Cheapest places to live part 2.Vietnam

Vietnam

Imagine being able to afford the kinds of luxuries only the very wealthy enjoy in the States—like a housekeeper. Well, that’s exactly the direction International LivingVietnam Correspondent Wendy Justice’s life went when she moved to Vietnam.

“Vietnam has a very low cost of living. Practically everything here costs at least half of what you would pay in the U.S. Imagine paying 50 cents for a pound of perfectly ripe avocados, $1.80 for a pound of high-quality, locally grown and produced coffee, $1.32 a month for water, and $3.08 a month for your cell phone, including unlimited 3G internet. You can see an English-speaking doctor for about $25, including free follow up visits, and a check-up and cleaning at the dentist’s office costs just $8.80. I pay my housekeeper just $8.80 per week, and she’s here cleaning for about five hours. That’s an affordable indulgence that I could not afford if I was still living in the States.”

The price of goods and services are a fraction of the cost back home. New Jersey expat Pat Cox, lives with his girlfriend in Da Nang. He says he recently bought a six-month membership at a gym for both of them. He paid just $200.

“Back home, a gym membership would have cost over $300 per person. Everything is cheaper here,” explains Pat. He pays $352 a month for an apartment that’s within walking distance of the beach, and says that same apartment back home in the States would cost around $1,000.

“We go out for dinner, we go to the movies, we go to the gym, we run the air conditioner—we don’t try to scrimp and save, but we usually only spend about $850 a month for everything.”

Meanwhile, Michigan native Carol Mitchell, who also lives in Da Nang, says that her monthly budget is about $1,500. In the U.S., they’d have to spend $5,000 a month to live a comparable lifestyle.

“The cost here is about a third of what we would pay in the U.S. Our biggest expense is flying back and forth to the States. We get really spoiled by the prices here; when we go back to the States, we get sticker shock.”