Do Phone Calls In Taiwan Cost Money

Exactly How Much It Cost Me To Alive In Taiwan For Year

By | Friday, Jan xviii, 2022

If yous've been doing it long enough, i of the almost interesting parts virtually tracking your finances is seeing the twelvemonth-to-year fluctuations in your expenses, income, and savings. Or perchance that'southward only interesting for personal finance nerds like me. In whatever case, I've been tracking my finances for a couple of years now, including when I moved from my abode in Houston to Taiwan for almost all of 2022. (I was but 25 days short of the full 365).

Online price of living calculators like Expatisan provide ballpark estimates for how much more or less you tin can await to pay compared to your current metropolis. For me, it suggested that living in Taipei would be 14% cheaper than Houston. But what was my boilerplate toll of living for a year in Houston to begin with? Information technology's hard to really pinpoint this number because of paying off student loans in the by and spending other chunks of time overseas, which make it difficult to judge what a total calendar year of living in Houston typically price me. That said, my past expense reports provide a ballpark annual range between $21,000 and $23,000.

As for this past year in Taiwan, my spendings totaled $xviii,996.87. Here's how those expenses broke down.

2018: Expense Breakdown

I won't dive into all of my spending categories (e.chiliad., entertainment, wearable, and others), because they were incredibly variable and would thus necessitate more detailed explanations. Instead, I'll focus on the major categories that more consistently shaped my finances.

Hire

I lived in 2 shared apartments in Taipei over the course of 2022. Rent for the first i totaled about $383, although this did not include utilities (which added little when split with my roommate). Later on on, in July, I moved to a new location with a monthly rent of $367, including utilities — a total steal. Not to mention, information technology was significantly closer to my office, meaning I could hands walk or bike to work for free.

Transportation

One of my favorite parts about living in Taipei was its public transit. Yous can purchase what is known as an EasyCard at any convenience shop, and information technology essentially operates every bit a transit pass that can exist used on the metro, bus, trains, and rentable bikes around the urban center. Plus, the pass tin be used beyond all of Taiwan, not but Taipei. Imagine being able to use the same subway pass in New York, Seattle, and other cities across the U.S.! Low fare rates and the fact that Taipei is such a concentrated city meant that I spent an average of $lx on transportation per month. On height of that, before moving into my 2d apartment, my erstwhile roommate gave me his bike. This helped reduce transportation expenses further, as I began biking to work and other places more ofttimes.

Groceries & Dining

I ate out a lot in Taipei. That's in part considering eating out is so much more than affordable in that location — some of my favorite meals were just $1 to $3. Of course, these tended to exist local dishes; if you wanted non-Taiwanese cuisine, y'all'd generally detect a much steeper price tag. Considering of both frugality and personal taste, I tended to stick to local foods with a few occasional splurges. My monthly expenses spent on groceries and dining out thus ranged from $145 to $270, with a final average of $222. I still constitute some time to cook, but nowhere near equally ofttimes as I had when living in the U.S.

Travel

Although I didn't make whatever international trips while living in Taiwan, I traveled around the isle to come across family unit in other cities, to take function in half-marathons and other (shorter) races outside of Taipei, or to play tour guide when visiting friends were in town. This made my traveling expenses fairly inconsistent, ranging between $50 and $250 a month.

Miscellaneous

At that place was 1 major expense that put a dent in my 2022 spendings: getting Lasik. The procedure toll me about $2,900, not including the follow-up appointments. This was for both eyes, and surprisingly, non the cheapest option available at the dispensary I chose in Taipei. In comparing, the toll of getting Lasik in the U.Due south. tends to vary from $i,500 to $three,000 per eye. Lasik wasn't a necessity by any means — it was a option I made after going through my finances, and one that has been well worth it. And interestingly enough, it comprised a little more than fifteen% of my total spendings for 2022.

Final Thoughts

Some personal finance and travel gurus claim that living overseas tin can reduce your expenses significantly. Though Taipei doesn't boast as depression a cost of living every bit some other countries (in fact, it's more expensive than some parts of the U.S.), it was still true in my case. Of course, finding a more affordable lifestyle away depends on where you lot're from and where y'all're moving to. If you lot're coming from a city or country with a depression cost of living, moving to expensive cities like Paris or Tokyo won't exercise your wallet any favors.

That said, I didn't move to Taiwan just for the sake of a cheaper lifestyle. I was inspired by a few different reasons, including my desire to improve my Mandarin also as my genuine love for the island and its culture. And though moving overseas isn't for anybody, I don't regret that determination at all, from both a personal and financial standpoint.

Joyce is a digital marketer and freelancer who writes about personal finance on Financial Impulse. She wishes there were more hours in a day so she could work more on her side projects.

Image via Unsplash

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