The Cost Of The Philippine Dream

[PeterKramer]

I think people are familiar with costs in the US and EU so there's point for me to say how expensive it was to live in Connecticut. My expenses were much higher (including child support) and I was making over $60K. I have a 2 BR apartment unfurnished and it costs P7500. I pay P435 for Cable and around P160 for water. Below are some prices I paid for items at the malls in Toledo City. I also bought a 175 cc Kawasaki motorcycle for P77,400, ~$1730. It gets 57 km/L (~134 mpg). It can accelerate a lot faster than my 2006 Toyota 2.4L Camry could, but I'm afraid to take it higher than ~60 Km/hr as the traffic rules are not carefully observed by most drivers here.

 

  peso $$ $/lb Alaska 1.0 L cow's milk 74.50 $1.66   Hershey Kisses w/ Almonds 82 g 160.00 $3.57   Happy-Nut Hot & Spicy Pack 20 x 6 g ea 17.25 $0.39   Café Puro 400g 189.00 $4.22 $4.78 Growerw mix Nuts 80 g 58.25 $1.30   Norwegian Salmon 479.00 per kg 0.255 kg 122.15 $2.73 $4.85 Nestle Milk Cream 48x300g 65.00 $1.45   Alaska Condensded Milk 168 mL 34.70 $0.77   San Miguel Beer 1 can 32.75 $0.73   Eden Filled Cheese 165 g 43.75 $0.98   Ghigh Fiber Wht Raisin Loaf (rasin bread) 65.00 $1.45   Del Monte Fruit Cocktail 850 g 1 lb 14 oz 94.75 $2.11   Lion Ivory Supreme Rice 5.0 kg (11 lb) 237.60 $5.30   Maggi Magic Sarap (All-In-One Seasoning) 31.15 $0.70   QV garlic Taiwan 0.042 kg 136/kg 5.71 $0.13 $1.38         Plastic Crate 249.95 $5.58   pk of 100 zip ties 120 mm 34.95 $0.78     peso $$ $/lb Alaska 1.0 L cow's milk 74.50 $1.66   Hershey Kisses w/ Almonds 82 g 160.00 $3.57   Happy-Nut Hot & Spicy Pack 20 x 6 g ea 17.25 $0.39   Café Puro 400g 189.00 $4.22 $4.78 Growerw mix Nuts 80 g 58.25 $1.30   Norwegian Salmon 479.00 per kg 0.255 kg 122.15 $2.73 $4.85 Nestle Milk Cream 48x300g 65.00 $1.45   Alaska Condensded Milk 168 mL 34.70 $0.77   San Miguel Beer 1 can 32.75 $0.73   Eden Filled Cheese 165 g 43.75 $0.98   Ghigh Fiber Wht Raisin Loaf (rasin bread) 65.00 $1.45   Del Monte Fruit Cocktail 850 g 1 lb 14 oz 94.75 $2.11   Lion Ivory Supreme Rice 5.0 kg (11 lb) 237.60 $5.30   Maggi Magic Sarap (All-In-One Seasoning) 31.15 $0.70   QV garlic Taiwan 0.042 kg 136/kg 5.71 $0.13 $1.38         Plastic Crate 249.95 $5.58   pk of 100 zip ties 120 mm 34.95 $0.78

 

 

Chicken Wings, Php/kg, $/lb 157 $1.59   Femme BT 300 2PLY 12S 83.00 $1.85   Extra PRM Paper Towels 49.25 $1.10   Bear Brand w/ Iron 2200 g 799.85 $17.85   Kraft Eden Singles 6 slcs 125 g 42.05 $0.94   Worcestershire Sauce 340 mL 43.00 $0.96   GoldenSwan Light Soy Sauce 350 mL 25.20 $0.56   Coke Light 1.5 L 44.75 $1.00   Pork cubes ~500g 106.59 $2.38   Lumpia Shanghai 6 pieces 25.53 $0.57   Jolly Canola Oil 2.0 L 247.70 $5.53   Susan Baker Chinese Green Tea Bags 50 44.75 $1.00   Chicken Thighs 160/kg 615 g 98.40 $2.20 $1.62 Clara OLE Bluebery Jam 320 g 102.90 $2.30   Lily's Peanut Butter 364g 108.00 $2.41   Schweppes Tonic Water 1 can 330 mL 25.15 $0.56   Nestle Creamy Yogurt 125 g 33.00 $0.74   Anchor Lite Milk 1L 83.25 $1.86  

[tomaw]

IMHO most traditional schools provide the wrong type of socialization. Children in traditional schools have to deal with bully's, peer pressure, other children taunting them and making fun of them,

Well my friend, that is all part of growing Up.

You seem a well adjusted member and from what I read of your postings your traditional schooling does seem to have dome you any harm at all.

Just my observations. :)

JP :tiphat: :thumbsup:

If I am well adjusted (others may differ on that conclusion) then it is in spite of a public education, not because of it.

And that public education was over 40 years ago. Public education has gone much further down hill since then. I am

of course speaking primarily of traditional education in the USA.

Where in the USA? It's a big country and there are lots of differences even in the same city. Wanting to keep your child from falling in with the wrong crowd is understandable. Sooner or later though your child will have to learn how to deal with the real world.

[earthdome]

 

 

 

IMHO most traditional schools provide the wrong type of socialization. Children in traditional schools have to deal with bully's, peer pressure, other children taunting them and making fun of them,

Well my friend, that is all part of growing Up.

