Poll Best Posts in Thread: Monthly expenses

People seem to argue with each other about how much a person can live on - but it is such an individual thing that EVERYONE CAN BE RIGHT. As already said, so many variables. It is INTERESTING to know how much other people can live on but it should not be a factor in a different person's life. I pay 15k per month for a 3 bed apartment and that saves me about 38k per month in rent in my home country - with other house-linked costs, I am saving about 52k per month. I know that a few things are more expensive in the Philippines, but they are items we do not use a lot. Food and eating out is cheaper for most people. This means my costs here are much lower and that is what really matters in my situation. The biggest issue is the unknown cost of health problems - this may vary from a small sum for a minor problem up to millions for major surgery - and I worry most about the fact that my wife's family may have health issues that I cannot ignore. So whatever we calculate as the amount a person needs to be 'comfortable' (which is an attitudinal factor in part), a personal or family health issue could send the budget soaring. And, as someone else mentioned, currencies fluctuate and so the 52 pesos to one USD could one day be 30. So the best solution is to live within your means (that is the most anyone can do for themselves and their family), have something set aside for emergencies and then pray.

 

I was going for the argument of the beard definition of it. The one you found works too.

As I remember it goes something like:

One may throw doubt on the reality of a beard by a process beginning by asking
whether a man with one hair on his chin has a beard. The answer is
clearly `No.' Then one may ask whether with two hairs on his chin a man
has a beard. Again the answer must be `No.' So again with `three,"four,'
etc. At no point can our opponent say `Yes,' for if he has answered `No'
for, let us say, twenty-nine hairs, and `Yes' for thirty, it is easy to pour scorn
on the suggestion that the difference between twenty-nine and thirty hairs is
the difference between not having and having a beard. Yet by this process of
adding one hair at a time we, can reach a number of hairs which would
undoubtedly make up a beard.

The trouble lies in the fact that the difference between a beard and no beard is like
the difference between white and grey in the fact that one can pass by continuous steps
from one to the other.

 

Absolutely, it all depends on a person's lifestyle. Maybe a list of various expenses would provide more meaning to this?

For example, do you need personal Internet or are you ok sponging WIFI at various places?
Are you ok eating at the downtown market or do you need to go to McDonalds all the time or to various restaurants?
Do you cook your own food?
Can you walk for long distances or do you need a trike? Or, are you interested in buying a vehicle?
Do you need medications?
Are you a drinker? Are you ok paying 45-60 pesos for a beer?

A good list and survey could provide some decent meaningful results.

This is the Philippines and most of us fat, ugly and boring foreigners want company. If you are looking for a gf here you need to consider the fact that you could be obligated to offer support to her family! Many people are very poor here. Dirt poor! Many live on a diet of rice, eggs, sardines as such each day. Many only eat rice! Many live in nepa huts and are squatters. Many are lucky to have a piece of foam to sleep on! If you land a pretty Pinay you can expect to be asked to help out her family! Maybe there should be a list on how much can you afford to give your gf here in Phils? I find this an interesting topic and would to see it expanded......

 

There is logic to that. But you have missed my point. No problem. I'll stay comfy on my budget and you can stay comfy on yours.

My point is, it is AMAZING what you can do when you recognize the situation you are in (only got 1000 a month to live on), analyze the situation (how am I gonna be comfortable on that), learn from other people who are doing it (watch, listen and learn instead of reading posts just to reply with your own opinion), then adapt and overcome.

 

Maybe its made using logic. Lets see. Add in basic expenses at the very cheapest for a foreigner who isn't wanting to eat rice 3x a day with vegetables and fish soup as a topping.

8,000 rent for a 1 bedroom with crap furniture and little tv. (usually half decent starts off at 10k).
1500 in electric and that means NO aircon and no PC but maybe a laptop and small tv, fan, ref. Most are probably paying 2500 electric a month.
200 water
500 cable tv
1000 internet
500p cell load or plan

Now start figuring in transportation, buy a motorcycle and spend 500p on gas and that's if you don't go out much plus you need the extra money for that motorcycle or you could spend far more on easyrides and trikes.

Figure in food which is going to be a pretty big cost and does this guy drink or smoke as that adds up very fast. Non drinker/smoker though maybe 10k a month only cooking at home but not rice rice rice.

Now we see its adding up fast. How about immigration costs every 2 months? How about saving for your exit trips? What about emergency medical expenses that WILL happen and add up fast. Now are you wanting to be single, lonely, and chaste? Because a GF will add up but also chasing chicks or even cheap prostitutes add up. But also big question... do you really expect the peso to stay where it is and not fluxuate over the next few years? I'm betting we could see a 48p-$1 within 2 years easily and it going lower for brief times is definately a possibility. Those months you just going to starve or be homeless?

The thing is YES you could live here on $1k a month in the good months. The bad months though are going to really really hurt. This leaves one to decide that $1k a month for any longer term just isn't feasible. Those already established have it far different then those who aren't and those who own a house/lot are far different then the new guy coming in with just a pension and not having a nice savings account to purchase house/lot/furnishings.

 

I'm thinking about 1500 is the golden mark for most. For some may be a couple hundred under and others a couple hundred more. I'd of been interested seeing a $1400-1700 range but to late now.

Someone today wanting to live on less then $1k is fairly insane. Better to live in some tiny place in a small town.

 

I think I agree with that . I would not hire just any guy to come clean my air conditioners, I tend to ask recommendations from friends as to who they are using and if they are happy with them. Most of these cleaners learned their trade from a relative or though getting a job in HVAC to learn what needs to be done and then going out on their own.

I have tried a few different cleaners as the good ones get so busy they are often hard to get an appointment with. I have paid 650 to 750 per split unit and up to 850 if it requires extra time (meaning I left it too long and the drain lines need cleaning out). A window unit or an exhaust fan unit will run about 300.

Someone mentioned he can do that work himself. Yes, I can too. Much of the work I get done here, (in Philippines), is work I used to do myself when younger. Any of us can watch a YouTube video on how to clean an air-conditioning unit and then do it ourselves, but this thread is about living comfortably on a budget and I am illustrating two things: First, I can comfortably afford to pay 1750 to clean my aircons and exhaust fan once every 3 months and get my car and motorcycle washed for a few hundred once a month or so (all this on a budget where others have said I cannot live comfortable). Second, the lads who are industrious enough to learn how to do it and find themselves some customers are making as much per month as I live on with my budget. Seems fair to me.

As to reducing the HVAC industry to janitors, (as another poster proposed), I disagree. Neither am I reducing the Auto Repair industry to janitors. These lads may have worked for an HVAC specialist or an Auto Repair shop at one time and were bright enough to figure out they could make more money cleaning than collecting wages. Its actually the same in Canada. My brother is/was a certified accountant and his wife is/was a registered nurse. They are now worth millions because they gave up their professions and started a janitorial company that is HUGELY successful in Edmonton Alberta.

So the points are: Yes I can live comfortable on US$1,000 a month INCLUDING paying others to do the grunt work for me in my retirement years. Yes there are non-professional Filipinos who have an entrepreneurial spirit and make US$1,000 a month or more.

 

Well that was a new one for me but I like Googling new things. I learn stuff that way. For the other folks like me, here is what I larnt

I see where that holds true here. I don't live on US$1,000 every month so it is not a precise number, but it is vaguely close to where I need to be and I see the same for others in my peer group.

 

We average about $900 to $1000 per month and live in comfort. Of course, luck and lifestyle matters a lot; non-smoker, non-drinker, in bed by 10pm, no illness that requires meds, staying fit, low material world urges, etc.

 

It is more about living within your means really. I have been here on and off since 2002 and prices have risen greatly, along with the amount of foreigners. Personally, I live out of UK, coming here for a month, every 3 months, yet working abroad awaiting retirement. My wife and children are here and schooling takes a great deal of the budget. When I first came here and opened up an internet cafe, foreigners were very rare and always attracted attention. The peso was worth far less and it was easy to live on 40k a month, as a policeman or teacher was paid 10k a month, and a Lee Plaza worker full time was on 4k. Things have changed and prices plus peso has risen sharply. However, that said, the locals manage on much less and apartments/bungalows can be had for just 5k a month. If you budget accordingly you should have no problem living on 40k even today. Just don't mix with the wrong people.