The House is Sold!

Only a week after posting the ad in El Comercio, our little house has been sold to a lovely young couple. And we are out of credit card debt, just like that.

But more exciting, we get to buy a car! A car that my husband can use as a taxi! He's very excited about having an opportunity to really make some money. He loves the drywall business, but it's just not a sustainable career here in Peru. There isn't enough demand and there's far too much supply - so when he does get a job, he rarely makes more than S/.60 (60 soles) a day - that's about $20. Not good for the household budget - if he worked every day, he'd barely make enough to feed us and pay for his own transportation. And unfortunately, he doesn't work every day - we're lucky if he has work for half the month.

So - we're doing what it seems that most Limeños with a car do... they start driving a taxi. My nephew has been driving a taxi for about 4 months now, and is making more than double in a day what my husband was making in drywall. Even when you factor in gas and insurance, it comes out to very decent money, by Peruvian standards.

So - advice to anyone who wants to move to Peru: Yes, the cost of living in Lima, Peru is very low. But the wages in Peru are very low in comparison to the cost of living - one of the lowest rations of income to cost of living in S. America. It's important that you have money from somewhere else - for instance, I have my house rental in the US - in order to make it. Or, be ready to invest in a business and work hard! I've seen a lot of people come to Peru thinking they'll teach English and live large... well, teaching English isn't as easy in Peru as you might think it is. Although it can be enough to live on, it takes a lot of work, long hours and putting up with a lot of crap.

But don't let that throw you off of choosing Peru! It IS possible to have a decent life here on the cheap - I do! I just want to make sure that people understand it's not going to be easy if you don't have a backup income.

Next post, I promise to talk about more food!

Related articles by Zemanta

• 6 Steps to a Better Retirement (usnews.com)
• Use BudgetSketch to Make A Household Budget That Works (makeuseof.com)