Oh lord what did I do…Sorry, OP for your thread going off topic.
If you wanna save, don’t live in Taipei. Work, but live in the outlying areas.
1)Spend 30% of your salary on rent. (18,000, but can find cheaper)
2)Set a daily spending budget on food. I knew some people who spent about under a $100 or so on lunchboxes.
3) Don’t drink, at least everyday. 
4)Basically apply some of the same saving rules you use at home, but be flexible with them in TW until you get the lay of the land.
On 60k that’s tight but doable in Taipei. Take the other poster’s advice, don’t live in Taipei. The Taipei region is relatively small, well developed and easy to get around so living in Taipei for urban life is not absolutely critical. In the outer areas you should be able to save $1,000 USD a month and live quite comfortably. Even with a gf.
Dating needn’t cost you anything at all.
When I was living up in the hills in New Garden City, I had a very strict rule that I wouldn’t set foot in Taipei at all at weekends, since I hated the noise, ugliness, crowding and pollution of the city, and wanted to spend as much of my time as possible out in the wilds, breathing fresh air and basking in nature far away from the madding crowds. So all of my dates involved the girl taking a bus or riding a scooter to meet me either at New Garden City or Wulai, and then I’d take her on my motorbike or scooter out to some remote place or other where we’d hike, river trace, swim, and whatever for as long as we had available, after which the girl would either come back to my place or go back home the same way she’d come.
There was never any shortage of charming companions who were very happy with this arrangement and were eager to do it again and again. We’d take our own food and drink with us, so the only cost was the petrol and the occasional price of warming up in a hot spring hotel after our outdoor activities if the weather was especially chilly.
I went years on end and enjoyed countless dates with dozens of girls without ever taking any of them to a restaurant, pub, cinema or any other such place, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t be the same for anyone else.
Listen to Omni. he’s got wisdom there.
If you live in Taipei, let’s say, close to the universities -as that where teh pubs are- you will end up paying 15 thousand for what they laughingly call a taofang -a medium sized room, maybe one small window you cannot open, overlooking a traffic infested road, with a mini toilet and a showerhead on top of it. Shared washing machine, dryer for a price.
Or you could live in taipei County, where for the same amount of money or less, you can have a 3 bedroom, furnished, with plenty of space for visitors.
Your choice.
If you are a party animal, you cannot and will not save.
Yes, many girls here are what Westeners call “high maintenance”, but on the other hand, she will enrich your life in many other ways and make the transition not only easier but enjoyable.
Thanks heaps for the info, guys!
I had thought about pre-empting the ‘don’t live in Taipei’ advice - the reason I’m planning to set up in the capital, though, is that I know a few Taiwanese who live there (and, as it’s my first time out, I’ll no doubt appreciate the local knowledge).
As for getting to know the girls over there, it sounds like a steep learning curve awaits!
Chris
I strongly advise you reconsider Taipei if you want to save that much money on 60k a month. It really is the difference between scraping by and living a life of plenty. Seriously, Taipei is SMALL. Live in the county and you will be close to your friends.
Is it really 18k a month for rent in Taipei? That’s crazy! I rent a spacious two bedroom apartment in Taichung City for only 10k, with furniture included. That’s a difference of more than $250 a month right there. Living outside of Taipei definitely seems like a better way to save money.
If you’re happy sharing a place you can rent a room in Taipei city for as little as 6-7k/month.
My shared accommodation is quite adequate for 7.5k/month, and I can live on around 30k/month without too much trouble. You can get more for your money further out, but then Taipei City is far more liveable than (most of) Taipei County. You also save time and money getting places.
For the first few months I don’t think you’ll be saving too much money as there will be a lot of set-up costs and just getting to know Taipei(this city is chock full of rip-offs)
I save 20-25K each month living in Taipei making about 50-60K a month(I’m on hourly salary). And I believe I live comfortably seeing as I party every weekend, work out often at gyms(I have a membership which I pay for!), I play xbox 360 and I don’t starve myself or eat crap food either. So life is not bad-here’s my advice, choose what you want to do with it.
#1- Don’t eat western food and learn to like and eat TW food. TW food is way cheaper and I think it tastes much better than the western food served here though the burgers at Chili’s are great every once in a while. Also cooking at home will save tons too!
#2- Ask around for a good place to live. I find a lot of the ads for places on the net are a bit of rip-offs (not all of course). if you ask through local friends at work and other places they usually can hook you up with a great place for cheap. I live in a nice place right in Taipei city for a pretty damn cheap rent.
#3- If you party, go to Pasoul, Club W, Nine percent or any all you can drink place(beer factory is also a good choice). Drinks are ridiculously expensive at bars/clubs here in Taipei so I prefer to go to a place where I pay 500-800 NT and drink all I want. Versus going to places like Luxy, Room 18, Plush where you pay 600-800 NT cover with one or two watered down drinks and end up paying 200-250 NT for each drink yet the place plays the same music with more or less the same people and overall the same vibe as the all you can drink venues.
