Picking a Town, Finding a Home, & Creating a Budget in Costa Rica

By | 2019-11-01T20:04:13-04:00 November 1st, 2019|Categories: books, Cost of Living, Press|Tags: , , , , |

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Picking a Town, Finding a Home, and Creating a Budget in Costa Rica —Kindle $9.99, Paperback $15.99

My new book is available!

Happier Than A Billionaire: Picking a Town, Finding a Home, and Creating a Budget in Costa Rica. It’s the perfect companion to The Costa Rica Escape Manual and will guide you through finding the perfect spot to start your own Pura Vida lifestyle.

To celebrate, I made mango cobbler in a cocktail dress. You may be wondering if I always cook in cocktail dresses, and yes. Yes, I do.

 

My husband advised me to wear heels because I looked taller when compared to the countertop. He’s the Don Draper of the Happier Production Company. So instead of five feet in height, I’m a whopping 5’4”.  It’s shocking how little that detail made in my appearance or in my confidence overall.

I’m sure nobody cares about my height or even the mango cobbler. But the new book is great if you’re dreaming of moving to Costa Rica and want a better understanding of how much rent costs, the average monthly grocery expense, or even what a suicide shower is.

Electricity AND water? Who knew? (not a feature in The Happier House)

But I think the most important piece of this video is the montage of the happiest moments Rob and I have made in Costa Rica. This filmstrip plays in my mind every day — flashes of crazy adventures we had after quitting our jobs and trying to forge a completely new life.

Now when people ask, “You left everything behind? What were you looking for?” I can point them to this video. The answer is simply…

  • I longed to see my husband smile after climbing behind a waterfall and looking all but twenty-four again.
  • I wanted to sit on a beach with a dog under my legs as mama turtles swam back to the place where they were born to lay their eggs.
  • I wished to bathe in orange sunsets and marvel at lightning bolts flashing across the horizon.

Perhaps I wanted too much. But I remembered the person I was when I was my happiest. She smiled a lot, and I missed her. It turns out the things I needed back were the richest things I owned.

I hope all of you can visit this lovely country and bear witness to a capuchin monkey stealing a lemon. It’s never too late to replace your frayed and yellowed filmstrip with a happier one. There is an endless supply of unprocessed film tucked away in your head. It could be buried in your cerebral attic, or maybe you moved it to an overpriced grey matter storage facility.

I eventually found my box of film hidden in a mental shoe box. It smelled of my grandmother’s Italian cookies and was the color of the yellow dandelions that wildly grew in my parents’ yard.

Inside I found a treasure map pointing to bluer skies with air that smelled of coconuts. Your map could take you to a Himalayan mountaintop or a Bali yoga retreat. The only thing I’m sure is you have to reach inside to get out and dip back to go forward.

And moving forward, whether in flip-flops or four-inch heels, is a happier place to be.

***Happier Than A Billionaire: Picking a Town, Finding a Home, and Creating a Budget in Costa Rica is available at:

Amazon

iBooks

Kobo

Nook

 

Happier Than A Billionaire in Costa Rica: 5th Anniversary, The Book, and The Journey

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:14-04:00 September 6th, 2016|Categories: Cost of Living, The Happier House|Tags: , , , , , |

Happier Than A Billionaire

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: 15 ounce Country Crock margarine — $3.33

It’s been just over five years since the official release of my book, Happier Than A Billionaire. Some things have changed, while others have stayed the same, and this may cause some confusion to many who are new to our story. This post is a short recap to clarify why we started this journey, how it has changed along the way, and where we hope it will take us.

So why did I name my first book Happier Than A Billionaire? After working seventy hours a week in order to live the American dream, we were still stressed out and miserable. We had no time for each other or anything else outside of work. We started to suspect that more stuff was not the key to finding real happiness.

Studies prove this, and it is evident by stories like those of the Tyco executive who stole his company’s cash to fund lavish parties, complete with Jimmy Buffett playing guitar and an ice sculpture of Michelangelo’s “David” urinating Stolichnaya vodka. The executive was later convicted of embezzlement and spent six years in jail, where I’m certain his urination issues did not involve vodka or ice sculptures. And our suspicions were correct. We moved to CR with a few suitcases and started living the happiest times of our lives. We were not billionaires, but happier than the ones we read about.

Happier than a Billionaire is about making the most of our resources and being grateful for everything we have. It was never our plan to be “living in a van down by the river” although we did live near a river, where Rob tested our handgun that he had just set on fire after hiding it in our fireplace. He shot into the ground, blew out our water pipes, and at that point, I’m sure our landlord would have preferred we lived in a van down by the river. (more…)

5 Differences Between Expat vs Tourist Living in Costa Rica

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:16-04:00 June 27th, 2015|Categories: Cost of Living, Tourism|Tags: , , , , , |

Best Guanacaste Beaches

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: A six-foot yellow coconut tree—$12

I’m often asked for advice on how to travel like a local as opposed to a tourist. (It’s as if the word “tourist” is a vulgarity, one which summons up images of guys wearing sandals with socks or rocking undersized Speedos on the beach). I’m always eager to help but this is a tough question.

The answer is not cut and dry since it all depends on how long you’ll be here and what areas of the country you’ll be visiting. If you are only visiting for two weeks, it may be more difficult to accomplish the goal of living like a local. But if you are settling in for 6 months or more, you begin to understand the ins and outs of living in the areas you will be visiting. (more…)

Costa Rican Meal by the Sea

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:17-04:00 May 1st, 2015|Categories: Cost of Living, Tourism|Tags: , , , , , |

Costa Rica RecipesCosta Rica Cost of Living Update: Fried Chicken casado by the sea— $5

We are getting near the end of the dry season, but at the moment things are nearly as dry as they can get. For locals this means two things: It will be very hot— and things will be very dirty—until the true rainy season is upon us. It’s this time of the year when unpaved roads become elongated dust trails. If you ride a scooter or take your bike to work, you’ll be inhaling a healthy dose of grit by the end of your ride. Driving in a car or SUV will not protect your nasal passages from the formation of clumpy dust bunnies either.

“Is dirt coming out of the air-conditioning vent?” I ask Rob while we’re heading out for lunch.

“No, I think it’s coming from the dashboard. Or maybe from the doors. Is there a hole in the floor?”

It’s not the strangest question. There could be a hole in the floor since there are tons of problems with our car. I think something is leaking and our transmission keeps slipping. I actually don’t mind the latter since it makes our engine sound like a Tyco Aurora slot car every time Rob steps on the accelerator. (more…)

PANNING FOR GOLD

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:20-04:00 August 31st, 2014|Categories: Cost of Living, Uncategorized|Tags: , , |

Costa Rica Vacation

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: 400ml Dove Shampoo—$7.72

I’m interrupting my Happier Road Trip posts with this one about a good friend. Donovan contacted me on Facebook after reading my books, and it’s been his longtime dream to visit Costa Rica. On the slimmest of budgets, he traveled up and down this country by bus, staying at fifteen dollars a night hostels, and eating at local sodas (tiny, inexpensive eateries).

After his six-hour bus trip from Jaco, we met Donovan in Tamarindo and took him to The Club at Mar Vista in Brasilito. Donovan and my husband each grabbed a mic and jumped up on stage with the local band. They sang Hotel California, which is a pretty gutsy song to sing when you aren’t particularly sure of the lyrics. But they both did great, occasionally looking at each other for the words, which I’m sure Don Henley still does with Glenn Frey.

Donovan fulfilled his dream of visiting Costa Rica, and he did so in a way that was adventurous while not blowing his budget. As with most dreams, when he finally started to live it he feared whether it would live up to his expectations. (more…)

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