My budget has been blown up.

[stevewool]

Many have read my threads or have bypassed it thinking not again  but I have a confession to share.

I was doing a budget of living in England then Spain and then the Philippines, yes I know the cost for England ,Spain could be a little cheaper and I was hoping the Philippines would be cheaper still.

But  on asking Emma for a break down of cost she finally told me she has never had to manage the cost of running a house, she worked but paid her way living at home, then she gave up work to care for her Mum until she past, then she moved to her sister's house to care for there children, so she has really no idea about costing.

Ok we could work out this and that and food will always be different each week and who may visit or us visiting them, but other bills she is unsure.

Be prepared to be bored or be prepared to block my threads for future questions, you have been warned.

[AlwaysRt]

14 minutes ago, stevewool said:

Many have read my threads or have bypassed it thinking not again  but I have a confession to share.

I was doing a budget of living in England then Spain and then the Philippines, yes I know the cost for England ,Spain could be a little cheaper and I was hoping the Philippines would be cheaper still.

But  on asking Emma for a break down of cost she finally told me she has never had to manage the cost of running a house, she worked but paid her way living at home, then she gave up work to care for her Mum until she past, then she moved to her sister's house to care for there children, so she has really no idea about costing.

Ok we could work out this and that and food will always be different each week and who may visit or us visiting them, but other bills she is unsure.

Be prepared to be bored or be prepared to block my threads for future questions, you have been warned.

The most important pieces of what I see probably coming is going to be way more personal to your preferences, which of course we do not know, but can make several hundred percent differences to pricing. I am thinking about food costs and travel costs. Depending on your tastes food for 2 can be a few hundred to a couple thousand per day (several thousand per day if wanting higher end western restaurant food). Same with travel, fly, drive, taxi, trike, aircon, fan, upscale hotel, or local nipa hut...... 

[JJReyes]

In preparing a monthly or annual budget, you need to break it down to two categories: fixed costs and variable costs. Fix are expenses like housing rental or mortgage, insurance and cellular phone services. Variable may include food, drinks, dining out and travel. There is flexibility in the second category. You may want to add a third which is a reserve fund for the unexpected.

In our case, my wife and I maintain a daily expense log. We know exactly where all our money went for expenses during the past 25 years. 

[robert k]

Steve, I was probably averaging about 550 pesos a day for food. For two people and my likes I would double that with the happy probability that with two people there is hopefully twice the chance that someone is willing to cook on any given day and whatever you save can be applied to a meal out. Eating at home improves ones chance of eating well on a lot less money. Eating out I could eat tapsilog for 130 php [big breakfast] moderate sized chicken quarter + rice lunch for 100 php and Chowking would get the rest for a chicken Laureate or Golden fried pork for dinner. I could bring home enough pork chops, noodles and vegetables to eat for 3 days on that amount. Sometimes I would get a large watermelon for 200-230 php and that would make 2 meals in and of itself. Sometimes I was in the mood for a pizza and that would hurt the budget, but it didn't happen enough for me to invest in a pizza oven to make them myself. I did have some really lousy Chinese food for what turned out to be a ridiculous price in Manila and I went to Chowking every day for the next several days because I at least knew what I was going to get there and what it costs, but you have to try something new sometimes. Local food is not that expensive to me and I didn't need a lot of imports. I ate a little more rice than usual for me but not that much as I preferred noodles which were about as cheap and after I added fresh vegetable to the dried ones that came with the noodles, quite tasty and probably more nutritious. I doubt you will starve Steve.

[stevewool]

Thanks for the replies boys, it was mainly Electric charges, water charges and other charges like these, is there anything like household insurance or buildings insurance or am i wasting my time for these things.

Deep down i know we will be fine with our budgets also i do have the three budgets, number 1 is for Emma to spend on food and the bills, number 2 is for our trips and goodies , but i am in charge of that one, and number 3 for the just incase.

[Gratefuled]

I like the way you are preparing yourself for living here. Life here will not be anything like Europe but I'm sure you know this. Cultural shock will be minimal since your wife is a Filipina.

Your budget will be the least of your problems. 

Once you decide where to live, the rest will become easy to manage. Getting adjusted to the weather will take a little time. 

Good Luck. 

[virginprune]

Electric charges can vary dramatically depending on what you are powering, air con being the main thing for higher bills. We don't have aircon and only one big fan outside on the rear verandah if it gets too humid. We have and run all the usual appliances and devices that most households have and our bill is around P1100 a month. 

Water, which I don't have piped in, is not too expensive I believe, neither is drinking water.

[Queenie O.]

If you follow a rather particular predictable lifestyle and spending habits, and live in the same place, in a pretty short time you can see a pattern and try to tweak your spending habits to fit your desired budget. Of course you have to have a good sized buffer in case of those "what ifs"  and those always seem to appear in some way or another. There is no room in a budget for going "hog wild" and having a lot of spending sprees, or you could come come up short halfway through the month. If you had to spend more one month for some things, you might have to tighten your belt in other aspects for a while. You also have to figure out what you're not willing to scrimp on, and maybe be more frugal in other aspects. It's a kind of balancing act on some parts of your budget, and other parts are pretty routine and predictable I think. The other day I noticed that my husband had been writing down in a notebook daily purchases. I don't do that.

[intrepid]

If it helps with your figuring for aircon, this is our electric usage;  2hp on ground floor used when we are home sometimes in mornings during April & May.  otherwise it is not on until noon or 3PM, until bed time.  Two 1hp in bedrooms used every night 9PM-6AM. 

Electric bills are highest of course April & MAY at p10,000~.  Each month for us after May it drops about p1000 until Dec and Jan when it was  about p3000 each month.  Then start rising again until April & May back to p10,000.

 

 

 

[stevewool]

1 hour ago, intrepid said:

If it helps with your figuring for aircon, this is our electric usage;  2hp on ground floor used when we are home sometimes in mornings during April & May.  otherwise it is not on until noon or 3PM, until bed time.  Two 1hp in bedrooms used every night 9PM-6AM. 

Electric bills are highest of course April & MAY at p10,000~.  Each month for us after May it drops about p1000 until Dec and Jan when it was  about p3000 each month.  Then start rising again until April & May back to p10,000.

 

 

 

A vast difference between months, but i pay here in England around P2600 each month and thats just for electric, then add the gas onto that so if we have Aircon it should work out a little cheaper, or no aircon a lot cheaper.