Poll - How much do you spend a month?

[blackburn]

extrapoleate......what is that ....some girl in a lap dance club doin extratime...hehe
so to live in "capital federal" costs about 2kusd....kinhell glad I dont live there....
thats about 7600 ARP.....you lot must have plenty of "plata"...if you want cheaper
move out of BA....suetre...

 

[steveinbsas]

Carrefour has weekend sales on various items. If you buy two the second item is discounted 70%. This past weekend it was cleaning products, snacks, condiments, seasonings, rice, beans, and pasta. Weekend sales in recent months have also included health and beauty items and coffee, tea, cookies, candy, jams, and jellies, etc. (I stocked up on imported Danish Preserves even before I read the post about the new prohibition in imports). The limit on each item is a total of six, but you can go back and buy more. The net savings of 30% makes the cost of many of these items below the prices of two or even three years ago (Not everything has gone up 20% annually.)

I pay $35 (US) for insurance on my apartment and $100 (US) for health insurance (monthly).


My apartment "expenses" are just over $100 (USD) per month:
Annual ABL property tax (2010): $235 pesos
Last two (four months) gas bills: $19 pesos and $17 pesos ($65 in winter)
Last two (four months) months electric bill: $73 pesos and $165 pesos (summer a/c)
Recent two months water bill: $25 pesos
Basic phone service (monthly): $45 pesos
Basic cable and internet (monthly) $170 pesos

Common ("consorcio") expenses: $6 pesos for 2 months (lights in passageway)

I rarely eat in restaurants and my daily luxury is buying a "tray" of pre-cut assorted veggies at the nearest verduria for $4 pesos (I hate to peel). I can easily "live" on $100 per week in addition to my fixed costs, so I rarely exceed $600 US per month (with no rent to pay). I brought enough clothes, sheets, and shoes with me in recent trips from the US to last decades, and I have no plans to return to the US for any reason whatsoever.

My expenses will increase a bit when I move to the quinta near Punta Alta in June, but only because I'm going to need a car.

 

[citygirl]

Obviously if you live with someone else and share rent - costs decrease dramatically.

Rent is my single biggest expense and is roughly 60% of what I spend a month.

Fixed expenses (cable, electricity, health insurance, water, etc) are about another 10% or so.

Food (shopping not dinners out) is about 10%.

20% goes to discretionary spending including my spanish classes and then dinners out, taxis, drinks, etc).

 

[mini]

Where did we say you need U$2000 per person? We spend about U$2000 for two of us. That includes the rent of our apartment plus a studio for me to work in which also like Citygirl it is our biggest expense at about 50% of our spending.

Sure I COULD search for bargains & discount days or live somewhere cheaper or share my work space. Frankly I don't want to. Not right now anyway.

With 2000 per month you don't have to worry so much about what you spend. BUT I wouldn't say it was a luxury life style. I take the bus most of the time with taxis on occasion. & we haven't been on vacation in a long time.

So, come with 2000, spend 1/2 then stay on extra months or save the rest for a rainy day.

 

[schef4711]

I think you have no idea what the cost of living in NYC is.

it is not a big different to other big cities on the world. I don't know any city in good location where you need to pay U$ 4000 each month for living fine

Maybe you are more informed how to leave U$ 10.000 in NYC but some detail for what this costs will be needed would a nice information I guess you can't do it even you will tell me you will go out every day and spend U$ 200 for dinner ...

 

[citygirl]

Um Schef471 - 200 dollars for dinner in NY isn't that unusual.

And it's the 8th most expensive city in the world. So yeah.. the cost of living there is ridiculous.

My last studio (monoambiente) apt in NY rented for $2500 a month.

 

[blackburn]

stevie...do you live alone.....you are extremely knowledgable about BA and things in general about htis country....how come....suerte

 

[A&A]

Schef: $4000 a month in NYC would make you close pretty "poor" and that's assuming after taxes 4K a month.

You would be living in a shared apartment somewhere in Bushwick (google it...it's in brooklyn) Trolling for bars with drink specials and free bar snacks. Cooking at home all the time. Only way to afford Manhattan would be if you were lucky to have a rent stabilized apartment which are typically older (yes cute but older) and super super tiny! A 1 bed at most.

NYC is a complete order of magnitude more expensive (of course this is accounting for exchange rates. I am sure if you earn pesos BA must feel as expensive.) Similarly, a year or 2 ago if you earned pounds and came to NYC everything seemed half price and "cheap".

But NYC is VERY expensive for even the rich as there is always some Russian Oil Tycoon, Hollywood celeb, or Mideast sultan with much much more.

