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Originally Posted by Traveler123
I enjoyed reading your post, Fran. I am exploring various areas of Mexico for retirement and I, too, would not be trying to recreate a NoB lifestyle. Your rent seems to be about my budget also for rent, and I'm wondering if you can also share your approximate monthly expenses, not including travel to the US or around Mexico, which can vary widely. I'm thinking more of basic costs and fixed costs. Perhaps your monthly budget is around $1500-$1800/month? That's just a guess. Do you live alone or share expenses? It is unfortunately more expensive to live alone, as the fixed costs are not shared. In any case, any further info on cost of living would be helpful, as your lifestyle sounds like a good one, for me at least, as someone of modest means.
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My husband and I try to live on our joint social security income of about $2200 USD plus $600 USD rent per month. This is not always possible as our medical expenses have been high this year. Typical monthly costs in pesos include electricity $1200, propane $400, gas and repair for car $2000, maid $2400, Spanish lessons $600, telephone including DSL $900, cable (for DSL backup) $440 manicure $300, computer repair $975 average (we own three computers,2 printers) medical expenses and drugs $2000 (partly covered by insurance), garage $300, eating out $1000, groceries $5000, household maintenance and repair $1000, gardener $100.
We hope the bulk of the medical expenses are over. We are cutting grocery bills by buying more Mexican and fewer imported foods. We eat out less than last year. We have discontinued several expensive drugs that caused more problems than they cured. I haven't added annual costs like car insurance, or maid's annual bonus, or non-recurrent costs. We don't feel we have quite enough money, but the stock market hit us hard last year, as it did many others. Hope this helps. Your circumstances will differ and hopeful
ly you can live on less than we can.