My electric bill for this month is $26.01

[Tobin S.]

It's been a mild spring and summer here and I haven't needed to run the a/c yet. Also, I live in a 600 square foot first floor apartment condo. I'm probably benefiting from the upstairs neighbor's a/c as well as not having an attic and a roof. The only electric I draw comes from the stove, charging my laptop, and a few lights. I also watch a little TV, but not much.

[Deja Q]

1. Envy is the beginning of all true greatness...

I'm on top floor of a complex. I love winters, but summers are brutal for costs... During spring I paid $45/mo. I can reckon $100/mo easily... I will be going to the store and buying thermal shades as I get the east sun every morning...

I could move to a first level unit, but they're all double bedrooms, so I'd be moving and all that related work just to save $75/mo so my rent can... go up $100. yeah, that works! :rofl:

[pokerfan]

2. Mine was $25.10 (June)

What's a/c?

[Bertha Venation]

3. Excellent!

:thumbsup:

[clixtox]

4. About $30 for Elec, $1.50 for water, $3 for cable TV & $15 for ADSL/month...

here in downtown Saigon, Vietnam,

I have a 2bd/2ba home and I run one of my 3 A/Cs most of the time, even at night. If I am profligate and/or have guests my electric bill can almost double. I rarely have service interruptions.

I have the two daily English language newspapers delivered every morning for less than 50 cents a day, for both.

A nice bowl of breakfast PHO around the corner, inside, or on the sidewalk, is about $.85/bowl with ice tea and all of the "fixings" like mung bean sprouts, basil leaves, lime, lettuce and two or three other greens I don't recognize, but one sure tastes like celery, could be the leaves. The soup includes a Quail egg, a shrimp and some sliced beef, rice noodles, scallions and other small bits of miscellaneous ingredients. I don't know about MSG as I am not sensitive at all.

There is a sushi bar across the street, very inexpensive, very good quality fresh fish.

The city bus is about 15 cents per trip, no transfers though. One can go a long ways on the bus.

The Vietnamese people love Americans, way above tourists from anywhere else in the world!

Go figure...

Rents are relatively high in Saigon, especially downtown, around here. Saigon (A common name for the center of Ho Chi Minh City, population 7 to 8 million) is a vibrant, fun, and easy place to live well.

Vietnam is very safe, especially for visitors, as the government is very harsh with those who dare prey on tourists.

I love Vietnam!

[Kali]

6. that sounds really nice

what are you doing there?

My Grandfather on my dad's side spent time there in the early 70's and I know he really liked it. (supposedly he was press, but us kids think he was in the CIA or something - he was in Iran too)

[clixtox]

10. I am living in Vietnam because...

I am not very comfortable lately living in the belly of the beast, so to speak.

I am fortunate to live also in Sonoma County, California, one of the Earth's truly delightful regions.

I even have Lynn Woolsey as my Rep, I appreciate her/that a lot. It is wonderful to not ever be disappointed in how she represents my positions on important issues.

It hurts to see the immense promise and vast capabilities for good we share in the USA subverted and channeled into horrible policies, ruining the planet and screwing up the lives of Americans and most of the rest of the world. I am loath to support that heartless endeavor.

In America I am literally afraid, I have mild agoraphobia or something. I am not worried about crime or criminals as much as the police and the government. Driving around I get the sense of how the mole in the arcade game, "Whack-a-Mole" would feel, if it could feel. We are over-policed. We live in a police state. Somewhat ironic since Vietnam is perceived by many to be a "police state" although the police are so sparse that anarchy more accurately describes the situation, especially the traffic. Despite that, Vietnam is one of the safest places in the world, especially for single women tourists, and tourists in general. The Vietnamese people are very gentle and gracious, truly a pleasure to know and interact with. All in all I have to say that the living is good and so sweet!

The ridiculous prices for grocery items, energy, transportation, entertainment, even cable TV and internet access in America. These prices are incredibly inflated to provide ever increasing profits for our greed driven corporate masters and their uber-rich controllers. The profits certainly are not being shared with those who do the work...

The only high-functioning processes today are the emergency services like fire and ambulance and putting people in prison, jail or probation/parole merry-go-rounds. In California the emergency services are even being trimmed back due to very low taxes paid by the rich and corporations, nothing else. Schools, infrastructure, civility and mental health are all crumbling and decaying from neglect due to skewed priorities, like maintaining our empire around the world.

When I was back in the USA in April I was fortunate enough to be picked to serve on a jury (hung 11 {to convict} to 1)and I saw first hand how and why our prisons, etc. are overflowing with poor, often desperate, people. And they are also jam-packed , of course, with the collateral damage of our counter-productive "war on (some) drugs". It is easy to understand how so many absolutely innocent people end up on "death row" due to how little actual "justice" there is in our judicial system.

Justice has been commodified, and like water and great health care, it is for sale. Justice is for those who can afford to pay, and pay mega-bucks.

During the "Vietnam" war, called in Vietnam the "American" war, I was successful in obtaining conscientious objector classification (1965, Berkeley, CA) and then did "alternative service" for 2 years.

I came to Vietnam for the first time five years ago as a 5 day visitor on my way to Bali. I returned 6 months later for 2 weeks and two months after that for over 3 weeks and I have steadily increased the lengths of my visits so I am here for about a hundred days each trip now. I first visited SE Asia as a tourist in 1974 and have been lucky enough to have been able to return many times through the years.

To respond to your query, "what are you doing there"? I am having a wonderful time. I travel around Vietnam a lot, especially to my favorite beach resort, MUI NE, <http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298086-d1173739-r24518833-Sunrise_Resort-Phan_Thiet.html#REVIEWS>, and the temperate city of DALAT in the central highlands. Both of these destinations are less than $10 by luxury bus. I fly to Phu Quoc and Con Dao, both island paradises. I eat fabulous food at amazing prices and read a lot and post on the internet. I have a boatload of friends, many hundreds on facebook, that I cultivate and appreciate, plus I am the oldest of 10 children so I have a large family to love and nurture. Never been married, one daughter I raised.(Another story!)

On my farm in Sonoma County I have a recording studio business (for 30+ years) with three state-of-the-art multi-track studios, A/Cs, Amps, computers, outboard gear, mixing consoles(boards) etc., etc. and the electricity portion of the PG&E bill for the whole property runs between $1500 and $2000/month. We heat, heat water and cook with natural gas, thankfully, but another $3 to $4 hundred a month for gas. So I am paying way too much also...

[Kali]

12. great that you are able to do that

Yes the fear of foreigners or foreign places is yet another symptom of our arrogance. But it also helps keep those kinds of idiots away from special places, eh?

We were in the Berkley area at the same time - heh. My father was teaching there, we lived in El Cerrito. I was just starting my formal education.

Thankyou for doing jury service. I think that part of the system might work better if more people actually did it, but pretty much agree on the rest.

Have you looked into getting off the grid for the CA property? Your usage is intense, but probably doable.

[NightWatcher]

5. jealous here. As soon as we can afford it, I want to start building a PV system that I can add to

right now the total loks like 20K (before state and fed credits and grants) to get a solar system up. We're going to need about 1000kw. What we dont use during the day, we'll sell back to the power co for credit.

[BlueJazz]

7. Arrgg!...mine was $218.76

[Haole Girl]

8. We will be lucky to have one under $300 this month

:-(

[MajorChode]

9. Mine was $354

We had a lot of triple digit days in June.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. On June 18th, I wrote the power company a check for $42.60.