Moving to Argentina

[FrankPintor]

I have a wife and no kids so far.

Live in a house in "Zone Norte" that we built so we don't pay rent (but are dealing with other things that aren't reflected in this budget). Approx. summary of my monthly fixed costs in pesos:

Expensas (sort of like homeowner fees, paid to the "barrio") - 300,000 pesos.
Electricity bill - 250,000 pesos (all-electric house)
Car insurance - 80,000 pesos, ACA 40,000 more
Health Insurance - for two adults, OSDE plan 210 - 450,000 pesos.
Internet - 50,000 pesos (DirecTV cable TV plus the local fibre optic 100Mbps internet)
Cleaner 2 x a week - 200,000 pesos a month.

So that's almost 1.5 million pesos before I've done anything.

Electricity is brutally expensive, we were paying 650,000 pesos in winter, with trying to heat the house during the coldest days of the year with the underfloor heating. The soon-to-be-installed gas generator will allow us to moderate that, I hope, plus the wood stove I would like to buy in late autumn.

It's not really cheap, but certainly better than renting., and we have a nice lifestyle out here.

 

[perry]

Shit, that's really expensive. To think there are countries that basically pay you to have children, living in Argentina (or similar countries) by your wish is just crazy...

I have lived here since 2002 and Argentina in 2025 is nearly 8 times more expensive in dollars to live here - This has never happened to a society before and life now for most people is infineltely worse than it was at that time . Under Nestor Kirchner living in Buenos Aires was a paradise as everyday costs were very reasonable . I lived around the corner from La Cabrera even eating there was a a bargain just US$ 10 for lunch or maybe US$ 15 for dinner with wine . Now this same dinner is US$ 100 . Electricity was so cheap I payed US $ 3.00 a month then and water was virtually free . A modest apartment in Palermo the total costs for everything were less than US$ 25 per month . Now the average is US$ 250 a month . Have peoples wages in us dollars since 2003 gone up 10 times ? The minimum wage was US$ 160 then and most people I knew earnt US$ 400 .. With that wage they lived well and could afford to eat out twice a week and have coffee and medialunas every day . A coffee and tres medialunas was $ 2. 800 pesos or just one dollar . In Palermo this same offer is US$ 10 dollars . For people to have the same lifestlyle in 2003 they need to be earning 10 times more in us dollars .Only the wealthy are doing well the rest are struggling to make ends meet and are taking on debt . In the capital federal real estate reports show that 40 percent of property owners are behind in expenses . Credit cards same deal .

 

[mikic007]

I have lived here since 2002 and Argentina in 2025 is nearly 8 times more expensive in dollars to live here - This has never happened to a society before and life now for most people is infineltely worse than it was at that time . Under Nestor Kirchner living in Buenos Aires was a paradise as everyday costs were very reasonable . I lived around the corner from La Cabrera even eating there was a a bargain just US$ 10 for lunch or maybe US$ 15 for dinner with wine . Now this same dinner is US$ 100 . Electricity was so cheap I payed US $ 3.00 a month then and water was virtually free . A modest apartment in Palermo the total costs for everything were less than US$ 25 per month . Now the average is US$ 250 a month . Have peoples wages in us dollars since 2003 gone up 10 times ? The minimum wage was US$ 160 then and most people I knew earnt US$ 400 .. With that wage they lived well and could afford to eat out twice a week and have coffee and medialunas every day . A coffee and tres medialunas was $ 2. 800 pesos or just one dollar . In Palermo this same offer is US$ 10 dollars . For people to have the same lifestlyle in 2003 they need to be earning 10 times more in us dollars .Only the wealthy are doing well the rest are struggling to make ends meet and are taking on debt . In the capital federal real estate reports show that 40 percent of property owners are behind in expenses . Credit cards same deal .

Yes, that was my experience when living full time here between 2013-2016 as well. Now our life is in Europe and we spend up to 5 months in Argentina per year. That's doable, but we limit ourselves here quite a lot. Not a big deal of course, since whatever is expensive here I just buy there. Here we live on meat and the sun .