I Am Back In The Good Ol Us

[Art2ro]

I have a Fil/Am Uncle who is now in his early 80s has gotten his Dual Citizenship a few yrs ago and he lives in a Barrio on the out skirts of Olongapo City on his $600 a month U.S. Social Security pension. He owns a nice little 2 bedroom bungalow with his 2nd wife who doesn't work and great grand daughter and they live off the local economy. So you see Traveler, you can live on a $1,000 a month Social Security pension in the Philippines easy! It's all about location, location, location and patience and getting used to the Filipino culture! The only thing is, he doesn't have a bath tub with running hot water or DSL, but he does whoever have a cheap Nokia 3210 cellphone with a prepaid sim card, which now doesn't have any resell value and a 1/2 HP wall mounted A/C in the master bedroom! And he drives around town in a 1980 Toyota Corolla!

Edited November 6, 2010 by Fil/AmArt

[Travis]

yes Art thank you for showing me it can be done & I know you are correct & location means a lot but also you say your uncle owns his own home so that cuts out rents which would be over $300 a month for me so it probably helps him a lot to stabilize his monthly costs. I also am spoiled & could not get use to the humidity so I needed air in the whole place whenever it was hot & my food habits also did not help to cut costs but I was getting use to eating rice a lot toward the end. well I got a job already for the holidays which I could not have done in Cebu so I should be able to save a bunch of money living with my friend & whatever I can put away from work & who knows maybe in a year 2 or 3 then I could try again but with much more knowledge & a lot of savings to cushion the peso changes. all I can say is thanks to you all for all the information you provide on this forum coz it really helped me & will help me even more in years to come so I will keep reading when I have time but keep my big mouth shut more coz I obviously did it all wrong  :as-if:

[ekimswish]

Do you seriously take hot showers in hot Philippines? Sorry if that offends anyone, but I love cold showers in hot climates. I remember the day I got the worst sunburn of my life in Cuba, and how the cold water would hit my head in the shower, and by the time it fell to my hips it was already very warm due to my hot skin. In Taiwan, Philippines, and summer-Korea I also embrace cold showers. I've heard a friend tell me, however, that having a hot shower in a hot country allows you to feel the temperature is cooler than it is when you get out. Still.... love my cold.

[Jake]

yes Art thank you for showing me it can be done & I know you are correct & location means a lot but also you say your uncle owns his own home so that cuts out rents which would be over $300 a month for me so it probably helps him a lot to stabilize his monthly costs. I also am spoiled & could not get use to the humidity so I needed air in the whole place whenever it was hot & my food habits also did not help to cut costs but I was getting use to eating rice a lot toward the end. well I got a job already for the holidays which I could not have done in Cebu so I should be able to save a bunch of money living with my friend & whatever I can put away from work & who knows maybe in a year 2 or 3 then I could try again but with much more knowledge & a lot of savings to cushion the peso changes. all I can say is thanks to you all for all the information you provide on this forum coz it really helped me & will help me even more in years to come so I will keep reading when I have time but keep my big mouth shut more coz I obviously did it all wrong :lol:

Congratulation Travis in getting a job -- perfect timing for the holidays. With your current arrangement, that is great that you can start a monthlysavings account. We also appreciate you continued inputs to this forum about the "flip side of life in PI" as Softail pointed out. And the lessonslearned for possibly another visit to the Philippines down the road.Take care my friend -- JakePS -- As Ekimswish commented above, taking a cold shower is really invigorating. Judy and I would take the tabo-tabo method about 3-4 times a day while we vacationed out in the boonies in Mindoro. It's invigorating in more ways than one.........he, he.

[Mr Lee]

I am not sure about you guys and those cold showers because when I take cold showers the wrong things shrink :lol: and besides that I have a bad back and the cold seems to bring about spasms so while I like cold showers, I have to get my body used to them first slowly while entering, We have on demand water heaters in our condo so we have a choice but I would bet they use a lot of electricity, so it might be cold showers for us too when we get back.   :yes:

[ekimswish]

I am not sure about you guys and those cold showers because when I take cold showers the wrong things shrink :lol: and besides that I have a bad back and the cold seems to bring about spasms so while I like cold showers, I have to get my body used to them first slowly while entering, We have on demand water heaters in our condo so we have a choice but I would bet they use a lot of electricity, so it might be cold showers for us too when we get back. :yes:

You have to pep talk yourself Lee, and jump in. Actually, as June turned into July this year, I was freezing water in the freezer in large bowls and then dumping the ice-sheet water on my head since a cold water shower was no longer sufficient. I hear you on the back spasms... I started having them when I was 15, too much time dunking on 9 foot hoops on concrete courts. The thing about cold showers is it's a test of your manhood, like eating a Jalepeno for no reason. You just do it, Nike. Something to remind you you're alive. It's a cold November here and I'm still attempting the cold shower just because I'm not supposed to. Having a cold shower in the morning is a good reminder that you can do ANYTHING if you really just stop caring. lol... or care a little too much.

[Travis]

yes Art thank you for showing me it can be done & I know you are correct & location means a lot but also you say your uncle owns his own home so that cuts out rents which would be over $300 a month for me so it probably helps him a lot to stabilize his monthly costs. I also am spoiled & could not get use to the humidity so I needed air in the whole place whenever it was hot & my food habits also did not help to cut costs but I was getting use to eating rice a lot toward the end. well I got a job already for the holidays which I could not have done in Cebu so I should be able to save a bunch of money living with my friend & whatever I can put away from work & who knows maybe in a year 2 or 3 then I could try again but with much more knowledge & a lot of savings to cushion the peso changes. all I can say is thanks to you all for all the information you provide on this forum coz it really helped me & will help me even more in years to come so I will keep reading when I have time but keep my big mouth shut more coz I obviously did it all wrong :SugarwareZ-037:

Congratulation Travis in getting a job -- perfect timing for the holidays. With your current arrangement, that is great that you can start a monthlysavings account. We also appreciate you continued inputs to this forum about the "flip side of life in PI" as Softail pointed out. And the lessonslearned for possibly another visit to the Philippines down the road.Take care my friend -- JakePS -- As Ekimswish commented above, taking a cold shower is really invigorating. Judy and I would take the tabo-tabo method about 3-4 times a day while we vacationed out in the boonies in Mindoro. It's invigorating in more ways than one.........he, he.

thank you Jake. the job will help me to get me back on track & I will add my 2 cents if I find a good place to