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A poster here asked me this question in a mail.It comes up alot.I thought I would expound here.
How much do you nneed to get by?Dependson howwell you want to get by.
One of my girlfriends is a registered nurse.She makes 600,000 pesos a month,about $256.She gets by and also helps her mother.She rents a room in a house,walks or takes a bus to work.She easts simply but well,mama cooks for her alot.She has OK clothes,wears jeans and blouses mostly.
Would you want to live on that?I don't think so.You would probably want a better house even if renting a room.And we are here to meet women,so we want to have mooney to do thoingswith them.I don't ever ride buses,I could if I needed to.
Let me give you kind of the other end of the scale,gringo gone wild,me.It just looked at my monthly expenses and treid to estimate them.I get $3300 a motnh net from my pension and managed to spend that plus dip in to my savings in the last year.
I will put the prices in dollars.They areup 15% just from the dollar dropping in the last 8 months.

Rent,with administration,just went up                       $877

Computer cable hookup                                       $198
This is for unlimiteduse.You can get it for $42,but
if your usage is high it can go to $400.It would have been
$300 for October but we got off the hook

Energy plus water,sewage on bill one bill                    $211
Jacuzzi runs this up,maybe $120 otherwise

Groceries,ect,including                                      $700
wine,beer,liquor
                               Restaurants,intertainment                                   $725

Taxis                                                        $362
Mostly for the girls

Gas                                                           $20

Phones                                                       $146

Maid                                                         $128

Total                                                        $3367

I get back about $850 rent from long term renters and
maybe $200-$1000 from short term room rentals ,so maybe
$1200 Conservatively,so net expense $2167.Offsets the expenseof aluxury apartment.But not shown here
drugs,escpecially HGH,total $600 or so a month.
Plus travel.My bank account dippedwhen I went to the US for
plus traveled 3 times around Colombia.
Also I am working on businessideas,havesme money invested
paying my Colombian partner to brainstorm that with me.

So,what would be a middle ground? I am guessing maybe $1200 a month,
2,800,000 pesos.Good life,not extravagent.And if  a guy were settled down and not dating maybe less.

Pete

... in response to Cost of living in Colombia, posted by Pete E on Jan 28, 2005

I earned $750 a month in Costa Rica and didn't rely too much on my savings to survive.  I could have lived well for $1000 per month.

I'm looking forward to retiring in CR in 4+ years with a pension aproximately the size of yours.

... in response to Cost of living in Colombia, posted by Pete E on Jan 28, 2005

.

... in response to Cost of living in Colombia, posted by Pete E on Jan 28, 2005

What a coincidence...my novia is also a registered
nurse who makes about the same (275/month)... when
she gets paid. There are times she does not see a
paycheck for three months. Hospital always saying
things are tight but not to worry.

Your cost of living expenses are somewhat close to
mine when I'm staying in Cali. The biggest difference is
my rent in a high rise aprtment is about 1,200,000
pesos (525.00 per month) The electris is always
expensive and computer hook up is about the same.

I would say my expenses run about $ 2,000.00 per
month including entertainment. Glad I don't have the
medication costs you have.

... in response to Re: Cost of living in Colombia, posted by Ricky on Jan 28, 2005

My namorada in Brazil is in the same boat.  She earns about $250 US a month as an adminstrative nurse for the city she lives in.  But when the city is short of cash it just tells everyone they'll get paid next month.  This end of January makes 3 months since her last pay check.  They promised to pay November's salary on February 1.  

Boy, here in the US, riots have started for way less in the not too distant past when unions were stronger.

... in response to Re: Re: Cost of living in Colombia, posted by Brazilophile on Jan 28, 2005

Imagine these poor women having to go through the
holidays living like this? My girl did not get paid from
September through December. She got a partial (2
months) check the first week of January.

It's easy for us guys to help them out. Imagine the ones
who don't have any assistance . . .and have a family?