You seem a well adjusted member and from what I read of your postings your traditional schooling does seem to have dome you any harm at all.

Just my observations. :)

JP :tiphat: :thumbsup:

If I am well adjusted (others may differ on that conclusion) then it is in spite of a public education, not because of it.

And that public education was over 40 years ago. Public education has gone much further down hill since then. I am

of course speaking primarily of traditional education in the USA.

Where in the USA? It's a big country and there are lots of differences even in the same city. Wanting to keep your child from falling in with the wrong crowd is understandable. Sooner or later though your child will have to learn how to deal with the real world.

 

 

For me, the wrong crowd is not only the bad kids but those in authority at schools who teach propaganda to children. Those who socialize children with values which would make them dependent on government and discourages individualism and creativity.

[bows00]

I will be moving to the Philippines with a pension of $46,000 US when I reach my 56th birthday in 2017.  Although I am sure I will be able to afford the essentials, I have a bigger concern... with all that free time, how I will keep busy without spending all my money?  And for sure, I will have to cut back on my visits to the bars there...

[Jack Peterson]

I will be moving to the Philippines with a pension of $46,000 US when I reach my 56th birthday in 2017.  Although I am sure I will be able to afford the essentials, I have a bigger concern... with all that free time, how I will keep busy without spending all my money?  And for sure, I will have to cut back on my visits to the bars there...

 

 

HI Bows, long time no hear from you.  :unsure:  now before we all confused What exactly do you mean. You will come with 46k or is this a yearly or monthly figure.  :rolleyes:  if it's monthly or yearly I am sure you will have no problems at all but if this is your nest egg till an SS pension then yes a little conservative spending will be required

[Gerald Glatt]

My advice would be to  spend the money on women wine and song,  the rest you can just waste

[bows00]

I will be moving to the Philippines with a pension of $46,000 US when I reach my 56th birthday in 2017.  Although I am sure I will be able to afford the essentials, I have a bigger concern... with all that free time, how I will keep busy without spending all my money?  And for sure, I will have to cut back on my visits to the bars there...

 

 

HI Bows, long time no hear from you.  :unsure:  now before we all confused What exactly do you mean. You will come with 46k or is this a yearly or monthly figure.  :rolleyes:  if it's monthly or yearly I am sure you will have no problems at all but if this is your nest egg till an SS pension then yes a little conservative spending will be required

Well, the 46K is not my nest egg, just my annual pension - and yes, too young to start collecting SS. My plan is to let my nest egg grow (all invested in US equities) while I buy time and live on my pension in the Philippines. I am hoping to live a semi-western life style there - don't think I could handle the province, especially the outhouses with no toilet paper. Could never figure out how to use the bucket of water with scooper...

[MikeB]

I am hoping to live a semi-western life style there - don't think I could handle the province, especially the outhouses with no toilet paper.

There are also cannibal tribes that trap and eat unsuspecting tourists.

[Thomas]

Robert, kids aren't rotten..

Well. When they are, it often depend og their parents    :)

I find that Filipino hs students are better prepared to do college-level maths

???  Beter than who???  It's very hard to find Filipins, who can count even the simplest percent. Even several TEACHERS don't know, so not odd most students can't.

I have found only 2 Filipins, who can count A BIT harder percent  (=Recounting to YEAR interest*.) Perhaps that's why COMMON loans in the Philippines can have interests per MONTH as we have per YEAR    :mocking:   :bash:

 

*After checking if they can count how many percent interest 1 of 5 is   - which very FEW can -  I ask the few corect:

How many percent per YEAR has this example?   ROUGH  counting is ok.  (Because it's easy to count almost corect, but very hard to vount perfect  :)

Loan 5. Pay 6.

Pay back time is 120 days, same amount paid every day, starting direct.

 

A Filipin MASTER BUSINESS students could NOT. 

The only two I have found who can is a headmaster

and a clever Filipina with NOT finnished High School, She could 1 percent = 1/100.  She managed to FIGUERE OUT how to count.

(Plus two working with bank/economy PERHAPS know. I haven't asked them.)

[Thomas]

 

You could also home school the kid here in the Philippines via online programs. A former coworker of mine did that with his teenage daughter from Florida.

If you could get together with other parents doing the same thing and have the kids get together for study groups and social activities, this could be a good idea. Otherwise the kids that are just home schooled with no interaction with anybody but their parents will grow up with zero social skills not to mention a rather boring existence.

A well educated Filipina I know, widow after a German, started home schooling for their kids AND a few of their friends.

She made it so good, so the BARANGGAY started RECOMEND her "school" !!!  :)  In a few years it has grown to 75 (?) students and 10 teachers !   :thumbsup:   although she didn't realy want to exband  :lol:

 

 

Thus they are better off in a true school - they can get the social interaction, the schooling - and then, after they are home at night, the parents can do the schooling that is missed during the day.

Well. OK IF LITLE schooling at home in evenings, because otherwice they will get to litle free time,

That's why  (If I don't settle close enough to the school I mentioned close above), I plan to home school my kids 1-2 days per week, so they get friends in a close school too. 

 

When it comes to schooling I think it's more up to the person!

If the person doesn't want to learn then that person will not learn no matter how good the school and parents are!

Yes, IF the student get a chance. SOME subjects need good teaching/tutoring, while some subjects are possible to learn good with just SELF studies. I mean AFTER they know the basics in math and reading   :)