love them for their Flair and to grab a beer when just looking for something the Mrs needs in da Kittchen) and then due observing the wider Area(if mobile with a Bike or Car) learns about the new surroundings and figures out the different places where specifics are to be purchased for the best rates available.
and it always depends which quality level you await for specific goodies compared to at home.
I am German born and spent the last good 6 years in the USA before I came to the DR over 17 years ago.
Beef, much better quality and far cheaper in DR than in my homecountry, on par quality wise but cheaper compared to the USA.
Beers, less quality but acceptable quality wise compared to Germany, but for the same price I get a much better beer in Germany. compared to the uS Beers I see the DR on par quality wise.
chicken, a daily must have for a average DR working household, I loved chicken from growing up and of course it suits me a lot to live in chicken country here, they are better quality here in DR and cheaper tahn in Germany, they are cheaper and much better quality compared to the US here.
many people need their specific spices and other small but for them important stuff, where ever they are, such is here as a import clearly more expensive than back home in the distributor's country. some "Extras" to a meal may cost more than the meal itself.
heck,
to live from cooking on a solar oven, run 3 3Volts LightBulps for the whole House and watch TV only as long as the Battery of the Scooter has Powers, if that was your standard back home, then you can compare the costs for the same to live the same standard here in the DR.
but Guys like our "Solar Buffalo Pooh recycling ..." Samana Dude can not tell a NYC Gal that living in the DR is CHEAPER because here you can use a Solar Panel to run your Hair Curler!
if you did so back home in NYC, then the same Solar System and Curler cost you here in the DR significantly More than they costed you back home.
many above rates/prices/living costs are absolutely Valid, it is the real costs for the stuff,
BUT,
you can only compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges,
a person used to a northamerican standar Bathroom/Pooo Tub, a freezing A/C machine which makes it useless to put da beer in da fridge because it stays cold on the floor of the living room, cooking a soup within 15 minutes on a real strong "flame" of a elec stove, buy clothes of specific Brands, use Parfumes or Deos of specific Brands, need your Italian Pasta from specific Brands, then you pay in the DR clear higher Living Costs for Your personal used to Standard than you paid at home.
yes,
in the DR you can purchase everything needed for the daily life much cheaper than the quality products back home, but why compare those apples to the oranges?
are you sued to purchase your clothes used on a Haitian Market(I personally get many Fishing Motive shirts per month there, I LOVE them), use javon de guagua instead of a shower gel and use it also to wash your hair, boil your Teawater on a solar stove(more expensive to purchase here in DR than back home anyways) and wait 30 minutes for the Cup of Tea to be ready instead of switching on the elec Waterboiler back home to have 4 Cups of Tea ready for the visitors in your house with a few minutes instead of one waiting for the other's Water to be boiled Solarpowerly???
then the living costs in the DR may be for you cheaper than the living costs you are used to from back home at Mommy's Place.
if you want/need certain standards, then count on the same and in many areas even higher living costs than used to at home.
a appartment for 100 bucks per month?
come on Guys,
of course I know they exist, even much cheaper do they exist here in DR,
but are ya ready to live where such is available? be prepared that a real supermarket may not be within vicinity there to get the american BBQ Sauce for the sunday grill.
if you bring all the needed money for the Living Costs for the Rest of your Life with you from home to the DR and you come around and learn, then finally you will live here in the DR on a used to standard cheaper than you could at home.
if you depend on a Income from a Job in the DR to manage the rest of your Life on the Island, and from that DR-Earned Income you have tom purchase your needed products here, then you will have a much LOWER value of the earned Buck than you had on a comparable Job back home.
Mike
let's not nitpick on wordings,
I guess for even not english speakers, myself involved,
the Term "to live like Royalty" does not mena to live a standard of the english Queen in a country where most otehrs/non Royals are unemployed,
it is just a Term and means that with 50K$ you can live a far above average very comfy Life in the DR, and that is FACT.
No Ferrari for the Boss, No Lamborghini for the Mrs,
a 30ft Babyfishingboat instead of a multimillion dollar offshore Yacht,
but with 50K you can live a very comfy retirement in the DR which you most likely can't on the same comfy standar in most 1st world countries.
and yes, there are many countries where the Buck briongs you further than it does in the DR,
but if that's your interest, why to discuss it here on a DR Forum, just move to Northern Thailand or Laos, 50K per year go a very long way there, almost "real" Royalty.
Mike
sorry to comment on your comment in such harsh words,
but I find your harsh comment a very uneducated comment.
to be involved in Charity work and helping the needed does NOT mean that the person herself/himself has to live in poverty and a Wooden Shack with a Zinn Roof themselfes.
it just means that you life your life and do what you can to help the ones who need your help.
if I spend a few K's per year on charity projects does not mean I am under the obligation to live in poverty myself,
it just means I do and spend Time and resources on the case.
your comment shows that you never in detail thought about what real charity is or would mean, sad to read such, as I quiet liked some of your other postings, to date.
