Any NICE City for 00/month or Under?
02-01-2013, 08:55 PM
You can still live in Buenos Aires, relatively modestly (no balling), but comfortably, for $1500 a month.
In fact, you can do that in any Argentine city, and life would be decent.
You could live in North Africa, by the sea in Tunisia, for way less than $1500 a month and be more than comfortable. In fact if you had long hair, looked sufficiently French to pass off as one, a white blazer with pastoral trousers and had $1500 a month, well, you could develop a considerably effective, although altogether affected, type of Mediterranean playboy game. Yes, it's an inferior type of playboy game to that practised by others on the Mediterranean, but we can't all be yacht owning tax avoiding Lake Como residing dilettantes. Unless we propose a method of collective ownership where things are proportionately divided, not simply nouns, no no, but the division of labour too. Oh, what a glorious idea that would be. Not. Or maybe not not.
Alternatively.
You could live in Poland, although i am guessing when you said eastern Europe you also meant certain parts of central Europe, like Hungary and Poland, which are considered eastern Europe not because of geographic reasons but, rather, cultural reasons ( typically caused by a misunderstanding of Slavic culture - and the pan Slav nationalistic dream -- and a post communist hangover) . I blame you not. But i am sincere. You could live in Poland, rent a decent place, develop a decent clique of fellow expats, integrate (or violate) into established social networks, and bang a number of 7's.
Shit, to be absolutely brutal, although it isn't really brutal at all and i have probably just used an inappropriate expression, you could survive in Paris or Barcelona on that money. By survive, i mean more than that, which i probably ought to have said in the first place. If you budget supermarket shop, walk a great deal, share a bedroom or take a small bedroom in a shared house outside the centre, and spent little on going out. You'd be living in Paris or Barcelona on $1500 a month and still going out maybe 2 or 3 times a week, although on a truly limited budget.
I'll get even more to the point. Some people in London live on less than what you are suggesting for a month, including renting their own room. The reality is their lives, unfortunately and for want of a fairer system, aren't exactly blessed with opportunities and options for doing stuff - relative to others. That's not to say they don't do it. They do. Most menial workers in London earn around £1000 a month. They rent their own place, work 5/6 days a week, and go out a couple of nights a week. It isn't great and yet they manage. They often also somehow contrive to save £100/200 a month too. Understanding the finer delicacies and nuances of the immigrant mentality is something i haven't entirely managed yet, but i'm 98% of the way there, and these people are contented, although neither happy nor fulfilled. They live. And it is a nice city. Which is what you are after.
Oh, wait. Perhaps you don't quite believe these letters and words that i type. Should that be so i'll choose not to retreat and hide, no no, i'll move forward and elaborate upon my claim.
London. Living in a nice city. To break it down. $1500 = £950
You might rent a room in Haringey for £400 a month. It will be sparse and basic. You will be sharing the house with any combination of people, likely to include 1 French Algerian who works as night security staff, 1 middle class Brazilian from Sao Paolo who is on a gap year working as a kitchen porter, 2 Spanish girls from Andalucia working as waitresses and an Italian telesales worker. It will be 30 minutes on a bus from the centre.
You would get a travelcard, enabling you to use public transport at a slightly discounted rate. Between taking the odd bus for free and paying for 3 or 4 a day, you will spend around £100 a month on travel.
So, now we are at £500 on travel and rent.
Cheap food, like that which an immigrant (but not down in the dumps immigrant) worker or weed smoking student might eat, would set you back £8 a day. I'm writing of chips, ham sandwiches, water. Not Mumbai squalor garbage, but not middle class affluence either. Just regular run of the mill stuff. Always cooking for yourself. That's £240 a month.
So we are now at £740.
That would leave you with £210, after the 3 basics of rent, travel and food are accounted for, to spend as you wish. That is around £50 a week. That's a small budget to party on. But with day game, charm, the understanding of which spots in the city cater for those on lesser budgets (student hang out areas) and a willing character, you could do it. Free wifi in the cafe's, interesting exhibitions at the museums / galleries, hot women all over the place. You could pass your time pleasurably. And only a man who is tired of life is tired of London. Lest it not be claimed otherwise one might even propose that i am tired of this exhausting city, only is it so or isn't it i shall leave up in the air for you to guess. Not that you care. Not that i blame you.
All in all. What does this mean? Well, life doesn't have a meaning, or so we'd presume by any rational thinking, so, let's not even begin to imagine that this post means much, but, by way of justifying this post, i will propose one benefit of it. In theory, no, in reality, actuality, as a seasoned people observer, i can tell you, that you can live in London on $1500 a month.
And if you can live in London on that budget, then you can also live in Madrid, Barcelona, Paris or Rome. Although in some ways Madrid, Paris and Rome don't lend themselves as nicely to the money starved as London does.
Anyway. Don't live like an urban peasant. Unless you are an urban peasant. Then i meant you no offence. Go and live in Buenos Aires. Develop a social network, Join tango classes. Volunteer for some bullshit. Within 3 months you might have 4 girls on the go, each thinking they are going to marry you. You'll marry none. You'll return back to the concrete jungle from whence you came and be better for the experience. Or maybe you will be worse. But nobody knows.
Besides, what really constitutes a nice city? Are we to say nice people? Pleasing architecture? Useful public services? Subservient institutions? Beautiful women? Good tennis courts? A prevalence of bookish cafe's? A fair amount of 3g network coverage?