BajaNomad - Can you live on $2000 a month???

Can you live on $2000 a month???

bajaguy - 9-17-2013 at 05:10 PM

Some interesting choices. Mexico is mentioned, but nothing about Baja

http://money.msn.com/retirement/10-places-to-live-on-dollar2...

Eli - 9-17-2013 at 05:30 PM

I live very well on a whole lot less. I just live simply, happy to be me.

chuckie - 9-17-2013 at 05:32 PM

Me too.....

willardguy - 9-17-2013 at 05:35 PM

I'd be stoked to have two thousand bucks a month! I could buy the thick porkchops! :yes:

durrelllrobert - 9-17-2013 at 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by willardguy
I'd be stoked to have two thousand bucks a month! I could buy the thick porkchops! :yes:

I haven't seen a supermarket in Ensenada that sells pork chops thick enough to stuff. Maybe you can have them cut to order at carnicería San Nicolas?

CJ - 9-17-2013 at 05:42 PM

No problem....if someone would buy my boat gas :lol:

comitan - 9-17-2013 at 05:45 PM

Thick pork chops, buy a pork loin cut your own.

tjsue - 9-17-2013 at 06:09 PM

I live well on a lot less. I just watch my pennies. I didn't even make $2000 per month when I worked full time.

vandenberg - 9-17-2013 at 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajaguy
Some interesting choices. Mexico is mentioned, but nothing about Baja

Loreto is mentioned as one of the cities in Mexico, as Baja as you can get. :biggrin:

J.P. - 9-17-2013 at 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by durrelllrobert

Quote:

Originally posted by willardguy
I'd be stoked to have two thousand bucks a month! I could buy the thick porkchops! :yes:

I haven't seen a supermarket in Ensenada that sells pork chops thick enough to stuff. Maybe you can have them cut to order at carnicería San Nicolas?

I have tried to get then cut that way at San Nicholas. I finally gave up. I buy my Pork Chops at the Pelican they sell what they call American cut. Their Steak's are really good.

DaliDali - 9-17-2013 at 07:48 PM

I am waiting for the wealth redistribution plan to kick in full force.

I WANT MY CUT!!!

[Edited on 9-18-2013 by DaliDali]

J.P. - 9-17-2013 at 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DaliDali
I am waiting for the wealth redistribution plan to kick in full force.

I WANT MY CUT!!!

[Edited on 9-18-2013 by DaliDali]

They didn't send you yours?? I have already spent Mine and trying to get buy on 2,000 a month :lol:

MikeYounghusband - 9-17-2013 at 08:11 PM

I live on less, the trick is no rent

DENNIS - 9-17-2013 at 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MikeYounghusband
I live on less, the trick is no rent

Sure. And if you want stuffed, thick pork chops, put two thin ones together like a sandwich.
Jeeezo........weren't any of you guys drafted and issued C-Rations? Weenies and Beans....YUMMY

tripledigitken - 9-17-2013 at 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

Originally posted by MikeYounghusband
I live on less, the trick is no rent

Sure. And if you want stuffed, thick pork chops, put two thin ones together like a sandwich.
Jeeezo........weren't any of you guys drafted and issued C-Rations? Weenies and Beans....YUMMY

I thought of you this weekend when I had sos for breakfast.

Good!!!!

Red Sails Inn.....Shelter Island.

redmesa - 9-17-2013 at 08:51 PM

Depends on what you call livin'?

motoged - 9-17-2013 at 08:57 PM

How do you folks break down your monthly budgets (roughly), if you don't mind sharing from your experiences ?

I am wanting to "retire" (stop full time work after 43 years at the trough) and pursue my life.....winters in Baja would suit me very well. I have a few favourite areas that are away from urban centers and would likely rent a small place for 6-months a year....

Thanks for any info :saint:

Eli - 9-18-2013 at 06:28 AM

I figure on $1,500 pesos a week, covers eatting really good, toiletries, laundry soap, a few yoga classes, art supplies, Maybe eatting out a couple of times. At home, I ride my bike, so what food I can carry in the little box on the back. While in Oaxaca, I do most my shopping a foot, so what I can carry on my back. I have Netflick on my kindle for entertainment.
While I am in Oaxaca, I pay rent, I found a fantastic cabin on the edge of a village an hour out of the city, so add $7,000 pesos to the budget, this is the most I have ever paid for rent, it is my big blow it. I will only pay rent 2 months this year. In Los Barriles, I own my own home.
Not owning a car, not paying rent, nor drinking or hanging out at a bar contribute to keeping my budget down.

Can you live on $2000 a month???

Howard - 9-18-2013 at 08:18 AM

I could but don't want to try! That is what I worked my whole life for, not to watch the centavo's.

Naturally you have to do what you have to do and and live within your budget and if $2,000 is your budget and you pay attention to happy hours, no problem. :biggrin:

Bajajorge - 9-18-2013 at 08:59 AM

It costs me around $1200-1500 a month to stay in Baja.

tjsue - 9-18-2013 at 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MikeYounghusband
I live on less, the trick is no rent

I live on less, and by moving to Tijuana, my rent is going from $780 per month, to $250 per month which will be a huge help.

But Social Security will start taking out my Medicare premium next month, and I'll still have to work part-time.

rhintransit - 9-18-2013 at 10:05 AM

sure...put me on auto deposit, please

DavidE - 9-18-2013 at 10:33 AM

Those articles "connect" with Mexico and Mexicans about as much as an EE Doc Smith novel connects with outer space travel. Even paying 300 dollars a month for medicines, rent THREE TIMES as high as on the mainland I somehow "manage" to live on

WAY THE HELL LESS THAN ONE FREAKIN' HALF

Of what that article is dealing with. Half? It's closer to A THIRD !

And compared to many of my neighbors I consider myself fortunate. When my income (gross) was FOUR TIMES to SIX TIMES as much thirty years ago, yeah my car was new, as were my clothes. I subscribed to the Wall Street Journal and laughed my assininer off as I instructed a disbelieving CME commodities broker to issue puts against the silver market and the Hunt Mothers. "You're going to go down in flames!" he yelled.

Those days are long gone, thanks to a medical insurance system that was based on Darwinism and Life On The Serengeti.

I would rather live down here on what pittance I receive than I would north of the border with five times the income.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle north of the border on 40K a year may cost 80K a year in Mexico. I think I wrote the following in a earlier post about a self-described bigwheel in San Lucas (Pedregal) snorting "I spent ten thousand dollars on an air conditioning system because I can afford the electricity!" When his first bi-mestral came, fully in DAC, he freaked. "That's forty thousand dollars a year!" he thundered.

So I really laugh at people who spend little or no time down here coming up with these "formulas". The articles bore me now; I don't even bother reading them. The articles will sell, you can bet on it. People love to create fantasies and then when someone comes along with a huge needle these so called writers tend to get testy.

To really really insulate oneself away from the realities of Mexico and maintain a truly gringo lifestyle, it would take living near enough to a large city to send a maid shopping to ferret out all the hard-to-find grocery items. The house would have to have a huge water softener, reverse osmosis and purification system along with a pressure booster to allow standard 30PSI service 24/7. A massive ferroresonant line voltage regulator, say a 20KW Sola would tame incoming power surges and sags. Individual Isolation transformers for the sensitive electronics. But wait there's more! When the power DOES go off, not if, WHEN an automatic start LPG generator will put the electrical back on line for the A/C and refrigeration needs. Oh did I mention the twenty thousand to fifty thousand dollars extra needed to insulate the home? Ever price foam panels down here? What does a person do for non-Mexico grade recreation? Fish? That means bringing a boat.

Remember, we are TRYING to doppelganger a gringo grade life-style in Mexico and brooking no accommodations or adjustments.

So now you have a castle. Full services. Maids. How much more likely percentage wise you will end up in the sights of potential kidnappers? Like spending thirty thousand dollars on chain-connected-to car proof window bars and door cages? Playing Maxwell Smart with unpredictable driving routes.

