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

[robert k]

Saying you can't do it without submitting a budget is if you excuse me,is null. I have no idea how much these people pay in rent. Poker Mike, you have said that you are looking at $1500 a month in rent elsewhere, I can pay $150 a month in rent and be comfortable, it's the difference between a luxury condo and an apartment. I have no way of knowing if those guys eat out 3 times a day, try to keep their residence at a constant 70 degrees or anywhere else that I might cut their budget because it just doesn't mean that much to me. It's funny that the guy living on $2,500 says that $3,000 was the magic number. When Howard Hughs was asked how much money was enough? His answer was "Just a little bit more". I respect your opinion even though I don't agree with it. I do have to ask if the sickly guy with $900 a month has the ability to escape back, and if he does, why hasn't he used it?

Edited August 25, 2014 by robert k

[Hey Steve]

I think anyone who enjoys the simple pleasures in life, has a wife who is on board with your thinking, and if you have a somewhat adventurous spirit (coming to the Philippines with the right attitude) will be a good start to a new and happy life. I see that in myself. I love the people, the culture, and the quaint friendly and simplistic ways people live in a culture I'm on board with. $1,000-$1,500 a month-no problem for those with a similar mindset. I've been to the Philippines on 5 separate occasions for extended periods of time and enjoyed just every minute of it. 

To me, the environment outside your front door is just as important as inside your front door when making your decision. It's just my take.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

i know for a fact i have no chance of living on less than $3,000 a month US.

 

Wow!  Everyone has different needs.... but I never made $3,000 a month in the US ha ha.  And I raised 2 kids on my own.  :tiphat:

[Dave Hounddriver]

JOKE:

 

This is the thread that never ends.

It goes on and on my friends.

Some people started posting here not knowing what it was,

And they'll continue posting here, together just because:

 

This is the thread that never ends . . .

[Papa Carl]

I have said it before in this thread and in others, submitted my budget, produced my video of where I live etc.

 

I am currently teaching earning less than 50K pesos a month. I live well, not in a gated community but with locals. I live in a comfortable house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, gated car port etc. Have a car, paid for, up to date with stickers etc.

 

I have lived on less here, and lived on more.

 

I was earning over 580,000 pesos a month in the UK, and at the end of most months I was broke! Paying for a mortgage through the teeth, and had debts. Yes I had my Jag and my TVR, now I only have a 14 year old owner, but it has seat belts, emergency brake, A/C and... doors. It gets me where I need to go .... safely. Most of all I don't drive around with a large target on my back, saying I have more money than most people around me.

 

Some months we can save a little, some not. If I had to bet back to the UK or Canada for medical care, I would struggle, but I guess with a little help I could do it. My goal is to be able to do it without a little help and hopefully, I can save that along with seed money for a business for my wife, and education fund for my daughter.

 

So yes, I am living proof that it can be done! 

 

I also have lived in Manila, and Negros Oriental, and now in Angeles. I have seen expats who live like kings here, some have spent fortunes building their dream home, and others who live in places considerable less comfortable than mine. Most spend too much money, and therefore run out. Trying to live a lifestyle that they lived in before coming here probably. Some have the money to do that, but most do not.

 

It depends on what you want, it may surprise you on how much you can change, no matter your age, once you are here, and in the arms of a loving, beautiful woman, and you have a child to motivate you to live within your means.

 

Would I like to earn more money? Yes

 

Would I like to have a better nest egg? Yes

 

But I also answered yes to both questions when I was living in the UK and Canada, and I can honestly say... 

 

I am much, much more content now than at any time in my life.

 

You won't know until you try, and if you spend the rest of your life, asking whether or not you can do it....

 

You never will!!!

 

 

Papa Carl

[Methersgate]

I have said it before in this thread and in others, submitted my budget, produced my video of where I live etc.

 

I am currently teaching earning less than 50K pesos a month. I live well, not in a gated community but with locals. I live in a comfortable house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, gated car port etc. Have a car, paid for, up to date with stickers etc.

 

I have lived on less here, and lived on more.

 

I was earning over 580,000 pesos a month in the UK, and at the end of most months I was broke! Paying for a mortgage through the teeth, and had debts. Yes I had my Jag and my TVR, now I only have a 14 year old owner, but it has seat belts, emergency brake, A/C and... doors. It gets me where I need to go .... safely. Most of all I don't drive around with a large target on my back, saying I have more money than most people around me.

