Starting my planning

[Colsie]

13 minutes ago, stevewool said:

It’s so damp here and we have another few months of cold weather , plus the cost of the utilities are just crazy and the threats of more increases coming soon , I was looking hard at Spain to move too, but since we have left the EU the price has increased for us Brits , anyway thanks boys  and sorry about hijacking the page 

It's been pretty damp here in Eastern Samar, going on for six weeks of monsoon rains, flooding and landslides a plenty.

Looking out my window I can see only, water, mud and muddy water 😂

I thought I lived a frugal life here in the province but usually get through atleast 60k/month and don't pay rent or tap water or own a car or drink beer or dine out.

Needless to say I'm amazed and in awe at @BrettGCbudget of 40k/month. 

In particular I'm in admiration of his groceries costs of  330-500 pesos a day or 15k/month...I couldn't get close to that with 3 meals/day despite only eating Filipino meals. I'm wondering if he's included dish liquid / sponges / laundry detergent and fabric softener / razor blades / toilet tissue / bleach / soap / shampoo / hair conditioner / floor cleaner / drinking water and a whole plethora of girly cosmetic creams / lotions / smelly nail stuff ..... Or just food and water? 

 

 

 

[stevewool]

1 hour ago, hk blues said:

The point is it's far from expensive though, Steve.  Without wanting to make you bring up your lunch, we are currently at around £50 a month and even if it was double we'd still be probably 1/3rd of your monthly bill and we're not looking to save electricity.  

You know when you are reading something and you are moving your head from side to side , well after reading it a few times my head is still moving 

[stevewool]

1 hour ago, Colsie said:

It's been pretty damp here in Eastern Samar, going on for six weeks of monsoon rains, flooding and landslides a plenty.

Looking out my window I can see only, water, mud and muddy water 😂

I thought I lived a frugal life here in the province but usually get through atleast 60k/month and don't pay rent or tap water or own a car or drink beer or dine out.

Needless to say I'm amazed and in awe at @BrettGCbudget of 40k/month. 

In particular I'm in admiration of his groceries costs of  330-500 pesos a day or 15k/month...I couldn't get close to that with 3 meals/day despite only eating Filipino meals. I'm wondering if he's included dish liquid / sponges / laundry detergent and fabric softener / razor blades / toilet tissue / bleach / soap / shampoo / hair conditioner / floor cleaner / drinking water and a whole plethora of girly cosmetic creams / lotions / smelly nail stuff ..... Or just food and water? 

 

 

 

I must admit , I am a tight bugger and shop very wisely and yes I don’t buy beer or water and my monthly bill is less then Brett’s 

[Snowy79]

I jumped to the end but will go back and read the comments later. I can help out on Boracay if you need boots on the ground experience, there's a lot of duff information about Boracay online, usually by bloggers that do the tourist side and rave about the bars, restaurants, crowds and costs.

I live with my partner in our own condo which I got at a steal 6yrs ago, there's still some around for 5m ish for a 44sqm and about 6m for a 64sqm. My monthly bills minus accomodation is approx 51k peso. For that it includes water, electricity wifi and food, decent food 3 x per day. We cook our own food mainly but do eat out a couple of times per week. I'm a  non drinkker or smoker, live a pretty healthy life and socialise only twice per week, many party every day if that's your thing. 

I live in a very quiet resort looking out over a golf course inside a tropical jungle setting with 24hr security and a generator back up. Two pools, jacuzzi, restaurant etc. To me it's heaven. 

Serious potential for an added income is buying a condo to rent out daily. My mate bought one near me in November and is turning over about 90k per month now, minus expences it works out easily 60k profit. I followed suit by taking on an apartment on long term rent and moved out of mine, gifted the girlfriend mine as a business only I hold the title. She now rents it out and I let her keep all the profits. I'm paying 30k per month for the new condo and turning over so far 88k in bookings this month.

[Kingpin]

5 hours ago, stevewool said:

Those sort of prices sound fantastic and it’s got me thinking again about could I live out there, thanks Brett 

@BrettGC's big (small) number is 13.5k for rent, everything else is typical or at least flexible.

Check online if you can find a place you'd want to rent for a similar price.

On 1/17/2023 at 9:25 AM, TomG77 said:

 I am struggling to find websites other than Booking.com, Airbnb, agoda etc. These are resort accommodation, but I would be looking at an apartment, 1 bedroom or studio in no resorts. I am struggling to find where I can do research on this - any ideas?

