Is It Really Cheaper To Live In The Phils

[Dave Hounddriver]

I can tell you that it is cheaper to live in Canada than in the Philippines. Here is how. Do not find a filipina wife, find a native Canadian wife. Live on the reservation where housing is free and everything you buy is tax free and any money you earn is free from Income tax.Yes, first hand experience, but it is often 40 below there so all in all, the Philippines may not be cheaper but it is better.

[piglett]

I can tell you that it is cheaper to live in Canada than in the Philippines. Here is how. Do not find a filipina wife, find a native Canadian wife. Live on the reservation where housing is free and everything you buy is tax free and any money you earn is free from Income tax.Yes, first hand experience, but it is often 40 below there so all in all, the Philippines may not be cheaper but it is better.

Hey i have a littel indian in me so can i come live there for free ??piglett

[No name]

I am not living anything close to a Filipino life style.I don't have central air and I don't have central hot water. That's it. I have everything else I had but I also have much more.If I lived in the USA I wouldn't have half the things I have now. I couldn't afford to freaking breath on $2000 a month in the USA. Dating? Are you kidding me? With what money?It is just cheaper to live in the Philippines, there are no if ands or buts about it. There are things you can do to drive up the cost, no doubt. I could shop at Ayala for one and pay four times what I do for chicken now.I took a taxi once from Cebu to Bogo City and paid $40. That's 80 freaking miles. Do that in the USA. That's one way my life style is not only equal to the USA but substantially better.Housing is cheaper here, sure there are a few depressed markets in the USA but even with that housing in the Philippines is SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper.It is one thing to visit the Philippines, it is another to live here. Even visiting, I could live here cheaper than I could live in the USA and I don't have to give up anything that matters one little bit. Well, I can no longer go Walmart or Walgreens at 3am. For the first six months, there were things I missed. Perhaps those are lost on me now that what I was use to were like an old habit that is hard to give up. I don't miss anything. I'm having the time of my life. I came for the lower cost of living and it has paid off big time. A beautiful girlfriend is a bonus.

[Art2ro]

Well, this topic, if it's really cheaper to live in the Philippines is now a toss up, because it really depends on one's lifestyle, the location where one lives and one's source of income, so therefore it can be a yes or no answer! It's all about what one's preferences are and what one can afford or not! We all do what we have to do in order to survive this global recession and make do with what we have! It's just the facts of life and it's better for some than it is for others!

[Jollygoodfellow]

Well my opinion its cheaper to live in the Philippines than AUSTRALIA, you see we don't all come from America.Lee has a few points but is mainly comparing todays depressed areas of the US where housing is now cheap but may not be in the future.Most expats living in the Philippines are renting,to compare where I live right now in Australia for an example to about the equivalent in Cebu; I would be able to rent at less than half of what I pay today. Lee also talks about the need and cost for airconditioning,this again depends on where you live,I stayed in the same building as Lee and one floor above with a corner condo and never needed anything more than a fan.The only time a fan was needed was when the wind was too much so it was better to close the balcony doors.So again its about where you live. Now the most important thing of all when comparing cost,buying 24 San Miguel's at the supermarket is less than $15 AU,here the same strength beer would be a minimum of $30 so about half price. So its really about ones priority's in life,cheap beer is at the top of the list

[No name]

Your source of income doesn't determine the cost of living in the Philippines. Now, if you have bundles of money, you can spend out the nose to get super nice things, I'll agree with that.Some things do cost more, anything you import will cost more. Electronics usually are the biggest thing. I often buy mine from the states and ship them over because I find the choices limited here. I'm talking about smaller things. Though I did buy a computer a year and half ago, well computer parts. I could get one cheaper here but they were junk, I needed something with more power. I paid around $200 for the shipping I think. Took about three weeks to get it, I thought I could get a power supply here that would power it but I couldn't find one. Well, I found one once but didn't have the cash at the time. When I had the cash, only lower power supplies so I ended up shipping one from the states, paid more for the freaking shipping than I did the power supply :(Sure, if you have more money to spend, you can spend a lot. If you're living on a limited budget then the Philippines is a great way to lower your cost of living. When I first moved to the Philippines, I had a lot of things to buy, that pushed up my cost. I still need to buy more furniture. I keep thinking I'll move as I don't like my landlord so I keep putting it off.