The less a person lives like the above fantasy nightmare grade lifestyle the more they will save.

But then up jumps the sociological chupacabra. Does a person limp down to the local gringo watering hole every afternoon because they are lonely? Does a guy get along with a new found buddy but find the wives despise each other?

I'll take a guess and say that fully 7 out of ten "Intended Full Time Transplants" fail. Maybe it's higher than that. Either they go back to the 180 day flip flop (but if you watch this, you'll see many of those half and halfer's spend less and less time in Mexico as the years pass). But over on the mainland I keep an eye out for those "Gotta Move Back" fire sales. On bulletin boards and forums. Yeah, I'll drive 200 miles to Zihuatanejo or 400 miles to Barra Melaque to take advantage of panic fire sale garage sales. There are enough of them. Same for Ajijic and San Miguel de Allende.

Spending full time in Mexico and enjoying it to the point of utter satisfaction is not the norm among gringos. Living a fully Mexican style of life, having Mexican friends and basically forgetting about things gringo is basically a rare thing. Having had living in a tiny pueblo of a hundred for four years without speaking a word of Ingles, I am pretty familiar with The Mexican Lifestyle. Not the rico Chiango, Tapatio, or Jarocho lifestyle, but the overwhelmingly commonly found lifestyle.

Because I am a writer I need to practice my English grammar skills and hone them constantly. But I spend so little time with gringos my spoken English degrades. I stumble over sentence structures, and syntax, forget words. I went frustrated a couple of years ago because I had utterly forgotten the English translation of embudo. I have no idea whatsoever if others encounter the same problem between written and spoken English, but I can tell you it is damned embarrassing to fumble when talking to a gringo.

But those phoney-baloney books and articles about moving to Mexico on an X Dollars Budget are going to continue to sell like hotcakes. And I will continue to profit when the dreamers eventually hold those fire-sale "I Gotta Move Back" garage sales.

Osprey - 9-18-2013 at 10:42 AM

You don't have to BE RICH, you just live like, act like you are.

Some guy comes by the house and says "Hey, let's do lunch."

I say "I have people who do that for me."

willardguy - 9-18-2013 at 11:19 AM

I think a deal killer for a lot of folks is if they have to carry medical insurance. if not a nice beachfront and comfortable lifestyle is a breeze on way less than that :yes:

tripledigitken - 9-18-2013 at 01:54 PM

How can these <$2k budgets factor in major medical issues?

Got Me On That One Osprey

DavidE - 9-18-2013 at 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
You don't have to BE RICH, you just live like, act like you are.

Some guy comes by the house and says "Hey, let's do lunch."

I say "I have people who do that for me."

LMFAO !!!

DENNIS - 9-18-2013 at 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tripledigitken
How can these <$2k budgets factor in major medical issues?

It's a Bandaid budget. If I was limited to that type of budget, I wouldn't leave the border region.
When one enters a private hospital here, they have to be bailed out before they're allowed to leave. They will actually hold you against your will. In other countries, that's called kidnapping, but here, the medical community has the money, as well as the connections, and money talks.

TMW - 9-18-2013 at 03:39 PM

Interesting reading about the Philippines. When I was in the navy in the 60s we had tech reps on the ship that were stationed in Manila in the Philippines. They said they rented an apartment with maid service for $50 a month. They made $1000 per month with another $185 a month when on the ship. I always thought I'd like to be a tech rep stationed there. Then I got married and that ideal was gone for good.

Fred - 9-18-2013 at 06:17 PM

Yes Terry, I could live on that for 5 months.

Marc - 9-18-2013 at 06:22 PM

I can barely get by on 30K a month around here. Need to move south. :light:

PS Two X wives factor into the equation.

[Edited on 9-19-2013 by Marc]

MitchMan - 9-18-2013 at 08:49 PM

The trick, I would think, after much calculation, is to own your own home in Baja. If you can afford at least $55,000 USD to buy a plane and basic casita, you can live on a "base" cost of an average of $640 USD per month easily.

