My Actual Spending For July 2013

[i am bob]

Most of the cars i've seen are more expensive!

I tell people I live happily on $800 a month - but I would not recommend it to anyone ha ha. It is all up to you.

That's what I have been trying to get across for the last 2 years... I will be happy with $xxx so how can someone tell me what I'll be happy with our not? And how can I tell someone else if they will be happy or not on what they have to live on? I get so mad sometimes hearing others say nobody can be happy if they live on less than P1,000,000 a month... Noe if somebody wants to say what they have to do without or even just don't like to buy because it is too expensive and include a price, this I can agree to. But don't expect me to blindly follow someone who can't live without their Perrier and caviar and then tells the rest of the world how expensive it is to live in the Philippines! Yes, a little exaggerated but just to show my point.

[ABCDiamond]

I know what you are saying but at the same time this is one of the points that drives me crazy... Everyone posts how we can't live like kings but only exist. That may be true but there is also something in-between where we may not have a palace and personal slaves but we still live really good lives beyond just "existing". And this is a subjective point because what for some is just existing will be heaven in paradise for others. So please don't think I'm picking on you because I'm not, I just really don't like the term "existing" when we discuss lifestyles in the Philippines.

I suppose I have seen so much poverty, and people "existing" although seemingly happy, that it is of concern when we can listen to a Filipino, and hear how good life is, on so little, and yet the lifestyles are so vastly different.

 

Having been married to a Filipina for over 20 years, albeit in Australia, it was a surprise to learn so much from living in the Philippines for 10 of the last 12 months.

 

There are many Filipinos that live very comfortable lives, and you hear so much about them and their lifestyles, and yet also hear about average incomes. It becomes easy to feel that a good life in the Philippines is cheap.

But in reality, these very comfortable Filipinos have earnings in excess of the average Australian, and are nothing like the real average Filipino.

 

One thing I was told for years was how we could go and live in the Philippines and live like Royalty, and yet in reality you end up going downhill even on the same income.  The problem is the expectations that we get, that do not live up to reality.

 

However, I was fortunate, as I learned never to believe what my wife said, and so when I came over, with a new partner, (another Filipina) I was relatively happy with the standard of living, and don't really want to live like a king ;)

 

The one thing that does get to me though is the Vast class difference, between those that have and those that don't.  Reminiscent of the 1800's....

 

Some Filipinos that earn 3,000 pesos per month working 60 hours per week in a restaurant, watching other Filipinos spend 3,000 pesos on a meal.

[jpbago]

From my own experience, and that of watching others, I can emphatically say that your budget will vary with the companion you choose.

   Yes, there are many factors involved in the cost of living, like if someone gets sick and has to be hospitalized or if you have kids in school or as to what lifestyle you accept. That is in the companion that one chooses.

   I had 2 girls in the hospital for 16 days in July. My expenses for that month was about 330,000p. I have 1 girl in 4th year private school and 1 in 1st year college. Exams, tuition, etc in August brought my expenses up to around 150,000p. (We went to Cebu for 2 nights also. 6 of us)

  My other expenses like water, electric, and internet are the same as the others but my food is much higher as there are 6 of us from ages 15 to 83. I do not pay rent. I drink.

  Money wise, my life in Canada was much better but I did not have a family as I do here. It cannot be compared as it not apples to apples.

  For those that wish to live here with little money, choose a sterile orphan for a wife (no children and no siblings). Papa Carl is doing it right by having an education fund for his daughter now so when the time comes, the money will be there. Having only one child is a good idea too. Too many children with little or no income leads to poverty.

  I keep on saying to myself "It is only money and you can't take it with you. An armored bank truck never follows the hearse"

[MikeB]

I planned and planned my budget, considered every possible scenario except what actually happened. Came single, now there are 3 of us (and 2 cats) so the countless hours of planning over 5 years were basically wasted.  

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I planned and planned my budget, considered every possible scenario except what actually happened. Came single, now there are 3 of us (and 2 cats) so the countless hours of planning over 5 years was basically wasted.  

 

I am afraid that is normal ha ha!  I had all kinds of plans.  Changed most of them last minute.  Changed the rest of them after I got here....   As long as you are enjoying yourself all is good    :tiphat:

[Mike S]

I think telling anyone that they can live anywhere in this world on their SS and live like a king is a bunch of crap ..... besides what is happiness for one is misery for another ..... does spending p100,000 per month make you happy or would you like to spend 150,000 to make you happier ....

 

Just what determines happiness I've personally know people with piles of money but were they truly happy .... one guy wasn't because he was always worried someone might take advantage of him .... it ruined our friendship ..... :unsure:

 

I've been told happiness is a state of mind .... not what you have .... which to me is the reason Filipinos with what seems like without a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of are happy ..... and yes sometimes I wonder how they survive ..... but they do ..... JMHO .... :thumbsup: 

:cheersty:        

[Thomas]

Having only one child is a good idea too. Too many children with little or no income leads to poverty.

Well. Yes, to many children is a problem many poor Filipin families have,

but I don't recomend 1 child, because it's hard to avoid single children get extra trouble in relations when they become grown ups. (Because of overprotection, spoiling, get 100 % of the attention from parents, so they are used to get 100 % not 50 % or less...) But that research goes for "kano countries" children. Perhaps it's different for Asian children, because many of them grow up with cousins - or same age aunts/uncles :)  - in similar to sibbling relations, because of Asians live different from how we do in our home countries. (The important for single or "sibling position" isn't blood sibling situation, it's what children live with same caretaker underpending of if it's their parents or not. I mean "undepending" when they are treated equaly. Of course it make a difference if living together with half/"plastic" siblings, and being taken care of by evil stepmother favouring her own biological children.)

[Papa Carl]

 

I planned and planned my budget, considered every possible scenario except what actually happened. Came single, now there are 3 of us (and 2 cats) so the countless hours of planning over 5 years was basically wasted.  

 

I am afraid that is normal ha ha!  I had all kinds of plans.  Changed most of them last minute.  Changed the rest of them after I got here....   As long as you are enjoying yourself all is good    :tiphat:

 

 

Very well said Tuka Ram! Triple like!

 

It is true that I do not live like a King here, but the difference is I live well, even to western standards on considerably less money! In the UK, I was always broke at the end of the month, lived off my credit cards. Yes I had a beautiful 5 bedroom house, and two cars etc etc. and here I live in a much smaller two bedroom house with two baths, and I only drive a second hand car, but what do I need with driving a Jag around in the Philippines? I will only make myself a target.

 

The bottom line, is that I am far more content here, living on what I have, with no credit cards, than I ever was in any other country I have lived in.

 

Would it be nice to have the credit cards again?... Maybe, to use as an emergency if I needed to get to Canada quickly to see my 81 year old mother. Would I like a little extra cash? .... Yes probably, but I could work at an extra job, as I am only working between 3 and 5 hours a day now, 5 days a week, but I choose not to, so that I can spend more time with my wife and my daughter, which I never would have considered in the UK or Canada.

 

So I guess the bottom line is, live within your means (no easy job for most of us Westerners), and appreciate what you have.

 

It is what it is.

 

So long as Tuka Ram says, if you are enjoying yourself......, what else do you need?

 

 

Papa Carl

[Tukaram (Tim)]

People all over need to learn to act their wage. 

[Papa Carl]

People all over need to learn to act their wage. 

 

Triple like Tuka Ram, never heard that before, Love it!!!