Can I Really Live On $1000 A Month In The Philippines

[Jack Peterson]

doesn't get much better than that.

Well, Frosty, I have said it before and I don't really care, if I sound like a broken record!, Integration and living with/as the Locals will yeald you, a good life and reduce your cost dramatically. We the foreigner, " Are, our own worst Enemies"  so many, will not or can not, adapt to the life here. YET if they try it, they too, will find out that in the Main Streets , the Tourist areas, we are all just being ripped off. To avoid the " Long nose Tax, don't go where the "Long Nose Tax" can be applied. Stay around the area you live in. When in Rome, comes to mind here. When we go out and about we know, we are going to pay more but for day to day things, I have to agree with you, it does not get much better, than your local Sari - Sari

 

         25 peso at local Sari Sari    45/60 at bar on the Boulevard

 

                    20 malboro, 35 peso at sari sari  65/90 at Boulevard 

 

This is Dumaguete of course.

 

Go Figure.

 

 

 

:tiphat:

[frosty (chris)]

 

doesn't get much better than that.

I have to agree with you, it does not get much better, than your local Sari - Sari

 

Thanks Jack, always enjoy my local and always feel welcome, sml 40 pesos, sml apple 28 pesos, hahaahah go figure, packet Marvel Menthol 20 pesos, if you want some local tucker(not bad) rice 15 pesos for a full plate and extras 20 pesos a bowl. Did notice at the mall Lucky Strike, buy one take one 64 pesos for 2 packs. I suppose it's just a case of adjusting, went to the local markets the other day, was a blast. Minute Burgers buy one get one, had 4 for 118 pesos, oh 8pesos for a bottle of coke

Edited June 3, 2014 by frosty (chris)

[robert k]

I really enjoyed the grocery shopping, both market and wet market. My strategy was to let the women pick out what they usually buy and I would grab 5 times as much of it and throw it in the cart. I made special note of the ingredient of what went into the dishes I liked best and those ingredients got special attention. Milk was no shock because I had lived on an island before and I did get some mostly as a treat for the little ones who rarely had it. Aside from eggs, chicken and loganisa sausage from the wet market and my inevitable coca-colas $130 went a long way at the grocery store. Fed about 7 people for 15 days for about $200 when you include the dining out and wet market additions. All this supplemented with some trips to mang inasal, angels hamburgers for the austrian sausage, as I could not convince myself they sold burgers after tasing one. I was disappointed with trike prices in rural Mindoro and I was assured that I was not charged Kano prices, they just charge as much empty as to come get you as they would to take you to town, so I bought a motorcycle. :) I was spoiled by trike prices in Dumaguete, sometimes when we texted a driver to come pick us up, he must have came as far to get us as the trikes on Mindoro (about 2 miles) but they just charged for the destination. Only a very few trike drivers tried to get piratical with me in Dumaguete and they just lost my business.

 

I was surprised how cheap it was to travel by ferry. You can travel cheap if you do it as Filipinos do but it's slow. By bus, get the aircon one if possible, it's really worth a few piso more. Plan your stops and book rooms online. In all cases I would advise to start early, if it does not run 24 hours a day, you probably want to catch the first one on the first leg of your trip whether it be ferry or bus. Spur of the moment changes are going to cost, be inconvenient, or both. It's not good to miss the last ferry until morning when you could have slept on the bench seat overnight.

 

How much your living costs is a matter of do you live there with benefits of island living? Or are you on perpetual vacation? If it's perpetual vacation, you would save money by not living in the Philippines. I could do $1,000 comfortably. I could do $500 alone in a nipa hut with a fan, but only if I were alone and had my own motorcycle so I wasn't home bound. Like Tuka Ram's quote " I enjoy it but I wouldn't recommend it" It sums up very well living on the cheap. Another thing that comes to mind is Good-Fast-Cheap, pick two.

