Any of you managed to find a place that has living costs about $10-$15k or lower? I’m looking for a place where:
- Preferably English speaking or easy to navigate for an English speaker
- High-speed internet (and very very reliable electricity/networking services)
- Vegetarian-friendly
- Progressive society (places like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, North Korea etc. would be out of question)
Within 2 years or so my financial situation would be much better but I just want to get out of the shithole I live in asap. Would love to hear suggestions from people who actually managed to find such place
First, let’s set some criteria here:
- “preferably English speaking or easy to navigate for an English speaker” = having more than 50% of English speaking population
- “High-speed internet (and very very reliable electricity/networking services)” = being among top 50% of countries here
- “Vegetarian-friendly” = being having more than 5% of vegetarians or being top 20 here
Currently, the countries meeting these criteria are Israel, Malaysia, Hungary, Czechia, Estonia, and Poland.
Now, let’s define a ‘Progressive society,’ recognizing its relativity. To avoid political discussions, I’ll establish the following criteria:
- No Countries that Criminalise LGBT People - not necessarily all marriages are legal, so I’m not being strict/very progressive here at all! - Malaysia is excluded due to this criterion, while the status of the other countries remains in a grey area…
- No countries where abortion are illegal with no exceptions - So, no Philippines anymore
While laws often reflect and influence societal moral values, the relationship is complex, with potential for both alignment and divergence based on cultural, individual, and evolving perspectives.
Having found no significant differences in other aspects among the remaining countries, the challenge now lies in figuring out how to survive in Israel, Hungary, Czechia, Estonia, and Poland with USD 10k
Finally, the city from one of the remaining countries with the best Numbeo’s Current Cost of Living Index is…Lublin, Poland!
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disclaimer: my country-picking method is as scientific as a cat’s decision to knock things off a table. If you’ve got better criteria or just want to share a laugh, join the party!
You won’t get everything you are asking for I’ll be honest. At best i would consider Thailand. You can live away from the cities at a really low price. English is ok. The internet isn’t terrible and you can get fresh veggies there. Me personally i could do it at 800 ish a month there.
himm this sounds nice. you think i can find a place that is close to the beach? why is everything everywhere so expensive - i mean i do 1k a month and 800 in thailand is not that far off unless you mean 800 for everything (rent+food+utilities+pocket money)? how do people get by in those developing countries… this whole issue just makes me sad.
Per year?
In some parts of South Africa you could get by on that amount (assuming we’re talking $10-15k a year), but electricity is not reliable and safety can be a concern.
For example, Cape Town is English-speaking, has good internet, is very vegetarian friendly, and is progressive (it’s sometimes called the “gay capital of Africa”). However, there are daily power outages and safety can be an issue depending on the suburb you choose.
thanks. i watched 90day fiance the other way, where there is this guy from south africa and he made it look like its a anarchic-place to live - not sure if you had a chance to come across that show
Buenos aires
Siargao in the Philippines is working on speeding up their internet (not sure if they already managed), could be a great spot. Philippines has a bunch of other good islands/cities to go to as well from what I’ve heard.
do you find Philippines better than Thailand (general living sense)?
Haven’t been to the Philippines so going off feedback from others on that.
Cost is cheaper in the Philippines compared to Thailand, but reliable internet will be a bit trickier and moving around costs $$ so moving around isn’t very budget-friendly. Places like Cebu, Siargao and even Manila could be spots that still fall within your budget
Thailand you’d have Chiang Mai or Phuket (BKK is not that cheap to live tbh, but you might be able to make it work). Thailand has already received a boom of nomads, so it’s been rising in price in the last few years for the best spots.
PH is way more expensive in terms of restaurants/gyms/value for money imo than PH. Even transportation between islands is twice the price Thailand is.
Phuket is not cheap, but Chiang Mai is probably the best destination for OP.
Starlink is available in siargao now. 2 telco companies have started laying down fiber cables too
Is this per year or per month? If it’s per year, then there’s one way to do that, but it may require additional capital.
Let’s say you have US$150k lying around. You may be able to purchase a property in Germany or France for 30-50k in a rural area, still have high speed internet and spend around 1K/mo on groceries and travel. It’s doable. After the term, sell the property and maybe make (or lose) some funds on the transaction fees and real estate price change.
If you’re really into it, you can buy a small property and homestead, grow your own veggies etc and even sell them at farmers markets.
It is doable, but not probable.
People who say there are no apartments under 50k, here’s a link.
I’d say Malaysia.
It does #1-3 very easily. As for #4 it is of course a Muslim country, but quite progressive and multicultural as far as Muslim countries go- booze, prostitution, concerts, gambling, etc are all available.
O I never thought about that one. Only visited for few weeks but completely forgot. This is honestly not a bad choice. I remember finding airbnbs at a good price too.
If someone is looking for a progressive place, I wouldn’t reccomend Malaysia lol. Maybe for a muslim country its progressive, but imo Turkiye is more progressive (depends where as well ofc), and OP doesn’t want that.
I don’t disagree, but Malaysia is actually not as conservative as many think it to be (I’m from there). There are pockets of expat neighborhoods in KL where you can feel like you’re in Sydney.
Maybe Thailand, depending on where (not as cheap as it used to be), parts of Nicaragua or Guatemala (though not sure about reliability of Wifi - usually ok, but can be hit or miss).
But you’re a bit demanding there really…
thanks, you’re right about me being demanding :)
The only place that’s even close and that meets even your first criteria would be The Philippines. That first bullet point removes pretty much all of your options except for there.
Thailand does come in pretty close. Can get cheaper rent better internet and the Language barrier isn’t THAT bad. Depends. You could stay right in bangkok for 400 a month at a really decent place and have access to people who can speak some English. Prior to living in Philippines me and my wife would go to Thailand often for the beaches there and we love staying on Koh Chang. The great thing is most there spoke some form of english.
the OP wrote:
I just want to get out of the shithole I live in asap
if the OP is from the most recommended destination here it would be funny
EDIT: ok, OP is from Stockholm
I’m not sure why so many people are saying it’s impossible, you can definitely live on $1k a month in many places around the world, it just depends on what kind of lifestyle you’re comfortable with.
If you don’t mind living in a shared flat or studio apartment, eating only local food or cooking at home, never really travelling, and foregoing any luxuries you can totally live on that amount.
Some places that spring to mind are Thailand, Vietnam, the Phillippines, and Sri Lanka. Hell, you could probably make it work in some parts of Eastern Europe like Albania.
I guess it does depend on your definition of “easy to navigate for an English speaker”… if you’re looking for a place with English as a native language, or Northern European levels of English, then yeah you’re shit out of luck.
Vietnam, Phillippines, Cambodia. Wouldn’t be luxury but it’s possible.
You had bills in a mud hut ?
Anywhere. But it depends on the quality of life you’re expecting. More than half the world survive off $3,000 annually.
if you consider learning another language what would make things waaaaay easier
Colombia 😭 are you trying to get this man killed ? Might as well send him to Brazil 😭
Like half the people in this sub live in Colombia or Brazil lol
Colombia is not vegetarian friendly or progressive except in Bogota or Medellin. OP could still probably get by in one of those on $15k/year though.
Are these $10-15,000USD?