www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I've seen some very good ideas so far. I'll throw my 10 cents in and add upon some already listed.

Insurance-I'm going 1 full year with a vehicle monitoring system that tracks the way I drive with Progressive. It sucks but I will save $50-100/yr depending on how well I do. I get graded on how many miles I drive, how long I drive from 12-4am, how many times I rapidly accelerate and hard brake. I probably wouldn't do it if it were a 1 time discount but once per year could buy you some time with a chica each year. They grade you from A to F. So think of the grade you get driving as the grade of women you'll get in Costa Rica (the grade on your driving habits will correlate a little better to San Jose Chicas better than Jaco

Rent out a room to a trusted friend if you can. Big money!

Know your spending weakness. I know mine. Bullshitting at bars on weekends watching college football and NFL. This year I'm going to spend even more money directly related to that then I normally do. I'm buying surround sound, mounting my flatscreen TV on the wall, putting Neon bar-like signs on the wall. This is a good medium term investment. Those $1-2 drinks at home will cost you $3-10 at a bar plus the expensive food and tips. When you build a man cave, you will be less tempted to go out to the bars. You might miss out on meeting a few gringas, but I'd rather be disciplined knowing my return on the dollars on don't spend on gringas at the bar watching football will be rewarded 10 fold by spending it in Costa Rica!

Thanks Drago, very good advise

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" Omit no happy hour that may give furtherance to our expedition."

1 more thing I do that works for me that might not work for everyone for small change. I shave my head about once/month with clippers instead of getting haircuts. $100-$300 on haircuts and shampoo.

The best thing I did was stop dating this gold digger. I don't know what I was thinking for those 6 months!!! We'll she wasn't a gold digger until after month number 4 AFTER I booked a flight and hotel for a trip. Lesson learned from this, if you try dating someone as a change of pace from Costa Rica and go on a trip, PAY THE EXTRA $100 or so for the trip insurance in case your girl pulls a 180 and starts becoming a demanding gold digger. I was too much of a cheap skate to insure the trip and was stuck.

I hit a Pick 3 playing the ponies at my local track and scored $450.00. That should pay for 4 nights at the SL.

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Take The Highway To The End Of The Night...The Doors

Great thread:

If you live alone, and have extra room...Airbnb a room. Yes, lock up your valuables but you can put a dent in your rent or mortgage doing it depending where you live. I have a friend who is always renting out her apartment and crashes at her sister's house when a guest is in.

Eating out....stop eating at restaurants, their mark-ups are cash killers and eating your own cooking is healthier.

Cash Economy - a Financial Guru's Fav-make a budget, put the budgeted cash in designated envelopes, when the envelope is empty, you are done spending in that category for the month...ie groceries $400, dating $600, restaurants-$300, etc.

Garage Sales - Buy stuff, fix it or shine it up, put it on CL...People buy anything on CL.

Instead of Coinstar - Walmart sells a coin sorter that puts the coins right in the rolls so when you get in, just drop the coins in each time.

Flip Stuff - Search for deal on cars, boats, furn, jewelry, etc. and flip it.

Dating - I date here more than I make trips. And I agree with the gringa bashing. But tehre are many divorced gringas looking hot, in their 40's and horny as hell. Sure, they never phucked their husbands when married, but seem to be on a mission post divorce. But yeah, it is costly....and to not violate my restaurant rule or at least limit it, I only sit at the bar, order apps, and the date stays loose and casual and fun.

Mi Dos Centavos!!

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Livin' & Lovin' in Key Largo....oh....And the one in The Keys, too!

Great ideas Capn, thanks for your post

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" Omit no happy hour that may give furtherance to our expedition."

Now that I've gotten older....

I seldom eat out, mostly eat at home, I know how to cook and it's cheaper and more nutritious, plus I buy healthy affordable foods that fill you up, chicken, vegetables, salads, fruits, whole grain bread, brown or wild rice, nuts, mushrooms...since I like my steaks well done, I can buy cheaper sirloins instead of filet mignons, also my supermarket often has 2 for one sales, I bulk up on these items.

I have an excellent accountant, he's reasonable and good, he's an ex-pat located in Sabana and knows Florida law, if anyone needs good advice pm me, he'll meet you and do his initial analysis for free, nice good guy, good accountant.

In my big money days, I always had an expensive sports car, bought new, traded in after only a few years, $600 a month or more, now that I'm semi retired, I drive an older used car, paid for, insurance is much cheaper too, no need to impress anyone anymore.

When I was employed, W-2, I calculated my taxes paid by September, so I would have my company stop taking out taxes from October on, so I had my "refund" immediately instead of letting the fed borrow my money interest free until March.

I quit my expensive gym, joined a gym for $20 a month, Planet Fitness.

I'm semi retired now, but when I was working full time, I would bite the bullet and sock away $200 a month, I found a 5 day annual visit cost me about $2000 to $2400, air fare, hotel, chicas, eating out, etc. When I'm on vaca I spend big bucks on the girls and give good tips, but I've discovered numerous tico sodas so I frequent them as much as I can vs the tourist traps, HDR breakfast, is $16 for all you can eat, it's one of my weaknesses but I eat so much I can skip lunch and have a small dinner.

You can get cheap household cleaning items and other "necessities" at these dollar stores or WalMart, big savings over your local supermarket or drugstore. When I go shopping, I try to get it all out of the way in a one day trip so i'm not repeatedly blowing money on gas driving around getting things I need.

I cut my own grass, wash my own car, do most my own repairs. My a/c guy showed me how to open up my central unit and hose it down and clean it once a quarter, change my filters regularly, turn the temp up if I'm out all day. I clean my own clothes and iron, almost never use the dry cleaners anymore.

I 'downsized' to a nice 2/2 doublewide mobile home in a 55 and up park, nice retirees, no trailer trash. Bought for under 10k! Space rent $540, water $50 a month, elec $150 (It's Florida and cold a/c is a weakness I won't compromise on) internet and cable $80, I previously had a $1000 plus mortgage and $600 a month taxes and insurance for a house I no longer needed, about the same size. I do miss my pool, but that ran me about $100 a month, my community has 2 pools plus I'm in Florida and 15 minutes to the (free) beach.

I'm 63 and took early ss, I still work part time am and setting it up where I can do it from home via internet, my excellent accountant I mentioned earlier set me up to place my earnings in a chapter S corporate account and it's neither taxed nor affects my ss earnings, so as I pull from my personal savings to supplement my ss earnings I pile up an equal amount in my corporate savings and won't take money from that unless there's an emergency, and I can withdraw at age 65 and pay much less in taxes and not affect my ss earnings.

Since I'm 1099 independent now instead of a W-2 employee, I show a low income and got a great $800 a month health insurance plan for $120 a month, I'm an insurance agent and can show anybody how to get the best bang for the buck, I'm an expert on medicare supplement products, I can even show people no premium products, pm me if interested.

I'm a music lover but since everything is basically free or on the internet I quit buying expensive cd's years ago...

If you are planning to visit CR, Spirit is usually cheap, join their club and carry a small bag, look for discounts and book early if you can, I've done round trips from Ft Lauderdale for less than $200!

I plan on retiring to CR soon, even though it's gotten much more expensive than what it once was, it's still quite cheaper than living in the USA. I lived there b4 for 2 years and when you live there you build up a black book of cooperative chicas who never ask more than $70 and since you're not jamming as much fun as you can in a short vaca, one or two sessions per week satisfies...

That's all I got for now...oh yea, no dating American gringas, no longer go to expensive nightclubs with pricey door covers and drinks...

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Don't try to understand 'em, just rope 'em down and brand 'em...