SP with small kids

Hi Jospehin

I am Indian , Staying here last 6months. One of the expertise earlier posted in this site  about the cost of living in Sao paulo.
same i have  described below


Renting an apartment in a decent neighborhood near the city center is on the top of the list. An unfurnished one bedroom apartment will cost upwards of R$1000 per month, plus condominium fees (where applicable) which can be almost equal to the rent in some cases. In most cases you will also have to pay the property taxes and rental insurance too. Rental contracts are fixed by law at 30 months, nothing less.

Only furnished apartments come with appliances and they are outrageously expensive, so you will most likely need to buy appliances. Refrigerators here range from the lowest price of around R$900 upwards to over R$2000 depending on the features you want. Washing machines are about the same and clothes dryers are almost unheard of here in Brazil. A basic 4 burner gas range/oven with automatic ignition will cost about R$500 and the more burners or features the price only goes up from there. Air conditioners are about R$1000 if you want one of those. Electric heaters (central heating is non-existant here) depending on the size are also expensive.

A trip to the supermarket can be frightening, prices are constantly rising on everything. A single person should budget about R$500 a month at minimum perhaps more if you like to eat a lot. Depending on where you go eating out can range from very inexpensive to expensive. Small "self-serve" restaurants offer ready made dishes from about R$6 and up. You can usually get a good meal at one of them (by weight) for about R$15. Good restaurants can charge about R$30 or more for a decent meal.

Utilities in São Paulo are also expensive. Electricity for a single person who uses lots of lighting and a computer will probably run around R$120 per month, water R$30, For a TV/internet/telephone basic plan you can count on paying at least R$175 per month without any extras and not counting long distance phone charges. Since many apartments do not have piped gas you will also have to pay for CNG to be delivered. The tank costs about R$90 the first time, then each further delivery they exchange it with a full tank and this costs about R$45. If you cook a lot or use the oven frequently it will generally last a single person only 3 months.

Unless you REALLY need a car and plan on doing a great deal of driving every day you should forget about buying a car here in Brazil, they are just to expensive when you factor in all the additional expenses. Popular compact cars here (manual transmission) and no options start around R$23000 and go up from there. The larger cars run from R$50000 and up. Insurance is super-expensive and the list of things that it DOESN'T cover is frightening. Taxes paid every year like IPVA, DPVAT are horrible too, then there is fuel which depends on the system your car has, alcohol for "flex" cars is around R$1,25 a liter,  regular gasoline around R2,20, diesel R$1,90 and natural gas is  around R$1,50. Add to that high maintenance costs, tires, etc.

Then too the bureaucracy involved in either having your (home country) drivers licence translated and accepted here or getting a Brazilian licence is absurd. If you come from Canada/USA/Mexico/Central or South America you can get a Inter-Americas Drivers Permit (IADP) which will allow you to drive here for 1 year with a valid drivers licence from home. An International Drivers Permit (IDP) is NOT valid in Brazil since  it is not one of the signatory countries.

If your company doesn't provide you with a car and driver when needed you will probably save money in the long run by taking taxis when you really need one rather than buy a car.

I don't know much about the cost of living in Santos, however it will probably not be much different than it is here.

Hi Josephine,

If you haven't already done so you should read through my posts "A Gringo's Survival Guide to Brazil" and "The High Cost of Living in SP - How to economize" you will find them extremely helpful.

Depending on the neighborhood you choose to live in you may have little or no problem raising your children here. One great concern is not so much what a childcare giver costs, but rather is the caregiver qualified and trustworthy. Here you can't just bring ANYONE into your home, it is dangerous. You are best off to arrange for a baba through a well established agency, preferably one that does thorough background checks and offers you some kind of insurance should there be any problems such as things going missing or suspected mistreatment.

Security is a real issue here and if you drive or are being driven while accompanied by your children make sure the windows are rolled up (A/C on when needed helps)and doors locked. If the car has dark tinted windows, better still. Foreigners are seen as being "made of money" and are therefore sometimes targeted. Carjacking is a real problem here and the carjackers rarely give their victims time to remove infant children from their car seats. There are many cases of cars being taken with children still strapped into their seats while desperate parents are left to wonder if they will ever see their children again. A few years back a young boy died a horrible death in Rio, being dragged several kilometers trapped outside the stolen car by the seatbelt of his car seat.

If you are out for a stroll with your kids you must always be vigilant, don't take your eyes off them for even a second and do not ever trust somebody to watch them for a second while you do something (like try on that outfit you are looking at in a shop).

São Paulo is loaded with parks so there should be a good choice of them in any neighborhood you end up living in. Find one that has a playground and then start going there at different times during the week and on weekends. This way you will probably be able to meet many other women with children around the same age and start building a social circle both for yourself and your kids. Of course this presumes that you will be able to speak Portuguese at least at a basic level.

Clothing, especially for kids, costs an absolute fortune here if you rely on the large shopping centers. You can save a lot of money if you take the time to travel to one of the neighborhoods a bit farther from the city center. Lapa and Pirituba for example have many wonderful shops where you will find the same clothes, shoes and accessories at much lower prices.

If you are having your children cared for at home find someone qualified to start them on Portuguese too. Obviously at their ages they are not going to be doing any formal learning, however they should be able to start picking up the language quite early on in exactly the same way they learned their mother tongue (by listening to you and repeating).

Unless you purchase a state of the art water purification system do not let your kids drink tap water, nor should you use it to prepare foods that won't be thoroughly cooked before consumption. Water quality here is poor at best and you will spare your kids a lot of unnecessary discomfort if you keep them on bottled water. If you wash fruits and vegetables with tap water make sure to add bleach or some other disinfectant to the water or use bottled water for that too.

Milk... if your children are used to drinking milk frequently don't be too surprised if they seem a bit turned off on drinking milk here. When I first came to Brazil ten years ago I soon discovered that the boxed UHT milk that is most commonly sold here has a rather different and somewhat unpleasant taste compared to what I was used to in Canada. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the milk, it's fine... it just tastes odd to me. If you can't get them drinking enough of it you may want to use it in many of the foods you prepare for them or consider a calcium supplement.

Stray dogs and cats are everywhere here in Brazil and they pose a real health and safety risk, especially for children. Don't allow you kids to get too close or attempt to pet any animal roaming free in the street or park.

If you are planning on remaining in Brazil until they are of school age then you will want to start shopping around for a good private school that doesn't cost a fortune. Public education here is poor to mediocre, certainly not the best place for foreign children to thrive in.

I hope this has been helpful information. If you have any specific questions please feel free to ask them, I will try to answer with whatever information I can.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog

Hello, thank you to both of you for your so detailed informations about the life in SP. I do have one more question regarding the security. I was wondering if having tinted windows in the car will not be more tempted for the carjackers ? Do you think it will better not having any car and doing everything with taxis ?
Thank you again for your help

Hi Josephine,

Actually, the tinted windows work because the crooks can't see who, or how many people are in the car. They tend to look for people that are alone in the vehicle.

Taxis are your best option especially if you are not loaded with money... buying and operating a car in São Paulo is extremely expensive. Just to park in the Paulista area costs anywhere from R$12 - 15 per hour.