World's least expensive cities

[Eternalnewbie]

I like blending in to a certain extent, but somehow people seem to assume I'm from way up north before I even open my mouth. And the moment I do open my mouth, any idea of blending in and fitting in goes poof.

In my case, I like having a TV that will work in all zones and on all currents, and I simply couldn't find one here. I am not committed to living in this country for the rest of my life, and I like buying things I can keep for the long term. But even at that, the TV I bought was $839 USD; the identical TV (without the all zones and all currents feature) was $2500 USD at Jumbo. That's silly under any circumstances.

There are apparently 3 different categories of participants here. There are locals who for whatever reason read and respond to posts here; there are expats who are permanent -- they have moved here lock, stock, and barrel, and are here to stay; there are (like me) expats passing through for some period of time -- weeks, months, or in my case, a few years. Within those groups there are going to be interesting and divergent opinions about life here.

 

[HenryNisental]

And do not forget that what you buy at expensive prices you will sell at high prices too. Henry

 

[Eternalnewbie]

And do not forget that what you buy at expensive prices you will sell at high prices too. Henry

In my experience as a vagabond, I find that many people, including me, take a loss when selling out prior to a move. Many items, especially cars, depreciate radically from the moment of purchase.

Now in the case of electronics here, they are so wildly overpriced that, yes, one is probably going to get a substantial amount of money reselling it when leaving ... but: that is relative to where you bought it, not the price elsewhere. If you buy a TV, for example, for $2500, and sell it for $1500 a year or so later, when you move, you have still lost $1000, and even if you you can buy the same TV for $1500, what you got from the resale, thinking you have broken even, haven't you in fact still lost the $1000?

I'm a math dunce, so I could be missing something here.

Regardless, it may be just one's preference. I prefer to buy large ticket items that I intend to keep until they fall apart. My last Sony Tritron, purchased in 1989, was given to my daughter in 2006. She still uses it.

So back to the point. Since I intend to keep this TV until it dies, why would I pay $2500 for something I can get for less than $1000?

 

[sergio]

I don't understand how people can say that food is cheap in BA. RESTAURANTS may be cheaper than in cities like New York but the supermarket is not cheap. I'm in the US now and comparing prices every time I go to the supermarket. There are endless bargains here. I don't know what the people who say that food is cheap in BA are eating. Rice?

 

[Eternalnewbie]

I don't understand how people can say that food is cheap in BA. RESTAURANTS may be cheaper than in cities like New York but the supermarket is not cheap. I'm in the US now and comparing prices every time I go to the supermarket. There are endless bargains here. I don't know what the people who say that food is cheap in BA are eating. Rice?

I agree with you, generally.

In my experience, restaurant meals are significantly cheaper here than comparable restaurants in the States -- be sure you are comparing like with like, high end with high end, or fast food with fast food, and not mixing the categories.

On the other hand, unlike electronics, which are at the obscene stage, grocery prices are on par with, and sometimes higher than, equivalent stores in most parts of the States (although not all, excepting the exclusive parts of the country). Worse, there is an astonishing variety of food for sale almost everywhere in the States, while here the sameness is stunning.

In other words, I find some aspects of life in BA to be relatively inexpensive, some to be about average, and some to be stupidly expensive. Maybe it all balances out somehow.

 

[davonz]

I don't understand how people can say that food is cheap in BA. RESTAURANTS may be cheaper than in cities like New York but the supermarket is not cheap. I'm in the US now and comparing prices every time I go to the supermarket. There are endless bargains here. I don't know what the people who say that food is cheap in BA are eating. Rice?

I totally agree with that. I lived in Gent (belgium) and Zurich last year for 6 months and found the supermarkets prices there cheaper, infact alot cheaper alot of times than here, except for a couple of items - meat being the main one.
Also NZ and AU is way cheaper for supermarkets than here too.