Friday, August 26, 2005

How to Live in Taiwan on Less Than $700 US Per Month

I've been playing with my budget worksheet, since I just picked up two English students who will actually be giving me money to teach them, three times per month for two hours each time. This will bring me the whopping sum of roughly $112 US per month, woohoo! I know, this sounds like nothing, but check out what it costs me to live here (in US dollars):

Rent for a nice, three-bedroom, two-bath apartment that's bigger than my house was in the US: $465/month (note: I hear there are places here that one can rent for around $100/month US - but I don't think I'd want to live in one of them)

Phone and ADSL Internet access: $12-$14/month

Electric bill: $22/month (average - lower in winter, higher in summer)

Water: $9/month

Gas for cooking and hot water: $6/month

Elevator maintenance fee: $16/month

Transportation via MRT: $70/month

Eating out every day, breakfast/lunch/dinner: $145/month (and this is only if I spend $150NT each day, and many times I don't come anywhere close to that)

So, with the money I'll get from teaching, my basic expenses are cut down to around $650 US per month. Yeah, I spend money on other stuff, but I don't have to buy a lot of what I buy. If I get a couple more students, I'll be way happy!

1 comment:

aetherwellen said...

Wow, awesome! I used to live in a US$100 a month hovel ,and trust me, you don't want to do that if you can afford a nice place like the one you have.

Ha, my phonebill used to be AU$3 per month, and most of that was line rental.