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elliot_spencer · Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 495

Hello what kınd of lıfe could one have earnıng 14000 pesos a month ın Guadalajara. Is thıs a good salary for an Englısh teacher?

Thanks

Jultime · Joined: 25 Jun 2014 Posts: 113 Location: Mexico

Is that before or after taxes? Do you have any paid vacation? What kind of lifestyle do you want to lead? Do you want your own apartment or do you plan to rent a room? Do you want to eat in restaurants every day?

BadBeagleBad · Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 5:09 pm Post subject:

It´s an OK salary. But you will have to live like a Mexican, haha. That is, no taxis, not a lot of eating out or shopping at Malls, that kind of thing. Many families of four live on that kind of salary. You might pick up a couple of private students to round it out. Any particular reason you want to live in Guadalajara? From living in both places, I would have to say the cost of living is lower in Mexico City than in Guadalajara and you should easily be able to find something with the same salary.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

MotherF · Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 11:50 pm Post subject:

I don't know anything about living costs in Guadalajara, but be sure that it's clear whether or not your contract will be for twelve continuous months. Its not unusual to hear of teachers who were surprised to learn there would be no pay when summer vacation rolled around.

noble · Joined: 12 Sep 2012 Posts: 10

Guy, might you elaborate on "how expensive" and what you mean by "more cumbersome" in relation to transportation in Guadalajara? Thanks.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Sure...let's start with the cumbersome.

Guadalajara has serious sprawl to it...very much a car city. There are two subway lines that cover very little of the city, though pretty good if you are staying in the downtown core.

City buses go everywhere but are extraordinarily slow.

Buses and subways aren't that expensive...5 pesos for the subway.

Taxis are the real killer on price. Seems I could never get anywhere in that city for less than 150 pesos - for rides I'd pay less than half for in DF. If you taxied around every day, the cost would be pretty high.

Fitzgerald · Joined: 10 Aug 2010 Posts: 224

Hopefully, that 14,000 peso figure is net. Even so, I would only recommend this as a short-term strategy. I am currently making 12,000 pesos per month from my language school, but supplementing that with private lessons and with a growing freelance writing business. Life is pretty tight on 12,000+. The salary doesn't allow for a lot of opportunities to have fun, or sometimes even to keep up with basic needs as they come up (replacement items and so on). Saving is almost impossible.

Fortunately, I can see some light ahead. My writing business is growing more rapidly than I thought it would, and I'm also getting more requests for private lessons than I anticipated. The privates are all through word-of-mouth; I'm not advertising currently, although of course I could.

As the demands on my time grow, it is a certainty that I will have to cut back to part-time status at my language school and be paid at the hourly rate. Eventually I may drop the language school altogether, although I would probably stay officially "on the roll" in case any good special projects came up.

The school I am working for right now is nice enough, but language schools are exploitative employers everywhere, with high expectations and a low ray of pay. It's the usual problem - the middleman gets it all. I'm just not into that anymore.

As I move deeper into entrepreneurial mode, I grow warier of being taken advantage of. I am trying to get to the point where I look at all gigs through the double prism of, How good is the pay? and, How much do I like the assignment?

For really GOOD pay, I might put up with an assignment that is a little less appealing. For really FUN work, I might put up with a smidge lower pay (but not too much lower). What I do NOT want to do is to trade off BOTH pay and quality-of-assignment just in order to survive. In international teaching, especially in Mexico, many people do that. I am putting all of my energy and personal resource into not being one of them.

currentaffairs · Joined: 22 Aug 2012 Posts: 828

Nice post, Fitzgerald. Keep us updated on how it all goes!

PS By writing you mean what?

Fitzgerald · Joined: 10 Aug 2010 Posts: 224

MotherF · Posted: Mon May 04, 2015 9:51 pm Post subject:

How's Guadalajara treating everyone these days?

Stay safe!

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

noble · Joined: 12 Sep 2012 Posts: 10

and I'm moving to the area next week. I was there (fortunately, in Chapala) for the "festivities" over the puente last week. Wish us all good luck and safety. This is going to be an interesting ride.

BTW--thanks for answering my questions, Guy. On the money.

Jody (leaving Oaxaca behind for now)