I guess those are three tidbits of advice, I gotta get to work…
Wow, that’s awfully expensive just to get laid. Doing the math, you can easily drop 2000-3000 just hanging around for a couple of hours, much more if you hang out all night. Ask your friends for a good massage parlor or ‘barber shop’, it would not only come out cheaper but saves time (no hanging around shitty clubs playing shitty music drinking shitty drinks just on the possibility you might be able to get into some shitty skank’s hot pants). Plus hookers always insist on condoms so they’d actually be cleaner than your average club girl in Taipei.
Omni has it right about dating. So there!
Of course barfomcgee you’re paying cheaper rent, because you don’t live in the CAPITAL. 
You need to look around on the threads a bit. Do a search and some research of what others have said.
My opinopn: Yes you can save some money if you are able to conserve. But, I think once you get here, you will see that it’s difficult to conserve. Yes, you can get a chaeap student room on the outskirts for 8,000. You don’t need AC, a fan will do. It’s furnished so no initial expenditures except for 2X the rent for your deposit. You can eat night market food and not imbibe. A phone card for about 1000 NT calling home each month.
Now, if you can live like that, ya, you can do it. But, come on! You will want to see some sights, have some companionships and pay the price. You will want to take the MRT to various sites,
Bottom line is that you can live here dirt cheap, but you can do that in any country, including where you are coming from - but do you really want to?
[quote=“Enigma”]
Bottom line is that you can live here dirt cheap, but you can do that in any country, including where you are coming from - but do you really want to?[/quote]
You cannot live dirt cheap in NYC, fyi, unless you are homeless. I wouldn’t call that living though.
The whole point of living frugally is to have cash to enjoy the sights and still have money put away. Never once set foot in Luxy or Room 18 but enjoyed going out and drinking too, yes even at clubs. On the flip side, I lived in Taipei county, bought hardly any furniture (save a chair and desk from Ikea for about 3,000 NT) and ate local food almost exclusively. I traveled around both Taiwan and Asia, had plenty of companionship and took in lots of shows all while packing away 33,000 NT a month. I came back to the States with fat wad of cash for a new start and debt free. That is what I call living.
[quote=“Namahottie”]
Of course barfomcgee you’re paying cheaper rent, because you don’t live in the CAPITAL. [/quote]
Well it seems crazy to pay twice as much in rent just for the “privilege” of living in the CAPITAL. Taichung has everything Taipei has, but a fraction of the people. If saving money is the goal, it would be foolish to choose Taipei.
How well can you adjust? I live on less than 30000 nt a month and I still go out sometimes. You can spend 6000 nt or 10000 nt in a weekend if you get crazy(I have done it). Sometimes 7-11 parties with friends are more entertaining than going to Room 18 (which I don’t suggest). Hit the all you can drink if you want to save some money and you can still meet some ladies or gentlemen and have a good time.
If you want to save, speak chinese, eat local, live locally and that means roommates.
P.S. don’t end up with some snotty nosed club girl that expects things from you. If you get one of those drop her like a bad habit. Otherwise let her pay for everything, since you are the poor foriegner who doesn’t know anything.
Wow, that’s awfully expensive just to get laid. Doing the math, you can easily drop 2000-3000 just hanging around for a couple of hours, much more if you hang out all night. Ask your friends for a good massage parlor or ‘barber shop’, it would not only come out cheaper but saves time (no hanging around shitty clubs playing shitty music drinking shitty drinks just on the possibility you might be able to get into some shitty skank’s hot pants). Plus hookers always insist on condoms so they’d actually be cleaner than your average club girl in Taipei.[/quote]
my what sage advice…christ the lad wants to come here and make an honest buck or 2 now you got him bangin’ whores b4 he even got here… 
Wow, that’s awfully expensive just to get laid. Doing the math, you can easily drop 2000-3000 just hanging around for a couple of hours, much more if you hang out all night. Ask your friends for a good massage parlor or ‘barber shop’, it would not only come out cheaper but saves time (no hanging around shitty clubs playing shitty music drinking shitty drinks just on the possibility you might be able to get into some shitty skank’s hot pants). Plus hookers always insist on condoms so they’d actually be cleaner than your average club girl in Taipei.[/quote]
my what sage advice…christ the lad wants to come here and make an honest buck or 2 now you got him bangin’ whores b4 he even got here… [/quote]
I get 14,000 NTD per month, but I manage to save 8,000 NTD each month and travel to Europe to see my b/f twice a year (on winter and summer vacations). In my case, the difference is that I live in university dorm, paying only 1000 NTD per month; other savings are food - I cook for myself, because I am sick of Chinese food (too much oil) and prefer our traditional dishes. I never save on clothes and shoes, thanks to God they are relatively cheap here. I do clubbing, because I love to dance, but go to clubs with free entrance. I ride my bike every time; that helps to save money and keeps me fit. And every day I record every NTD I spent in a special book.
I spend 14,000NT per month on GAS…You are my hero. 