OK so I'm late...I know.
Again, I live in Santiago and I just want to say first and foremost that I have a TON of expenses that you don't need. I just work a lot and I feel when I'm at home, I wanna live over the top. So anyway, here are my expenses, calculated monthly. Things are a little less now since the peso has dropped in value.
RENT - 68,000RD ($1700)
This expenses is sooooo far off what you actually need. The last house I lived in was only $500/mo and it was a perfectly lovely house with 4BR. You can even find some good 4BR homes for $375 (15,000RD). But my current house is over 5500sf and has pool, landscaped yards, marble, granite, blah, blah, blah.
ELECTRICITY - 8,000RD ($195)
This of course is due to the size of my home and I have AC in the bedrooms which go from about 8pm to 8am. Also the computer which stays on all of the time, and Bertania washes at least 2 loads of clothes per day (kids!!!) and my washer and dryer are both full size and electric.
BERTANIA - 12,000RD ($300)
She is my full time live-in domestic but more like family. The kids call her mama (I'm mami). She does most everything...ok, I'll stop lying...she does everything.
PERLA - 4,000RD ($100)
She is my part time live-out domestic. She was a friend of Bertania's family that I felt a little bad for when I first moved so I gave her a job. She was there keeping an eye on Victor and doing whatever odds and ends Bertania had her to do. Victor's now in colegio but she still works for me, cleans and cooks with Bertania and stays and cleans and such while Bertania runs errands, etc. (Did I mention I don't do sh*t?)
WATER - 500RD ($12)
By far, the cheapest bill I have
CABLE - 2200RD ($55)
This of course, again, is way more than what you probably need. I have full cable on 7 TVs.
INTERNET/HOME PHONE - I forget exactly how much but I know its less than 1,000RD ($25).I have a regular home phone and I have wifi, and knock on wood, so far haven't had much problem. There is a desktop in the living room upstairs and I have a laptop plus the kids have the PS3 and some Nintendo DS thingy that my son has and gets internet on
CELULAR - 2,000RD ($50)
My cell phone plan is much less than that (I think like 1,000RD) but I run the bill up text messaging the United States.
COLEGIO - 6,000RD ($150)
3 kids in private Dominican school at 2,000rd each.
GAS TANK FOR COOKING - 1,000RD
I don't know exactly how often we have to fill up the gas tank (Bertania handles all that) but I know its about 1,000RD to fill up the big tank, not sure about the small one. I have both so if the big one runs out, we have enough in the little until I can get the big one filled again. But like I said, I don't really bother with that.
JARDINERO - 1,000RD ($25)
You may not need this if your yard is not huge.
POOL GUY - 3,000RD ($75)
Self explanatory, if you don't have a pool....but he comes to do his "pool stuff" twice per week.
GUAGUA - 3,000RD ($75)
This is the price for pick up and drop off of all 3 kids for school. There aren't any school buses like we know of in the States.
CENTRO DE CULTURA - 1,500RD ($38)
My daughter takes ballet twice per week and both son and daughter take painting once per week.
TRANSPORTE - 2,400RD ($60)
Taxi to and from their classes at Centro (of course, if you have a car you will not have taxi or school guagua expenses).
FOOD - 30,000-35,000RD ($750-$875)
This is my worst thing because I'm sure I can cut this down but you know us Americans
And I don't look at sticker prices in the grocery store which is a fault of mine. But I did cut it down from 40,000RD!
ALERTA - 1,800RD ($45)
This is the security alarm system company for the house.
SEGURIDAD - 1,000RD ($25)
This is the neighborhood security group.
HUMANO - almost 40,000RD ($1,000) every 3 months
Full coverage health insurance for me, the 3 kids (oldest is in college in the states), and Bertania.
I think that's all. Of course, I've lived off of half of this before but I work my ass off in the states and when I come home I want to live nicely and not be pinching pennies. But you can definitely live comfortably on half of that or less, especially since you have family in DR.
The rest I'll answer your PM with
Good luck....hope you pick Santiago (which by far is the best city in DR)
SHALENA