Cost of Living in Indonesia in 2020

House rentals vary enormously. I am renting one house out to a company for Rp60 million a year and another for Rp65 million. These are renovated but normal houses, the first has 3 bedrooms and the second has two.

We drive most of the time, but when not driving we will use Blue Bird taxis or Grab. We don't live in Jakarta so it's very affordable using public transport.

I seem to visit the supermarket 3 or 4 times a week and often spend anything from Rp600k to to Rp1.8 million per visit. We buy Thai fragrant rice and American brand bread. Often, as per this evening, my wife will Gojek some rice for me to eat tuna with chilies.

Health insurance is expensive in Indonesia, actually ridiculously high if you want private insurance. It's definitely something that you will want your company to pay for if you are an expat. Hospital costs for general ailments is not all that much but it is worth finding the best doctors in your area, and they may not all be in the same hospital.

We pay around Rp8 million per term per child for schooling. We are not totally happy with the school so are contemplating changing.

for electricity we pay around Rp1.5 million per month. We have a well so use a jet pump, and we use a medium sized Wika on the roof instead of an electric water heater, so we don't have a water bill. For television we pay around Rp500k per month, and perhaps Rp250k per month for internet.

Usually we will visit the cinema once a week, but do not do any sports. However, we travel around the Asia area quite often so plane tickets and hotels are a major cost.

My monthly car loan payment is Rp7 million per month, and fortunately the final payment will be in the middle of 2020.

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Forgot to mention, what some people do here is rent out rooms for extra cash. As our area has a lot of offices and schools and a university, it makes sense to earn a little extra money by renting out rooms. In the house next door we have split it into a 2 bedroom house with a studio pavilion and four kost rooms. The rooms rents from Rp800k to Rp1 million each per month and the studio for Rp2.5 million per month, while the house rents for Rp65 million per year. If we were to rent the house out we could probably earn only Rp65 - 70 million per month but by splitting it up during the latest renovation we have almost doubled our income. Renting out rooms to students and working staff is a good way to earn some good extra cash and it pays for most of our living costs.

We found out that somebody in our street converted his house to have 15 kost rooms and earns Rp15 million per month for basic rooms with shared bathroom. He is trying to sell that house to us for Rp4 billion so I think he must be dreaming. Another is charging Rp1.2 million per room inclusive of WiFi and Aircon and private bathrooms.

My kids school is quite far away, takes half an hour to drive there and 30 - 45 minutes to return home depending on the traffic, so petrol which costs somewhere between Rp10k - 12k per liter is a lot and a full tank costs me around Rp600k+. My father in law has a smaller car and he normally takes the kids to school as he has free time while I pick them up in the afternoon.

Like Fred, our kids also follow a Cambridge curriculum. They have extra-curricular activities but we pay for private music and art lessons in addition to those offered at school. There are always plenty of choices for this kind of activities outside of school and usually the costs are not all that much.

We pay Rp50k per month for security, Rp50k per month for garbage collection, and we both teach English in the local community hall once a week since the Chairman twisted our arms to do this.

Eating out can be really cheap especially if you like local food. You can get really nice local food for around Rp30k - 50k per person and if you like street food then you only need to spend around Rp10k - Rp20k for a big meal.

We don't smoke or drink alcohol so we definitely save there.

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Shill88 wrote:

Forgot to mention, what some people do here is rent out rooms for extra cash. As our area has a lot of offices and schools and a university, it makes sense to earn a little extra money by renting out rooms. In the house next door we have split it into a 2 bedroom house with a studio pavilion and four kost rooms. The rooms rents from Rp800k to Rp1 million each per month and the studio for Rp2.5 million per month, while the house rents for Rp65 million per year. If we were to rent the house out we could probably earn only Rp65 - 70 million per month but by splitting it up during the latest renovation we have almost doubled our income. Renting out rooms to students and working staff is a good way to earn some good extra cash and it pays for most of our living costs.

We found out that somebody in our street converted his house to have 15 kost rooms and earns Rp15 million per month for basic rooms with shared bathroom. He is trying to sell that house to us for Rp4 billion so I think he must be dreaming. Another is charging Rp1.2 million per room inclusive of WiFi and Aircon and private bathrooms.