[Mr Lee]

Members keep bringing up depressed market in the US, but what does that have to do with costs of staples, and while that does have to do with cost of housing, I am not sure what it has to do with cost of toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, cleaning supplies, bug spray, bananas and other fruits, eggs, cereals, and all other staples of life. Yes I am comparing between the US and specifically Florida in the US, because we shop in Cebu and then come back to the states and shop in Florida, so I can in fact compare prices when many others have no idea how much things are less expensive in parts of the states nowadays when compared to Cebu, CDO and Manila. I cannot speak for the whole Philippines, as I cannot speak for the whole US, although my wife and I have traveled extensively within the US in the past, but times and prices may change on a monthly basis. So if anyone wants to compare prices, do not take my word for it and do not think in pesos, (my neighbor in Cebu does that and looks at cereal and says wow only 3.99 and I say to him, that is over $9.00 and then his eyes open up wide and he puts it back on the shelf) so just go to Walmart's website or KMart's website or many others and look at the weekly ads and then compare the price of staples of life and see for yourself. I know first hand that it cost me more for staples of life when we are in Cebu verses Florida and I am not talking about eating out because it is often less expensive to eat out in Cebu if we eat out in places that the locals eat, or more expensive than Florida if we eat at fast food places. I am talking about electric which is a necessity whether you use aircon or not, so lets compare apples and apples, so if you do not wish to use aircon, then not using aircon back in Florida also would still be half the price and always has been. My wife just bought bananas they were $1.47 for a bunch of 9 at Costco, what do they cost you for 9 bananas? In Cebu we would get much smaller bananas for p60 to p90 for 6 or 7. She just bought a gallon of lactaid milk for $4.99, what does it cost you for one of those little boxes in Cebu because it is hard to buy milk in a gallon anywhere we have looked in the Philippines, but we would buy those tiny containers for p85 each and it would take about 3.75 of those to equal one gallon, so that would work out to $7.41 and I know regular milk is much cheaper than lactaid milk, but so is it in Florida.She just bought a couple of rotisserie chickens for $4.99 each and they are at least 4 times the size of any chicken I have bought in Cebu, so what does 3 or 4 chickens cost you there?She just bought three dozen extra large eggs for $3.39, that is $1.13 each, so how much does one dozen eggs cost you there? We paid p62 to p64 which is $1.44 or so a dozen for much smaller eggs. I could go on and on but what is the point, I know how much we paid for items in Cebu and what they cost here, so there is no question at all, that they are much less expensive here for the staples of life, so when comparing apples and apples, even fruits, cheeses and so on are less expensive in Florida, so yes rents may be higher if a person wants a big house in Florida but what counts to me is everyday costs and trying to live an equal life to what we live in the states. I am sorry but I do not wish to give up my comforts to live in a developing nation for the women or the weather or the beer, I already have the weather and a good woman, and I do not drink much beer. So now please list what the staples of life cost there and what items are actually cheaper there that are not labor related and I think when all is said and done, it is not less expensive to live there overall. And as far as living part time or full time, we stay 3 to 4 months in the Philippines, so I can easily multiply 3x4 or 4x3 and come up with a yearly total, so living full time or living part time has nothing to do with costs, unless you have your own farm, cows, chickens and grow your own food, so therefore do not have to go shopping at supermarkets or wet markets. You see guys, what bugs me is store rents have to be much lower in the Philippines and we know salaries of employees are much lower in the Philippines, and they grow fruit and other food items there, so why the hell does it cost more there to buy even a darn chicken of equal size or eggs etc?

[Art2ro]

Your source of income doesn't determine the cost of living in the Philippines. Now, if you have bundles of money, you can spend out the nose to get super nice things, I'll agree with that.Some things do cost more, anything you import will cost more. Electronics usually are the biggest thing. I often buy mine from the states and ship them over because I find the choices limited here. I'm talking about smaller things. Though I did buy a computer a year and half ago, well computer parts. I could get one cheaper here but they were junk, I needed something with more power. I paid around $200 for the shipping I think. Took about three weeks to get it, I thought I could get a power supply here that would power it but I couldn't find one. Well, I found one once but didn't have the cash at the time. When I had the cash, only lower power supplies so I ended up shipping one from the states, paid more for the freaking shipping than I did the power supply :(Sure, if you have more money to spend, you can spend a lot. If you're living on a limited budget then the Philippines is a great way to lower your cost of living. When I first moved to the Philippines, I had a lot of things to buy, that pushed up my cost. I still need to buy more furniture. I keep thinking I'll move as I don't like my landlord so I keep putting it off.

Your source of income doesn't determine the cost of living in the Philippines. Well of course it doesn't! One's source of income determines one's lifestyle, whatever one can afford or not! Recently, the only thing we bought in the U.S. and brought back with us, was a 15 inch laptop, it's twice as much in the Philippines! Any big items, we just save our pennies and buy it here, my desk top I bought here at Abenson 2 yrs ago and still running great! And our home is almost paid for, we only took out a construction loan of P1 million for add-ons to our home! It'll be nice to have no more mortgage payments! Our property tax and HOA dues are small and paid in full for the whole year and every year, it's way way less than rent! Rent in our area of vacant homes for rent or lease are from P25k to P45K a month! We aren't rich by any means, but by Filipino standards we are! I still drive a 1979 Toyota Corolla, while my rich Filipino neighbors drives around in their luxury vehicles, some have 4 luxury vehicles in one garage and their garage is on a separate lot on it's own with a 2nd floor for their maids, house boys and drivers! So, we are doing it our way, the typical western lifestyle, but not like our rich Filipino neighbors, that's too way over board for our taste! We just like it simple and simple we do have and we're content with that!

[Jollygoodfellow]

Members keep bringing up depressed market in the US, but what does that have to do with costs of staples, and while that does have to do with cost of housing, I am not sure what it has to do with cost of toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, cleaning supplies, bug spray, bananas and other fruits, eggs, cereals, and all other staples of life. Yes I am comparing between the US and specifically Florida in the US, because we shop in Cebu and then come back to the states and shop in Florida, so I can in fact compare prices when many others have no idea how much things are less expensive in parts of the states nowadays when compared to Cebu, CDO and Manila. I cannot speak for the whole Philippines, as I cannot speak for the whole US, although my wife and I have traveled extensively within the US in the past, but times and prices may change on a monthly basis. So if anyone wants to compare prices, do not take my word for it and do not think in pesos, (my neighbor in Cebu does that and looks at cereal and says wow only 3.99 and I say to him, that is over $9.00 and then his eyes open up wide and he puts it back on the shelf) so just go to Walmart's website or KMart's website or many others and look at the weekly ads and then compare the price of staples of life and see for yourself. I know first hand that it cost me more for staples of life when we are in Cebu verses Florida and I am not talking about eating out because it is often less expensive to eat out in Cebu if we eat out in places that the locals eat, or more expensive than Florida if we eat at fast food places. I am talking about electric which is a necessity whether you use aircon or not, so lets compare apples and apples, so if you do not wish to use aircon, then not using aircon back in Florida also would still be half the price and always has been. My wife just bought bananas they were $1.47 for a bunch of 9 at Costco, what do they cost you for 9 bananas? In Cebu we would get much smaller bananas for p60 to p90 for 6 or 7. She just bought a gallon of lactaid milk for $4.99, what does it cost you for one of those little boxes in Cebu because it is hard to buy milk in a gallon anywhere we have looked in the Philippines, but we would buy those tiny containers for p85 each and it would take about 3.75 of those to equal one gallon, so that would work out to $7.41 and I know regular milk is much cheaper than lactaid milk, but so is it in Florida.She just bought a couple of rotisserie chickens for $4.99 each and they are at least 4 times the size of any chicken I have bought in Cebu, so what does 3 or 4 chickens cost you there?She just bought three dozen extra large eggs for $3.39, that is $1.13 each, so how much does one dozen eggs cost you there? We paid p62 to p64 which is $1.44 or so a dozen for much smaller eggs. I could go on and on but what is the point, I know how much we paid for items in Cebu and what they cost here, so there is no question at all, that they are much less expensive here for the staples of life, so when comparing apples and apples, even fruits, cheeses and so on are less expensive in Florida, so yes rents may be higher if a person wants a big house in Florida but what counts to me is everyday costs and trying to live an equal life to what we live in the states. I am sorry but I do not wish to give up my comforts to live in a developing nation for the women or the weather or the beer, I already have the weather and a good woman, and I do not drink much beer. So now please list what the staples of life cost there and what items are actually cheaper there that are not labor related and I think when all is said and done, it is not less expensive to live there overall. And as far as living part time or full time, we stay 3 to 4 months in the Philippines, so I can easily multiply 3x4 or 4x3 and come up with a yearly total, so living full time or living part time has nothing to do with costs, unless you have your own farm, cows, chickens and grow your own food, so therefore do not have to go shopping at supermarkets or wet markets. You see guys, what bugs me is store rents have to be much lower in the Philippines and we know salaries of employees are much lower in the Philippines, and they grow fruit and other food items there, so why the hell does it cost more there to buy even a darn chicken of equal size or eggs etc?

We bring up the depressed market because you keep comparing the cost of housing with Florida.The chicken you buy is just a draw card to draw you in to buy something else.Anyway, get out of bed the wrong side today huh

[Art2ro]

My eyes bug out when I sometimes notice the cost of food lately, but luckily my wife is a very picky buyer and compare prices constantly! She yells the loudest when prices are too high for imported goods! I just take my lumps, she pay what's in the shopping cart, I grin and bear it! I hardly ever set foot in the supermarket with my wife, because the total bill would go up!

Edited June 2, 2011 by Art2ro