Best Posts in Thread: Cost of Living - Dumaguete

I think it is necessary to split some of expenses into categories. For example, restaurants, alcohol, rent and cooking at home. I have a g/f and rarely go out since I stopped drinking. Most of our food is purchased from the market and a few grocery stores.

I prefer not to eat out as I have no idea how clean the food is or the people preparing it. I am not saying I never eat out but is rare.

I am diabetic and am concerned with what I eat because some foods can be dangerous for me. The beauty of the Philppines is that there are all kinds of fruit and vegetables you buy. I don't put a monitory number on food I buy as my health is the most important thing to me.

Let's take bananas (which I cannot eat much of), for example. On any given day you likely find 5 different varieties. I find they are relatively cheap to buy. Some vegies are more expensive like lettuce, cauliflower and broccoli. Mostly because Filippinos don't normally eat them.

But look at the cost for Buko Juice. Only 15 pesos for one coconut! It would cost you around $5 in the US. There are so many fruits here to chose from. I love Pomelo and it is expensive here. When you consider the benefits of this fruit it is worth every peso. Some of the fruits you can get in the Filippines are not available in the US and if they are, you are going to pay so much for them.

We should be thankful that we have all kinds of fruits to chose from.

What about the fish? Is the fish in the market really fresh? How do the prices compare the US? The problem with listing prices here is the prices change all the time.

 

For Rentals informantion only:

Like yourself, I am single but usually have a live-in helper and Imp , Uggy and some Filipino cats also. So two or three bedroom is a necessity for me. I like a yard for gardening, just some background.

I recently looked for a new house. I found a very nice three bedroom, but I could only use two bedroom because the owner wanted the master bedroom for furniture storage. The house is almost to American standards, except for water pressure and air con. Those can be remedy for about 40,000 P... take the stuff you invested in with you when you leave. Price was 12,000 P. for three year lease.

I found that housing starts at about 9,000 P for rentals, going to about 20,000 P per month for either very nice rental, with pool or nice single family house. Imp is a cat and I have other cats so I usually look for a single family home. I found that for every 1000 P over 12,000 P I got more than a 10,000 P value. Remember the Expats are the only ones who can afford the nicer places.. except for the rich Filipinos.

I would say 20,000 P would be the absolute max you need to spend, unless you are trying to impress some lady or gentleman. Usually a good meal at Jolibee will do the trick for impressing a lady that is low maintenance here… go all out and up size the coke if she is a keeper. If it takes more than that then keep looking for a new lady. The high maintenance ladies are nice for the short term but become high cost in the long run... and they do not love you any more than the low maintenance ladies... probably even less.

Read all the posts here, noise is the main complaint of Expats, so do not rent without staying for a weekend at night in the neighborhood. Illegal Karaoke’s, grow like weeds here, and can ruin the environment for a peaceful person. You also need to know the "drug areas" unless you want to be awakened by Swat gunfire at 7 AM, like I did at my last place.

I would suggest you find one of the Expats who have apartments here, There are a few here on the forum. For the temporary extended stay, that is completely furnished and to foreigner standards. There are a few here on the forum. You will have everything to survive... kitchen ware etc., and can look to find what you really want at your leisure. Trying to arrive and find a more permanent place is risky because of the unknown factors in the neighborhoods here. Use word of mouth and develop a network of good people here to help you find the right place for YOU. There are many good Expats, that will help you find what you want.

 

Perhaps the 4th is the landlord - some are sh*te and I met one of them. Before taking on a place be sure to see the Contract (the landlord I referred to gave us one 8 months after we moved in) and be sure you are not held responsible for ALL repairs (I have heard of landlord who would not pay for repair to a burst water pipe leading into the house and left a family with kids without any water for several days until he then evicted them at very short notice). All the things this landlord did to his tenants were morally and legally wrong - but he seemed to have 'connections' and everyone was scared to do anything and legal advice was that you might win but it could take years!

If equipment is included check that it will not be removed and replaced with older equipment just before you move in (a favourite ploy of some landlords).

Some landlords are great but if you get a bad one you will stuck with it for a year - and perhaps struggle to get your deposit back at the end.

 

This thread could use an update as rental prices and general cost of living has changed... but pensions have not
currently paying 20,000 for a 2 bedroom in Dumaguete which is average for a decent 2 to 3 bedroom now..

 

I liked the Occidental side for peacefulness and a lot of it is quite scenic but, I'm not retired and it is a bit too slow moving for me. I like the roads and there is quite a bit of improvement going on with the roads also. Of course I had no problem with the roads 50 km from Dumaguete either but they both exhibited the same problems that there was a lack of things like movie theatres. I like to see some movies on the big screen for the special effects and I go to the movies frequently.

 

Rent is a little higher then I spent as I don't need quite as nice a place. Since I live alone I don't need much as far as living is concerned just a safe place to lay my head.
My electric was never over 1,000 pesos. The only time I generally run the aircon is during adult noise time ( I've found the Filipina's to be pretty loud, hehe).
Everything else is pretty much the same I would had that a 500 peso phone load lasts me a couple of months. The biggest thing that would eat up the load is when the GF wants me to pass a load (NO I don't mean adult noise time).
Add in about 1500 pesos per month for visa expenses and you're good to go.
I'm not an expert on the Philippines not even close just sharing my experience.

 

You have an excellent point here. It's kind of shocking when looked at from the locals perspective if you spend $75 USD on them when in the US that might be dinner and a movie and the woman wouldn't bat an eye even if she were a sorter of used clothing for Goodwill.

 

I agree with the above expenses. My monthly budget is 100,ooo pesos and most months i have pesos left over.