Does this monthly budget sound right to you?

[CarverFan]

A friend of mine who lived in Bs As for 6 years but left 2 years ago is coming back next month. I am trying to advise her on monthly budget as prices have changed a lot. This is the minimum I have advised her she needs:

Monthly rent of a room in shared apt in decent area: 1500 pesos
Food per month: 1000 pesos
Everything else: 1500 pesos

Does this sound about right? She has lots of friends here so won't be living a tourist lifestyle, just needs to make sure she has extra money for a few dance classes a week.

Thanks for your help!

 

[sesamosinsal]

The food budget seems a bit low, but maybe she could take a bit from "everything else" and put it there. 33 pesos a day for food is doable, but you're really pushing it. I'd say an average spending amount for me here is around $100 pesos a day. I don't always spend that much, but I certainly would plan to do so. So anywhere from 3000-3500 ARS on daily expenses, including food, the occasional restaurant, and going out to a club once a week. Of course, she may spend less, but prices here rise just a bit on a weekly-basis, it seems. So it would probably be good to have a bit of a cushion or exaggeration of expenses.

 

[AlfajorEfi]

It's a good budget if you have friends who invite you for Asado every weekend...hehe
Honestly, sounds a bit low food wise. Depends also what you like to eat and how good of a cook you are...

 

[MizzMarr]

I'd say that she should be prepared to spend between 400-500 dollars (2000 pesos) on a private room in a decent shared apartment in a decent area (Almagro, for example). I'd say she'll be ok on that food budget if she almost always (90% of the time) cooks at home or eats on the cheap.

 

[CarverFan]

Thanks all, appreciate your input. How much do you envisage these costs rising in 6 months if that has to be factored in? 20%?

 

[El Duderino]

Who knows what's going to happen after the elections this month.

 

[va2ba]

You can eat at home on 1000 pesos a month. It is easy to do for one person. But eating out will have to fall under the everything else category.

El Duderino has a good point. Its impossible to say what will happen after the elections. Right now 1000 pesos might be enough for food, and after the elections, it might not be.

 

[oksanache]

Almagro is a good area? Excuse me?

 

[sesamosinsal]

Almagro is a good area? Excuse me?

If you think Almagro is bad, you really need to get out of Puerto Madero more often.

 

[steveinbsas]

[quote name='bradlyhale']If you think Almagro is bad, you really need to get out of Puerto Madero more often.[/QUOTE]

This remark reminded me of this post:


[quote name='Don'tMindMe']...Apartments-- I used to think BA apartments were so cool. A few months ago, I decided it would be neat to live in Almagro. I looked at four rooms, all in the 370-400 dollar range (I would have liked cheaper, but, well, there isn't). Horrible. Decrepit PHs with no windows, maybe a terrace or something, but if the front door closes and there are two inches of space between the bottom of the door and the ground, you can just imagine the cockroaches there will be in the summer. Dirty, teeny kitchens, four people sharing one bathroom, you get the idea. Note: If you're willing to pay this and have a room the size of a box with a twin bed, the quality goes up a little. But I'd already lived in that type of room, and really didn't want to go back.[/QUOTE]

You don't have to live in Puerto Madero to realize that Almagro doesn't compare favorably to areas like Recloeta and most of Palermo. Some advertise properties in Almagro as being located in Barrio Norte, but that is a stretch, to say the least.

I searched extensively for a PH in Almagro in 2009. Nothing there (in my price range) appealed to me in the least. I ended up in Nunez for my last year in CF.