Cost of Living…Reader Input Requested
ByOne of the top requests I receive by email from readers is for detailed cost of living information. For the last two months the Wife and I have been meticulously tracking expenses in part so we can share with readers the cost of living here. There have been some surprises, for sure, and I’ll be posting detailed spreadsheet style information shortly.
I’d like to ask readers who are living here to email me with some information on their family size, style of eating, whether you live like locals or like NorteAmericanos or some combination, any unusual characteristics, etc. If it’s too personal, don’t send it to me, but I’m going to post an example so you can follow. If I get the right amount of response, I’ll make this a regular event.
Overview: American family with six kids, including one in diapers. This family lives in a gated neighborhood. Here are the highlights of the monthly family budget:
Rent $750 (3 bedroom plus maid’s quarters, small garden)
Electricity $155
Gas $15
Food $1,000 (Family has two adults, two teenagers, four kids under 12, eats meat, fish and total includes diapers, wine, household consumables such as soap, TP, one meal a day for maid, etc)
Satellite TV $50
Internet $65
Maid Salary $100
Pure Water $30
Entertainment $100
Misc $100
Total: $2365
Hopefully this example will inspire some of you to email your own numbers and I’ll post them in occasional posts. Include any commentary you think necessary, for example, you’ll see the family above is relatively young and has not listed any medical expenses. Their entertainment and ‘misc’ categories seem a little weak to me as well…
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21 Comments
October 5th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Sky Satellite TV : $31.90 USD per month Basic(FUN) Package 18 month commitment
Install free if you give them a credit card
NLF Sunday Ticket is available
http://www.sky.com.mx/nosusc/int/centroamerica/
Call 2388 5757 in Guatemala
October 5th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Is that cooking Gas ?
Mike
October 5th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Overview: American family with two working adults, 1 toddler still in diapers, 1 Guatemalan live-in maid (during week only) – Guatemala City, Zona 17
Rent $650 (new 3 bedroom apartment plus maid’s quarters, excellent common play area, fully furnished, gym/weight room, gated, pool)
Electricity approx. Q1300/mo = approx $160/mo all electric appliances
Gas $100
Food $300 (Family has two adults, 1 toddler, 1 maid, all toiletries, etc included) General diet consists of fish, chicken, rice, beans, many fruits and vegetables, relatively few desserts
Internet/Cable/Phone $80 (package through Telgua, 1 Meg internet)
Maid Salary $250
Pure Water $15
Entertainment/Eating out $100
Total: $1655
October 5th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Testing. Please ignore.
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
love reading this, gives me a good idea of what costs are… seems the most expensive by far is housing. (but that is usually the same thing here in the US) Jose seems to think I would be good on less than a grand a month, but he knows how I am when it comes to shopping… so hoping he'd rethink it and up the budget a bit. I would most likely be living like a local though, with a few gringo extras I would not part with, namely SyFy channel and internet! thanks for all the great info everyone, I definitely plan on visiting in the Spring when on layoff and will get a better idea once there.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:47 am
Wow, sounds expensive there. I realize that this is a bit off topic because we live full time in Mexico on the Pacific coast, not Guatemala. There are only two adults and we eat out frequently. The numbers here would be about:
Rent: same, but we own
Gas: same
Electricity: only $50, and that's with A/C, much less rest of year
Food: $400, cooking and dining out
Internet: $45, includes phone (DSL)
Maid: $150
Pure Water: $5 (6 pesos for each 19 liter garrafon)
Entertainment: $20 (does not include dining out, see food)
October 6th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Hi Mark,
Could you be more specific about what you mean by this? "…whether you live like locals or like NorteAmericanos or some combination."
Do you mean 'like middle-class and upper class Guatemalans who live in Antigua?' I'm just trying to think about ways 'locals' are generally or specifically different from NorteAmericanos in their spending habits. In other words, I doubt most of your readers are planning to live like locals in the maid category, so what would you characterize as the differences between 'living like locals' vs. 'living like NorteAmericanos'? (Laundry procedures just came to mind as I recalled your stories about the dryer.) Just like in the U.S., whether a person generally cooks at home or generally eats in restaurants would have a very significant effect on the budget in Antigua.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Keep in mind that Antigua is expensive for Guatemala. Friends who live in other parts of the country report prices that are dramatically less than Antigua. Give them a few days to catch up with the blog.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
You're right, this is a little ambiguous, but I think you'll see in the posts where the differences are. Locals could be middle class or poor, but they're not going to use as much electricity, or gas, they're not going to spend as much on food, because they're going to use local ingredients more instead of the more costly, imported ingredients. You're right to mention the laundry, most locals, even middle class, will use a pilar, so the expense of owning and operating a washer and dryer won't be present. Same with a hot water heater, which I have, versus a suicide shower head. We wash our dishes in hot water, locals don't. We eat out in restaurants, most locals won't. Just a few random thoughts. I'll continue to post family budgets as they are sent to me.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
I don't know how Mark would define living like a local but I can tell you how I would define it:
Low end…servants in the Antigua area whom I have known personally for years:
Inherited land, built small concrete block house…do little maintenance on house only requires new lamina (roof) once a decade or more.
Rent – $0
Property taxes -around $20 a year
Food – maybe $50 a month person….Diet homemade corn tortillas, beans, eggs are the major source of protein…1 per day sometimes two. Bits of chicken sometimes. Splurge on Pollo Camparo once in awhile as a huge treat.
Electricity- two light bulbs, one TV turned on eve only for 2 hrs or so, radio used some during the day…with one light bulb and maybe no TV just radio about $4 a month
Clothes – Ropa AMericana otherwise known as paca $3-10 a month (shoes are the pricey items)
Public water – $3 a month
Free medical care at Social Security Hospital/clinics…low fee charitable clinics run by Hermano Pedro and others, not free
Dental care?
Total about $300 a month for a family of four under school age children. School fees, uniforms and supplies easily run about $100-200 a child per year all paid in January…a huge drain on family budgets in Guatemala with multiple school age children…the #1 hit to a Guatemalan budget….their Christmas bonus usually is used for this. So for 6 school age children they have to come up with around $500 (some uniforms are ablet og get passed down to younger children) TOUGH!
Now a middle class Guatemalan lifestyle often eliminates internet, satellite TV, landline phone service, fancy restaurants though Pollo Camparo is a sometimes necessity adored by almost all Guatemalans and rents are cheaper as they live with Mama or in little out of the way places at cheaper rents and transport is by car often used or moto…they try to take the chicken buses as little as possible but some have to to get to work and home.
Transport – chicken buses or monthly payments on scooter
October 6th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Do you have medical insurance? We pay international coverage medical insurance in Guatemala and it costs us, for two adults, about US$300. In the US we pay US$700 for crappier medical insurance, so it's better and cheaper here. However, totally confused by your "live like Norteamericanos" question… people in the US may have a higher quality of life or lesser, depending on income. There are many poor/uninsured/unemployed people in the US, after all. In the US we pay about US$2000 in mortgage and here, for a whole building in the historic downtown of the capital city, we pay about US$4,000. I am not sure that it is easy to compare lifestyles. I have a maid here and I have a maid in the US, but since we are two single adults whose kids are all grown and gone, our lifestyle is much more bohemian and carefree than it used to be in the US. We require less too! Less food, less space, etc. I would say we spend around US$300 or less in groceries a month, and that includes plenty of staples imported from the US, such as wild rice, A1 sauce, etc.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Living like locals (middle class Guatemalans-not to be confused w/middle class North Americans-there is a big difference) : 2 people – no kids
living in own section of a large house shared by family: $0 (could rent a nice=simple place for $300)
electricity: $30
gas (cooking): $25
water (tap): $5
cable TV: $4
internet: $34 (out of norm for 'local')
pure water: $8
food: $75 cooking & dining out (good local places=inexpensive, not 'fine' dining, also group meals w/family)
maid: $0 (everyone in the house is very careful about who enters and what they have access to-not worth the worries)
cel phone: $25
entertainment: $25 (many great free or very cheap cultural events available in Antigua)
Generally, the 'locals' live fairly conservatively and are always sharing info on the prices of everything with friends and family to ensure that they are spending the least possible for things. In addition to the many free cultural events, entertainment for locals is spending time with friends and family at social events, and parties, visiting with neighbors, strolling to the park, and even the family outing to the store.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
A family of six kids and they don't have any education costs?
