Total Expenses Living In Buenos Aires Last Month: $1,018

In: Lifestyle By: Brian Armstrong

9 Jul 2009

I just finished doing my financial statements for last month, and was pretty happy when I noticed that it only cost a total of $1,018 USD for me to live and work in Buenos Aires last month! That’s really cheap, certainly much cheaper than living in the U.S.

This proves the point I wrote about a while back, which is that it really isn’t that expensive to travel the world if you do it right.

How can you afford to travel the world?
It’s not that expensive. Most people think of world travel like a vacation – and that’s not the right way to think about it.

Vacations are expensive because you still have all your expenses back home (mortgage/rent, car payment, gym, cell phone, etc) to make in ADDITION to the new expenses you just rang up (plane ticket, hotels, etc). It’s basically like living in two cities at once.

But I’m not taking a VACATION to South America – I’m actually MOVING there. This means I will not be paying any living expenses in the U.S., I will be selling my car, and will be canceling or putting on hold all other expenses (phone, gym, etc).

I won’t be staying in hotels there or paying tourist prices. I will be renting an apartment (probably month to month). The plane ticket to get there isn’t cheap (about $1,000) but once there most travel around South America can be done on buses or trains (or even short plane trips city to city) very inexpensively.

So what did I actually spend my money on? Here’s the breakdown…

Monthly Expenses Living In Buenos Aires June 2009

$450 – renting this room
$88 – my health insurance from the U.S.
$480 – everything else (cash expenses) mostly food

Normally I’d break down expenses further by looking at credit card statements, but people don’t really use credit cards much in Buenos Aires so I don’t have a good record of it. I pay for everything with cash so it’s all lumped into that $480. Probably most of it is food and drinks though.

For that amount you can live pretty nicely here…I think I ate out for dinner almost every night in June (might have cooked dinner at home once) and my room is in probably the nicest neighborhood in Buenos Aires. But on the other hand, it’s not like I had a penthouse with a private pool or did any lavish shopping or anything like that (although those are pretty reasonably priced too).

So anyway, if you have a business that let’s you be mobile while working, “moving” to Buenos Aires can be a great way to save some money and have an adventure in the process.

Share and Enjoy:

31 Responses

jackmo

July 9th, 2009 at 6:52 am

has this turned into a self-congratulatory blog while I wasn’t looking?

Good on you for enjoying yourself but it feels like the last few posts are not so much about business but more personal blog posts.

Gordie Rogers

July 9th, 2009 at 11:31 am

I think it’s good to see the experiences of those who have moved abroad to live a mobile entrepreneurial lifestyle. Brian has also been very busy working on his University tutor site and now BuyersVote. I’m sure once he has got BuyersVote up and running properly, he may choose to go back to writing more entrepreneurship posts.

Brian Armstrong

July 13th, 2009 at 3:01 am

Yup…well hopefully this all falls under “breaking free”…in other words, to include some lifestyle posts. But I had considered doing it separately as well. Feel free to post feedback, if people aren’t as interested in the lifestyle stuff I’m willing to adjust.

College Town Menus (CTM)

July 15th, 2009 at 2:28 pm

I tend to agree with both sides. I think the blog’s theme about trying to break free from the typical is a good fit for his lifestyle documentation. It’s fun living through someone else’s adventures and comparing drastic lifestyles. He’s learning more on his own than any of us work-slaves are combined, and he’s doing it at a low cost and making money from his other side residual areas; so I commend Brian with his giant leap into a completely different world.

However, I do tend to agree with jackmo also in that as a loyal follower, I’m excited when I see new posts hoping it’s more strategies to learn, but then finding these.

I said it before, you got balls Brian, keep it up! You clearly inspire over 2600 readers.

jessie

July 9th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

hey brian!

glad to see that you’re still in the entrepreneurial spirit! funny thing is, when i studied abroad, i did a breakdown, and the percentages look really close to yours too (except for the insurance part)

anyway, awesome blog and hope all is well!

Brian Armstrong

July 13th, 2009 at 3:02 am

Thanks! If you’ve got a link to that feel free to post it, I’d be curious to take a look.

John Bardos

July 9th, 2009 at 4:44 pm

Thanks for that Brian.

It is great to hear real numbers. I am a little surprised that you can keep your expenses that low. Buenos Aires sounds a little expensive. Are you scrimping on your entertainment?

Brian Armstrong

July 13th, 2009 at 3:04 am

Hey John, probably a bit yeah. The first month I was here I spent more. You could easily spend more than that for sure. I’m not really much of a bar/club person lately though and have really been relishing the opportunity to get some work done :) Most foreigners here don’t really take that approach.

Case in point:
http://www.playboy.com/articles/raging-bulls/index.html

Chris Guthrie

July 9th, 2009 at 5:04 pm

Hey Brian,

Are you paying for medical insurance via your business or how is it so cheap? Does that mean you can also use it there?

Brian Armstrong

July 13th, 2009 at 3:06 am

Hey Chris, I probably should have explained that more. The reason it’s so cheap is I have a high deductible. I found it on ehealthinsurnace.com It covers accidents/etc no matter where you are in the world. This was the same coverage I had in the U.S. I just kept it while traveling of course. It doesn’t cover emergency med evacs or anything like that to the U.S., but this is of limited value (since the plane flight it so long and emergency medical care is free in Argentina). Hope this helps!

