How to Live in Costa Rica on $1500 a Month
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About this ebook
This ebook gives the reader practical information for living in Costa Rica on a budget. In addition the reader will find that the author shares personal experiences on topics that range from housing and transportation to positive and negative aspects of living in this beautiful Central American country. The information included in this useful handbook will guide the reader around the pitfalls and potholes which so often trap the unwary. It also relates experiences, hints and tips that will enable the reader to make informed decisions before moving to Costa Rica. Studying this ebook will help answer the question, "is Costa Rica for me?"
Fred H. Holmes
After nearly ten years living in paradise, Fred and Mary left Costa Rica and returned to Texas where they live in Sachse. Fred continues to write and has recently published his first novel "Return to Sender" and is working on a sequel. .
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How to Live in Costa Rica on $1500 a Month - Fred H. Holmes
How to Live in Costa Rica
On $1500.00 a Month
By Fred H Holmes
Copyright 2011 Fred H Holmes
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
email fhholmesy@gmail.com
website http://www.costaricaholmes.com
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Table of Contents
Dedication
About the Cover
Why an ebook
Background
Introduction
Chapter 1-How We Got Here
Chapter 2-Currency
Chapter 3-Banking
Chapter 4-Our Monthly Expenses
Chapter 5-Housing
Chapter 6-Hiring Costa Ricans
Chapter 7-Crime and Security
Chapter 8-Food
Chapter 9-Transportation
Chapter 10-Costa Rica Laws
Chapter 11-Medical and Dental Care
Chapter 12-Utilities
Chapter 13-Taxes
Chapter 14-Dining Out
Chapter 15-Entertainment
Chapter 16-Climate
Chapter 17-Learning to Speak Spanish
Chapter 18-A Brief History of Costa Rica
Chapter 19-Obtaining Residency
Chapter 20-About the Ticos
Chapter 21-About the Gringos
Chapter 22-Costa Rica Positives
Chapter 23-Costa Rica Negatives
Chapter 24-Evaluation-Is Costa Rica for You
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Dedication
This ebook is dedicated to my wife Mary, my editor and partner in this grand adventure. She has adapted so well she now signs her e-mail The Happiest Woman in Costa Rica.
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About the Cover
Mary took the photo and designed the cover. It warns us to go slow and watch for children, dogs, sloths and monkeys. It also is indicative of the pace of life in Costa Rica and reminds us that life is a journey that is best taken slowly.
K.S.T.R (Kids Saving The Rainforest)
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Why an ebook
Since I started writing this book I have had to make several revisions. If I made this a paperback it would be miserably out of date in three to six months. I know this because Costa Rica is in a constant state of change. If it isn’t the residency requirements, it is the traffic laws or the utility rates or some new banking law that they
, for some inexplicable reason or none at all, decide to change.
So by making this an ebook I can keep it up to date and send out revised editions with a touch of a key.
I also feel that the wave of electronic readers (Kindle, Nook, Sony, the Ipad from Apple, and many others) is going to make the electronic book easier to read. Also ebooks are cheaper to produce.
Some books, like novels and biographies, will be in print format for some time to come; but books that have content that constantly changes are better suited for the ebook format.
Welcome to How to live in Costa Rica on $1500.00 a Month.
ebook edition.
Fred and Mary
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Background
Mary and I both consider ourselves Texans. I was born in western New York state and grew up there and she was born and lived her early years in Oklahoma.
Mary moved to Dallas in the early sixties and I arrived in 1971 after stops in Georgia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Mary didn’t make any stops; she just got out of the boondocks as soon as she could.
When we met she had a thirteen year old daughter, Jonna, and I a thirteen year old son Mark, six months apart in age. It was like having instant teenage twins and our family was a lot of fun.
At the time I was a successful cash register salesman and Mary was not working.
Soon after we met an opportunity arose to go into the dart business (yes, the ones you throw at a board), and subsequently we became the owners of Lone Star Darts with a retail location and a growing wholesale business. It eventually evolved into Lone Star Darts and Billiards, supported us and eventually our daughter and son-in-law, Mouse, for 26 years. Our granddaughter Mica could ring up a sale and throw a dart when she was just out of diapers. None of us were getting rich, but we had a happy family and a thriving business.
In 2001 we sold the dart business; I went back into the cash register business and Mary went to work for our best friends.
We had good jobs but frankly we were getting tired of working and only had our Social Security and a modest amount of savings which was not enough unless supplemented by working income. Therefore, it looked like we were going to have to work till we died, or move to an area with a much lower cost of living.
That is when Costa Rica became a viable alternative and we started evaluating whether we could live in Costa Rica on a limited income.
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Introduction
How to Live in Costa Rica on $1500.00 a Month
(a little more-a little less)
First, it is not easy to live anywhere on $1500.00 per month. Many months we miss our goal; some months we have a little left over. Fortunately we have a bit more income than our budget calls for and, like most, we tend to spend it. It is possible, by eliminating extra spending, to live on $1500.00 per month but although you can live comfortably, you won’t be living high on the hog,
so to speak.
My wife Mary and I have been living here for nearly six years, and while we are by no means experts, we have gathered quite a few experiences and learned a lot through day to day living. For the most part it has been a positive and rewarding experience.
Cost of living is only one of the reasons we selected Costa Rica as our retirement location. There are many more benefits we have received while living here, and as well there have been a few challenges.
In reading this book you will not find any Costa Rica bashing nor will you find me writing with rose-colored font. Hopefully, we are representative of the many extranjeros (people from other countries) who are living here happy, joyous and content.
If you have questions, I will be happy to answer them or direct you to someone who may have the answer.
I have purposefully not included any links to my favorite Costa Rica web sites or e-mail addresses, as internet sites change frequently and it is hard to keep current even in an ebook. So if you have any questions please e-mail me at fhholmesy@gmail.com
Come along with Mary and me on our grand adventure in Costa Rica.
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Chapter 1
How We Got Here
Mary and I have been living in Costa Rica for nearly six years. We moved here in November of 2005. We sold what we could and packed the rest of our belongings into a twenty-foot container; put our two cats in carriers, and flew off to paradise in Costa Rica.
We have never regretted it and 99% of our experiences have been positive.
BUT, we did not move to Costa Rica without a good deal of research to see if we were suited to move to a different culture in the tropics.
Our first trip was in 1997 as tourists, and except for a little flu we had a great time. As tourists we had little to do except follow a plan designed by a travel agency.
For the next few years our Costa Rican experience was filed away under Great Trips.
In 2003, as we contemplated retirement, we found to our dismay that our meager retirement savings would not allow us to retire unless we left the Dallas area and found a much cheaper place to live. Our income was limited to Social Security and there were only a few places in the US that we could stretch our income to live semi-comfortably.
As I outlined our financial plight to Mary, she blurted, Why don’t we move to Costa Rica!
My immediate response was, What about Jonna?
We are very close with our daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law and I knew it would traumatic. Mary suggested that anyplace in the US where we could afford to live was at least four hours away and Costa Rica was the same four hours by airplane.
Before we brought on the tears from Jonna, we decided to take another trip accompanied by four close friends; and this time we would be semi-tourists. With the help of maps and guide books I planned the trip myself using a travel agency in San Jose to make the actual bookings. To get a better knowledge of living conditions, I booked us into bed and breakfasts and arranged our itinerary so that we stayed a couple of nights in each area and didn’t have to spend too much