Can I Really Live On $1000 A Month In The Philippines

[i am bob]

Very well put Bob, i agree with everything you say, and my budget is still going to be very very low,

I dont intend to have any sort of business over in the Phils at all, so i cannot worry about not making any money to pay the bills, the reason i am going to give the Phils a try is because i want too, if it does not work well i would have lost nothing, i would have had a great holiday, and i would just come back to England and try another country,

Again Bob well said :thumbsup:

 

Thanks, Steve!  

 

And now I feel guilty...  hehe!  I am going to be spending my days while it's too hot outside by sitting inside my house and writing...  Self-help books published out of Canada and a novel or two out of Canada and then International after that.  Who knows if I"ll make any money from it but, even if I do, I am still going to stay on a budget of my pension minus my fallback amount.  If I can find a girl who thinks I make just the right amount - or even more than enough - at P40k a year, then she is moving to the front of the line of Bob's Army...  An army of ONE!  Also, have I ever mentioned that, if I ever do get that elusive Big Dollar Published Prize, I want to help support an orphanage and home for unwed mothers?  So, if I want to do that without the big prize, my budget is going to be still P1k a month!  Sometimes you just gotta try to buy yourself a way into Heaven for all the bad you did before...

 

:rolleyes:  :mocking:

[MacBubba]

I believe you could have an apartment or house rented, eat reasonably well and have your utilities for $600 a month, but nothing fancy by western standards.

 

I've never posted anything to do with budgets before, but by my wife's estimation, living in Marinduque, in a house that's been bought and paid, would be around $600 a month.  That's just for 2 people - utilities, food, smokes and beer.  Transport, trips, incidentals and emergencies are not factored into that.

 

That, of course, is not our budget, but it's what we've observed from the three to four week visits that we've made.

 

We will not be eating Western style, since we eat Filipino cuisine even in Toronto.  Neither one of us is big on fish, so it will be largely pork, chicken, beef, and seafood other than fish.

[intrepid]

Is this a doom and gloom scenario? Perhaps......but there are many stories here of my fellow members not only surviving but was also successful in relationships and their wallets. It's really not the amount of $$ whether or not you could live comfortably. Self control, planning, your wife's willingness to say NO to her extended family and willingness to change your life, sometimes drastically. It takes a lot of sacrifices and adjustments -- are you that type of person? Unfortunately, I was not -- I failed after 7 years and returned to California. Respectfully -- Jake

 

Everyone is different.  What thay have, what they need, what they expect, ect.  Also one's past experiences and expectations will form many of those feelings.  Like a lot members here, I am a planner and most of my family and friends know this.  However, I still hear some say, "you will not make it there and will return".  I'm not so concerned about the money issue and I don't have to worry about a business.  Even if I waste a LOT of money, I will still have my monthly retirement which is much more than $1000 per month. 

 

So I'm asked why do you want to move to the Philippines.  My answer is usually something like this....  I was born and raised HERE.  Went to school and college HERE!  Right after college I started working and will have 34.5 years on the job HERE when I retire next August.  Its been a good and comfortable life but it has all been HERE.  I was never in the military and had the experiences of living and traveling the globe for Uncle Sam.  I never changed jobs and moved around.  Still living in the same house I built in 1985!  When I went to the Philippines to meet my now wife, it was the first time I was ever on a commercial airline at the age of 44. ( And as they say over in WV, that's a fur piece to fly for a first time!)  Well any way, I tell everyone for me to try the move to the Philippines will be my adventure.  I really want to make it at least 5 years and hopefully 10.  If that works out, then for life!  As I tell my wife,...  We shall see! :tiphat:

[jon1]

 I am going to be spending my days while it's too hot outside by sitting inside my house and writing...  

 

Just get a good comfy chair, electric fan, sturdy table and sit on your porch with your laptop and you can write away. I would think that would be a comfortable enough environment to work in. The bigger problem will be all of the distractions :)

[Dave Hounddriver]

I have researched the (HECK) out of what i am going into.

 

1 year ago I would have thought living here on $1,000 a month would not work for me, regardless of what the research shows, but necessity has prompted me to save money and I can tell you that your research is right on.  I live (temporarily I hope) on a budget of 5,000 pesos a week with an additional 10,000 pesos a month taken out for rent.  With the times I go over the budget I still balance out at 35,000 pesos a month.  That includes my transportation, visa renewals and all normal expenses but does not include medical or trips out of the country when I need a visa run.  

