Editor’s Note (26 December 2015): BBC Capital brings you one of our most-read stories on where you can live well on a budget.
Paying for the roof over your head is eye-wateringly expensive, and economising is getting you nowhere fast. So, could there be a simpler, easier life?
We went to question-and-answer site Quora to find the best place in the world to live cheaply — with great weather and reliable internet of course.
After all, no idyllic paradise is complete without speedy wi-fi.
South East Asia was top of the list for many Quora users.Jingcho Yang suggested Bali, Indonesia, for “rockstar living on backpacker budgets”.
The weather is balmy and beaches are “pretty awesome,” Yang wrote. “There's a few hundred beaches around the circumference of the island. Most are still 'undiscovered' by outsiders.”
Two-bedroom homes in good neighbourhoods cost about $200 per month, Yang wrote, and luxuries such as top-flight French cuisine cost a third of the price of major cities, because of the island’s huge, competitive hospitality industry. A two-hour spa treatment is $20, and pool villas go for less than $100 per night, she said.
“Bali rivals any major city I've been to in terms of diversity and sophistication in dining, nightlife and design,” Yang added. “It's home to some of the world's best beach lounges and clubs. An endless list of sporting activities, yoga, water-sports.”
Plus, Yang wrote, there's a “growing niche of digital nomads on the island too”, with the locus around Ubud town.
Meanwhile, teacher Nathan Edgerton wrote in 2011 that he was living in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he was sharing a house with a friend for just $70 per month. “I eat out for every meal, even though it's generally at cheaper Thai restaurants. I have plenty of money to go out drinking with friends and to train at a kick-boxing gym. I can do all this easily for under $700 per month,” he wrote.
“Chiang Mai is a great place to live, but you could live pretty much anywhere in Thailand with similar expenses,” he added.
For Spanish speakers, there’s Latin America. Brian Fey has been living “frugally” in Mexico since 2004 and it has become more and more popular with expats. “Where I live there are people from Argentina, France, Belgium, Germany, Canada, the USA, Switzerland, Chile, etc,” he wrote.
Getting six-month or longer-term visas is fairly “easy” for people from most nationalities, he wrote. Fey added that despite the negative news stories about violence in Mexico, “it is quite safe and there are millions of expats from other countries. Some areas have concentrations of expats: Ajijic, San Miguel de Allende and Patzcauro".
He added that while renting is generally good value, there are also a large number of expats looking for house-sitters, so a responsible person “could live for free all year in very swanky places”.
Eastern Europe is also a popular choice. Mircea Goia voted for Romania, where he said you can live easily for under $1,000 per month, including food and rent, in part because the average monthly salary is only about $575 and even lower in smaller cities. Goia posted his answer in 2013.
“Real estate prices have dropped dramatically as well, thanks to the global crisis, so you can buy a cheaper home/apartment/land,” Goia wrote. Those who wish to rent in the capital, Bucharest, should expect to pay around $200 to $500 per month, he said, adding that “people are friendly towards foreigners” and many know basic English.
Whereas Chinmaya Patanaik, suggested “one of the most beautiful cities in the world”, Prague, Czech Republic, where the cost of living is lower than other western European cities.
“With $1,000, you can live quite comfortably. You can get a decent one-bedroom or a studio apartment with $400 or less. This also includes expenses on utilities such as internet, heating, electricity etc. The internet connection is very fast. I pay around $30 per month for a 100Mbps connection.”
Patanaik added, that although summers can be hot ”you can cool off with a traditional Czech beer for just $1.50.”
Quora respondents are required to use their true names under the site’s Real Names policy. To help ensure legitimacy and quality, Quora asks some individuals, such as doctors and lawyers, to confirm their expertise.
TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT AWARE:
ReplyDeleteMoney is so taken advantage of and abused.
What is the economy utilized for?
The economic system serves as a system where people who work get paid according to their work amount, efforts and difficulty.
Do employees actually get paid according to how much they work?
How can you own a business make millions of dollars and pay your employees the bare minimum salary?
Yes, owning a business is a lot of work, but so is having a labor job, however, to keep all the wealth to yourself is so unethical most people probably don't even enjoy their job and only do it to survive.
Yes, I do believe no man should profit without working and that is exactly what I am addressing, the top 1% and other wealthy businesses or industries or companies or organization's profit way more than they labor in other words, they don't pay their fare share and the effect it has on society and the individuals they employ are harmful.
And keep in mind the political influence these mega corporations have on society and who they employ is so horrific the gay pride agenda to name one.
Now weather you agree with the gay agenda is not the topic of this writing the topic is the economic and societal breakdown that is happening as a result of industrial powers.
Imagine a successful business where most of its income goes back directly to the business and the employers instead of going into the pockets of a greedy business owner.
The employees would probably be paid way more than they are now, maybe in some cases 50$ an hour for flipping burgers or something.
I am not against success I am against greed, many of our problems can be traced back to greed like immoral and dangerous GMOs and vaccination dangers and countless other problems.
I don't believe it is ethical for a person to live in a mansion and only have an occasional 3 hour meeting as their job.
Simply because you took advantage of the economic system doesn't make your life more special than the 8$ and our employees that are slaves paying for your personal pursuits of pleasure.
I recognize it is not illegal to make millions of dollars growing GMO crops, paying the farms 8$ an hour or something low like that or owning Mc Donalds and doing the same however it is profoundly unethical and destructive.
Unfortunately, money = power, including political influence, the more money you have, the more magnified your potential to do good or bad with the money and the influence it brings to you.
Not everyone in America has equal power and influence, those at the top can fund whatever they want be the cause good or bad it is up to them to decide what to fund.
Utilize what you have for the greater good, we can't hold you accountable for what you can't do, however we could for what you can do.
This world is far from being fair and just that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make it fair and just I do not advocate for stealing from the rich to give to the poor that is communism, I urge that the greed and abuse stops.
I patronize local business I believe they are more environmentally and economically friendly the gap between the business owners and the employees profit is less extreme.
I believe in the do it yourself independence model, I believe as technology and academic knowledge increases, we should be wise enough to produce our own necessities like energy, to collect our own water if possible, to grow our own food, to liberate ourselves from the corporate and government dependency that is installed by design to retain the population under their dominance and influence.
The less we rely on finances to make a living the less we are slaves at the mercy of those who moderate the flow of money like the wealthy who employ us to name one.
We need regulations that protect the people from the corporations, not the corporations from the people and their interests.
We must also have good interests for this idea to work.