"Living in Uruguay is Easy Our Free Report tells you how Live like a King on Pennies a Day" is an advertisement I saw online yesterday. I decided to check it as I've lived in Uruguay for over three years and 1) don't feel I like like a king and 2) spend way more than pennies a day.I was hoping that maybe this free report would give me a few hints on how I could live better on less. Possibly there was some obvious thing about living in Uruguay that I was just too dense to have realized. So I clicked through and ended up on International Living's website. Oh boy!
The report wasn't quite free. I had to give them my email address (obviously, so they can spam me with crap in the future). After I entered my email address I was presented with a download link for PDF file. It downloaded pretty quick and then I was presented with a two column report to read.
Presenting a two column format in a PDF file is a really stupid idea as it requires you to scroll up and down to read it. This report claimed to have been "Prepared by the staff of International Living." As I read the report I came to some realizations...
- I had already read everything in the report. You probably have too, as it's just a collage of what I think is the the most copied information on the net. You can read it by following these two links without giving up your email address and the information here will be more current: CIA World Fact Book; Uruguay and U.S. State Department; Uruguay Country Specific Information
- The International Living report report contained some errors or old information. For example, they said the sales tax was 26%! When I arrived in 2005 it was 23% and is now 22%. They also offered a list of newspapers, one of which a Uruguayan says hasn't existed since the late 80s or 90s!
- And most importantly, this report gives not a single hint about how to live like a king, how to live on pennies a day, or even a hint about the cost of living, actual inflation, or anything else one interested in living here would want or need to know!
- The report offers nothing that would interest people in living in Uruguay at all.
Now, there are various problems with living on "pennies a day"... (like a king or not) in Uruguay. First, no one will accept pennies. U.S. Coins are not accepted by anyone anywhere. So, let's try living on a dollar a day. Maybe 20 times what I would consider pennies a day.
Buscando Casa is a good place to get a general idea about the cost of rentals. This morning the cheapest 1 bedroom apartments in Pocitos are listed at $500, $550, $600, $600, $600, $800 per month (US dollars). 2 bedroom apartments in Pocitos are going for $750, $750, $800, $800, $800, $800 (US dollars). So our budget has more than used up before we have a place to live.
Other neighborhoods may be cheaper... but we are talking about living like a king... and Pocitos isn't the most expensive neighborhood either! A year and a half ago, there was a large selection of 2 bedroom apartments in Pocitos in the US$500/month price range. Another important issue is whether the apartment will have sufficient or even any heat at all! Many apartments and especially houses have no heat.
Shivering all winter long is hardly living like a king. As I write this I have a small gas heater keeping me warm because our apartments central heat doesn't quite do the job for me. That costs me about $15/month for gas... almost half of the International Living's monthly budget... and I live in a heated apartment.
What about food. I think to live like a king on must plan on eating out a lot. A Filipino that works for me mentioned that you can get lunch in the Philippines for about a $1 (now eating just lunch in the Philipines and no other expenses would use up International Living's budget for living like a king in Uruguay). But let's talk about Uruguay....
In Uruguay, today, you might find that for one person you are going to spend US$15 for lunch. $10 if you are lucky (but we are talking about living like a king, not luck). Hint: look for places that don't charge for "cuberitos" which can be up to 35 pesos just to sit down (or for the bread).
It will be a good lunch, but not a cheap lunch. In just two days International Living's budget will be consumed. I mentioned to the doorman that restaurant prices had doubled since we moved here 3+ years ago. He corrected me and said that has happened in the past year! Don't believe the reports that say the inflation rate is 8% or so a year.
I can't imagine why International Living wants to interest people in Uruguay as an ultra cheap place to live. I can't imagine why they offer a report about living like a king, or living cheaply (or both) and don't offer even a sentence about either topic in the report.
I emailed International Living yesterday morning asking those questions and haven't heard a peep yet.
Now there are many great reasons to live, retire, and/or visit Uruguay. Unfortunately, at this time, low cost of living isn't one of them.
There are also some very important things people should know ahead of time to better live like a king (to understand the heating system (if any) in an apartment BEFORE renting. Another is the usual 5 month security deposit required by landlords when you rent. Ouch.)
I invite the staff of International Living to come to Uruguay with a handful of pennies and give me a report on their quality of life after a couple days. I don't think King's usually live on the street without food.
