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Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

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Re: Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

#141
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have an AC - you don't need it in Bangalore. As a westerner that spent about 2 months in India I have to say - although Bangalore's weather is mild in Indian terms, >30c weather (normal for high summer in Bangalore) is well within "requires AC" limits for Europeans :) Also, if you don't absolutely require high speed internet or being around other high-tech folks there are much cheaper (and IMO nicer) places i…

Most Indians live without AC, and even without electricity in 40c+ weather.

Most Indians also live on <$1/day (nominal) in pretty terrible conditions. I know it's possible but I don't want to bare the inconvenience for what is, for me, not a significant amount of money.

Re: Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

#142
post #84

Here's a small estimate of my expenses when I was in college (an year back). I used to live in a small locality opposite a 5 star hotel in South Delhi. Food = $100 (McDonald's and Domino's everyday) Rent = $70 (shared with two other classmates) Internet = $20 to $30 Transport = $20

McDonalds and Domino's everyday for less than $3 a day?

Re: Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

#143
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You actually need at least $1000 per month for decent living in India. $1000 USD is £630 GBP. Our family of 4 (2 young children) live on about £1000, ie $1600 - we have a private home with a bedroom each, run a car (necessary for work otherwise it we'd ditch it and use mass transit) and eat a moderately varied diet with meat/fish twice a day. I would say ours is probably unsustainable long term (clothing, building…

His estimates are 2x what my wife and I spend. Our 2BHK was INR10K ~ USD200 pm. This is by far our biggest expense. Our monthly petrol bill is INR2K ~ USD50. Groceries (we eat 4/5 meals at home weekly) is INR4K ~ USD100. Utilities ~ USD100. Total ~ USD500 for a couple. And we live a good life! On the plus side, we're now saving nearly 55% of our monthly gross :) (incl mortgages)

Do you pay for electricity, internet, mobile bills, car EMI, entertainment, eating out, shopping and thousand other expenses? All these things can cost upward of $500 per month.

Re: Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

#144
post #15

Bangalore, India Typical monthly wage for a programmer / designer: $600 to $1000. (This varies a lot, so there is no actual upper/lower limit) My expenses: Apartment Rent + Utilities: $80 Internet (1 Mbps): $23 Food: $135 Transport (Bike): $20 Books: $75 Contrast this with RealGeek's comment to get an idea on how different the expenses could be, depending on the person and the spending nature. Also keep in mind that…

I'm also in central Bangalore (Richmond Town).

  Rent $400 - 2 bedroom shared between 4 people
  meals $100 
  electricity $50 
  internet $50 for two airtel 4mbps connections (I run a hacker space)
  tranport $50 - travel by rickshaw is cheap tho I just bought a nano (car) for $4500
so, if I were being frugal my burn rate would be about $300. As it turns out, I probably blow that much again on alcohol and fancy restaurants.

Re: Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

#145
post #133

London, UK Rent: £675p/month in a shared property. Bills included. Zone 2. This is quite cheap in comparison to most places in London. If you was looking to get your own place (a 1 bedroom apartment) then you're looking at > £800 a month PLUS bill and taxes on top of that Travel cost: £99.10 a month for a zones 1-2 travelcard. Food expenses...£100-£150 a month I earn just under £30k and I've been in the industry for…

May I ask which industy?

I work for a company involved in the games industry. You'll probably find more money in the financial sector though

Re: Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

#146
Göteborg, Sweden

This is monthly expenses in euro. 1 EUR = ~1.4 USD . Rent: Sweden is rent controlled. Expect €200-500 for 1 BR apartment in a large city depending on if you live on the outskirts or right downtown. The problem is the queues. If you want to live very central you can stand in line for many many years. Around €100-300 per month if you own a condo and only pay the condo association fee. Around €150-200k to buy a 1 BR very central condo.

Electricity: Around 10 euro cents per kWh.

Internet: €30-40 for 100/10Mbps cable or 100/100Mbps FTTH(whatever is available) or ADSL (24/3Mbps) if you live in a house. I get 100/10Mbps for free and 100/100Mbps for €20 extra per month.

Phone: €10 if you make a few calls and send a few SMS per day, I pay €6 for flatrate 1Mbps data per month. €15 for 6Mbps flatrate and €20 for 10Mbps. (I'm writing this message riding a train with my laptop and cell phone in tethering harmony)

Food: €150 I make my own food to 99% and don't buy much meat. Double it if you eat like a regular person. :) A lunch is €6 for kebab/McD and stuff like that, €10+ on restaurant. Expect €30 per person to eat dinner and drink wine/beer on a nice restaurant.

Beer/Alcohol: Expensive! €1.5 for 50cl beer of the cheapest kind in the state owned alcohol monopoly store. In clubs/bars it's around €5 for ~40cl beer. €10 for 4cl shots.

Ramen: 20 euro cents for a package of noodle (80gr). You can buy 500gr of pasta for €0.5-1.

Transport: €2 per ride on the tram with SMS ticket (How many rides you want within 90min). I take 5-10 rides per month and walk every where I need to go otherwise.

Shopping: iPad €550. Xbox 360 slim 250GB €230. Clothes are europy-pricey I guess...

Insurances: The only one you need to have is home insurance. Mine is €10 per month.

Wages: Around €2500-3000/month for entry level programmers with a uni./college degree.

I don't know if I've forgot something important but my living expenses are around €500 per month total.

Re: Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

#147
post #146

Göteborg, Sweden This is monthly expenses in euro. 1 EUR = ~1.4 USD . Rent: Sweden is rent controlled. Expect €200-500 for 1 BR apartment in a large city depending on if you live on the outskirts or right downtown. The problem is the queues. If you want to live very central you can stand in line for many many years. Around €100-300 per month if you own a condo and only pay the condo association fee. Around €150-200k…

Don't know about you... but rent control is great... IF you can find a place. I am paying way more than that because I found mine second hand off blocket. Probably varies by region a lot though.

Re: Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

#148
post #64
post #23

I live in a small town outside of Nagoya, Japan. I live fairly comfortably at $2,000 a month. The ramen profitable number for a single self-employed twentysomething is in the neighborhood of $1,500. Some costs: - A month's rent for a capacious apartment (by Japanese standards): $450 (This would be $700 inside of Nagoya, and you'd get a third the size of the apartment.) - Utilities: Gym ($100), phone + Internet + cell…

But the ramen you make for yourself in Japan is "real" ramen, not instant ramen, is it? I'm looking at the more interesting pictures here: http://images.google.com/images?q=ramen&biw=1714&bih...

japanese people eat maruchan too, just they have places that serve fresh ramen (not factory made).

Re: Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

#149
post #129

TelAviv, Israel * Rent+Utils: 700$ (each-with roommates) / 1300$ (2 room appt) * Internet: 30$ * Food: 500$ * Transport: 140$ * Beer 1 litre: 12$ * Corner Bar Food (cheap): 7$ * Lunch deal: 13$ * Cellphone: 55$ (~300 minutes) * Petrol: 2$/ltr * Cars are expensive, e.g.: Mazda3 30,000$ * Salary: 4,000$ - 8,000$ * Average salary in the country: ~2400$ Generally the life style of a tech person is very high compared to o…

You should mention the salary figures are per month, not per year.

Re: Ask HN: Cost of living across the world (Ramen PPP Index for hackers)

#150
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask which industy?

I work for a company involved in the games industry. You'll probably find more money in the financial sector though

Almost what i expected. I got a 34k offer (same industry) with good benefits but am unsure if its worth the move. Main problem seems to be the rent which is ridiculous if you want to minimze commute time to the centre.
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