Moving to Paris Broke as Hell

The more and more time I spend on this website, the more I am falling in love with it. In a recent article titled “How to Move to Paris with No Money,” author Tom Dibblee introduces readers to the mandatory steps to settling into the City of Lights without a dime in your pocket. He has lived in Paris, so he would know a couple of things beyond my personal experience, but the recommendations that he makes are tremendously helpful and effective at moving to Paris and setting up shop without immediately even having a place to stay.

Although I praise his ingenuity and his ability to think outside the box in terms of what it takes to successfully move to one of the most expensive cities on the globe, I’m not so sure Americans – especially people without the inherent traveller mentality – are going to willing to do what is necessary to accomplish their goals of settling down in Paris; like eating only carrot salad and a bag of peanuts…I like how he mentions Franprix though, because they are pretty interesting little shoppes that litter Paris with inexpensive eats and the daily necessities of life in a big city, kind of like a big Walgreens – but I’m not sure I would necessarily grocery shop at them when the Sunday Markets can be a huge source for everything you need for the week at a fraction of what it would cost to shop every day.

Again though, these options aren’t necessarily the most glamorous. He mentions that you can pick up 150g bag of peanuts and a carrot salad for 1.5E, which doesn’t make all that much sense to me when I bought a couple of 2-foot long baguettes and about 3/4 inch of pate for only 3.5E at the market on Sunday. If you aren’t off-put by a liver pate and baguette, it kept me full for almost three days, which is a small price to pay – and much more flavorful than carrot salad and peanuts…

I enjoyed the article, but I think it could have potentially been a bit more comprehensive. For example, sure couchsurfing works, but it is so tremendously temporary that it is more of a place to land and crash for a couple of nights and adjust to the time difference rather than a place to stay for 2 weeks while you find a flat to rent. Also, preparing yourself ahead of time with something like a TEFL Certificate will GREATLY improve your chances of landing a job and he fails to mention anything of that.

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