Job Discussion Forums

sweeney66 · Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 147 Location: "home"

Well, luxury is a relative concept, I suppose. Brand new books from Gandhi still in the plastic. A pound of cherries from the tianguis. Dropping off the laundry instead of doing it myself. Eating out, not in the tianguis. A fancy toy for the neighbor kid's birthday. Stuff like that. Lately it's been plane tickets. For a while I even paid tuition! Oh, and my new favorite, Internet access!

MO39 · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:42 am Post subject:

Congrats on the internet access, sweeney. That's one thing I couldn't be without, but I'm paying very little for mine because a computer-expert Mexican friend jiggered a way for me to get it free. I just pay Earthlink a small monthly fee for the email address I've had for years and don't want to give up. On the other hand, I've managed to get by so far (almost a year now) without cable, though I may give in and get hooked up sometime in the early fall.

kidefl · Joined: 22 Jun 2007 Posts: 40

I live in the South, 600 kilometers from Bangkok.

The Thai Baht is 35 to USD1.00

My rent for a house with AC, furnished, refre, etc is 3500B a month. A regular Thai rice with meat dish is 30B. Petro is 35B a liter. I earn 24,000B a month. I usually have about 3-5,000B left over at month's end.

My last job in Mexico was at El Iteso de Guadalajara. I think I was getting about $1,000 a month. My house was lovely, outside of the city about 30 K. It was $80 a month, I lived alone.

So I have a slight overage with my pay here in Thailand, enjoy life moderately. This is all I would expect to do in Mexico. Sound doable?

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 3:17 pm Post subject:

El Gallo · Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Posts: 318

You're misappropriating internet access?

MO, please say it isn't so Razz

MO39 · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:18 pm Post subject:

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

Inflation certainly has been noticeable this year. Comida corrida places in your hood are never cheap though, MO. Skip over to neighbouring San Rafael and you get the same meals for 25-35 pesos. I often lunch in Narvarte and never pay more than 30 pesos for the soup-juice-rice plate-main dish-dessert meal.

Whenever I give out the number 6000 pesos as the minimum to cover one's expenses - anywhere in Mexico (save for the beach resorts like Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Vallarta, etc), I know that I'm giving that number out to people who are usually single and not staying more than a year. It's obviously different advice to someone coming with kids, a car, staying longer term, with major medical expenses, etc, etc.

MO39 · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:34 pm Post subject:

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

Aha! This is ringing a bell. I remember the good old "dial-up with Telmex" days. Certain Telmex insiders would gift customer passwords to their friends so they could use the internet for free. Often times I would try to get online, only to get a message that my account was IN USE! We changed our password like a hundred times to stay ahead of those little insider bandits. Incidentally, you can dial-up 100 times before you have to pay for local calls.

MO39 · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 4:01 am Post subject: