Could You Live On Just $32,000 Per Year?

[robert k]

The trip home every year has been mentioned. I have not made an international flight every year for the last 50 years, I wonder why I would expect to now?

I would say that if you couldn't save enough for the trip out of the budget, you can either forgo the trip or the Philippines or living in any foreign country for that matter may not be for you. I'm sure we all made tough decisions when we are/were working, I think we still have tough decisions when we retire. Seems to be the way of the world. Maybe one needs to work an extra year to save up a travel fund.

[Dave Hounddriver]

8 hours ago, robert k said:

The trip home every year has been mentioned.

It has.  But it seems no one has mentioned what the 1,000 a month budget people do.  For those not in the know, its called a visa run.  You fly to Hong Kong (or similar destination), spend the night in the airport, and fly back the next day to begin another 3 years on your tourist visa.  The immigration official often gives people the 'evil eye' and says that the tourist visa is not a resident visa to be abused in this way, but they do not stop people from doing it as there is no law to say you cannot.  Duterte may change that, who knows.

Bottom line is:  The trip home every year is a want, not a need.

[Jollygoodfellow]

16 hours ago, Sander Martin said:

JGF depends on where you live and HOW.

The 350aud for rent budget+50 for power and internet near Perth CBD came from my friends. Two of them had a small 2 bedroom apartment units for 350aud a week (one of them was at the end of Newcastle st between Northbridge and Leederville and had a view of the Perth CBD skyscrapers - maybe 2km from The center of Perths CBD). Both of them shared the apartment with their girlfriend and said they avaraged 60aud a week for power, gas and internet. So 50aud for 1 person is very realistic. 400aud a week for a 2 bedroom unit is very duable in Perth downtown area (specially now that mining has slowed down).

100aud a week for food. I did that and no i didnt eat noodles. Had vegetables and meat everyday and three good meals a day. You have to find a good place to shop and you have to cook your own meals. Perth Spudshed shops are 2-3times cheaper than woolworths and Coles for vegetables and fruits. Did my homework and found out where to shop. Eating outside in Australia is really ?????? expensive. For my work lunches, i didnt go for the 5aud pies etc shit. Once a week on saturday/sunday i cooked a proper meals and froze my weeks lunches. We had a "pie warmer" in my work place. Inserted my frozen lunch in to the pie warmer at my first smoko (Australian for break) and by lunch time it was steaming hot.

Fuel in Australia is cheap compared to Europe, so 100aud a week is enough. I drove to work 30km (20miles) return every day 4-5days a week+weekend trips and 50aud was enough at avarage. Rego for cheap car is 150-200aud per 3 months, so at 100aud per week budget and 50audper week for fuel and 15aud per week per rego, that leaves you 35aud a week for small maintenance fund.

Ok i forgot the maybe 10-30aud a week for cleaning supplys, shampoo and toilet paper...

Had plenty of Aussi mates who complained alot, but here i was a freaking FOREIGNER and for me english was my 3rd language and i did freaking awesome. I avaraged over 1000aud (700,1000 or 1200 a week take home depending if i worked 3, 4 or 5 days) a week take home (worked 3-5 days a week on 12h shifts in Perth driving a forklift - easiest freaking job i have ever had). Never ever did i work for anything less than minimum wage during my 2year stay in Australia and my 1year stay in New Zealand. Most of the time i was earing more than the Aussis doing the same job. Had 4 bosses during my two years in Australia and three of them said that they will never ever again employ a Aussie..... 2 out of those 3 were born and raised Aussies older than 60 years. I guess i was doing a good job being paid so well and that the employers were sad to see me go. Working holiday visa only allowed me to work for 6 months out of 12 months for the same employer. On my second year back i was invited back to my job for another 6 months and given a raise (farmhand on 26aud an hour+free house and meals). Could have stayed there on a Sponsor visa, but decided to come spend time with Anne and our son and move back home.

You say $875 is plenty but your average take home a $1000 so that makes a difference. You have no phone cost in your costs nor do you take in account the other things in life when you live here permanently such as a pair of work boots, decent around $150, need new jeans etc so at times you will blow the budget. Your friends shared the apartment with their girlfriends which I assume paid half of the expenses so again big difference. Car cost, you're not taking into account the real cost as you only stay 6 months, if you lived permanently you need tyres, windscreen or whatever and anything else that goes wrong over time. Yes you can live on $875 but how much would you save out of it? 

[russellmania]

The aforementioned pension is pretty close to mine but I knew I couldn take a mortgage and a car note into my retirement. So I paid off both and live more comfortable lifestyle now. I have a rental property since 2012 and have the same worry free tenant (knock on wood) so far,so that gives me a little more cash flow. Bored in USA so sold my home and stuffs,packed up and moved to Cebu City.

[Sander Martin]

6 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

You say $875 is plenty but your average take home a $1000 so that makes a difference. You have no phone cost in your costs nor do you take in account the other things in life when you live here permanently such as a pair of work boots, decent around $150, need new jeans etc so at times you will blow the budget. Your friends shared the apartment with their girlfriends which I assume paid half of the expenses so again big difference. Car cost, you're not taking into account the real cost as you only stay 6 months, if you lived permanently you need tyres, windscreen or whatever and anything else that goes wrong over time. Yes you can live on $875 but how much would you save out of it? 

Well i never said i used all of that 1k take home wage every week. I managed to save about 450-500 on average. I stayed for two years, my visa allowed to be employed by 6months out of 12 months for the same employer (so i had to get a new job every 6 months - very easy). I didn't rent a private place for myself, so that helped. No i did not live with 15 Chinese in a closet. While in Perth i stayed in a large new house, sharing the house with two other people (we all had our private bedroom and shared the common areas). Costed me 180aud a week bills included and it was a 8km drive from CBD. If the retiree is single, then he could do that aswell and save money. Sharing houses is very popular in Australia for single people that cant afford a private house or dont want to waste money on a huge house they will live alone in.