Vince Schappell

February 12th, 2010 at 6:38 pm

Hi Brian,

Interesting info about the insurance when living abroad. Looking for a good insurance company to set up my HSA and ehealthinsurance might fit the bill. Good luck in SF with your new venture. I’ll leave you with a quote I heard. “How would the person I’d like to be, do the things I’m about to do.” You are inspiring other to live life… fantastic!

Brian Armstrong

February 15th, 2010 at 6:45 am

Thanks Vince, good to hear from you :)

Ron

July 30th, 2010 at 6:20 am

You should consider getting private insurance from an Argentina provider.. I had Medicus for around $88 you can get everything covered and you don’t pay anything more… no co-pays or ass fees. You just go to the doctor or hospital anytime you want and get treated.. way better than high deductible/emergency only coverage from the US… the US healthcare system is broken.

Anyway you also get dental and eyes covered, so I got a bunch of fillings and dental work done while I was covered for free (well I had to pay my $90 or so dollars a month to Medicus). It’s a pretty good deal.. so go get the insuranance and then get all that dental work you dreamed of and new contacts

Hit me up if you have questions about it.

Billy

July 9th, 2009 at 5:05 pm

Hi we spend a great time last month in Buenos Aires, we had rented a furnished apartment in Recoleta, Buenos Aires, near the down town. I suggest that service called ForRent Argentina: Buenos Aires apartments For Rent
They’ve good prices for rent apartments, and good quality too.

Brian Armstrong

July 13th, 2009 at 3:08 am

Yep I think that website has done really well and is good, thanks Billy! What’d ya’ll do one your trip here?

Alan

July 9th, 2009 at 9:49 pm

good to hears things going ok.
If you ever go to Barranquilla, Colombia
let me know. My wife is from there.

Brian Armstrong

July 13th, 2009 at 3:09 am

Hey Alan, no immediate plans to go there, but you never know, thanks for the offer I appreciate it!

Hubtonomy

July 10th, 2009 at 12:08 pm

It seems quite high for a S.American country but I guess it is still a lot cheaper than the U.S.A.

Brian Armstrong

July 13th, 2009 at 3:11 am

It’s actually quite a bit cheaper than most other countries in S. America (such as Brazil, Chile, etc). I was surprised too!

Debo Hobo

July 13th, 2009 at 7:11 pm

That’s pretty awesome my friend. One of these days I’ll be able to say the same. I found your post on Problogger about free eBooks and building subscribers so that is what I’ll be working on this week. Thanks for the great info:)

Brian Armstrong

July 14th, 2009 at 10:14 pm

Great stuff, thanks for stopping by!

Jon Cruz

July 17th, 2009 at 6:08 am

Hey Brian,
This is my first time here, as I read your interview w/ John Bardos over at jetsetcitizen and clicked your link. You’ve got some real good stuff on here and this individual post is really practical and applicable. Too many sites tell you that you can live cheap around the world but they just throw out random whole numbers at you with no factual basis. So I commend you for the detailed breakdown. I will definitely keep coming back to your site and I think you should make this detailed budget breakdown a monthly feature. I’ve got my sights set on S. America so hopefully we’ll bump into each other some day. Keep trekking man.

Wesley Craig Green

July 20th, 2009 at 5:53 pm

Personally, I find these type of posts very inspirational. Even though they don’t focus on entrepreneurship per se, they do evoke the spirit of entrepreneurship which is to lead the type of life you want.

Congrats on the big move and for following your dreams!

Wesley Craig Green
The Geek Entrepreneur

Kristi

August 25th, 2009 at 5:36 pm

I am planning on moving to argentina with my twin boys. I am a single mother and this info has been great. i was planning on $1000 a month to live and this has confirmed everything I have been looking into!!

Brian Armstrong

August 25th, 2009 at 9:40 pm

Keep in mind I’m renting one room in a shared house, and only fending for myself. And that was my least expensive month yet. I don’t want to give you false hopes!

Nico

August 27th, 2009 at 10:09 pm

I spent a great time last month in Buenos Aires. I rented a furnished apartment in Recoleta, Buenos Aires, near the down town. I suggest that service called Baires Apartments: Buenos Aires apartments

James Kennedy

September 27th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

Hey Brian

I’m note sure what the netiquette is here but I’ve also written up our first months expenses in BsAs (in Euros) at in this post. We spent a little more money (but not much) and rented an apartment in Palermo.

Keep up the good work.

James

Brian Armstrong

September 28th, 2009 at 1:04 am

Awesome, looks good James. I subscribed to your blog.

Franklin Quinten

December 5th, 2009 at 5:13 am

A few questions for anyone who happens to be reading this and is in BA….Have prices changed that much over the past 6 months? What’s the price range of a decent 1 Bedroom apartment in San Telmo (decent being not depressing but not luxurious). For say month to month on a 6 month lease? What’s the best website to check out rentals?

Brian Armstrong

December 5th, 2009 at 10:12 pm

Hi Franklin, I’m thinking maybe $500 a month or something like that. Prices are going up a bit.

The best website (unfortunately) is probably still craigslist. Hope it helps!

Mike

December 24th, 2009 at 8:34 pm

Hi, I´ve been in Buenos Aires for a whole year. At first I stayed at a hostel called Charlie´s Hostel, and it turned out that they also had apartments, so I booked with them too. They are very nice people and the apartments are great. I left you where you can find them:

http://www.charlieshostel.com

http://www.charliesapartments.com

Kind Regards

Mike

Breaking Free

Total Expenses Living In Buenos Aires Last Month: $1,018

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