Mike
I believe that I said that it was my nephew's 35th birthday, didn;t I? We have not celebrated a birthday together since he was 21. Such is the REALLY hard job of an aunt. Give the kid a blow out party every 15 years.
But I do think that we should encourage people with some money to contribute to come here... not how cheaply they can live. not how large they can live. but can they live well and have a productive life.
I have certainly been more useful to the planet in general, made more of a difference in more lives in the last eight years since I have been here than I would have if I had stayed at home. Hell, I have 300 Haitians in LT who consider me their mother!
I have certainly been more useful to the planet in general, made more of a difference in more lives in the last eight years since I have been here than I would have if I had stayed at home. Hell, I have 300 Haitians in LT who consider me their mother!
it is anyways not anybody's business to comment uneducated on What you have to do or not with your money.
if you want to use the big greenbucks to burn a cigar every hour because you can afford to do so, then it be.
don't get too much offended by the prior unappropriate postings of the Kid, I guess he did not even realize what BS been written, the wind of changes, todays they talk a lot but so few really DO.
go ahead with Your Good work and enjoy weekends with family/friends or who ever YOU decide to be a appropriate acompanion at any place, hotel or private, because it is just your own personal Biz and the bigmouths still would need to proof that they ever did anything better than to bring some Candies to the poor country's schoolkids when taking a TRuck Safari on a all inclusive vacation.
cheers
Mike
Thats what we're saying Mike - anything - whether 30-40-50 goes further here than some other places.
And , yes, RD is just one option of many.
For me, a short and direct flight was an attraction in addition to the cost of living.
Believe me if I had the money, I would ADORE to go up and spend a grand in LAS Terrenas every month.. it would be easy since I have so many friends there and there are so many restuarants and they are very expensive and most all my friends earn in pesos. So it would be very nice to be able to take everyone out to eat.
I would love to buy up the ENTIRE catch of the Village and have a fish fry on the beach for all the Haitians who BUILT THE TOWN
alas
all I could afford was rice and beans for the few that I personally knew who were actually starving last year because so many of the expats seem to come and live there like yanandiuesyuyekn
I would love to buy up the ENTIRE catch of the Village and have a fish fry on the beach for all the Haitians who BUILT THE TOWN
alas
all I could afford was rice and beans for the few that I personally knew who were actually starving last year because so many of the expats seem to come and live there like yanandiuesyuyekn
Yes, charity workers come in all flavors : from Mother Teresa,s of this world to the gentleman I met having a very extravagant
lifestyle in Spain running a donkey sanctuary garnering funds by visiting old peoples homes and persuading the inmates to write his sanctuary in their wills. I suppose most I have met trend towards the examples set by Mother Teresa and other earlier charity workers leading humble lifestyles.
My feeling is that for teachers ( onetime me ) , charity workers, community workers etc. keeping details of personal expenditure private is an advantage because likely as not they have stewardship of funds; sometimes given generously by those much less fortunate than themselves ; if they engage in conspicuous consumption fraud within their schools, organisations etc. becomes more likely and respect diminishes. There have been cases of an organisation with a single employee collects $1 M for Haiti.
Is Wyclef's Haiti charity a scam? - The Week
And yes I give money to MSF, Red Cross ; I hope it helps.
Even the very rich that give generously of their time and resources to charity such as Bill and Melinda Gates seldom publicize their week end expenses even though they probably hugely exceed the $400 discussed here.
So I express surprise.
yapask1
lifestyle in Spain running a donkey sanctuary garnering funds by visiting old peoples homes and persuading the inmates to write his sanctuary in their wills. I suppose most I have met trend towards the examples set by Mother Teresa and other earlier charity workers leading humble lifestyles.
My feeling is that for teachers ( onetime me ) , charity workers, community workers etc. keeping details of personal expenditure private is an advantage because likely as not they have stewardship of funds; sometimes given generously by those much less fortunate than themselves ; if they engage in conspicuous consumption fraud within their schools, organisations etc. becomes more likely and respect diminishes. There have been cases of an organisation with a single employee collects $1 M for Haiti.
Is Wyclef's Haiti charity a scam? - The Week
And yes I give money to MSF, Red Cross ; I hope it helps.
Even the very rich that give generously of their time and resources to charity such as Bill and Melinda Gates seldom publicize their week end expenses even though they probably hugely exceed the $400 discussed here.
So I express surprise.
yapask1
Guys, Mike the Fisherman is 100% right. It makes no use to compare your homecountry to the DR.
It all depends on what you want from life.
