Cost of Living

Electricity : 500 Lempiras ($26.50)

          (includes lights (CFL's), refridgerator, shower heater, one free standing fan, tv, radio, computer.)

Phone Bill: 500 Lempiras ($26.50)

     House phone: 2 Lempiras per minute to the USA; 3+ Lempiras per minute to cell phones in Honduras

     Cell phones: varies;  for 1 Lempira you can get 3 minutes of talk time to the USA, less minutes to cell phones in Honduras.  Most cell phones are pre-pay.  We have two, the first is from Digicel, it cost 250 Lempiras for the phone and then you buy minutes or recargas (recharges).  The second phone was one that we got in a trade and had to activate it which cost 60 lempiras.  Marco brought a phone from the states and they wanted 900 Lempiras to activate it... I'm not sure what the diference is.

Internet: 490 Lempiras per month ($25.97)

The internet is kind of like the phone.... as in you pre-pay and it is a USB device that has a chip that fits into a phone.  We've checked for a grounded internet, but that is not available here.  We have Claro and you can recharge for a day, week, two weeks, or month.... the longer you recharge for the cheaper it is.

Gas for stove: 260 Lempiras per tank ($13.78),  the tank lasts us around 2 months.

Food: 100 Lempiras per day ($5.30)

This is what we budget for our family. Two adults, a toddler & a baby (who eats just as much if not more than the toddler)  We have oatmeal, cornflakes, or pancakes for breakfast.  Lunch is generally rice, vegetables and some kind of meat.  Dinner is generally beans, eggs, corn tortillas, cheese, & cream.

I will do a different post where I show the cost of individual food items.... it's interesting to see the differences in cost (ie milk is 18 Lempiras per liter, which works out to just less than a dollar, and to make things easier, lets say there are 4 liters in a gallon.... thats $4 per gallon of milk!!!  Double what I paid in the states.) 

Diapers &; wipes:  52 lempiras ($2.76) for 12 diapers; 190 Lempiras ($10.07) for 50 diapers; 165 Lempiras ($8.74) for a bag of 144 wipes.

Drinking water: 17 lempiras ($0.90) per 5 gallon jug

We go through 2-3 jugs per week.

Garbage pickup: Free

Water: 40 Lempiras ($2.12) per month

No Car

No Insurance

No Mortgage

No Cable TV