costs

Hi Jenn,

The rent sounds a bit low. It is not impossible to find something for $800 per month, but that is probably a bit on the low end as far as rents go. I would budget $1000 just to be on the safe side and to keep your options open.

For most people, WAPA is their electric bill. Some homes are supplied with water by WAPA, but I would say that the majority of homes on island have cisterns and depend on rain water (and please correct me if I am wrong about this co-posters).

During the dry season many homes must purchase water and have it delivered to their home via truck, but that is a separate issue and somewhat hard to budget for as water costs will depend on how many people are sharing the costs etc. We have been lucky in that we have not had to pay for water as of yet.

Therefore, your $200 expense for "electricity" and WAPA combined is probably about right. You might squeak by for less than $200 per month for electric, but $100, I think is too low to count on. You didn't include $50 (give or take a few $$$) for basic cable, which you will probably want.

Your gasoline estimate sounds a bit low as well. I would budget about $35 per week or $140 per month for a small car.

If I were you, I would budget $2,000 per month just to be on the safe side.

Hope this helps!
🙂

I think $300 a month for food is also low. I would probably double that.

For internet service if you want high speed service such as it is in the VI the cost is $49.95 for Broadband VI plus $199 for the install.

Electricity will be more than $100 if you are cooking at home and have an electric stove. If you have a gas cook top you will need to budget something for propane.

For you cell phone with all the other misc charges $35 is probably $10 - $15 low if you have a nationwide plan so you can call the states for no additional charge.

Jim

Thank you for the replies, this information is not only helpful to me but the (no doubt) hundreds of visitors to vimovingcenter.com. The engineer in me can't help but need more updates and information so here goes:

Prices are in St Thomas estimates. For St Croix multiply by 0.9 and for St John multiply by 1.2

Single Person (March 2007)
__________________________

$1000 1 bedroom modest apartment rent

$200 electricity and or gas

$450 food (cooking at home)

$75 car insurance

$140 gas (economy car)

$50 cell phone

$50 cable tv

$50 Internet

______________
$2015

Two people (March 2007)
_______________________
$1600 2 bedroom modest apartment rent

$250 Electricity and or gas

$650 food (cooking at home)

$150 car insurance

$200 gas (economy cars)

$100 cell phones

$50 cable tv

$50 Internet

____________

$3050

Grocery costs
_____________
6 pack Bud: ?
Loaf wheat bread: ?
1 lb boneless chicken breast: ?
1 lb 80% hamburger: ?
1 lb potatoes: ?
1 lb rice: ?
1 lb apples: ?
1 lb bananas: ?
1 6 pack Bud: ?

Day to day costs
________________
Gallon of regular gas: ?

Entertainment
_____________
Bud at a bar: ?
Movie: ?
Club cover charge: ?

The only thing on that list that I would multiply by .9 is the rent for a one bedroom in stx. All the other incidentals will not be any cheaper. This is still a modest total. If you like to eat out multiply whatever you spend at home by about 3 to 5 for stx at least. The liqour is cheaper but not at the bars.

Gas is about $3.00 to $3.10 per gallon. Dial-up which I have runs from $14.95 to $22.00. If you're using dial-up a land line phone will be around $35.00/month. Car insurance is variable depending on the type coverage you opt for & what kind of car you're insuring.

I can't help you with your food costs as I don't pay much attention but I'm sure others will have good info on that.

Here are my costs on STT. I am a single young man, and I fish and lobster a lot so my food costs are lower but...

furnished apartment on the cool northside: 700/month including electricity and water. its cistern water but i have a huge cistern so no need to buy water- beautiful northside view, large living space, great security, privacy and so on

internet: free wifi here but $50 is the going rate for high speed

cell phone: company provided (probably about 50)

car insurance: 400/year only liability

gas: 100/week but i do alot of driving and get reimbursed for mileage

food: about 200/month (dont need to buy meats as i catch plenty fish)

other costs:

booze (pretty cheap)- $4 for liter of rum, $4 (6 pack bud) $8 (6 pack heine)

medicinal herbs- 200-300 per oz.

bananas- 0.99 per lb - ludicrous I know

approxiamate monthly exenses: 700 (rent) + 200 (food) + 200-400 (fun: booze, going out, gas for boat) = 1100-1300 per month. And even this estimate seems high as I dont think i spend that much per month.

I just wanted to post to let people know that there are ways to live affordably if you want to. The most expensive things I have noticed are dairy products, eating out, gas, and kmart visits . So i stopped drinking milk, i cook just as good as any restraunt so dont need to eat out all too much, got an efficient vehicle to cut down on fuel costs, and well its tough to leave kmart without spending 50 bucks so i try to limit my trips there. I had people on this board say i would not find an apt for 700. This may be true in season (except even now there are plenty 600-800 one bedrooms for rent) but if you can come in summer there are many great deals. One of the nice things about food and such being more expensive is you only buy what you need. No cookies, ice cream, pointless materialistic items, etc. You learn to be happy saving your money rather than spending it. Just my .02

Jenn - I couldn't help but notice you listed boneless chicken breast. We've been here for only a few weeks and have looked in every grocery store we've come across and absolutely cannot find boneless chicken breasts. It's one of the first things I'm missing from "home."

As far as rent goes - my husband and I are paying $1300 for a one bedroom furnished apt with the electricity included. I don't pay attention to individual prices at the grocery store. But I'd say we're spending $150 a week for groceries. Gas seems to be a bigger expense for us then we thought it would be - it doesn't seem like we're driving far but all the hills really make it go fast.

Try some stew chicken from a food cart- It falls right off the bone, mmm...

Sherry try looking for the big bag of boneless chicken in the frozen section, they do run out of the fresh stuff sometimes.

Cost-U-Less has those big bags of boneless chicken breasts. But sometimes they don't taste very good. I have boneless chicken breats at Food Center of Marina Market but they are expensive.

Try defrosting them in buttermilk. Buttermilk will always give you a moist chicken and should hide any freezerburn. If you havent tried it already.

Sherry: Ditto the boneless chicken breasts at Cost-U-Less. And Matt, I could not live without ice cream. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices!! 😉