We, personally, live a much better life here than in Belgium. But we do not buy a huge amount of imported products, we enjoy the relaxed lifestyle, curse once a month when Edenorte ripped us of again, enjoy the quiet, train some doggies on monday, go out fishing for that dorado or wahu, enjoy the bbq, etc...
Then again, I used to drive luxury cars in Belgium, and now I drive a 15 year old jeep. Hey, it gets me from A to B. I have never replaced that much tires in my life, since living here. And I used to drive 150,000 km + per year, compared to the 10,000 here. Then again, tires are cheap here.
Yes, people coming to live here have to think, and think seriously. What are they willing to give up, to get some of the nice things over here.
I like the locals, I like the relaxed atmosphere, I like to be able to help out some of the local friends, or the charities, and I have never been screwed by them (as yet, except for one expat)...
If you want to live like an American, or European in the DR, stay where you are. It is not possible.
You want to adapt, it is a great country to live in.
BelgianK
It all depends on what you want from life.
We, personally, live a much better life here than in Belgium. But we do not buy a huge amount of imported products, we enjoy the relaxed lifestyle, curse once a month when Edenorte ripped us of again, enjoy the quiet, train some doggies on monday, go out fishing for that dorado or wahu, enjoy the bbq, etc...
Then again, I used to drive luxury cars in Belgium, and now I drive a 15 year old jeep. Hey, it gets me from A to B. I have never replaced that much tires in my life, since living here. And I used to drive 150,000 km + per year, compared to the 10,000 here. Then again, tires are cheap here.
Yes, people coming to live here have to think, and think seriously. What are they willing to give up, to get some of the nice things over here.
I like the locals, I like the relaxed atmosphere, I like to be able to help out some of the local friends, or the charities, and I have never been screwed by them (as yet, except for one expat)...
If you want to live like an American, or European in the DR, stay where you are. It is not possible.
You want to adapt, it is a great country to live in.
BelgianK
well I do not have any one else;s funds except for $250 that some generous donors gave me last year when I was asking for them to help finish the Haitian project and had run up against my credit line.
So I am not a charity worker in that sense.
I am self funded.
So I am not a charity worker in that sense.
I am self funded.
Yes, a 50 lb sack of rice 1000 pesos and sack of beans 25lb 1000 pesos should feed 100-200 people. Maybe some eggs as well 100 eggs 500 pesos. 70 dollars.
When I was young the street used to club together to buy things in bulk and distribute each week. I do not sense this among Haitians here - their ideal is to hang around gringos for 100 pesos. One or two Haitians I meet actually grow things but not many .
Yes; if ma wants to run a soup kitchen for starving Haitians and others in LT once a month I will donate beans and rice ; also loan a large pressure cooker and gas ring.
Long time ago I helped in soup kitchens in poor London and ran lunch clubs for the elderly needy in Glasgow.
Yes a BBQ on the beach is more romantic but does it really help people help themselves?
ma obviously has a gift for languages : I want to learn more Creole and help others too. If she will record 100 words, 100 phrases and and their English equivalent spoken by herself or a native Haitian or herself I will donate to her favorite charity and also make the recording freely available on the web to all with appropriate acknowledgements.
pm response please outside topic.
By the way do you have hospital records of people dying of starvation ? Yes possibly hungry and easiest way is to ask a gringo for 100 pesos ; but I have seen many Haitians on a walk in the countryside to collect food. Depending on season breadfruit, mangoes, coconut, various root vegetables, greens, plantanas growing outside proper plots; some have little secret plots where they grow beans etc.
Even I can collect 5 coconut in 1 hour and I'm not savvy.
Yes as child when I was hungry I walked round fields looking for discarded vegetables, wheat ears and wild carrots. Also shot pigeon with an air rifle; helped with slaughtering and plucking chickens so I could take one home.
Even I can collect 5 coconut in 1 hour and I'm not savvy.
Yes, I am conscious that the US and many US citizens want a dependency culture so the millionaires that run their agribusinesses can commission every bigger yachts.
yapask1
When I was young the street used to club together to buy things in bulk and distribute each week. I do not sense this among Haitians here - their ideal is to hang around gringos for 100 pesos. One or two Haitians I meet actually grow things but not many .
Yes; if ma wants to run a soup kitchen for starving Haitians and others in LT once a month I will donate beans and rice ; also loan a large pressure cooker and gas ring.
Long time ago I helped in soup kitchens in poor London and ran lunch clubs for the elderly needy in Glasgow.
Yes a BBQ on the beach is more romantic but does it really help people help themselves?
ma obviously has a gift for languages : I want to learn more Creole and help others too. If she will record 100 words, 100 phrases and and their English equivalent spoken by herself or a native Haitian or herself I will donate to her favorite charity and also make the recording freely available on the web to all with appropriate acknowledgements.
pm response please outside topic.
