Poll Monthly expenses

I stand corrected. If I may, you are treating common air conditioner units in the same way that entire HVAC units are treated in the first world. For me? Change the filters. Replace or fix on fail, just like any window unit as they are similar the window ac in cost (1-2k), not super high cost like central HVAC systems in the West (5-10k). I didn’t realize that a new service industry had grown around split level aircon but now that I know about it don’t see any reason to change what I currently do. I have multiple units, so far no issues with gecko dust but I know somewhere down the line an inverter unit may fail or I may need to recharge...just regular pay as you go stuff.


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All the work you mentioned are things I can and would do myself. Who knew I was saving so much.

I will say that those three lists in the news article don't account for entrepreneurs. I wasn't looking for that and missed it. Other factors I might have missed are: Is there a great percentage of successful entrepreneurs in the Philippines? Are all those houses bought by a single income families? How many houses have multiple generations living in them with more than one income? How many houses have been in the family for generations? Did those go-getters show up in SUVs?

You only quoted the second half of my sentence changing it's meaning. The first portion,

was meant as my impression of those three lists and that news article. How it was being presented by Jack seemed IMO completely opposite (changed meaning) of what I read after going to the linked article and reading it in it's entirety.

 

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.