Moving to the DR on a low budget! Questions and Musings

[chola1978]

Peace....................
Newbies, it will take you time just like it did every one in this big family ot get along.
Lets learn a little diplomacy and respect our elders(posting wise) I have personal help and lots of disappointment but I ma a believer in this forum that's why I have care about how newbies and old frieds view this forum.
Honestly, our opinion is just that an opinion if newbies are nto going to be happy with our advise please just keep itto your selve don't push those of us that invest our personal time in helping others away.
I keep my end of the bargain to give advise and always stay positive. Please lets nto start any he say she say.... Amar a su projimo please.....
And yes all are welcome in my beautiful country...

[Sanation]

Originally Posted by Chennifer

Lambada:
Exactly, as I wrote, that is my experience from looking around the forum. That it is hard to get questions and that many times the answers are sarcastic. This is my experience, and I have noticed that alot of other posters feel the same way. And I did write that this didn't apply to all of you, but that it happens alot here. Ive seen threads where people are making fun of the poster or just fighting their way through it.

I have to agree. I've lived in the DR for the past 8 months and have found it extremely difficult to get information from other expats. If I hadn't had the opportunity to meet some great people when I first arrived (namely Robert from DR1 & Oscar from Mi Taverna) I think I would have gone home several months ago.

Had it not been for DR1 and the living forum, I would never have heard about Mi Taverna and as a result would possibly not have met Robert & of course Oscar. Having met these two fabulous people, they have introduced me and my boyfriend to many wonderful people who reside in this country. I have had the pleasure to meet some other expats independantly (not without hard work!) and have further extended the circle... and so it goes on.

There are many ligitamate posters who do not receive answers to their questions because of an underlying current of sarcasm and pettiness that seems to prevail. I know many people who no longer post on DR1 because they are sick of the BS. I have many times sent a PM instead of posting in the forum because of this. As a result, much valuable information is being filtered and not reaching the masses.

I think we all need to be a little kinder to each other and think about the repercussions of our words, deeds and actions.

[erna]

Hi everybody

I have gone trough all the posts about how to relocate and survive in DR. It took me two days and I got a lot of information:-). I have also read the book "Quisqueya" and probably gonna read it again and again. As a newby I want to hear as much about the country as possible from all kinds of people in all kinds of situations. I even do reed some blogs by dominicans allthough my spanish is worse than my english:-) Some of them, fortunately, write in english too. I´m looking forward to Ginni Bedggods next book if she´s planning to write one more.

In this thread a poster "Ringo" wrote:

"This tread could result of a "sticky" that could be a help to many new people looking for this type of information regarding; "what does it take" to relocate and survive."

As a newby I would really look forward to that. Are there any sutch planes?

From a grey and cold Sweden. (+5)
Respectfully
Carina

[Chirimoya]

Great idea - consider it 'stuck'.

[Lambada]

Originally Posted by erna

I have gone trough all the posts about how to relocate and survive in DR. It took me two days and I got a lot of information:-).

Well done, erna . You've set an example for others. The other advantage you now have is that you'll have spotted the 'sarcastic posters' as Chennifer identified, so you now know what weight to give their advice .

Go ahead & ask all your questions & I'm sure people will respond helpfully.

[erna]

Thank you Lambada:-). I will continue just reading the post for now. I have such a long way to go before I move so I guess in a couple of years I will have some more specific guestions, easier for you to answer. My son in laws mother is in DR wright now and she promised to bring a new and fresch map over DR. Then I can locate myself better when I read about places in DR in this forum.
Wright now I´m curios about how you do gardening in DR but I saw a thread about that somewhere that I will look in to clooser. This forum is like a big reference book:-).

[MikeFisher]

now it is going on the better 'tone'.
it is like everywhere in life,
some are basically always/firstly negative in everything,
some are always positive, doesn't matter what went wrong,
two extemeties which are mostly just a bit right and a bit wrong,
the biggest and "more right" part is located more in the middle.
because like in everything in life there are positives and negatives to consider,
and mostly both will happen once in a while, hopefully the negs not so often but the pos much more.
Carina,
+5C in Sweden,
i assume you consider that there as a very mild fall, ha ha.
but you would not look towards this caribbean island if you would prefer the north european temperatures over a hot summer night here, he he.
Quisquea,
i read that one myself a short while ago,
like it a lot, even that it today can not help me that much after 14 years on the Isle, but would've been of good help and positive input if i could have read it when i was a newbie myself on the island.
btw,
just in case you don't know it,
the author of that book been answering your questions, too, on this thread aside a bunch of others.

one of the reasons why some may 'sounded/answered/reacted' in a not so positive way to the original subject of this great and now big and informative thread may be the subject itself, the way it been written:
"moving to the DR on a low budget".
what is a low budget?
some have only a $500.- per month to spend for all their expenses including rent, food, aso, others spend $500.- - $1.000.- per month only on gas to move their car for the daily business needs.
some expats work here on the island for $300.- - $500.- of salary per month so to be able to efford living on such bases i.e. here in punta cana they share the room/appartment with other expats mostly working on the same spot/company/watersports center aso and in their own opinion/expectation they do fine and love it that way, at least for a while, some even for a longer while(years). many of those 'low budget' movers/workers (and i am not trying to offend anybody, i spent long times on this island myself on very low budgets before i got my business to move after i threw my money in the trashcan) do not think about the little "extras" life has once in a while to offer. a typical example would be a car/motorbiketaxi accident. such happens every day and can hit everybody, there's no way of life to avoid such, no insurance to avoid such. so what savings to solve such a unexpected situation does a low budget mover have?
right, a low budget, and in this country, like in many others, a reasonable medic will not even start to solve any of such problem on low budget, they want to see the proper insurance card up to date renewed or they let you bleeding out of their backdoor. that's not an example meant to scare the hell out of somebody, it is just a matter of fact of something what happens here once in a while, much too often, much more often to locals than expats.
many(and again, i speak just from my own experience from 'experiencing people/expats/new and ole ones' on the islands, i can not speak for everybody and every average crowd anyways has it's exceptions, like every rule, specially dominican street rules or laws) low budget movers/travelers who do not even have very strong/reliable backup in their homecountry, so what they expect over here thousands of miles away from home?
right,
there's no backup to expect to jump in,
here's no family to take care about you, it is the $$'s who talk or let die.
so in that case i agree to the "neg sounding ones" who say "NO" as long as there's no backup plan to go back home in case everything runs 'bad'.

long writing short point:
the subject should be written
"i have ... amount of cash/backup/what ever"
at my order, "to where in the dominican republic can i move with that, what kind of rental/lifestyle/aso can i expect with that?"

for my own opinion/understanding,
when i read in such a subject "low budget",
i always think first about some youngguns exploring the globe as backpackers,
and to such my straight out truefull meaning answer would be:
YES!
you can move over on low budget and you will find a place to stay/sleep/do some jobs to be able to purchase the needed food and pay the rent aso, 'cause it would be the kind of traveler who is not looking for more than such, doesn't matter where on the planet.
if somebody young just finished school/studies and want's to start his working life in the dominican republic, on low budget, without a at least very good spanish skill, to start his adult life here and stay forever with the bridges home to mom and dad broken down, my answer would def be:
NO!!!
and then we have the very big crowd of people from many countries who worked their whole life at their country of origin, as employees or small business people with their own little companies, people looking for a 'early' retirement in a different climate/surroundings, they have their amount of savings (it does here really not matter if somebody single/couple is considered at home rich or 'so-so' or such, just establed earnings from a working life within their class of living) and want to live with those on a caribbean island instead of their homecountry, to such people my answer would be def :
YES!
they can do so without cutting down on the former known daily little luxuries/living style aso, they can move and live here on their former known lifestyle.
they just need to take their time to find out how their savings should be brought in/how to secure them,
for such newbies i would recommend 2-3 months visits to different prior researched areas on the island to find out where they would suit in best, because our island offers a bunch of different areas with very different surroundings/living styles aso, and then, when they found a suitable area, i would recommend a full 1 year rental stay right there to check out briefly what is possible/necessary in that specific area, before all bridges to home get cut off, and to take that time to really get into the details of that specific community in that specific area, there are big differences in the different available areas.
i am myself 44 years "young", i started to live on the island permanently by the age of 30 years without too much research(absolutely no internet by that time), looking back and thinking about a move by the age of early 20's, i would have choosen a different location, to move today with some savings as a backup weapon aside i may choose a different location, would be a complicated decision.

i just think the subject of this thread is too "wide" to be just one thread,
so we have to answer every single 'part' separately from others,
what may be a good advice to one person would maybe not be the best decision for a other kind of person who is expecting different things.

but overall,
from my side,
every newbie is very welcome on the bord,
would anyways be boring to answer the same ole questions of the same ole guys and gals again and again and ...
ha ha ha

let's go on to make this one a great and informative helpful sticky.

Ginnie,
where's the next one??, lol
Mike

[Markf128]

I spend $1000 in a week everytime I go to Sosua. I don't mean to put anybody down or to show off but things are expensive there. I'm not sure $1000 a month would be enough. I'm more like maybe $1500.00 US dollars.

[MikeFisher]

?????
that's just throwing numbers.
with $1000.- a week some could make a nice fiesta in Sosua all around.
others live somewhere else and spend completely other bucks.
to make your numbers worth a thing you should write where and how you live and for what you spend $1000.- a week in Sosua,
and the people who asked about that may also be interested in knowing how to make those bucks each week in Sosua or elsewhere.
Mike

[erna]

Hi Mike and lots of thanks for your very informative post:-)

+5C in Sweden,
Well I just wrote that for you to feel sorry for me. No, it´s okey. I like it when the snow falls, but only over christmas:-) Then there is almost five long grey month until the summer comes.

just in case you don't know it,
the author of that book been answering your questions, too, on this thread aside a bunch of others.

Yes, I know, she did a lot for me apart from the benefit I had of reading her book. If it wasnt for her we would probably have done all the wrong moves. Thanks Ginnie and I´m still looking forward to read your next book ;-)


and then we have the very big crowd of people from many countries who worked their whole life at their country of origin, as employees or small business people with their own little companies, people looking for a 'early' retirement in a different climate/surroundings, they have their amount of savings (it does here really not matter if somebody single/couple is considered at home rich or 'so-so' or such, just establed earnings from a working life within their class of living) and want to live with those on a caribbean island instead of their homecountry, to such people my answer would be def :
YES!

Sounds like we fit in somehow with this group. We didn´t plan to move until my daughter and her husband told us they were. So we move to be near them and we also have the benefit of having my son in laws relatives down there. Lots of them:-) And we are not moving until my husband retires in four years. I´m a little younger then him so I will have to wait for my pension But I´m a nurse and hopefully I can use this to "give something back" to the country. My husband is a photograf and layouter. I use to say that he "furniture newspaper. He runs his own small company her and makes PR for different companies in Sweden.
We have a house that we are planning to sell and we are sawing as much as we can to be able to have some "back up" money. With only my husbands pension we will have about 30 000 to 35 000 DOP a month and after some more years when I can lift my pension we will have about the double. I have also a private pension.
So, I guess we neither have a low or a high budget, but somewhere in between. At least we have a steady income and we will have to adjust to that. We are planning to first live with our youngsters whom allready have an apartment i Santo Domingo and then we will rent for a couple of years before we decide where to finally live.
There is no so much if we are going to move as there is how we gonna make this so it turns out as good as possible. Like how to coop and how to survive and how to make this in a proper way. We are both learning spanish now and I have a benefit as my daughters father is from Argentina and my daughter speaks spanish.


but overall,
from my side,
every newbie is very welcome on the bord,
would anyways be boring to answer the same ole questions of the same ole guys and gals again and again and ...
ha ha ha


Thank you Mike, I hope you never get bored answering. I do appreciate it so much. And it´s lovely to feel welcommed:-)

let's go on to make this one a great and informative helpful sticky.

Yes please do

Respectfully and gratefully
Carina