Living on $500/month

At least in Bogota, you can rent small apartments for as low a 300,000 pesos (120 USD) per month. But would you like to live in these kind of neighborhoods? These are far away, poor, insecure areas of the city.
You'd need approximately 250,000 pesos (100 USD)  per month to go to work and have a light lunch meal. 50 USD more for electricity and internet.
Would leave less than 200 USD to buy anything else (food, clothes, drinks, health spendings, get your hair cut, soap....). You'd really live like the low Colombian working class, struggling for decent life.

In a smaller city you may find cheaper rent, but in any case you will live a difficult life. I wouldn't advise anybody to move to Colombia on a so small budget even though it would technically be doable.

Let me clear some things out so you will understand. I would like to go to Colombia for 6 months which is doable with tourist visa(if you extend it right). I would go there in live in a small apt or a shared apt as you suggest and work on my online business 15h/day. That's why I don't need any friends or anything actually it's better not to have them. And I'm a lone wolf naturally, I've already been 2 weeks without human contact so no problem in that. And I speak Spanish like B1 level and I guess I will learn quickly especially if I'll be learning vocabulary at home also. I'm planning to leave home in September.

I make 300/month atm and I have vacations till september and I'll work on my biz so I expect 500-600/month till then. And I will take 1.5k in cash with me for safety. I'm not going to college even if I stay here in Slovenia so this is not a problem at all. And another fact is that I need to go till September somewhere because of my problems here not worth mentioning but the point is I have no people here and nothing to lose and all I wanna do is focus on my biz and go as far away from here and start a new life. After 6 months there I expect to be making 1k/month which will enable me to leave country by plane and come back to renew my visa.

Sounds risky and all but it's all I got.

So now you know the story. I just wanna ask since I get it yeah that shared apt would be a much better idea. Where do you guys think I can find out for such shared rooms etc.??

Do you think I can find people sharing apartments somewhere online before even going there or should I just do it there on the spot and try to find something.

I was also thinking to arrange a stay with Airbnb(shared rooms for short stays) for a few nights and maybe ask them since they are locals where to find such apartments and people willing to share.

The last thing, is there any facebook group of expats in medellin or something so that maybe I can ask them for help also?

Thanks:)

maskk I already replied on another forum

there is a website called compartoapartamentoespecially for that (sharing appartments).

For a few days, you can use the couchsurfing movement
https://www.facebook.com/CouchsurfingColombia
http://www.couchsurfing.com


A few more comments:
- If you don't socialize, your Spanish won't get much better.  Let me tell you a story. First time I arrived in Colombia, I was thinking that my B1/B2 Spanish would make me completely independent in my everyday's life. Oh boy was I wrong. I could not understand a single word of the street vendors, taxi drivers, small shop owners... Living and working in colombia now got me to a C1/C2 level. But that's because I was working on a daily basis with Colombians.

- With a tourist visa, you can stay up to 180 days, There are actually two rules: First rule is that you cannot stay for than 180 consecutive days, and second rule is that you cannot stay more than 180 days in the same year.  I would therefore advise:
Arriving in September, renewing your visa for one month. Leaving Colombia end of December. Geting back early January. This way; you'll be able to stay 4 months in 2015, and 6 months in 2016. You don't need to get back to Slovenia. You just need to cross the border. You can visit Ecuador for a week, for instance.

Santa Marta. . and/or Taganga. Great for young people, have a look!

So to help you out friend you can most definitely live off $500 a month in Colombia.  Minus the touristy areas.  I live here (cali). I live simply and spend the exact same amount.

Rent - 300.000 = $115 usd (current exchange rate as of Jun 8)

Internet - $20,000 to $80,000/month = $7 to $30 usd (depending on what you need as far as speed or if you are just using your phone or ipad with a sim card I would recommend getting prepaid celular 4G)

Food - You can buy groceries with the budget you have and live perfectly fine cooking or if you are lazy you can get all 3 meals a day for 5,000 to 6,000 pesos = $1.90 to $2.30 usd at small neighborhood restaurants.


All of this you would find on foot.  Don't use the internet or you WILL get gringo priced.

I agreed with Chris Edwards. guys!

Chris Do you have to pay MIO everyday to go to work? Must be around 1800 pesos, like in Bogota, right? That's at least 3600 pesos a day, 6 days a week, that's about USD 35 per month just to commute. Plus probably some menu fijo o menu ejecutivo for lunch. If you're doing homeworking, or you'e lucky enough to live close to your job, of course it helps.

At today's exchange rate, $500 USD is just over 1.3 million Colombian pesos.  Considering that over half of workers in Colombia make only the minimum monthly wage amount of 644,350 pesos or less, and that 1.3 million pesos/month is around the lower end of the average salary for many professions in Colombia, you could survive on $500 USD/month but you would always be penny-pinching and it would not be a luxurious lifestyle by any means.

http://cedlas.econo.unlp.edu.ar/esp/dis … ngreso.php

Although this page uses only 2009 data (they've emailed me that they will be updating Real Soon Now) it shows that percentage-wise in income,  1.3 million pesos is more than 88% of the Colombian population receives monthly. If it were updated to 2015 from 2009 data I'd bet it would slip down to around the 75% level.

On this site you can find a range of salaries in Colombian pesos, for various professions:

http://www.tusalario.org/colombia/Porta … tu-salario

For instance selecting from the drop-downs a car mechanic with 10 years of experience, the income ranges from a little over 1 million/month to almost 2 million/month, the average being just under 1.5 million/month.

