[markkanof]

I can definitely see how that would work when a lot of the necessities of life are priced lower, in line with your lower salary. How did you feel about making purchases that are priced at a more global level? For example if you wanted to buy an Apple computer to do your development work on. I've always been curious about this as people don't tend to talk about it when discussing the cost of living in different geographic areas.

[ido]

That stuff becomes comparatively more expensive, but still most of your expenses are for the basics (housing+ transit+ food probably add up to ~80-90% of most people's expenses) so it's not that big of a deal.

[mikecaron]

I had usually bought electronics from the USA when I knew of a friend coming to visit. They'd purchase it, bring it over and I'd pay them back. I avoided paying the VAT that way.