It's a shame you haven't gotten a reply by now, search. Let's see how I can do.
It's good that you have travelled in the "interior" of Argentina and like it...the capital is very affordable but anywhere else in Argentina is even more so.
I don't know that my income is exactly limited but I enjoy the accomplishment of being frugal...it sort of strikes a blow for personal independence. Not to forget, that we moved here because it isn't the US. I live the comfortable and satisfying life of a middle class Porteño. That leaves me a lot to splurge with whenever I feel the urge...which isn't often.
If you are more acquistive than inquisitive, more compulsive than impulsive, looking more to consume experiences rather than be consumed by them...you already live in the right place. But apparently you don't. It would be better to stay, however, if you somehow intend to transplant the US lifestyle to here. You'll go broke and or crazy.
How to do it? Take the time and do it right so as to minimize any worries later.
Bring anything/everything of high mark-up here (small electronics, for example. depending on your visa, you may even be allowed to bring a new car) then sell what you don't want here in BsAs. Sell everything else that you can't pack into your luggage and something no bigger than an old steamer trunk. Take your luggage to the airport and everything else to the Slow Boat Bros shipping company.
Put all the cash in your US bank and tap it with your bankmachine card. If you are legal, you can get a safe deposit box here for any of your other valuables. Come to think of it, I think tourists can even do that...ask El Expatriado.
Hit the ground here and choose a place for your homebase. Rent a room then prepare to burn some shoe leather. Ask me, ask everyone on the forum and anywhere else like, ask everyone you meet or even see on the street where is there an apartment for rent. That's the only way to do in NYC, Chicago, or LA...and it's the only way here. I have a 2B in the very nicest part of downtown BsAs with two small patios, doorman, the works, for which I pay less than $250 US/mo...that's after 2 rent increases. It can be done and it can be fun. Don't worry about the guarantia...you'll be fine. If you can pay your rent 6mos-1yr in advance...landlords will be VERY attentive.
On your apartment safari you'll meet a million people, see a million things, maybe even learn a few. Then you'll go back and do the ones you liked over again and you will have made some tremendous progress toward building a new life in a period of only about 1 or 2 months. You can get some health insurance while you are at it.
As to mordida...this place doesn't resemble Mexico in that regard either. Although, being a Chicagoan, I've never minded a well placed bribe if it leaves everybody feeling good! I don't find it buried in red tape, either. However, the US has streamlined almost every process so efficiently that I fear that there are damn few that rememeber what red tape really is. Here things take longer and need more signatures in more different places with lots of original documents and stamps and seals...but I don't think that's the real definition of red tape.
You'll be fine. You'll probably be much happier here than in the US. The home of the brave and the land of the free is pretty tough on people with a fixed income. Medical care alone could easily bankrupt you...if such a thing still exists there.
Take care of as many details in advance as you possibly can. Get to be friends with the Argentine Consul nearest you. Check and recheck shipping rates. Get rid of your stuff!
Good night and good luck,
Mike