My kids school is quite far away, takes half an hour to drive there and 30 - 45 minutes to return home depending on the traffic, so petrol which costs somewhere between Rp10k - 12k per liter is a lot and a full tank costs me around Rp600k+. My father in law has a smaller car and he normally takes the kids to school as he has free time while I pick them up in the afternoon.

Like Fred, our kids also follow a Cambridge curriculum. They have extra-curricular activities but we pay for private music and art lessons in addition to those offered at school. There are always plenty of choices for this kind of activities outside of school and usually the costs are not all that much.

We pay Rp50k per month for security, Rp50k per month for garbage collection, and we both teach English in the local community hall once a week since the Chairman twisted our arms to do this.

Eating out can be really cheap especially if you like local food. You can get really nice local food for around Rp30k - 50k per person and if you like street food then you only need to spend around Rp10k - Rp20k for a big meal.

We don't smoke or drink alcohol so we definitely save there.

So need to consider also the big investment u faced to set up a company to rent out rooms, at least around USD 178.000 paid up capital for PT/PMA.
Im thinking also about the cost of rentals, probably dipend from the area, cause I see u rent a studio for 30 Milion Rp/year and Fred pay for his 3 rooms house 18 Milion/years, both still less than in Bali where I live.

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I lived in Bali about 20 years ago, in Sanur. I paid US$400 per month for a really nice two bedroom thatched roof villa almost on the beach in a hotel compound and sent 3 kids to Bali International School. Probably far too expensive for me to live there again, and also I am not as keen on it as I used to be. I much prefer to live somewhere less touristic,  less hot, less full of people trying to rip you off. I used to surf so Bali was great back then, but now I am too old so just visit Bali a few times a year for short breaks. And that is fine for me. I wouldn't dream of living in Bali again.

My wife's aunt just rented a small house in BSD Section 1 for Rp18 million a year. There are cheap and expensive places everywhere. I just prefer to buy places in downtown areas which means the prices are higher but then so are the rents. If you buy a place then make sure it comes with the hak milik.

Fred wrote:

Bali prices have, as I understand it, gone even crazier than Jakarta's. I moved from Jakarta because I refused to pay the nutcase rents out there. I get twice as good for half the money in a smaller town.

Indeed Im seriously thinking to leave Bali and move to another island out there, Im doing my reaserch, so many options!!!

One of the reasons is no longer like living in Bali is that there are foreigners everywhere you go. It's full of tourists or people who want to retire there and coach loads of tourists everywhere and many of the beaches are packed solid. I am happy where I live in Java, hardly any foreigners around, most of the restaurants are local food, nobody hassles you. I guess it's just a normal lifestyle in a city in Java with parks, shopping malls, etc. I am not into the secluded or nature lifestyle and I don't wear hippy clothes or leggings or do yoga.

I work in Jakarta and live in Kuningan area, where I pay 7jt/month for a 1BR, though the unit is a 2BR converted to a 1Br, so compared to the carpet area of the unit, the rent is fairly reasonable.

For electricity and water, I spend upto a 1jt a month wherein, I use the ac throughout the night and on weekends throughout the day. Adding another 1mio/month for a maid that comes to clean, do the laundry, Iron the clothes.

Other overheads include Firstmedia Wifi/Cable which adds upto another 1mio per month with upto 8GB of Bandwidth. For groceries, as I generally cook at home and avoid eating out, 200k/week for fresh veggies, which I get directly delivered from the pasar and not from a departmental store.  Adding another 2 mio to this for the groceries that we get from the Indian store (Fairly expensive).

For commute, I usually take a Gojek If am alone or if the weather permits, that takes upto another 1-2/mio every month including weekend outing to malls etc.

So monthly living expenses for a comfortable lifetime takes upto 13-14 mio a month, which can be lowered if you plan to stay in a kost house or an apartment likes of Kalibata city or Bassura city, which are fairly cheaper than my current apartment, owing to it's central location.

I live near  nusa dua in a 2 bed bungalow with gardens next to a river and forest , peaceful 17 juta per anum , ya you have got to do some searching but its still possible  .

