Living Costs in the Philippines

[HappyDave]

Not sure if it helps but I found this on another forum...

Rent 5000 (Fan room in Pension house, wifi included)
Cell Phone load 500
Clothes 500
Meds 1000
Local Travel 1500
Movies 500
US trip 2500 (every 24 months)
Public Transportation 2000
Business expenses 6000 (hosting, Facebook Ads, etc)
Laundry 1000
Saving 2000
Recreation 1,000
Vacation 2,000
Food 10000
--------------
Total php-35,000
===========

and this for the lower end.
Rent 0
Cell phone load 300
Cloths (ukay ukay) 500
Meds (not many) < 100
local travel 500
Movies (we go less than once a month) > 400
no us trip (No reason to go there)
Business expenses (paid for by business)
Laundry 800
Recreation/going out to eat/beer, 4000
No Cable
internet 1000
food 6000-7000
electric 2-3000
water 220-300
Gasul 400
motorcycle payment 1700
------------------
Total php-19,700
===========

[crisipicada]

Not sure if it helps but I found this on another forum...

Rent 5000 (Fan room in Pension house, wifi included)
Cell Phone load 500
Clothes 500
Meds 1000
Local Travel 1500
Movies 500
US trip 2500 (every 24 months)
Public Transportation 2000
Business expenses 6000 (hosting, Facebook Ads, etc)
Laundry 1000
Saving 2000
Recreation 1,000
Vacation 2,000
Food 10000
--------------
Total php-35,000
===========

and this for the lower end.
Rent 0
Cell phone load 300
Cloths (ukay ukay) 500
Meds (not many) < 100
local travel 500
Movies (we go less than once a month) > 400
no us trip (No reason to go there)
Business expenses (paid for by business)
Laundry 800
Recreation/going out to eat/beer, 4000
No Cable
internet 1000
food 6000-7000
electric 2-3000
water 220-300
Gasul 400
motorcycle payment 1700
------------------
Total php-19,700
===========

Wow, very informative! When i was receiving my full salary and with some extra income, it will range to Php.15,000-20,000 my own expenses a month. When i got sick, my family supported me and with the extended help of my family and friends, my monthly expenses goes up to Php. 30,000.00

My expenses was:
1,500 - tithes (it depends on the income or that is 10% of income plus 300 mission offering)
4,500 - food supplement
2,250 - my food contribution to my sister for a month (500 a week x 4&1/2 weeks in a month )
3,150- daily fare, food for lunch, and expenses going home every weekend (700 per week x 4 & 1/2 in a month)
2,000- (500 groceries per week for personal care like shampoo, soap, lotion, welch juice, toothpaste, etc.)
6,000- or more for hospitalization and medicine and other prescribe by the doctor (3,000 or more every two weeks of check up)
1,000- (200 to 300 load per week and sometime 500) sorry, i always call and text my mother hehehehe and i was using my phone for internet before)
500 - contribution to electricity at home (or half of the bill)
1,800-groceries for home during weekend (minimum of 400 a week)
700 - clothes i bought in a month
Total of: 23,400.00
and then some expenses not listed...

Gasul now at 11kg is 700-750.

[brettlee]

The Philippines is a country in South East Asia with breath-taking natural features and scenery on over 7.000 islands.
The cost of living in Philippines is a lot lower than Europe or America.

[purex]

The Philippines is a country in South East Asia with breath-taking natural features and scenery on over 7.000 islands.
The cost of living in Philippines is a lot lower than Europe or America.

That is true.

[crisipicada]

living cost here depends on how much you earn. if you earn more, the more you crave for things and own a new one.

if you are receiving or earning a meager amount, so your needs are change. today, filipino work for the day's need. as long as today is meet, that is how mostly are doing.

tomorrow is another day to work to meet the need. how lucky for the rich country who have not experience such difficulty.

no matter what, always remember that being contented is a good attitude. we may desire for the better but be thankful for what you have today.

[Edwin]

It is cheaper for me to go visit the Philippines because Carol, my wife, is too scared to fly on an airplane, so I don't have to buy her a tickit. ha ha Actually I am sad that she is afraid to fly because her brother lives in the Philippines all the time, the year around, and we could go visit him once in a while if she were not afraid to fly. When I went last fall, her brother offered to buy her, her airline ticket if she would come with me to see him, but she really was afraid. Years ago I piloted airplanes, so I don't have the fear. Matter of a fact I am disappointed if the airplane doesn't bounce around a bit. I think it is fun while everyone else is scared. I was very happy that the airplane did some bouncing when we flew to the Philippines, but Al and Claire were praying that it wouldn't crash!

[crisipicada]

The prices are getting higher, since the oil price is getting higher too. This has been the trend when we talk about economic status of certain country. This is because oil is what being use in cars, big trucks, inorder to transport commodities in different places.

Last year, this month, the price of rice ranges from 1,300 - 1,500 pesos, but now, the prices ranges from 1,650-1800 per sack. The increase of 10%-20% per sack. While the salaries and wages of people are not increasing, this makes filipino's life become harder.

[Edwin]

Yes, when oil prices increase the cost of shipping goods increases, and then that cost is passed on to the consumers. We don't have much choice because there are some things we have to buy. If costs are increasing, and our wages are not, then that puts a hard squeeze on us to try to make things work with less, and often with almost less than we have. We can try as hard as we can to hold spending down, but a certain amount of spending is almost necessary. When ever my friend and his filipina wife go to the Philippines he buys every family a large sack of rice except for one family of their relatives who is probably better off than he is. He is very generous, and often gives when her family tells him, no don't give, you are enabling them to want to take hand outs instead of making their own way, and there is something to be said for that, but he can't help himself, he gives anyway, because he is that kind of person.

[Smiley]

It has been a long time since I have been in the Philippines.I am seriously considering a trip there next spring for at least a month. Im seriously looking at the possibility of retiring there. Most of my experience is in the Manilla area but strangely most of the people that I know are on Mindanao. I am not looking for big city life,more small town/rural.
Mostly I`m just looking to explore my options.

[Edwin]

Yes, I think there are some pretty nice places in the Philippines. I think there is a little variation in climate and temperatures in the Philippines, but when I was there from the 16th of October to the end of that month, it was hot and humid, especially in and around Dumaguete, Negros Oriental. It was somewhat the same in Manila. I guess some places near the mountains and at higher elevations it can actually be cool. My brother-in-law, who just died, enjoyed the heat very much. My wife, his sister, would die in the heat as both the heat and the cold bother her. I think a person gets climatized to it, as I have not heard very many filipino people complaining about the hot and humid weather, where as my friend was miserable if the fan was not blowing on him all the time. When they had the brownouts, or blackouts, it really bothered him that his fan had no electricity, and then we would go outside on the back of the house facing the water to try to get cooler air. We drank lots of water. I could enjoy living in the Philippines very much. I would want to feel safe, and feel like the people that I was the closest to loved me, and then I would be okay.