Cost of Living in Brazil

[JMBroad]

Well out of both our posts we can only compare electricity and even then only for when you were living in the apartment.

I never use air conditioning (even when in Brazil I try not to use it).

So:

Me in Spain:

Apartment (1 bed) - 1 person
No air conditioning
3 machine washes per week
PC always on
TV on maybe 1.5 hours every two weeks (to watch a DVD)
Cook 2-3 meals a week

Ralphj in Brazil

Apartment (assuming 2 bed) 2-3 persons
Air conditioning
2 TV's
One PC
2 machine washes a week
Assuming cooking 4-5 meals a week?

Me: 75 € /month
Ralphj: 98 € /month to 178 €/month

So the cost of living for one person in a one bed apartment in Spain is (in some months) only a tiny bit cheaper than two to three persons in a two bed apartment in Brazil.

Now factor in if I were eating out 4-5 times a week in Brazil as I do in Spain how much money I'd save. How about rent for that apartment you were living in, what was that costing you?

So from that, I'd probably save a lot of money living in Brazil. Hence why I say I consider the cost of living to be a lot cheaper. I'm also assuming (yes I know the pun about Ass-u-me) that the cost goes up when you use more air conditioning? So for me as I never use it (neither to heat nor to cool down) the variance shouldn't be that much.

Gentlemen -

If you guys would 'listen' to Ralph, you might learn something! Ralph, by far, the most honest poster here, besides me of course!

Reapet after me: LISTEN TO RALPH, LISTEN TO RALPH, LISTEN ........

Ralph- when you decide to bail out of Brazil, shoot me a PM. I'll unload all my secrets about the Latin countries; And right now I'm comping a tropical island that beats Brazil by a mile!!!!

Brazil is overrated, overhyped, corrupt and you can't trust anyone!

[JMBroad]

Originally Posted by Raimundo

Gentlemen -

If you guys would 'listen' to Ralph, you might learn something! Ralph, is by far, the most honest poster on here, besides me of course!

Reapet after me: LISTEN TO RALPH, LISTEN TO RALPH, LISTEN ........

Do you mean to infer that other posters are dishonest? :/

Mr. Broad -

Sir, are we running on all cylinders today?

I'm saying some of us might learn something if we *LISTEN* to Ralph.

Read it any way you like sir.

- GOOD DAY

[RalphJ]

Originally Posted by JMBroad

Well out of both our posts we can only compare electricity and even then only for when you were living in the apartment.

I never use air conditioning (even when in Brazil I try not to use it).

So:

Me in Spain:

Apartment (1 bed) - 1 person
No air conditioning
3 machine washes per week
PC always on
TV on maybe 1.5 hours every two weeks (to watch a DVD)
Cook 2-3 meals a week

Ralphj in Brazil

Apartment (assuming 2 bed) 2-3 persons
Air conditioning
2 TV's
One PC
2 machine washes a week
Assuming cooking 4-5 meals a week?

Me: 75 € /month
Ralphj: 98 € /month to 178 €/month

So the cost of living for one person in a one bed apartment in Spain is (in some months) only a tiny bit cheaper than two to three persons in a two bed apartment in Brazil.

Now factor in if I were eating out 4-5 times a week in Brazil as I do in Spain how much money I'd save. How about rent for that apartment you were living in, what was that costing you?

So from that, I'd probably save a lot of money living in Brazil. Hence why I say I consider the cost of living to be a lot cheaper. I'm also assuming (yes I know the pun about Ass-u-me) that the cost goes up when you use more air conditioning? So for me as I never use it (neither to heat nor to cool down) the variance shouldn't be that much.

Most all stoves here are gas.....mine is. That wouldn't affect the energy bill.


By the way, after I dropped my cpu off at the computer store my ex-wife called me, as I have my daughter this week, she's on vacation, and today is also her birthday.

Anyway, my ex called to tell me to tell my daughter not to call her on her cellular phone because she was just robbed at gunpoint, including her cellular, in front of her parents residence at 12:00 noon, and they live in a "good" neighborhood. She's an employee of the federal gov't and has been for years. She and her family debated about whether they should go to the police and report it or not......they ended up going. This, of all things, is the biggest "Cost of Living in Brazil"!

Big Ralph -

When you're ready to move on and perhaps experience another country in South America; shoot me a PM. You would not believe the opportunities I found outside of Brazil. I'm sorry about your daughter going thru that ordeal.... I can just imagine how she felt.

Ralph, upon recent newfound RE discoveries -- all I can say is Brazil is in my rear view mirror.

Ralph -- Hang in there and be safe friend!

[JMBroad]

Seems my post was deleted - not sure why but here goes again:

Sorry to hear about your daughter, I got mugged on a regular basis while at University in Lisbon and it's not a fun experience. Even got mugged once by a guy carrying a needle saying "give me your money or I'll inject you - I'm HIV positive". That was scarier than the guns and knives.

Back to the topic - comparing the two, irrespective of electricity for cooking, would you agree that the cost of three people using a lot more electricity in Brazil is only just higher than one person not using much electricity in Spain?

[Dotty]

Brasil is a very violent country and people do not think twice about pulling out a gun .It is crazy.It does not matter where you are,having your teeth done,eating prawns in a restaurant,waiting at traffic lights ,sitting on a beach,kissing your boyfriend,having a drink,going shopping etc.A beautiful smile means nada!!

Originally Posted by Dotty

Brasil is a very violent country and people do not think twice about pulling out a gun. It is crazy. It does not matter where you are, having your teeth done, eating prawns in a restaurant, waiting at traffic lights, sitting on a beach, kissing your boyfriend, having a drink, going shopping etc. A beautiful smile means nada!!

A general honest and truthful statement about Brazil Dotty; but also depends on where you are located. Rio de Janeiro maybe the worst and northeast Brazil a better lifestyle; JP, Sergipe, Maceio, Natal, SL, etc. I found daily living much easier in Latin countries around Brazil like Argentina, Chile, DR, CR, Panama and even Colombia (within the cities). But I feel bad for Ralph. If some A*shole pulled his piece on my daughter, I'd go looking for the SOB, then I'd pack my bags (with my child) and leave the area.

[RalphJ]

Originally Posted by JMBroad

Seems my post was deleted - not sure why but here goes again:

Sorry to hear about your daughter, I got mugged on a regular basis while at University in Lisbon and it's not a fun experience. Even got mugged once by a guy carrying a needle saying "give me your money or I'll inject you - I'm HIV positive". That was scarier than the guns and knives.

Back to the topic - comparing the two, irrespective of electricity for cooking, would you agree that the cost of three people using a lot more electricity in Brazil is only just higher than one person not using much electricity in Spain?

Sorry if I wasn't clear on the robbery. It was my daughter's mother who was robbed at gunpoint, my ex-wife. She phoned me to tell my daughter, who was with me when she was robbed, not to call her cellular as it was robbed as well. At the police station they told her that it's possible that she, or myself, could receive phone calls saying that they've kidnapped my daughter and asking for ransom as this is apparently common.

I don't know how much the energy is in Spain. I know our habits here and I know that I pay a good bit more for my energy bill here in Brazil, and seem to use less, than I do in the U.S. Looking at one of my past energy bills, the total is 768 reais (or $480 U.S.), 255 reais of this amount are taxes, or right at 50% of the value of energy used. The thing that has dumbfounded me here concerning energy bills is that every single year that I've lived here my energy bills get smaller during this time of the year (June, July, August)......the "winter" here in Brazil. Yet we use the same appliances for the same amount of time. Our habits don't change simply because this is the "rainy" season and it gets a little cooler. In years past when my bill has nearly doubled during the summer months and I've called to complain they've said, "Well, it's summer, you must be using your A/C's." and then when I tell them that we use our A/C's year round and do the very same things on a day-to-day basis year round they don't have an explanation......they've came and switched out the meter, but same deal.

Unfortunately enforcement of the law doesn't hold a high priority here, I'm sure you can imagine the regulating bodies for specific areas, communications, energy, etc., don't carry much weight either. At the end of May of this year Anatel (Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações) restricted the cable and satellite tv companies for charging for "ponto extras", or additional outlets for the months of June and July of this year, well, I checked my bill last week and SKY has continued to charge me for my additional outlet both for June and already for July. I've already opened a formal complaint as SKY actually lied to me on the telephone saying that just last week Anatel approved them continuing to charge for additional outlets. I then called Anatel and they said they did no such thing. Another amazing thing is in all the years I've lived here, in all the bills I've received, there have been an alarming percentage of incorrect bills, and not once have I been undercharged. One would think that if these mistakes were honest that once in a while a mistake would be made in the customers favor! Now let's see how long it takes SKY to correct this "mistake" and how much time I have to devote to getting it corrected. I would venture to say that if Vegas put an "under/over" on the time for it to get corrected it would be 90 days.