The person with a weekly retirement budget of 875aud wouldn't spend it all the same week either. Easy way to save money on food is to buy bulk. Ill give you an example: chicken breast kilo was 2aud cheaper in Spudshed if you bought the value pack (6-7breasts) versus just buying 1-2 breasts. No i didnt eat them in a week, i froze them and used them for 2-3 weeks. Same with alot of products. 10kg bag of potatoes, rice etc lasted me weeks and weeks and saved me alot money compared to buying it 1kg at a time. It all ads up quick. Big part is where you shop. Shops like IGA etc are so overpriced. You have to find that one good shop in your area. When i was living in a WA country town, i used to drive to Perth every 2-3 weeks to go out with my mates and buy food/booz for the next 2-3 weeks. Local IGA was so epensive. Case of beer costed 60aud, when the same case was 40 in Perth. Food was 2-3times the price etc etc. 700km return trip, but just the savings from 3-4cases of beer paid the fuel (alot better variety aswell). You dont need a car that drinks 15L per 100km, get a economic car. My small Mitsubishi Mirage avaraged 6L per 100km.

How often do you change your car tyres? My weekly 100aud budget for a car had 50aud for fuel, 15aud rego(pay every 3 months 150-200 or so) and 35aud for maintenance costs. Most weeks you wouldn't be spending any money on maintenance, so that all adds up for when you need it. 4 new tyres for my car costed me 250aud fitted if i remember correctly (you change them what every 3-4 years, depending on how much you drive. A retiree wouldn't even really need a car as public transport is ok in major citys (its not ok if you are working very early).

My sample budget had 275aud a week for other costs. You said cellphone. Yes everybody needs one, but you dont need to get a fancy Iphone for 100+ aud a month. I had prepaid and costed me 20aud a month (5aud a week).Yes you need shoes and other clothing, but you aren't going to be buying them every week. 

One of the problems with that budget is if you like to smoke (very very expensive - cheapest crap is 30aud per 40sticks) and party alot (booz is expensive, specially in bars etc). A case a week and a few pints on a friday wont bankrupt you.

Other major problem is that if you dont know how to save for a rainy day and have to use all your money, living from pay check to pay check. Its a disaster waiting to happen no matter in which country do you live in.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Sander Martin

[afathertobe]

I think coming from a rich country, whether it's Switzerland or Australia you're never quite able to live as frugally as immigrants do. All the things we think we need on a "basic" budgets are luxuries for others, so very hard to compare based on huge differences in lifestyle. 

If it wasn't for family obligations and the like I could live very, very comfortably on less than 1k USD in a medium sized Thai city. Condo rental or purchases are still significantly cheaper than Philippines and of a much higher quality, so is the food, internet and many other things. Even Bangkok compares somewhat favorably to Manila or Cebu I've found, though they are comparable overall.

 Not that cost of living is everything, many other factors are equally important, but there are quite a few locations that can easily compete cost wise with the Philippines. 

Edited August 23, 2016 by afathertobe

[Gratefuled]

On 15 July 2016 at 10:57 PM, robert k said:

Some people just can't adapt.

I can and have adapted but only because it's temporary. I do not live on a fixed income. 

[Tukaram (Tim)]

17 hours ago, afathertobe said:

I think coming from a rich country, whether it's Switzerland or Australia you're never quite able to live as frugally as immigrants do. All the things we think we need on a "basic" budgets are luxuries for others, so very hard to compare based on huge differences in lifestyle. 

 

Very true. My wife and I live on p35,000 a month. To me we are kind of roughing it, but comfortable. To her family we are living large ha ha.  Like when we had our house built I let the contractor do what he wanted for most of the house, but I got very involved in the CR layout. I had to pick out all the plumbing fixtures - life is too short for bad plumbing ha ha.  I spent a lot more on plumbing fixtures than they would have!  A big difference is our grocery shopping.  We spend in one week what her family spends in about a month (p2,500).  I do like some of my creature comforts. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

15 minutes ago, Tukaram (Tim) said:

My wife and I live on p35,000 a month.

First, I want you to understand that I am not picking on you because most of us do this but:

21 minutes ago, Tukaram (Tim) said:

She had fun at Disney too. It was her first "real" amusement park. Since it was her first trip out of the country I did splurge on a very nice hotel (Auberge, Discovery Bay).

This means you are not living on a total budget of 35K pesos a month.  No way.  You must have at least that much again in savings or in your monthly budget to afford these kinds of trips.  I mention it because it is so misleading to newcomers here to believe they can live a great life on 35K a month.  My opinion is that newcomers should budget HALF of what their income is at the maximum and then save the other half for things like your Hong Kong trip.  Its what I do and it looks like its what you do.

[robert k]

10 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

First, I want you to understand that I am not picking on you because most of us do this but:

This means you are not living on a total budget of 35K pesos a month.  No way.  You must have at least that much again in savings or in your monthly budget to afford these kinds of trips.  I mention it because it is so misleading to newcomers here to believe they can live a great life on 35K a month.  My opinion is that newcomers should budget HALF of what their income is at the maximum and then save the other half for things like your Hong Kong trip.  Its what I do and it looks like its what you do.

Dave I think Tim could fix his post to suit you by adding the words average month. I don't see where taking a vacation invalidates a monthly budget, unless you are doing it monthly. I have never met Tim in person so I can't swear to it but this might have been the first expensive vacation in a few years. What is the real budget? The one off month or the 36 months that preceded it?