By the way do you have hospital records of people dying of starvation ? Yes possibly hungry and easiest way is to ask a gringo for 100 pesos ; but I have seen many Haitians on a walk in the countryside to collect food. Depending on season breadfruit, mangoes, coconut, various root vegetables, greens, plantanas growing outside proper plots; some have little secret plots where they grow beans etc.
Even I can collect 5 coconut in 1 hour and I'm not savvy.
Yes as child when I was hungry I walked round fields looking for discarded vegetables, wheat ears and wild carrots. Also shot pigeon with an air rifle; helped with slaughtering and plucking chickens so I could take one home.
Even I can collect 5 coconut in 1 hour and I'm not savvy.
Yes, I am conscious that the US and many US citizens want a dependency culture so the millionaires that run their agribusinesses can commission every bigger yachts.
yapask1
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I do not do soup kitchens Do not approve of them. I do not support begging in any form. I only bought rice and beans and oil one time because my friends were coming down with kwashikor. My Charlie Simon, who is a world class artist, whose works sell for one thousand dollars a piece, had lost about forty pounds and looked like a death mask.
No.. I buy a painting if he is an aritist.
I ride the conchos.
I eat out at the restaurants
I tip heavily
I buy the local cds if I have the money
I do not approve of Charity in the sense of giving stuff away for nothing
But I do make an effort to improve the life of the community in which I live
i do not give money to any international charity since I have now seen their work on the ground
i always, however, put change into the palm of the old ladies who sit on the street in my neighborhood, and the local crazy guy I hand off a hundred pesos about once a month.. The shoe shine boys, I give something to on Christmas... and give them work if I am planting things in the garden that I am starting in the vacant lot two doors down
but a soup kitchen
no.. that is the work of a church
No.. I buy a painting if he is an aritist.
I ride the conchos.
I eat out at the restaurants
I tip heavily
I buy the local cds if I have the money
I do not approve of Charity in the sense of giving stuff away for nothing
But I do make an effort to improve the life of the community in which I live
i do not give money to any international charity since I have now seen their work on the ground
i always, however, put change into the palm of the old ladies who sit on the street in my neighborhood, and the local crazy guy I hand off a hundred pesos about once a month.. The shoe shine boys, I give something to on Christmas... and give them work if I am planting things in the garden that I am starting in the vacant lot two doors down
but a soup kitchen
no.. that is the work of a church
You have always been in front with what needs to be done. You have done the best that you can. A job and dedication that few have ever come near. I've read and learned over the years of your efforts and that dedication. And I thank you.
I have not done much toward the cause to our west BUT I have helped others .. help them.
I have enough here in the D.R. to do. Where I live. And sorting out the JUNK from the real is a job in itself.
The cost of living? Is that this thread? It seams to have evolved as all threads do to having NO relation to the OP. lol
M.A. Sometimes you have to step back.. have some time off.. .... thank you for what you have done.
REcharge.... focuss.
Please help abandoned and orphaned children in the Dominican Republic -- Indiegogo
Let's start helping within our own home. This is the cost of living in the Dominican Republic.
http://www.dr1.com/forums/living/112283-living-costs-dominican-republic.html
that's exactly the point, Bro.
you give to the Red Cross, of which I am a steady and punctually paying member since I am aged 12!!!!
but what did YOU DO???
nothing other than to write some speeches hidden behind a bordname of a internet forum, NOTHING DONE than TALK.
there are more people starving to dead on the globe due Talks than people get food on the plate due DOING!
why are you talking about Gates or other people of whom you do not know any?, would not even come close to have a look in da Eyes?
forget the sensational Press and all da crap,
DOING is something Done by people on every day's bases, everywhere in the world, and they do not try to come over on a board to write about something "imaginarily done" by beeing a member of the red cross.
they just DO, and they don't tell ya, many of them are in no way any wealthy, many do take the needed bucks off their dinner plate to give a hand on the next corner to someone who really needs it.
don't talk or write about serious things you in reality have no clue about.
no bad intentions,
but I simply hate the talkers of holy crap who never did any better than to think about that something would need to be done for someone, til the someone is dead before the DOING arrived at the stommack.
hence I hate politicians and Priests almost as much as lawyers,
together they are the big P.I.T.A. of humanity.
don't talk, don't promote,
just DO!
Mike
yeah,
it is an missing option that at least on request of the disliker a Mod or the BOSS can take such back so the wished "like" can be clcked, happened to me before, too, leak of simple feature on DR1
Mike
oh WOW. Mikefisher is... to me.. one of the top respected people on DR1. Sorry Mike... not at the top but very close to it.
So... Can I see your donation just cause... ?? you know what to do?
http://www.dr1.com/forums/community-support/126162-please-help-abandoned-santiago-children.html
Fish? I challange you to send a BIG FISH to the kids. or money is fine too.