In Reply to: Cost of living for locals posted by Pugs on Monday, 9. May 2011 at 20:21 Bali Time:
to live. We have local neighbours that laugh at the way we live, they are always encouraging us to buy more. We live very cheaply and it's possible to do here. Balinese that live at home on land and house owned by the family do it a bit easier, especially if a large family, as costs are shared. Some live out of their village in Terima Kosts and they are very cheap, some are 200,000rp per month. Food is very cheap, I usually eat for 5-7000 for lunch and 10,000 for dinner if not at work.
Its up to the individual how much they want to spend. You can live very well here for very little. I feel like we live well and ignore the neighbours when they say we should get AC and hot water or a big fridge etc etc. I have seen, especially in the past 2-3 years a lot of locals spending, spending, spending and also getting credit for a lot of large ticket items like cars, they just do not save their money. personally, I want to have enough for when I am too old to work, but a lot of them have their kids to look after them so they spend now, poor kids might just end up with their parents debt.