 

Edit:  I have been doing this for 6 months now and expect to keep doing it for another 9 months.  I still don't like living on that budget and I expect to live on Jakes suggested budget of 1,500 a month in about a year from now

Edited August 25, 2014 by Dave Hounddriver

[robert k]

Nice problems to have though, those distractions. :)

 

Elsewhere I have related my experience in living rural, in a spot where the road actually narrowed. I got great broadband because I think there were not that many people on it, just luck of the draw. But then too, it's a place you are going to want to have a car/ motorcycle/ trike of your own, because the local trike drivers are going to charge you to come get you, just as much as if they had a full load. I'm talking about someplace so far in the back of beyond where the carabao when they see you go EEK! a foriegner. There can be other expenses if you have to travel 1.5 hours just to find a city with a movie theatre, but on the whole, it's cheap to live in a nipa house with a tin roof, couple of fans, dipper showers, but you get bugs at night if you show lights, not the biting kind so much as the annoying moth kind. But the mornings, the mountains in the distance, the walk to the river, even the stargazing at night with no skyglow. My favorite beach was 35 kilometers and about 30 minutes away by trike and a kubo, a few beers a couple of sodas, showers for 3 people and I was 465 piso down. Did the days shopping too while we were at it because no refrigerator. I drove the electric bill up because I was there, more electronics to charge, more fan usage. that terrible 1,300 piso a month electric bill was killing me, NOT.

 

It's not for everyone but I think it's a good place to start, with the experts at making money stretch, then when it's just you, or you and a couple others and you have 3 times the money to spend, I think you will do fine, at least you will have started developing the skillset to do fine. :)

[Jake]

Hey guys,

 

My long rambling several posts ago was a lesson to teach myself (and others) about changing my attitude and just

roll with the punches.  Back in the early 1990's where the exchange rate was 24 to 1, my pension was more than

enough to support by growing family.  Even if my monthly pension was significantly more, I believe my stress factor

would have been much more serious (like a divorce).  

 

Again, it wasn't necessarily the amount of money to live comfortably -- it was my happy factor instead.  At one point

I was so fed up, I just gave my money away to Judy's extended family.  I didn't care anymore.  I wanted to get out of

there asap and I did.  I escaped back to CA without my wife......and I regret that dearly.

 

Could I do it all over again?  Financially -- yes but trying to live out the rest of my life in a relatively stress free life-

style is another story.  For those of you that have made it thus far.....more power to you guys.  There are different

ways to put your foot down.  I always put my foot down hard, which alienated me from just about everyone, my wife

included.

 

Perhaps next time, I will try putting my foot down gently without stepping on fresh dog chit.....he, he.  

Edited August 25, 2014 by Jake
spil chek

[robert k]

I've been trying to soak up all the ways to say no without starting WW3 also but I have found problems with them too, lately I said I had to think about something and they automatically assumed I was saying no.....when I really did mean I wanted to think it over and the answer probably would have been yes. This diplomacy stuff is harder than it looks. :no:

[pokermike]

You guys are amazing , i have been here so many times lost count. i know for a fact i have no chance of living on less than $3,000 a month US. iwish i could but its not me. From what i see of the four life long friends i know living here, that $1,000 a month is very tough.  One of them lives on $2500 a month does no bar hopping and he seems to live ok, he says the majic number is $3,000 the next two live on $1800 a month and they say they get buy. The third is living on $900 and is sick and cant afford the medical care he needs. He is in serious trouble. All live in Angels City

So $1,000 is not a good number, i disagree with that greatly , i dont care where you are over here.  poker mike

[BrettGC]

Depends on the lifestyle you want.  I know a couple of guys that do it for less, they're paid as locals, they have very happy, fulfilling lives with a family, house, car, even manage to save a bit.  Yep they have to watch their budgets pretty closely but they get by. They live as locals and they're happy to do so.  It's a matter of economies of scale, most people live to their means.  PMike you mentioned in another thread that you earned about 200k USD a year.  Most people contemplating moving to PI couldn't imagine ever earning that amount of money, indeed the reason they're thinking about the move is economic.  They can have a standard of living they wouldn't be able to achieve in the West with a comparable income.  In Australia for example, the old age pension is the lowest in the OECD, most people living on that are well below the recognised poverty line.  In SE Asia they're not.  This for people that that have worked their whole lives, contributed with their taxes etc.  It's a pretty disgusting situation but that's a discussion better left for another thread I think.  

 

:cheersty: