Cost of Living

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We’re often asked about the cost of living in Costa Rica. It’s a difficult question to answer. There are so many variables to consider, location, lifestyle, etc. In a nutshell, you can live as cheaply or as extravagantly as you choose.

Here’s what we paid yesterday:

Rent: $300; Electricity: $49.57; Water $13.01; Telephone & internet: $29.37; Cell (2 months) $ 7.27 Monthly Total $399.24 I almost forgot, add another $25 for Direct TV (We have that paid automatically so it’s easy to forget about)

Our cell phone is billed every two months. It isn’t that way for everyone. We don’t use ours much so ICE only bills us every two months. That’s the only explanation we can come up with. Perhaps they feel it isn’t worth billing for $3.00 per month.

Food we’ve decided is our luxury item, for others it may be something else. We don’t have grocery ads to help us decided where to buy what cheaper. Just like in the states, some grocery stores are more expensive than others. Our fruits, veggies and now a big portion of our meats are purchased at the local feria or farmers market. I’d say we spend roughly $30 at the feria each week. What do we get? The staples: carrots, potatoes, onions, watermelon, pineapple, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, green beans, bacon, pork roast, boneless skinless chicken breasts, eggs, apples, strawberries and bananas. These are routine purchases but not weekly. We’ll often have items left from the previous week. Some weeks we’ll add some strange fruit that catches Bills eye or splurge on imported peaches or grapes. It just depends on what we see and what we want on a particular day. Don’t forget fresh flowers…a dozen Calla Lilies for $3, fragrant day lilies for $2. For $5 we can have fresh flowers in every room of the house for two weeks.

We’ve learned it doesn’t make sense to buy multi packs of items here. It’s cheaper to buy 2 six packs of toilet paper that one 12 pack. Go figure? It’s cheaper to buy Callista individual packs of Lays chips or Cheetos than a big family bag. An added benefit is that Bill and I don’t eat them then.

Let’s see, what else is important…ah yes, beer. Bill’s beer of choice is Imperial which runs about 80 cents a bottle. They run specials at the new Maxi Bodega from time to time, buy 12 for the price of 10.

Ah, Maxi Bodega…we try not to shop there. Bill worked for Safeway in the states and had a strong disdain for Wal-Mart due to the competition. He’s gotten over that now as he’s been retired almost a year but we both know the impact Wal-Mart has had on small town USA. The Tico’s we’ve talked to are happy for the jobs Wal-Mart is creating but they don’t realize what will/can happen in the long run to the mom and pop stores.

Eating out… yes, we do eat out regularly. We pick up a pizza for either lunch or dinner once a week. We buy a large pepperoni for $6; it’s enough for 2 of us to have a second meal. Eating in restaurant generally runs us $15 to $20 while the three of us can eat at a soda (typical café) for $10 or less. Portions in sodas are often large enough for Calli and I share.

Fueling the car… we use propane and fill up once a week for about $27. We get 12 to 15 miles per gallon depending on where we drive. Costa Rica driving is a lot of ups and downs. If you’ve never been here, imagine driving up and down the roads in San Francisco daily.

Pet care: We took Bear to the vet yesterday as he’d been walking with his head tilted and cried when anyone touched his ear. The vet examined him, gave us drops for his ears and pills to help his dry skin for under $11. The last time we took him in with an infected cut on his foot it cost $3.

Entertainment: We rent videos once a month or so averaging about a dollar a video. We went to a play in Escazu this past weekend for $12. Callista and I will sometime splurge on mochas and milkshakes at a pricey local café for $3. In the states, I paid close to $5 a pop for one grande, hazelnut, non-fat latte at Starbucks without batting an eye. We paid $12 for 5 used books recently at a local internet café/used book store WITH our trade in books. I thought that was outrageous. I do miss Bookman’s and Changing Hands dearly. Some things, like used books we pay more for living in the country/campo.

Our new life in Costa Rica is considerably less expensive than our previous lives. We pay our water, phone, computer, electricity and cable for less than the price of one month’s summer electric bill in Arizona. I remember the honorary consul to Costa Rica in Tucson warned us before we moved that life in Costa Rica was very expensive. Bill and I smiled at each other a year ago as she said that. We knew our life here would be as expensive as we chose to make it. Everything is a matter of choice and deciding what your individual needs and desires really are.

Pura Vida!
Jen, Bill, Callista and Bear (who likes the vets in CR much better than in the states)

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