You know that it differs from a location. Cost of living in Kyiv and in my native town in the west of the country is very different. I would say that an okey life in Kyiv starts from USD 1000 per month per person. Less makes you always deny yourself in good food, clothing etc.

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Odessa: Cost of living. I live on around $1000 per month. At the time of this writing, the exchange rate is 24.20, so you can calculate the following numbers in dollars. I pay 6300 uah per month for a 1 bedroom apt in the City Center near the Potemkin Stairs. Utilities last month (gas, electric and water) was 1160 uah. Internet costs 110 uah per month. I never use the TV so I don't pay for that. Food is around 4000 uah per month. I don't do a lot of cooking. Most of what I eat comes in a package or else it is something I can warm up in the microwave. Someone who did their own cooking could get by with a lot less. Last month I spent 14oo uah on restaurant meals. That was excessive, because I rarely eat at the regular restaurants. I may pay 78 uah for two Fresh McMuffins and some orange juice at McDonalds a couple of times a month. If I want to eat out, I go to Puzata Xata and get all I can eat of the best food in Odessa for under $5.

I pay around 5000 uah per month for a Russian tutor 4 days a week. A cleaning lady cleans my apartment for 250 uah twice a month. The rest of the $1000 is miscellaneous discretionary expenditures. I figure the cost of living here is 1/3 of what I would pay in America. That is mostly because I pay less for housing and I don't have the expense of my two cars. I am paying $50 per month to have them stored while I am in Ukraine. I hope this gives you something tangible to think about.

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thanks for the info Russophile, I will forward the info to Nate in Utah. I saw some listings online , but one needs a buyer Best wishes to you Mike

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Hi Guys and Girls

I am also posting from Odessa so my utility cost's are " in line" with what Russophile wrote. Housing is a little different than the apt's so I will share about that. It's great news for those of you who like houses with a yard etc..I live on say the county line ( which is called Odesa Oblast here ) in a 3 bedrm house. It is about 30 minutes drive to the center of the city + or - depending on traffic. So costs are less than downtown as with most city's and a 3 bdrm house is about 6000 uah per month to rent. I have one for rent !! To purchase the same is 125k and up. But close to the house I live in, there are apt's that are 3000 uah per month and up.. So yes, downtown is close to twice as expensive. Cars ! Wow it is a learning experience ! I have had a few now and have learned the hard way. Ukrainians are by far the worst driver's in the world ! No if's and's or butt's ! They do everything !! Red lights running happens 90 percent of the time every light you must stop for. Consequently there are going to be accidents and a lot of them..So buying a car..I bought a new Nissan, with full coverage ins, and that cost about 30 percent more than the states. Insurance was also 30 percent more. So some guy decided to do a uturn from the right lane of a 4 way highway and I was in the left lane. He never saw me and turned directly into to me. I was doing the speed limit (50mph) and there was nothing I could do. He hit the passenger side, sending the car up on two wheels ( witnesse's said I did pretty good on two wheels for about 300 yds ! ) anyway it crashed down on the drivers side, slid for another 200 yards into oncoming traffic and it seemed like forever but it stopped. The airbags and seat belts saved my life but about costs.. The insurance co does not pay full value ! We paid about 35k for the car and 6 months later they gave us 17,500 ! And insurance was like I said 30 percent more or about 125 usd per mo..And the guy who hit me had only the minimum required by law and it does not cover the other car..So the best thing to do is if you need a car, and that is only IF, buy a cheap one, get gov. insurance and get it fixed WHEN it gets crashed. That is cheap, Ukrainians are great at restoring car's, they have a lot of practice. Russophile did not cover TV so I can. It is great ! You buy a satellite dish one time and receiver for about $100 and your done ! You will get about 20 American channels. If you desire more channels, they cost about 2 dollars each per mo..So next I can share telephone expense. I have a land line also and calling to the states is about 5$ for each call, 15 minute's. The local calls I think are free if not, then close.. Cell phones : they have all the options available. The big guys ( ATT, Tmobile, etc. ) are not here YET, so it is cheaper. for now. Expats don't seem to be big phone users and I would say that I am average user so my cost for my cell phone is 5$ per mo..As far as food is concerned Russophile hit that about exact, 1000 uah EACH per mo. will do it. So again, he got it right in my opinion, about 1/3 less than the states " OVERALL"... Hope to see some of you here someday and thanks !!

