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I'm from south america and my wife and I are about to move in to Raleigh and I was wondering how much is needed to live a good life in there... My wife doesn't speak English at all and I heard something about some free english courses, does it really exists?
how much wold you guys think to be enough to live well in there (with life/heath insurance, rent, car, etc)?
Thank you in advance!
Best regards
Last edited by FelipeMaynard; 01-19-2008 at 10:27 PM..
That is such a difficult question to answer. Everyone's definition of "good life" is different. Do you want to live in North Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill? More rural? How big of a house do you need? Rents differ greatly. Do you want to drive a new SUV or a used sedan? Too many variables to give you a solid answer. Raleigh is a great place to live and if you have a decent, steady income you could probably live here comfortably. I do not know anything about English classes but it would not surprise me at all if free ones existed. You may want to get in touch with our Chamber of Commerce for more information on the area.
That is such a difficult question to answer. Everyone's definition of "good life" is different. Do you want to live in North Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill? More rural? How big of a house do you need? Rents differ greatly. Do you want to drive a new SUV or a used sedan? Too many variables to give you a solid answer. Raleigh is a great place to live and if you have a decent, steady income you could probably live here comfortably. I do not know anything about English classes but it would not surprise me at all if free ones existed. You may want to get in touch with our Chamber of Commerce for more information on the area.
Thank you for your reply, nclover.
I was thinking in live in a 2 dorms/baths house or apartment and also to buy an used SUV (such as 2005 Chrysler pacifica or 2004 cherokee).. my doubts are actually mainly related to my wife's insurance, once that the company only pays for mine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by saturnfan
Try Wake Technical Community College for English classes in the community.
Hello and thanks for your reply, saturnfan!
Do you know if is this Community college english class for free?
Do you know if is this Community college english class for free?
English as a Second Language (ESL) classes by Wake Tech are free. My mother-in-law, who is from Cuba, took some of the classes a few years ago. They were offered in one of the local churches so we didn't have to drive to the community college campus.
English as a Second Language (ESL) classes by Wake Tech are free. My mother-in-law, who is from Cuba, took some of the classes a few years ago. They were offered in one of the local churches so we didn't have to drive to the community college campus.
Good to know! Once I get to Raleigh I'll search for that...
I still have some doubts about the cost of living in there.. can someone please give me a personal example off how much it may takes?
On Sunday, early, get on I40 head West, get onto I85 N toward Greensboro. Past Durham, past Hillsborough, take exit 157 (Buckhorn Road) at the top of the ramp turn left. go past the gas station on the other side of the bridge and take the first left, it is a driveway (sorta) It is la pulga de Buckhorn Road, a very large Hispanic flea market, Sunday is the stroll through the Mercado, thousands of Hispanics desde casi todo de los estados (paises) mucha comeda, mucha gente, musica. Arrive cerca de ocho de la manana, ocho y media es casi tarde. park on the side of the driveway at the first parking space you can get into and walk downhill to the market. Enjoy!
On Sunday, early, get on I40 head West, get onto I85 N toward Greensboro. Past Durham, past Hillsborough, take exit 157 (Buckhorn Road) at the top of the ramp turn left. go past the gas station on the other side of the bridge and take the first left, it is a driveway (sorta) It is la pulga de Buckhorn Road, a very large Hispanic flea market, Sunday is the stroll through the Mercado, thousands of Hispanics desde casi todo de los estados (paises) mucha comeda, mucha gente, musica. Arrive cerca de ocho de la manana, ocho y media es casi tarde. park on the side of the driveway at the first parking space you can get into and walk downhill to the market. Enjoy!
Here is a breakdown of my budget. I live 20 miles from work and my husband is 1 mile from work so gas is estimated on this. Obviously some things we are conservative with and other things we spend more than others. We don't have children its just my husband and I.
Per Month:
Rent: $855 (2 bed 2.5 bath townhouse)
Groceries: $400
Dining Out: $100
Cable: $110 (digital TV & high speed internet, we are about to downgrade, probably can get it between $60-80)
Cell Phones: $85 (we are about to downgrade to voip service like vonage for $20 land line and then do a prepaid cell phone which is about $100/year)
Water: $40 every other month
Electric: $40-80 depending on time of year for 1150 sqft
Vehicle Gas: $175 which is really on the increase right now
Vehicle Repairs: $20 (estimate usually one of us has to get an oil change, this month we spent $400 for new starter, can never tell what is going to go wrong but most months we only have an oil change or so to deal with).
Medical: $45
Entertainment: $80
Misc: $100-200 (vet bills - we have 4 cats, random things we need around the house, we usually get a couple things we want but don't need and that would go in this category, haircuts, subscriptions, etc)
Our car insurance is around $300 every 6 months for two cars, one is 11 years old and one is 7 years old. Then there is about $190 in vehicle tax a year (estimate for our two cars). Then registration is $66 per year (again 2 cars so about 33 per car). I think renters insurance is around $30 every 3 months or so. Medical insurance is deducted automatically before I get my money from my employer so I don't factor it in. Then anything above this we save.
Oh and as far as a loan payments go..before we became debt free we had a $190/month car payment for a 2 year old honda civic we had bought on a 5 year loan, can't remember how much we put down but you can look online for who has the best rates of loans and there are a lot of payment calculators floating around.
I hope this helps. Everyone's situation is a little different different. My groceries catergory is probably the most inflated. We use a cash system for this so often I buy other things with groceries money like bird seed (I have 7 bird feeders) and we only buy the most premium dry food for our cats which also comes out of this. For our groceries I primarily only buy things on sale or store brand items.
Here is a breakdown of my budget. I live 20 miles from work and my husband is 1 mile from work so gas is estimated on this. Obviously some things we are conservative with and other things we spend more than others. We don't have children its just my husband and I.
Per Month:
Rent: $855 (2 bed 2.5 bath townhouse)
Groceries: $400
Dining Out: $100
Cable: $110 (digital TV & high speed internet, we are about to downgrade, probably can get it between $60-80)
Cell Phones: $85 (we are about to downgrade to voip service like vonage for $20 land line and then do a prepaid cell phone which is about $100/year)
Water: $40 every other month
Electric: $40-80 depending on time of year for 1150 sqft
Vehicle Gas: $175 which is really on the increase right now
Vehicle Repairs: $20 (estimate usually one of us has to get an oil change, this month we spent $400 for new starter, can never tell what is going to go wrong but most months we only have an oil change or so to deal with).
Medical: $45
Entertainment: $80
Misc: $100-200 (vet bills - we have 4 cats, random things we need around the house, we usually get a couple things we want but don't need and that would go in this category, haircuts, subscriptions, etc)
Our car insurance is around $300 every 6 months for two cars, one is 11 years old and one is 7 years old. Then there is about $190 in vehicle tax a year (estimate for our two cars). Then registration is $66 per year (again 2 cars so about 33 per car). I think renters insurance is around $30 every 3 months or so. Medical insurance is deducted automatically before I get my money from my employer so I don't factor it in. Then anything above this we save.
Oh and as far as a loan payments go..before we became debt free we had a $190/month car payment for a 2 year old honda civic we had bought on a 5 year loan, can't remember how much we put down but you can look online for who has the best rates of loans and there are a lot of payment calculators floating around.
I hope this helps. Everyone's situation is a little different different. My groceries catergory is probably the most inflated. We use a cash system for this so often I buy other things with groceries money like bird seed (I have 7 bird feeders) and we only buy the most premium dry food for our cats which also comes out of this. For our groceries I primarily only buy things on sale or store brand items.
That was just perfect!!
Thank you sooooooooooooooooo much!
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