Fun blog on living cheaply in Hawaii - Trailrunner please comment!

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/12/15/high-cost-of-living-its-a-state-of-mind/

Not much to comment on, what were you looking for?

In my twenties when I was still living there, I worked as a cocktail waitress in Waikiki and lived with a bunch of people (mostly other cocktail waitresses and bartenders) in big grand beachfront homes that we rented. We mostly ate at the restaurants and night clubs we worked at or one can get very full eating plate lunches off the wagons - although they are not as cheap now as they were and are more like 7 or 8 bux now. At least so I'm told. We drove VWs and I usually only had to fill my gas tank once a month.

Hawaii is a very expensive place to live. If you want to live as described above or in the article, go for it. I wouldn't want to live that way again, I'm staying here.

Are you moving to Hawaii now CG?

Not a chance of me moving to Hawaii, though I'd love to visit. I just liked the guy's observations about living frugally in expensive places - it certainly applies to a lot of other places we've all been.

It reminded me of people who complain about how expensive Lakeside is who have big screen TVs in every room, a pool, eat only in gringo restaurants and shop the upper shelves at Super Lake, etc. It sounds like in Hawaii as here there's no end to what one can learn from the locals, living better and cheaper as a result.

You know, it's the same here as it is there. If you want to live on the cheap in a notoriously expensive place all you have to do is observe how the locals live and copy their lifestyle as much as possible.

Most Hawaiians aren't any richer in dollars/pesos than most Mexicans. BUT, they are faaaaaar richer in the important things - family, friends, love, shared food, music, beach and other free entertainment, and good times. Those are my kind of riches too, lucky I was born and raised in Hawaii and learned that from the git go.

Last time I was there a few years ago there were 100's of homeless living on beaches in semi-permanent shacks ... mostly on the west side of Oahu

Most Hawaiians aren't any richer in dollars/pesos than most Mexicans. BUT, they are faaaaaar richer in the important things - family, friends, love, shared food, music, beach and other free entertainment, and good times.

An interesting observation. Hawaiians are "...faaaaaar richer than most Mexicans in the important things - family,friends. love, shared food, music, beach and other free entertainment, and other good times." Dawg has spent quite a bit of time in Hawaii and even more time in Mexico. Mexico has way more beautiful beaches than all the major and recognized Hawaiian Islands combined, enjoys a culture that values family and places a premium on friendship, conviviality, family ties, shared food, music and good times If you want to live inexpensively in Hawaii. think ticky-tacky inland housing in nondescript valleys and two bit commercial, unimpressive shopping strips. One can live on a beautiful beach or in extraordinary inland environments in Mexico for peanuts compared to Hawaii.

Otherwise, I have no opinion.

Trailrunner wrote:

Most Hawaiians aren't any richer in dollars/pesos than most Mexicans. BUT, they are faaaaaar richer in the important things - family, friends, love, shared food, music, beach and other free entertainment, and good times.

Faaaar richer than Mexicans in those things?

viajero wrote:

Trailrunner wrote:

Most Hawaiians aren't any richer in dollars/pesos than most Mexicans. BUT, they are faaaaaar richer in the important things - family, friends, love, shared food, music, beach and other free entertainment, and good times.

Faaaar richer than Mexicans in those things?

Perhaps the Hawaii you remember is as fictional as the San Pedro de Los Saguaros in which you now pretend to reside. Your reminiscences of Hawaii remind me the tales of my Alabama ancestors recalling Africans out in the cotton fields happily singing "Doo Dah, Doo Dah" and dancing about while picking cotton for the white folk´s gin or the reminiscences of my wife´s French ancestors recalling happy Algerians harvesting grapes for wine for French tables. Good times my ass.

Hey Dawg, I've never been to Hawaii,,I was just questioning trailrunner's opinion,,read the thread again.
BTW;San Pedro de los Saguaros might be fictional but you can find towns like it through out Mexico,hell, you could argue that Guadalajara,where I live is just a bigger,more sophisticated version of it.

viajero wrote:

Trailrunner wrote:

Most Hawaiians aren't any richer in dollars/pesos than most Mexicans. BUT, they are faaaaaar richer in the important things - family, friends, love, shared food, music, beach and other free entertainment, and good times.

Faaaar richer than Mexicans in those things?

No, Viajero, my bad. I didn't word that well. What I meant is that the lives of most Hawaiians and Mexicans are far richer in the important things.