I use the MIO (for those that don't know that is the metro Bus here).  I can work from anywhere whether at home or in a a coffee shop.  But really if you are in a city like Cali you don't have to use the MIO all the time.  Colombians stay slim because they walk a lot as well. 

If you are into saving money I am sure that walking half the time to your destination isn't a bad idea. So that would cut your $35/month down to about $17.

I don't agree friend.  I have been traveling here since I was 17 and have lived here for 2.5 years straight up to current date.

Sure $500 a month isn't luxury.  But if you are only spending $300,000 pesos in rent. You have 1 million pesos to play with. You could eat out all the time and blow $600,000 pesos on food and be left with $400,000 to buy stuff, travel within the country, internet, etc...

Emergencies happen at any age. I really think that you need to have money saved for emergencies. Have at least enough money to live for 3 to 6 months in Colombia and also to purchase a ticket to get to your home country and stay with your family if you get sick or things do not work out in Colombia. If you do not have a supportive family, you should have more emergency money.

Nancy's advice is sound.  Don't attempt this on a shoestring without a net.

A healthy, balanced, satisfying life is normally not associated with existing like a lone wolf in the cheapest Internet-capable apartment in Colombia and working from a computer 15 hours a day.

I am considering taking a postion as an auxiliar de conversacion with the Colombian Ministry of Education. The pay is a stipend of 1.5 million pesos/month. It seems that this is about 540 US dollars.  Is this enough to have a relatively good time outside of basic food/ room rental/ transportation cost, etc? I would most likely be in Cali or a smaller city outside of Cali in Valle del Cauca department.

jhonmur912 wrote:

I am considering taking a postion as an auxiliar de conversacion with the Colombian Ministry of Education. The pay is a stipend of 1.5 million pesos/month. It seems that this is about 540 US dollars.  Is this enough to have a relatively good time outside of basic food/ room rental/ transportation cost, etc? I would most likely be in Cali or a smaller city outside of Cali in Valle del Cauca department.

There are too many variables to give you a good answer.  What do you mean by a "relatively good time"?  What is your normal living condition like now, how much do you spend now?  How old are you, how adventurous are you, how long is this for, what is your Spanish speaking ability?

Although many Colombians do live on 1.5 million COP/month and even less, with the minimum salary now being some 781,000 COP/month, it's not very much.  But in and around Cali you could live on it, just not very luxuriously - there are many parts of Cali where it would not be enough.  You'll definitely have to watch expenses, at least from the average North American perspective.

If it's for a limited time, I say go for it.  For the long run, no.

Bargin for 3,000. Millones. Your getting short changed. I lived in Bogota for 6 years and at times I lived on Ocho Cien mil pesos.

jbd777 wrote:

Bargin for 3,000. Millones. Your getting short changed. I lived in Bogota for 6 years and at times I lived on Ocho Cien mil pesos.

3000 millones is a lot!  At today's exchange rate it's over 1.05 million USD.  He'd have to drive a really hard bargain to get that.  But like they say, you can get a lot more with a smile and a gun than with just a smile...

Ochocientos mil pesos went a lot further in the past than it does today - but even though that is still more than the government-set minimum salary for 2018, I wouldn't want to live on only that.

I meant 800mil. It has only been 2 years since I left. 300 mil monthly rent. Cleaned once a week. Private shower cable TV provided and internet in central Bogota. A nice clean place close to my work.

$300,000 monthly rent sounds absurdly low for central bogota today. Then again, there are a some poor barrios in central bogota. In 2018 I couldn't imagine $300,000 pesos getting you an apartment anywhere "gringo safe" in Colombia. You'll be in some of the worst barrios in a city. I'm basing this on living alone of course. If you don't mind living with a few other expats you could find somewhere half decent for $300,000.

I'm renting a two bedroom house in a pueblo by the beach that has everything I could possibly need.  The rent is $400K COP per month.  The down-side is the area is an estrato 1.  The up side is that the pueblo is Palomino which has the perfect tropical climate and is bustling all throughout the year with tourists from all corners of the globe.  The beach lifestyle and the nightlife is amazing and I've never had trouble with crime of any kind.  The same lady offers nice rooms to gringos for $200K per month which is pretty good too.

Well , I am retiring this year and I'm looking to live in Armenia , Colombia.  Simply for the following reasons,  nice people and rent is cheap.  You can rent an 800.000 pesos which is anequivalent of 266.00 dolllars a month.  And I'm talking a high end nice middle upper class area.  You can go to the lower middle class areas, and the areas are not that bad and I'll say safe areas unless you give them and opportunity .. we call this " do not give PApaya". this neighborhood you can rent for 500.000 pesos which is about 166. dollars per month... can you beat that?   So yes my man is doable to live on a 500/mo income.   Anyy other city I do not recommend to live in a bad neighborhoods.. Life can be sad.... be Well . Arman.

Ok so I'm on SSI disability I get roughly $900 + a month.
Now I have a sailboat that I'm currently living on. My slip rental here is $350 a month. Now as I said I walk with a cane and very little of that. My needs are real simple all I want is a room and or a place to park my boat maybe even still live in it. And I want a puppy. Safely how doable is that?

I want to come rent a room there.

@Plimsol

thats where im headed

    @Plimsol
thats where im headed
   

    -@Flowerchildrenee you are replying to thread that is 5 or 6 years old

ANY prices quoted could now be double or even.more