 

Some months we can save a little, some not. If I had to bet back to the UK or Canada for medical care, I would struggle, but I guess with a little help I could do it. My goal is to be able to do it without a little help and hopefully, I can save that along with seed money for a business for my wife, and education fund for my daughter.

 

So yes, I am living proof that it can be done! 

 

I also have lived in Manila, and Negros Oriental, and now in Angeles. I have seen expats who live like kings here, some have spent fortunes building their dream home, and others who live in places considerable less comfortable than mine. Most spend too much money, and therefore run out. Trying to live a lifestyle that they lived in before coming here probably. Some have the money to do that, but most do not.

 

It depends on what you want, it may surprise you on how much you can change, no matter your age, once you are here, and in the arms of a loving, beautiful woman, and you have a child to motivate you to live within your means.

 

Would I like to earn more money? Yes

 

Would I like to have a better nest egg? Yes

 

But I also answered yes to both questions when I was living in the UK and Canada, and I can honestly say... 

 

I am much, much more content now than at any time in my life.

 

You won't know until you try, and if you spend the rest of your life, asking whether or not you can do it....

 

You never will!!!

 

 

Papa Carl

And that sums it up! 

On 50K a month you are living like a member of the Filipino middle class, and that is a perfectly acceptable way to live.

Incidentally, I think it is also the safest way to live .

 

Building a "dream house" may not be the best plan.

Enjoying an "expatriate lifestyle" is not a good idea. I can look at expatriates in London - and I know that I cannot afford, as a native, to live as they do, and to be honest I would not want to. 

Excellent post!

Edited August 25, 2014 by Methersgate

[BrettGC]

Papa Carl was one of the ones I was thinking of when I made my last post  :thumbsup:

 

JOKE:

 

This is the thread that never ends.

It goes on and on my friends.

Some people started posting here not knowing what it was,

And they'll continue posting here, together just because:

 

This is the thread that never ends . . .

 

Sung to the tune of...

[Papa Carl]

People and things change you, as you grow older, and hopefully more wiser.

 

When I lived in the UK, less than 10% of people earned in the same category as I did.

 

The government took most of it, and I spent the rest!

 

Now, I know kids..., well they seem like kids to me, in their mid 20's, Filipinos, earning 3 times what I do while working in the BPO industry today, and they live like I used to, spending it as fast as they are earning it. Driving cars that make them look well off, designer clothes and accessories...., makes me wonder...., who are they trying to look like?

 

To me, being happy and content with life, is now worth more than the amount of money I make.

 

My wife, deserves most of the credit, she saw me spend money like most expats living here, she picked me up when I lost it all, helped me to start again, and supported me emotionally and in other ways all the time, never complaining.

 

You know, now when I get paid, I don't even open my "little brown envelope" until I get home and hand it to her! (and wait for her to give me my weekly allowance!)

 

She manages our money, much better than I ever did. She still buys me my "special things" so that I still have some of the things that I used to, .... but not all!

 

We still manage to go out for a meal once in a while, visit the beach once in a while, but she does it on a budget that we can afford, where as when I did it, it always seem to cost more money.

 

Maybe that is the secret?

 

I know not everyone can do this, and I consider myself as one of the lucky ones who has learned "how to do it", and very thankful that I can still learn at my age.

 

 

Papa Carl

[Gerald Glatt]

Papa has the secret.  I always read columns about what it cost to  life with great interest. However once you take a house from the budget (either owned or rent counted as not income) it takes most of the variables away. I always (like Carl) lived within my means, to the max. If you live now one a thousand you will have leftover money in Fil if you don't and that is all you have how are you getting there.

[i am bob]

You know, now when I get paid, I don't even open my "little brown envelope" until I get home and hand it to her! (and wait for her to give me my weekly allowance!)  

 

You know, most people back in our home countries would laugh at us for that statement...  I applaud you!  I learned from my dad that there is no shame in not spending money you can't afford to spend.  My dad did the same with my mom each and every week until it was common for pays to be sent to the bank electronically.  He went from not being able to feed us sometimes to having about half a mil in the bank when he passed away.  My dad was pretty smart.  So are you, Papa Carl!

 

:tiphat: