Why? Lots of raccoons in that neighborhood?
Eating local food is cheap here. Some of it is garbage but some is really great. My favorite is a Korean lunchbox for 90NT. Today, I had noodles with meat sauce and wonton soup with a soft-cooked egg for 95. Western food is usually expensive and disappointing, so I cook that at home. When I feel like splurging, I buy Costco prime steak and BBQ it outside. I imagine that most foreigners in any place learn how to cook their own food from home.
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I see what u did there
He doesnât want property values to go down due to foreign riff-raff moving in.
What, am I using the wrong eye again???
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Actually I think that saving close to $2000US/month might be possible on that.
Particularly if you live with others, you can probably find a place for around 10k - I pay 11k for a nice place in Ximen. If you only eat local food, particularly cheap snacks, street noodles and those buffet style lunch box places you can probably get by on 200-300NT/day. Thatâs ~10k/month living expenses. But thatâs it. Very little drinking, no decent coffee, no fancy meals, no nice things.
If youâre earning 60k with an extra 20k in housing and bonus - and we figure taxes at the 5% rate - that could leave you with roughly $2kUS, though Iâd guess $1700-1800 would be more likely. And youâd not being having a very good time.
[quote=âRocket, post:20, topic:158581â]
You donât want to live out in Wuxing/Elephant.
[/quote] Why not?
[quote=âHegar, post:26, topic:158581â]
And youâd not being having a very good time.
[/quote] What do you mean by this? 
I donât really drink alcohol or coffee so I guess I would save on that, but I donât want to be eating unhealthy. 
Iâm pretty open to variety, though. I like Japanese (obviously), Korean, Thai, Chinese, French, Spanish, etc. Iâm fine with cooking too, if itâs cheaper.
[quote=âBHL4life, post:18, topic:158581â]
the cheapest meals to eat out are those buffet restaurants. i canât take those anymore.
[/quote] What are those?
[quote=âAikaili, post:22, topic:158581â]
My favorite is a Korean lunchbox for 90NT.
[/quote] What do you get in that?
My biggest hurdle is the 18% tax and making sure I have enough to get by comfortably. Thatâs why Iâm trying to get exact or close to exact figures. I meanâŚif I am only earning about 25,000USD for the year and only going to save about $350/month by scraping byâŚI donât really understand why I would do that. I could probably go back to the States and get a job for at least 30,000, save more, and live in a studio. 
OR I could get another job in Japan. I donât want to stress myself out over money and be miserable living in a hole in the wall. 
I just meant that you wouldnât be going out and partying often or eating at fancy places. Cheap food here doesnât tend to be unhealthy - fast food is more expensive than a lot of great, cheap, back alley places.
Bottom line is I think you should be fine saving at least $1250-1500 without any problems. You can probably get up to $1800 if youâre very careful about money.
Taiwan is super awesome, if you have a chance to live here for a while, you totes should.
Even after having to make a $1000 payment back at home?
Oh, donât get me wrong. Taiwan sounds awesome, and Iâd love to be able to go there. I just want to be sure I can make it and not screw myself over. I still have to figure out how Iâm going to save money to support myself when I first arrive there. (I heard you should bring a minimum of $3000USD.)
Oh, no, I mean if youâre earning ~80k inc. housing and bonuses. And thatâs not including the time at which youâre being tax 18%. After living costs and with %5 tax I think youâd be able to save between 1250USD and 1800USD, so if youâre sending 1kUSD back home each month, subtract that. Iâd think that yeah, 2-3kUSD would be a very good, very safe amount to arrive with. Probably more than you need if you have a job lined up, but safe.
Once you remove taxes, NHI, housing, transportation and food, dear OP, you will still have 50 to 40k to do as you please. And that is a ballpark.
One more time: Taiwan is not overall expensive, and yes,it is easy to blow money away. Get a place out in the boondocks where you will need 300 ntd of taxi if you miss the MRT. Go out for drinks and impress the girls, that can easily run a 10k tab a night. Eat top Western food, 300 to 500 ntd a mealâŚyou get the picture.
If you are reasonable, and spend 5 to 10k in food and amusements, you will still have money to pay your debts and save. Maybe your friend has a freelance job on the side and uses that to pay a trip to Thailand or Bali every 3 months. I know people who do that on one salary and they are not starving. They do share a place and do not splurge.
However, please do not be that foreigner that only drinks at 711 and does not buy toilet paper but luve off the free tissues given in publicity drives. I mean, as we say in Spanish, there are fruits of all kinds in the Lordâs orchard.
You could get a tax return when you file your taxes. Iâve gotten most of the deductions back.
No.
That mountain area has the nearest 711 like 15 minutes walkâŚat the bottom. One single bus that stops service at 9pm. No thanks.
If you think he has to get a scooter or car every time he feels like a beerâŚAnd then get stuck in the traffic at Keelung road. Typhoons, accidents, too many variables.
Ha. We got an OK Mart now halfway up da hill. Mainly because the supermarket closed down.