That's what I thought.

sparks wrote:Last time I was there a few years ago there were 100's of homeless living on beaches in semi-permanent shacks ... mostly on the west side of Oahu

Where's west Oahu. . .mauka, makai, leeward, or ewa? I don't know. And I bet in Hawaii they call those folks "campers", if they're Hawaiian - if they're haoles they call them "homeless"! lol Hawaii and Mexico are the same. Only one has Mexicans and the other has Hawaiians. Both eating papayas and guavas, going to cockfights, cooking out, surfing, playing music in the back yard, kids and dogs everywhere. . .same.

Thanks for the retraction....couldn't believe you said it. PLAUDITS!!

Trailrunner and viajeros:

You guys are amusing and I thank you both for the not-too-serious exchange. I appreciate guys who hold their own and maintain the fun of the boards. I actually might have retired to Hawaii if I'd been able to afford a $5,000,000 home on the beach back in 1985.

On the plus side, Hawaii was just ranked the 2nd healthiest State behind Vermont at #1:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/healthiest-state-rankings-2012_n_2272927.html#slide=1863714

Trailrunner wrote:
Where's west Oahu. . .mauka, makai, leeward, or ewa? I don't know.

All the way up the coast to Makaha and a few beyond

Ah, si. That would be Ewa. I have heard there is a significant number of people camping on the beach all along that coast up to Makaha. I bet they lost their homes. . .

Today's news: "WASHINGTON -- Democrat Daniel Inouye, the U.S. Senate's most senior member and a Medal of Honor recipient for his bravery during World War II, has died. He was 88......
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/12/17/daniel-inouye-hawaii-senator-dies/1776021/

Are there many Hawaiians living in this area? Any Hawaiian related activities or events? Just curious... trying to get my brother from Hawaii to come visit.

Heather

I remember a most unfortunate trip to Hawaii, which started badly and ended worse. I'm pretty sure it gave me that sense of impending doom whenever two or three bad things happen in sequence. Or maybe it was just my first husband who did that. Yes he was there.

Far too long to relate, I will say this about that. I have never returned to Hawaii and never will. I would never consider living there under any foreseeable circumstances.

Lime green, orange and yellow vinyl are also not my thing. Nuff said.

sparks wrote:Last time I was there a few years ago there were 100's of homeless living on beaches in semi-permanent shacks ... mostly on the west side of Oahu

Sparks, had dinner tonight with some friends from Makaha. They said there were 8000 people living on the beach on that side of the island. Of that 8000, they report that 60% are employed and leave for work every day and come home at night - and still can't afford to rent a house. The school buses stop at the camps and pick up the kids for school every day too.

Yep, Hawaii is expensive.

hkrause wrote:Are there many Hawaiians living in this area? Any Hawaiian related activities or events? Just curious... trying to get my brother from Hawaii to come visit.

Heather

Yes, Heather! There are quite a few of us here. Some of us get together and cook Hawaiian food and play music. We have a band called Hui Hawaii and we played at the first annual (benefit for Cruz Roja) luau a few months ago. We play Hawaiian music and have a hula dancer. We just had kanakapila tonight!

Tell your brother he is more than welcome to join us. Does he play music?

I flew in an out of Hawaii a lot with the military in the early 70s. Certainly is a beautiful place.

On the first trip headed back home, they were selling pimeapples at the airport for $2 each. I was a poor ole country boy. The only pineapple that I had seen came out of a can so I bought 2.

They were good so the next time I was in a grocery store in Georgia, I bought 1. It was $1 in GA. I never bought another pineapple in Hawaii.

"Yes, Heather! There are quite a few of us here. Some of us get together and cook Hawaiian food...."

Nothing compliments a can of Spam like macaroni and cheese.

As for Hawaii being the "...healthiest state in the union...." according to Neil, Dawg is from Alabama, one of the three unhealthiest and fattest states in the union and also one of the three states with the highest per capita incidents of gun related violence. I can´t believe I actually got out of there alive.

These bottom-tier states, mostly southern and (shudder) Texas, all seem to want to secede since Obama got re-elected. Maybe we should acccomodate them since they are mostly heavily subsidized economically by federal taxes redistributed from other states. I´m sure we could get France to sell this resulting new confederation of secessionist states Corsica as their first colony for a pittance. No returns of defective products considered.