October 6th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
This is really interesting – you always have so many detailed stories to offer. You should start your own blog!
October 7th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Perhaps they homeschool? I know we plan to teach our kids at home, using mostly curriculum from the internet, so that would eliminate or drastically lower education costs.
October 7th, 2009 at 5:30 am
One thing that prevents many gringos from living the same life as in the U.S. or Europe is the cost of electricity in Guatemala. The more kilowatt hours one uses the higher the cost, and if you exceed a certain amount of kilowatt hours per month, you are automatically put in the commercial category where you must pay for a fixed amount, whether you use it or not.
If we had to pay for air conditioning here, we would be in the poor house in no time. We have set up as much as possible to run on propane gas; stove, two on demand water heaters, and our clothes dryer.
With none of these things being electric, our monthly electric bill still runs approximately $100.00.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Juan,
With all of those things running on propane, what do you pay for propane every month?
October 7th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
just noticed that I made an error on food: should be $175.
But I also saw Sybil Francis' post above, and realized that I live like a 'servant' and never knew it (except for having internet). I prefer to shop at the 'paca', take the camionetas (chicken bus), go to the national hospital (free), and enjoy my tortillas, beans, eggs, and bits of chicken. Don't have a car or moto. As a matter of fact, most of my friends live like 'servants' as well. I will have to let them know.
October 7th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
We pay an average of only $30.00 per month for propane. It is much more reasonable than electricity. We have a friend who was so tired of being ripped off by the electric company that he bought a propane powered refrigerator for his home.
October 9th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
That $500 was for school costs ONLY due in Jan. for the six kids…..assuming they are passing on some uniform items from older kids. For poor GUatemalans it is tough to impossible to have a large family of children all in school.
October 9th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Suzanne….we did too..ie live like "servants" when we first came to GUatemala. We were on a very tight cruising budget and living in Antigua with a local family for six months and paying "rent" for a boat slip in the Rio Dulce, though cheap, was extra rent for us. THe house where we rented a room, meals included, was a run down Colonial house and the family was wonderful. We loved it there thus the six month stay instead of the couple of weeks we had planned in Antigua.Breakfast was egg, black beans refried, sometimes plantain but not usually. Lunch was pretty good, sometimes excellent when out of town family were visiting. Supper was day old bread or cold tortillas from breakfast and semi-cold black beans.
We had no car of course, so took chicken buses all over Guatemala, stayed in backpacker places, a decade ago when most were not as fancy as now…cold water showers etc., never had to go to a hospital back then thank goodness, washed my own clothes by hand in the pila at the house. THe maid of the house offered but I said I preferred to do them myself. I didn't realize how poor she was nor that she was hoping for "tips" to do this.Being a boater I had been doing this for years, washing by hand and drying in the sun. Our clothes were very sunbleached from being dried on the boat in the sun as a result. The woman of the house felt sorry for me and thought I was so poor I couldn't afford decent clothing so she bought me a new outfit from her cousin visiting from El Salvador who had brought newly manufactured stuff from there (soooo embarassing).
Eventually I found the paca and bought from there just a few things, as a boat has little room for clothing.
So…I have backpacked and roughed it with the best of them but I am a decade older now, the boat is sold and am living a different life, a new chapter.
I still shop the paca market in Antigua and it was great about year ago here as the US stores were liquidating unsold stock via paca. I found Gap, Chico's,Talbot's clothes for myself and new men's shirts for my husband from Dillards all with hang tags still on, down on the tables for 4-5q! What deals! But my two last trips have been sad…just faded out boater t-shirts, maybe from Fla…..perhaps they have stopped donating the store stuff to be sent abroad…too bad for us.