Damn, Can I live on this in Mexico?

[billder99]

The area where we live has some of the highest prices in Mexico for dining, groceries, housing, construction, everything! We live a very comfortable life, including:

• Gardener & Housekeeper
• 2 Cars
• Dining out 4-5x per week (including all meals out... I am big on breakfast and lunch)
• Dinner Entertaining 2x per month (when we throw parties and absorb cost)
• Travel to the US to visit family & freinds 2x per year
• Hobbies, toys and fun: We own a nice boat and spend lots of time on the Sea of Cortez... I play guitar and spend a bit on that... spearfishing, another fairly expensive activity... we love to go hiking and exploring... the most common activity is social activity with the many friends we have made here.
• All the beer, tequila (me) decent wine (wife), chips and guacamole we can consume

We did pay cash for our house, so our only other big cost is utilities (electric is EXPENSIVE in the summer with AC running much of the time)

Our annual average monthly cost is around $3,000. We could easily cut that back to $2,000 and still live quite nicely, especially as we grow older. We will soon have social security (in 6 more years) and our joint benefits will be more than $3,000/month. We are healthy and plan to live to 100, or until Social Security goes broke.

BD

[Detailman]

Originally Posted by billder99

The area where we live has some of the highest prices in Mexico for dining, groceries, housing, construction, everything! We live a very comfortable life, including:

• Gardener & Housekeeper
• 2 Cars
• Dining out 4-5x per week (including all meals out... I am big on breakfast and lunch)
• Dinner Entertaining 2x per month (when we throw parties and absorb cost)
• Travel to the US to visit family & freinds 2x per year
• Hobbies, toys and fun: We own a nice boat and spend lots of time on the Sea of Cortez... I play guitar and spend a bit on that... spearfishing, another fairly expensive activity... we love to go hiking and exploring... the most common activity is social activity with the many friends we have made here.
• All the beer, tequila (me) decent wine (wife), chips and guacamole we can consume

We did pay cash for our house, so our only other big cost is utilities (electric is EXPENSIVE in the summer with AC running much of the time)

Our annual average monthly cost is around $3,000. We could easily cut that back to $2,000 and still live quite nicely, especially as we grow older. We will soon have social security (in 6 more years) and our joint benefits will be more than $3,000/month. We are healthy and plan to live to 100, or until Social Security goes broke.

BD

Thank you for your post. That is very helpful information for many individuals. They will be able to extrapolate upwards or downwards to arrive at a "rough" idea of monthly costs for a life-style they want to live.

[FHBOY]

Since we are hanging out COL for our lives here, this is the way we have set up to live come February - yes, it is all on paper and ready to go - the trip to Ajijic two weeks ago got that detail done:

We will be long term renting a 3 BR - 3BA house. It is in a middle class mixed gringo/Mexican neighborhood, less than five minutes west of Ajijic Centro. It is not a gated community and is an older house, which means better bio-mass environment. We have a carport for one car, [we will will buy], have a maid once a week, [in our entire married lives - 40 years- we have NEVER had a maid], gardener twice a week (why he comes twice a week, I don't know), all utilities including satellite, wi-fi, electric, gas, water - furnished, an enclosed yard for our cats to run free, two levels of terraza, covered patio, and adequate, by no means modern top of the line, kitchen. All in: $900 USD - month. A bit more than we thought, but the other places at other prices were not where we could enjoy living. Yes, we are paying for the convenience of our agent taking care of everything, it means I don't have to (= simplifying my life) - and for us, we will trade a few bucks for that.

Living to us is more than a bottom line decision - yes we are "shed, shed, shed simplify", but the wrong place is still the wrong place, and we will live there 24/7 for the rest of our lives. To sacrifice something else to get what you want is a part of living, so if that is a couple of hundred/month - we'll just do with less of something else - so what.

I was told that for the first couple of months we can expect to use our car more, but after that, walking, buses and taxis will take the place of the car, so that expense will go down.

We expect that with our combined Social Security and a small annuity, we will still have enough left over for a simple life, like we live now. We are not party people, [I hope that changes], restaurants are nice, but I can't see eating in one every night - we both like to cook. Our only vice is travel and art, the former we plan on doing in our new country, the latter we have been there and done that.

[ricopozole]

Originally Posted by TundraGreen

I think what bothers me about this thread is the underlying implication that the more money you spend, the better your life. Maybe I am just joining the curmudgeon ranks, but I feel like I live my ideal life on an amount that is being referred to here as "getting by", around $10,000 pesos/month.

I could spend more if I chose to; it would just mean my kids would have a little less when I am gone, but neither I nor the kids are worried about that. And I think my life is better for being unburdened by a car and most the large and small electrical gadgets that we take for granted in the US. I have a stove, refri and computer. Really, what more do you need than those.

In the interests of full disclosure, the monthly peso amount does not include international travel. I have a son in the US, a daughter in Germany, and a significant other in the US, and I visit all of them a few times a year for brief periods. Those dollar expenses are above the $10K peso/month figure. But for estimating just the cost to live in Mexico. In my opinion, one person can live very well, not just get by, on 10K mxn/month.

