In Reply to: Move to Bali posted by Keluarga besar on Monday, 29. March 2010 at 17:09 Bali Time:
We gave up a luxury lifestyle to live a simple life in Bali and feel great that we don't have all those materialistic things anymore, we don't have the stress of our corporate lives nor the pressure to keep up with 'the Joneses' but that is our choice. If I we had the salary's we were on prior we would living the high-life here in Bali and probably find new Joneses to keep up with but we stick to our Indonesian friends on similar incomes and have a joy we have never experienced before.
We do not have children and personally we could not afford to on what we earn, however we have the joy of our little ones in our village that we work in so we have children around us every day.
It's more expensive here than people think, Work permits, rent, electricity, International schools (which I think in high school is a must for them to have the opportunities they would have in your home country, especially if your children don't want to stay in Bali when they are older), healthcare, lots of extra charges for getting things done on time or nearly on time.
If you can afford it do it. But be prepared to learn patience, without patience and acceptance of other cultures (and that you will always be the guest here so your culture is not taken into consideration), acceptance of the bureaucracy (it may not be right but you will not feel peace unless you accept it).
Good Luck!
Oh, and get used to regular power cuts and bad internet connections so you can't always get on BTF.