Lamudi, dotproperty, even facebook.  Check for 'serviced apartments' where you can stay for a month or less. Once you're here, then you can start searching for rentals which generally require a 12 month contract, and actually visiting them to see what your money gets. With experience, you'll be able to recognize a good deal, meaning monthly rent < .3% of the sale price. With more experience you may be lucky enough to catch something when it becomes available.

 

 

[Possum]

4 hours ago, Colsie said:

In particular I'm in admiration of his groceries costs of  330-500 pesos a day or 15k/month...I couldn't get close to that with 3 meals/day despite only eating Filipino meals. I'm wondering if he's included dish liquid / sponges / laundry detergent and fabric softener / razor blades / toilet tissue / bleach / soap / shampoo / hair conditioner / floor cleaner / drinking water and a whole plethora of girly cosmetic creams / lotions / smelly nail stuff ..... Or just food and water? 

I don't doubt his expenses. It varies depending on school costs, electrical and many other variables. I just looked at the outgo from the bank here and on average it's about 60,000/month. House is paid for so that is mainly school costs, transport, electric, water, food and all the other costs that come with living. In the grand scheme of things that is not bad at all. Beginning of the school year costs jump up to about 90,000 briefly, taxes take a bite once a year. If we take a local vacation for a day or so that can cost 20000 or so. But if we just stay home it's about 60,000/month and we live OK.

[BrettGC]

11 hours ago, stevewool said:

Brett, the car you is 2K what’s Rego, plus immigration 1.8k is that something you pay each month ,yearly ?…

I'm just averaging them out over a year mate.

11 hours ago, Colsie said:

I thought I lived a frugal life here in the province but usually get through atleast 60k/month and don't pay rent or tap water or own a car or drink beer or dine out.

Needless to say I'm amazed and in awe at @BrettGCbudget of 40k/month. 

In particular I'm in admiration of his groceries costs of  330-500 pesos a day or 15k/month...I couldn't get close to that with 3 meals/day despite only eating Filipino meals. I'm wondering if he's included dish liquid / sponges / laundry detergent and fabric softener / razor blades / toilet tissue / bleach / soap / shampoo / hair conditioner / floor cleaner / drinking water and a whole plethora of girly cosmetic creams / lotions / smelly nail stuff ..... Or just food and water? 

That's total for food and hygiene when we were in Dumaguete last year - added up the receipts at the time.  I haven't really been tracking it here as closely but it's probably gone up due to inflation recently and we no longer pay for tap water here either.  We didn't go without, and that figure didn't include entertainment, beer, day trips, savings etc.  It was just the bare bones and a baseline for the OP or existing, rather than living.  As I said, it's different for everyone.  The Pom down the lane from us lives on white rice and fish and he's happy.  The Yank in the other direction imports a lot and eats majority western meals, and he's happy.  

[Mike J]

11 hours ago, hk blues said:

The point is it's far from expensive though, Steve.  Without wanting to make you bring up your lunch, we are currently at around £50 a month and even if it was double we'd still be probably 1/3rd of your monthly bill and we're not looking to save electricity.  

We lived in Yakima, WA (USA) prior to moving here to Moalboal.  Based on the current exchange rate this how the rates compare, almost three times the rate here versus Yakima.  But we use far less electricity here than we did in the USA, and we also had to pay for natural gas for heating 6-8 months a year.  Our current electric bills runs about 4-5K peso per month.  If we are using our pool and running the filter each day for 8-10 hours, the bill increases about 2.5K peso.  We seldom us AC, but usually have one or more fans going.  So yes rates are high, but as @hk blues writes, your actual monthly expense for utilities could be less.  Our future plans are to have a 5-7 KW solar system installed.

Yakima, WA = 5.47 peso per KWH (ten cents per kwh)

Moalboal = 13.75 peso per KWH.  

Note - Rates in the Pacific Northwest of the USA are generally lower than average as much of the power is from hydroelectric dams. 

[BrettGC]

Since the OP is Aussie, I'll post the current Aussie rate per kW.

Ergon Energy domestic:  0.2434AUD (9.25PHP)

NORECO I: 14.25PHP

Australian electricity bills have 2 charges; the connection charge and the total cost of your power added together for your bill plus GST.  Nothing else.

PI bills have add-on charges listed for a page in addition to the power charge.  Well, where I am that's the case anyway.  

 

 

[RBM]

13 hours ago, stevewool said:

Brett, the car you is 2K what’s Rego, plus immigration 1.8k is that something you pay each month ,yearly ?…

Was going to mention this, P2k for car rego? mine has never been under P3k for years, this does not include smoke test but does include the cheap compulsory insurance.