I have a 1 bed apartment in Legian Bali, close to my business, good location, pay 45jt per year. Have recently been looking for 3 bed villa which still has good access to Legian. For a decent place with a pool, prices start at around 170jt per year. Crazy huh. I walk wherever I can, take my bike or use go-jek...never ever a car or taxi as congestion is so bad these days in Bali. Electricity is around 1jt per month, shopping is say 700k per week, I eat warung food so only 35-40k, but I have breakfast each morning at a great western coffee shop, Coffee Corner, yes more expensive at around 100k for breakfast, but half the price of Australia for the same if not better quality. Unfortunately I drink beer, that costs me 2jt per month. Laundry is cheap, say 70k per week, pembantu 100k per week.

I dream to have a Rp1 juta electricity bill. My house has 5,500 VA supply (same as an office) so we pay Rp300k more than those with 3600 VA or less, and this month we got a biggie, Rp2.2 juta electric bill.

You must have a big car, our cost for filling a tank is about half that.

I spend around Rp600k to fill my tank and my car is sort of mid-sized. That's based on V-Power.

Hi Fred this is Larry Chilcoat

Living in Vietnam now and I wanted to ask you which visa service I should use in Bali ? For inquiry to a longer term visa for American expat.

Tku sir

Larry

There is another new thread called "Pension Visa" and Ubudian (who has lived in Bali for more than 20 years) gives a recommendation of an agent that he uses.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 70#4816980

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Sure I can understand that. I will be glad when my final repayment is made in a few months from now, that's Rp7 million less that I need to pay out each month.

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You can get some very good deals with vehicles, usually by cash but not always the case, the last fortuner ive recently sold with the discounts and offers at said time when i purchased it in mid 2017 ive just got back almost 100% what it cost me, same offer was just repeated hence i renewed, so ive basically exchanged a 30 month old vehicle for brand new and free insurance, total cost to me 10million idr
Definately worth shopping around always

Agree with that Gwmeath. Even when I bought my car directly from the dealer I shopped around the various dealers to get the best deal. Then when I bought a car for my father in law I bought that one cash and got a great deal and much better than from other dealers, so yes, worth shopping around.

My cost of living is definitely going down with this Coronavirus issue. I have some stock of food already which has filled my new double door fridge and am not eating out in nice restaurants so much, and of course spending virtually nothing on petrol. With just four more payments until my car is paid off I am happy.

Cost varies too much in Indonesia. I was an student there in the suburbs of Bogor back in 2010 and rented one bedroom at an empty house of our university professor. It was an old house, roof constructed with timber wood and also veranda was standing on tree trunks. May be constructed 40 years ago. The house had Durian, Coconut and Jumbo trees and a really vast lawn infront of it. Bedroom cost per year 2 million IDR (Almost USD 180 for entire year.. unbelievable right!!!!). Bedroom was big enough and furnished with a bed, wardrobe, table and a chair. I traveled mostly by mini vans (angkut) within Bogor and also used train to Jakarta (occasionally and less frequently). No motorbike and no car, only traditional rental Ojek for short distances cost mostly 3000 to 5000 per ride (no such thing as GoJek by then). Housemaid washed clothes and ironed using washing machine and iron provided by house owner and clean kitchen and plates. She received 100,000 per month. Had food mostly at Masakan Padang and roadside Sate and Soto type dishes. All monthly expenditures were between 2.5 million to 3 million. Not a very luxury life but it was perfect somehow.

I rented a house in Yogyakarta for 53 juta tulan and that too me is expensive.  The owner wanted 75 juta but we negotiated and I still feel I was ripped off.  The house a modern Java style with a lot of cheap stuff inside of 3 bedroom 3 bathroom house.  You can tell the owner does not care or upkeep the place and expects the renter to keep it up.  I already had the water tank cleaned at my expense.  The kitchen is actually outside which I like.  It's a small house but comfortable.  It was furnished with cheap furniture and I added some of my own.  I think the house is worth more like 40 juta.  If I decide to stay another year I definitely will not pay the same amount but less.  Electricity is about 600 juta bulan, no water bill. I have to pay 15000 ribu per month for trash and security.  But it's quiet and off the street enclosed with about 8 other houses.