 

[sergio]

Schef: $4000 a month in NYC would make you close pretty "poor" and that's assuming after taxes 4K a month.

You would be living in a shared apartment somewhere in Bushwick (google it...it's in brooklyn) Trolling for bars with drink specials and free bar snacks. Cooking at home all the time. Only way to afford Manhattan would be if you were lucky to have a rent stabilized apartment which are typically older (yes cute but older) and super super tiny! A 1 bed at most.

NYC is a complete order of magnitude more expensive (of course this is accounting for exchange rates. I am sure if you earn pesos BA must feel as expensive.) Similarly, a year or 2 ago if you earned pounds and came to NYC everything seemed half price and "cheap".

But NYC is VERY expensive for even the rich as there is always some Russian Oil Tycoon, Hollywood celeb, or Mideast sultan with much much more.

Rent stabilized or Rent controlled apartments are all pre 1947 but older buildings are highly sought after in Manhattan. Ads frequently state "Pre War building" meaning that it is a quality older building. Not all rent controlled (to have a rent controlled building you have to have been living in it prior to 1971 - not as many of these people as there used to be) or rent stabilized (the law was changed around 1974) buildings are small. Alistair Cooke, for example, lived in a very large apartment paying one fifth the market value of $10,000 a month.

Manhattan is definitely expensive and has become a generally high end part of town but professional salaries are also dramatically higher than in Buenos Aires and purchase prices have dropped substantially. A professional couple earning good salaries can afford to live very comfortably in Manhattan. There are also lots of pleasant suburbs accessible by good train service where you can find quality housing.

I think you exaggerate the challenge of living in NY. You've got to factor in very low salaries when you compare BA to New York and the lack of credit which makes buying impossible for anyone who has not received a gift or inheritance from parents.

 

[A&A]

Sergio:

I live in NYC now and grew up in one of those suburbs, so I feel as though I have a pretty good handle on what's going on real estate wise.

And while there are always exceptions to the rule, the norm is that most rent stabilized apartments -(rent controlled apts are as you said and most people are not old enough to have been in the same apartment since early 70's when the law was changed), especially downtown..(the rare example of a large apartment rent stabilized is usually above 33rd if not further),- are former tenement buildings that owners chopped up to get as many people in as possible. So they are tiny. I have been in more than 100 different ones. (And there are only 1 million city wide for 8.xM people)

As for the professional couple that is "living comfortably", I know plenty of them with amazing salaries and not one of them I know would say they are "living comfortably". Yes, living better, but not comfortably. Because now that you have "made it" there is the more expensive restaurant to go to (easy $200 a night if you get wine or a drink), the more expensive beach house to rent or buy, the private school for kids which is considered a must for those "professional couples". (A friend pays $38K a year per child and they are 5 and 10..and this is the norm). Then nanny to watch to the children (another $40K a year). So living there is sort of like that math problem where X approaches zero but never gets there. Well its like that but inverted....you keep getting higher but you never quite get there as costs always start to outstrip income. As there is always something more in NYC. And if you make that kind of money you don't get there and survive by saying: oh but I will stay home and save my money and have a nice night playing Scrabble. You just don't, as for why, that's a separate thread.

As for the suburbs: the property taxes in NJ, Westchester, and Long Island not to mention real estate prices are staggering. Especially, for the towns with "good schools" along the train lines. Yes, real estate has come down in those areas more than the City, but I would not say cheap. Further, notwithstanding the news saying positive things, credit for a new home is still extremely tight at the moment. Which is why mortgage rates are still so low. And that is the Suburbs...San Isidro is nice too. I grew up in those suburbs and it is a huge difference from living in the City.

As for those real estate prices, maybe you are looking at at 20%-25% discount over past few years. But you are still looking at $300-650K for a studio to 1 bedroom, 700-$1.5M for a 1 bedroom to 2 bedroom. depending upon the neighborhood. Now come up with at least (at least 20%) for the down payment (not to mention closing and other costs...now furnish it too). Believe me..many of these people had to get the same "gift" or inheritance from their parents. Not many people save up 200-500K from salary in a few years. And many of the Co-Op boards want "hard" assets, "cash in hand", not future earnings or stock portfolio when assessing your "worthiness". That's not even the bank. All for a place that is 40 sqmeters, to 90 sq meters.

Now yes, do I know a few people making ridiculous Wall St. "stupid money", for sure. But out of all my friends, most of which are professionals, or business owners and such (and not fresh out of college)...NYC is a hyper-expensive struggle.