 

Some people have said living cheap is a matter of lowering your standards, I think it's more a matter of fitting in to the prevailing standards. You could live with the same luxuries you had in your home country, but realize that they are not as cheap to replicate in a 3rd world country or even on a small island of a first world country. There is no volume discount on luxuries because not enough people can afford them. Fuel, reliable cars, milk and several other things have a cost premium just because you are on an island. If you have seen what people will drive on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, you would be amazed at the orderly appearance of vehicles in the Philippines. On St. Thomas, I have seen passenger cars without doors, windshield, headlights, fenders, engine compartment hood, and the car behind that one was almost as bad, but everyone wore their seatbelt and had a Hala is my co-pilot bumpersticker. :thumbsup:

[sandwichmaker]

doesn't get much better than that.

I have to agree with you, it does not get much better, than your local Sari - Sari

Thanks Jack, always enjoy my local and always feel welcome, sml 40 pesos, sml apple 28 pesos, hahaahah go figure, packet Marvel Menthol 20 pesos, if you want some local tucker(not bad) rice 15 pesos for a full plate and extras 20 pesos a bowl. Did notice at the mall Lucky Strike, buy one take one 64 pesos for 2 packs. I suppose it's just a case of adjusting, went to the local markets the other day, was a blast. Minute Burgers buy one get one, had 4 for 118 pesos, oh 8pesos for a bottle of coke

My my, cigs, coke cola and beer, good to see folks keeping healthy around here lol!

[frosty (chris)]

 

 

 

doesn't get much better than that.

I have to agree with you, it does not get much better, than your local Sari - Sari

Thanks Jack, always enjoy my local and always feel welcome, sml 40 pesos, sml apple 28 pesos, hahaahah go figure, packet Marvel Menthol 20 pesos, if you want some local tucker(not bad) rice 15 pesos for a full plate and extras 20 pesos a bowl. Did notice at the mall Lucky Strike, buy one take one 64 pesos for 2 packs. I suppose it's just a case of adjusting, went to the local markets the other day, was a blast. Minute Burgers buy one get one, had 4 for 118 pesos, oh 8pesos for a bottle of coke

My my, cigs, coke cola and beer, good to see folks keeping healthy around here lol!

 

Well I suppose it is better than whinging about how much food costs here hahahahahh :lol:

[davewe]

 

 

 SMB.jpg        25 peso at local Sari Sari    45/60 at bar on the Boulevard

 

 

I posted this on another forum, but still think it's applicable in the debate over how cheap or expensive it is in the Philippines:

 

A guy visits or moves to the Philippines. He discovers San Miguel. It's cheap and not half bad. He's a happy camper and the Philippines seems so great. Does he:

 

a. Save money on his monthly beer budget by drinking San Miguel, or

b. Drink more, declaring "this place isn't so damn cheap and I have to get drunk every day to put up with it."

[Jack Peterson]

b. Drink more, declaring "this place isn't so damn cheap and I have to get drunk every day to put up with it."

 

 

I guess, if volume becomes the issue, it may be time to move on to Litre bottles.

 

3x 330 SMB @ 25 = 75p

 

1 full litre SMB @ 67 = 67p

 

thus  :)  a saving of 8 peso per Litre, if he drinks 2 litres a day, to stay happy, then he gets a saving of 112 pesos, over 7 days

 

Where there is a will, there will be a way to save a little cash  :lol:

 

 

JP :tiphat:

[Tukaram (Tim)]

We have a distributor right down the street.  They will deliver by the case!  Good prices too ha ha   :tiphat:

[Jack Peterson]

We have a distributor right down the street.  They will deliver by the case!  Good prices too ha ha 

 

Things get better, with each Post   :thumbsup:

[sonjack2847]

 

b. Drink more, declaring "this place isn't so damn cheap and I have to get drunk every day to put up with it."

 

 

I guess, if volume becomes the issue, it may be time to move on to Litre bottles.

 

3x 330 SMB @ 25 = 75p

 

1 full litre SMB @ 67 = 67p

 

thus  :)  a saving of 8 peso per Litre, if he drinks 2 litres a day, to stay happy, then he gets a saving of 112 pesos, over 7 days

 

Where there is a will, there will be a way to save a little cash  :lol:

 

 

JP :tiphat:

 

This morning I met my friends Father in law in the market. He tells me that Tuba (coconut wine) Is 20 peso a gallon here.I see some of the locals after they have been drinking it so won`t try it myself. Here I usually pay in a bar 30 -35 for a pilsen 70 for a grande.