It all depends on your choice of living style, which is why I am always skeptical about the usefulness of the answers when people ask "How much does it cost to live in Mexico?". I suspect this thread, that has gotten into more detail about what you get at various levels of expense, has been more useful to people trying to guess what their expenses will be after a move.

You say clearly what is true. I have lived in Mexico off and on since 1971. For the past 12 years near San Miguel de Allende. I own a house in the campo. For the past few years I spend to live about 15,000 pesos a month, and that includes a serious tobacco habit, and Victoria, a truck, and some part time help, tv, internet, and I also eat. ( These expenses obviously do not include money spent on projects, which if you own will go on and on, as they do anywhere you own.) But the most relaxing and happiest time I had here was six, seven years ago when I had just about no money, lived on about 500 pesos a week. No truck, no fm, and no toilet!. My only advice is to live in Mexico because you want to, love it and hate it, or stay back in the eua and spend your money and time changing that wretched country.

[elchante]

Every once in a while, you can fall into a really sweet deal like i did with my current rental. My Canadian landlords have been unable to sell their home up north and they were kind of desperate to have their home in Jocotepec [west end of Lake Chapala] occupied as a security matter. So i guess you might call what i am doing "housesitting," but i do pay them some rent each month.

For 2700 pesos a month, i get a lovely one and a half bedroom house [i say one half bedroom, because the second bedroom doubles as a storeroom]. The house has a pool and a garden and patio. It is completely furnished, including cookware and dishes. Also included in that 2700MX is phone, WIFI, and satellite TV. Water and electricity are also included in that price.

In addition to the 2700MX, i pay 500MX a month for a housekeeper for six hours every other week and 450MX a week for a twice weekly gardener/pool guy/handyman.

i'm not really within walking distance of our local "supermarket" or mercado, so i do use my small Nissan pickup when purchasing food or visiting friends or making trips around the area. i try to combine my trips and usually wind up purchasing gasoline for my 12 gallon tank about every four weeks [more, of course, for longer distance travel]. My yearly full coverage insurance on the 2004 pickup costs me about $380US a year.

sadly, i smoke and drink too much, but other than that my needs are pretty simple. i do eat out about once a week, but never spend more than $10US for a meal [tax and tip included]. i have a cat, so i do have some food costs for her, as well as the infrequent vet bill.

Of course, i also have to pay annually for my visa and IMSS health insurance coverage. When i buy clothes, i usually buy them from local consignment shops.

My entertainment budget is very low. My friends and i do pitch in lunches and play games. i read a lot, but get my books from a restaurant that has a book exchange. In four years here, i have never purchased a new book, and yet i always have something new to read.

Aside from dining out, my food costs are quite low. i purchase locally, eat what's in season, don't eat a lot of meat, and have some fruit trees in the garden, as well as a small vegetable plot. i stay away from the gringo-oriented grocery stores in Ajijic and environs and can find almost everything i want in Jocotepec at a lower price. i do have a Costco card and visit that store in Guad maybe once every three months to buy things that satisfy my cravings.

i live on about $900US a month, and that includes prorating my car insurance, visa, and IMSS. And i live better than i ever did in the US!

So it can be done!

[jasavak]

Originally Posted by ricopozole

You say clearly what is true. I have lived in Mexico off and on since 1971. For the past 12 years near San Miguel de Allende. I own a house in the campo. For the past few years I spend to live about 15,000 pesos a month, and that includes a serious tobacco habit, and Victoria, a truck, and some part time help, tv, internet, and I also eat. ( These expenses obviously do not include money spent on projects, which if you own will go on and on, as they do anywhere you own.) But the most relaxing and happiest time I had here was six, seven years ago when I had just about no money, lived on about 500 pesos a week. No truck, no fm, and no toilet!. My only advice is to live in Mexico because you want to, love it and hate it, or stay back in the eua and spend your money and time changing that wretched country.

Everything sounded reasonable until you got to the " No toilet " part .

[Hobo]

I currently live in England ,and your 10,950 Pesos, equals £520.00 GBP (British Pounds)....that's what I pay for gas each month....about £110.00 a week, just for my car....Gas (Petrol) here is almost $12.00 U.S. dollars a gallon, so I'd say you're doing pretty good in comparison.

Forget my rent, cooking gas, electric, water, property tax, phone, internet, etc...do not come to Britain if you're looking for a cheap lifestyle, not even out in the sticks !

Mexico, here I come !

[Isla Verde]

Originally Posted by Hobo

I currently live in England ,and your 10,950 Pesos, equals £520.00 GBP (British Pounds)....that's what I pay for gas each month....about £110.00 a week, just for my car....Gas (Petrol) here is almost $12.00 U.S. dollars a gallon, so I'd say you're doing pretty good in comparison.

Forget my rent, cooking gas, electric, water, property tax, phone, internet, etc...do not come to Britain if you're looking for a cheap lifestyle, not even out in the sticks !

Mexico, here I come !

I hope you're not planning to move to Mexico only because of its relatively inexpensive cost of living.

[Hobo]

Originally Posted by Isla Verde

I hope you're not planning to move to Mexico only because of its relatively inexpensive cost of living.

No, that is not the reason.

Thanks

[Isla Verde]

Originally Posted by Hobo

No, that is not the reason.

Thanks

Glad to hear it. There are lots more interesting reasons than money for choosing to make Mexico your new home!