That base $640 USD includes $240 USD/yr for Mexican health ins, $240 USD/yr for auto ins, cable TV, internet, clothing, food, propane and electricity (including using A/C), Fideicomiso of $444 USD/yr, Residente Temporal yrly fees, and allowances for house repair and maintenance, clothing, and incidentals.

Additional costs, in general, to the above-mentioned base is what you spend on going out to restaurants, entertainment, medical treatments and medications, travel to USA, and possible/eventual auto repair/replacement and those things will vary greatly from person to person.

It's obvious that for those on this forum, there is a massive differential for what constitutes an acceptable life style. And, that is something that truly corrupts any meaningful comparison. What most of us don't realize is that there is no "common denominator" when it comes to expectations, what we are used to, your income versus the next guys' income, your net worth versus the next guys' net worth, what one person deems acceptable versus what someone else deems acceptable life style.

There are those that consider "being frugal and economical" as an imposition on civilized living or at best a compromise to "normal and fitting" expectations. No judgment here; not immoral or illegal to want a luxurious American life style or anything in between.

If you don't have to duplicate your USA environment, but instead, can "do as the Romans do", living on the base can be a breeze.

If you can afford to buy your own little casita, and, you know how to cook (and like to cook), and you don't need to eat out much to enjoy life, and you shop economically for necessities and clothing, and trappings of wealth hold no value to you, and you don't mind living in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood (I mean, you're IN Mexico after all, not Newport Beach), one person can live well on the base plus your own particular necessities.

I will say that, if one person can't live on $2,000 USD/month in Baja, something is wrong, or, that person simply doesn't want to by discretionary choice.

[Edited on 9-19-2013 by MitchMan]

Fred - 9-19-2013 at 03:33 PM

MitchMan...............................well said.

motoged - 9-20-2013 at 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Fred
MitchMan...............................well said.

Yeah....but his comment ("If you can afford at least $55,000 USD to buy a plane and basic casita, you can live on a "base" cost of an average of $640 USD per month easily. ") leads me to assume he already has a landing strip....or a spelling issue :biggrin:

Vehicle costs take out a chunk of change as well as medical concerns. I have heard from some that "booze and gas" are the high costs for some. Different folks certainly have different "needs".....some being real and the rest being used to an inflated lifestyle.

I understand that what works for one person would never work for another. Last year a taxi driver in Huatulco told me that I could rent a basic house for $3-400/month in the town. I visited him later and saw that the house had two bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen/living room ....it was in a nice part of La Crucecita....but some folks would have turned their nose up at it.

It's all relative.

Oh....it did not have a landing strip....but it did have a place to park the truck and moto :biggrin:

[Edited on 9-20-2013 by motoged]

They Did EXACTLY That To Me In La Paz

DavidE - 9-20-2013 at 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

Originally posted by tripledigitken
How can these <$2k budgets factor in major medical issues?

Armed La Paz Police. Standing right next to me. The fools took me to the Seguro Popular rather than the Seguro Social against my protests. At the time I had IMSS coverage. Had I not been able to pay I would have gone to the La Paz jail. Three days in jail and then transfer to prison.

tripledigitken - 9-20-2013 at 09:55 AM

This thread illustrates that Nomads make do on what they have, be it $1000/mo or $5000++++/mo.

tripledigitken - 9-20-2013 at 10:03 AM

A few years ago readers here got a taste of that possibility in Baja Gringo's sad tale. It certainly opened my eyes.

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

Quote:

Originally posted by tripledigitken
How can these <$2k budgets factor in major medical issues?

Udo - 9-20-2013 at 05:31 PM

Osprey has that one nailed down,just right!

That is one family (himself and Lynda) who have everything, including a nice beach house, and he's doing it from his SSI from 15 years ago!

My hat is tipped to him!

Mulegena - 9-20-2013 at 06:36 PM

How 'bout some ground rules here: Let's talk about our own circumstance only, not someone else's.

Rather like when my husband disclosed my political views without my consent-- not on, imo.