Job Discussion Forums

[erose]

Can anyone direct me to a good website related to living expenses.
I know it is difficult to estimate living expenses as it depends on your lifestyle choices however a rough guide would be really helpful.
Cheers, Emily

[william wallace]

Nothing to say.

[Roger]

Deja vu! We get approximately a tonne of such questions a month; not the most intelligent question to my way of thinking.
You had better inform this forum of your intentions concerning China: come here on a shoestring tour, make both ends meet while working here, or what?
Or just plain simply: can I save 100 kuai a month from my TEFL income and being based in Nanyang in the boonies?

[ContemporaryDog]

Quite simply, this is like asking 'how long is a piece of string' or 'how many bootlegs of Nirvana are there' or 'how big is the universe'.

China can be as cheap or expensive as you like. You can eat out at western restaurants every day, drink in expat bars most nights of the week, and rent a penthouse, and spend a lot (although you'd still spend a lot less than you would doing the same in London - my friend who works in IT only spent 5000 a month on his penthouse, substantially less than it would have cost in the UK, personally I don't believe these posters from the US who claim rent in China is similar to America)

On the other extreme, if you get buses everywhere, confine your drinking to at home or at local stalls, eating local food, and mostly rely on DVDs for your entertainment, and are happy with the acommodaiton provided by your school, you will seriously struggle to spend much more than 1000 yuan per month. And you'll still have a much better time than you would trying to get by on low wages on the west - this is something people who moan should remember. Its depressing being in a not-great job in somewhere like London, even eating food out as good as what's served in local cafes here, on a regular basis, is pretty much impossible.

In between the two, if you spend 3-4000 per month, put the rest aside, you can eat out at a western place once a week, go to an expatty bar once or twice a week, get taxis a reasonable amount, and have a pretty decent time. My first term here I did this. I only saved about 1000 a month of my savings but I had some good nights out and got taxis everywhere, ate western food a reasonable amount (that was on 4500 per month).

Now Mrs CD and I are being very careful, saving virtually everything. Still, I'm much happier than if I were tyring to live on nothing in London.