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I spent a lot of time in Odessa in the past living in apartments where I was getting gouged because I was a foreigner. I found this apartment with the help of a local friend who knew the real estate market. We used a realtor, too. Realtors in Odessa range from fair and helpful to the lowest form of life on the planet. You don't need a license to be a realtor in Odessa. I was lucky enough to meet a good one.

Apartments range from 'Lives of the Rich and Famous' to 'Roach Motels'. The farther you live from the City Center, the less expensive the apartments. I have some friends that live about 15 minutes by bus outside the City Center and they live on the 4th floor (no elevator) of a very dilapidated building. But their huge apartment comes right out of the pages of 'Home Beautiful'. The friggin' bathroom is tiled with Italian marble, has a bidet and is bigger than my apartment! All for less than $1k/month.

I signed a lease (which I also had translated into English before I signed anything) which is for the length of time I planned to live in Odessa. I had to pay one month's rent in advance; one month's rent as a deposit and 1/2 month's rent as the realtor's commission. Here the buyer/lessee pays the realtor instead of the other way around as in the US. So I had to pay 15,750 uah up front.

The landlords for this apartment are a young couple that live in Kiev. They have been very helpful. They even replaced a shabby sofa with one that was newer and more comfortable. That was a surprise because most landlords here are pretty tight-fisted. Apartments here are provided fully furnished.

For the utilities, I take photos of the meter readings on the first day of the month and send them to the landlord by email. They calculate the amount owed and send it to me. They show up on the second day of the month with their hand out for the rent (in cash) and utilities.

The building I live in is nothing to write home about. It was probably built 'pre-Revolution'. The exterior, like most buildings here, has not seen any care since it was built. But the neighbors are mostly older folks and they are very quiet. They are even guardedly friendly, by Russian standards.

There is no central heating. There is a gas-fired contraption on the wall in the kitchen that heats water on demand. One pipe supplies hot water to the sinks and shower and another pipe sends hot water to a series of 4 radiators in the apartment. Heat in the apartment is regulated by controlling the volume of hot water through each of the radiators with a valve. I only use one of the radiators. The heat from adjacent apartments does a pretty good job of heating mine.

The heater controls are electric, so when the power goes off, there is no heat and no hot water. The electricity or water goes off for up to 12 hours about once a week. Standard practice here is to store water in lots of 5L jugs so you have something to use to flush the toilet or bathe if necessary.

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I haven't said anything about the cost of communications here, because the cost is almost insignificant. I pay $4.50 per month for unlimited broadband internet.

There are two major cellphone providers here and apparently they don't share bandwidth. It is very common to see people here carrying two cellphones. Incoming calls and texts are free. Outgoing local calls cost little. When I came to Odessa I bought a dual simcard cheap phone for $11. That satisfies all my needs. I put on about 50 uah per month for my phone account.

Most local communication here between locals is by sms. Nearly everyone has Viber (www.viber.com). It is internet based and not connected to a local cellphone provider. It is available internationally and it is free. I use it for free real-time text communication with family in the US and for communication with my friends here in Odessa. For video chats I use Skype (also free).

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A note to add, there is a plethora of free Wi-Fi. I have spent time in Odessa and Kiev (currently in Kiev) and have enjoyed being able to connect to free Wi-Fi most places. Sometimes when in a restaurant or store that has a locked connection, I will simply ask and they always give me their password to logon.

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For shot stays, I use airbnb.com. You can find apartments with amenities and location of your choice for a decent price. Be careful of ones that do not list elevators if that is an issue for you. Also, if it lists "dryer", Ukrainians understand that to mean "hair dryer" not "clothes dryer". Their idea of a clothes dryer is a metal rack on the balcony that you hang you clothes on...or the radiator... :)

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Addition about cell phones...T-Mobile Global covers all of Europe, the Middle East...most other places from what I know. I use it here is Kiev because I need a stateside number my employer can reach me on without an Internet connection (i.e.: Skype). Text messaging is free and calls are $.20 a minute. Coverage is good.

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