Living on $800

[Dave Hounddriver]

What I hate is that my grocery budget for 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs living in Cebu and shopping mainly at Fooda and partly in the street markets runs very, very close to $800 a month. I could live on a lot less if I was single though.It also peeves me when Fooda cheats me. Happened today. They put stickers on the freezer saying their Johnsonville brats are 95 pesos and when you get home you find out the receipt says you paid 325. Or the 2 exact same bags or rice that we got charged 215 pesos for one and 235 for the other. But SM grocery store has done the same thing to me. Price of eating regular, north american type food I guess.

[Art2ro]

What I hate is that my grocery budget for 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs living in Cebu and shopping mainly at Fooda and partly in the street markets runs very, very close to $800 a month. I could live on a lot less if I was single though.It also peeves me when Fooda cheats me. Happened today. They put stickers on the freezer saying their Johnsonville brats are 95 pesos and when you get home you find out the receipt says you paid 325. Or the 2 exact same bags or rice that we got charged 215 pesos for one and 235 for the other. But SM grocery store has done the same thing to me. Price of eating regular, north american type food I guess.

We shop once a week at SM Supermarket here in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, also at our local wet/dry market and at other nearby markets and our monthly grocery budget runs us the same as you, but there's only the two of us living in our home! It's because we buy a lot of imported stuff where your average Filipino would never buy unless they are well to do! My wife is a pretty good shopper and at the checkout counter, nothing gets by her price wise what the items are so that we are getting what we paid for! In our grocery budget, everything is included like, household cleaning stuff, toilet articles, liqueur/tobacco and we eat lunch at SM before we do the actual grocery shopping. My wife does most of the shopping while I walk around the mall window shopping, but buying nothing most of the time unless I'm looking for something in particular we need in our home! So it seems that our grocery budget alone may also be others entire source of income to live on here in the Philippines! As I alway say, "Different Strokes For Different Folks"! Some of us have paid our dues from earnest hard work and now just benefiting the rewards of our labor during our retirement! "Life Is What We All Make It To Be"! "Life Is Grand, When A Plan Comes Together"!

[Fast&Furious]

What I hate is that my grocery budget for 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs living in Cebu and shopping mainly at Fooda and partly in the street markets runs very, very close to $800 a month. I could live on a lot less if I was single though.It also peeves me when Fooda cheats me. Happened today. They put stickers on the freezer saying their Johnsonville brats are 95 pesos and when you get home you find out the receipt says you paid 325. Or the 2 exact same bags or rice that we got charged 215 pesos for one and 235 for the other. But SM grocery store has done the same thing to me. Price of eating regular, north american type food I guess.

That happens everywhere....you need to check your receipt AT the supermarket. It's not a perfect world. Nowhere.Speaking of Bundaberg for the other Aussie, I have been there but I won't live in Sydney mate....I have lived in many areas of Australia but Sydney is a hole, no thanks!Anyway, speaking of groceries, I have been searching for a while for websites of supermarkets so that I could understand the local costs, is there any site?I will catch up on the other replies in the week-end, thanks everyone.....oh and yes I do emergency plans and about $15,000 for the rainy days....and am aware of the Visa rules.....I just need to complete my degree then I may come back to Australia later so of course I have my plan B.Thanks!

[Bundy]

What I hate is that my grocery budget for 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs living in Cebu and shopping mainly at Fooda and partly in the street markets runs very, very close to $800 a month. I could live on a lot less if I was single though.It also peeves me when Fooda cheats me. Happened today. They put stickers on the freezer saying their Johnsonville brats are 95 pesos and when you get home you find out the receipt says you paid 325. Or the 2 exact same bags or rice that we got charged 215 pesos for one and 235 for the other. But SM grocery store has done the same thing to me. Price of eating regular, north american type food I guess.

That happens everywhere....you need to check your receipt AT the supermarket. It's not a perfect world. Nowhere.Speaking of Bundaberg for the other Aussie, I have been there but I won't live in Sydney mate....I have lived in many areas of Australia but Sydney is a hole, no thanks!Anyway, speaking of groceries, I have been searching for a while for websites of supermarkets so that I could understand the local costs, is there any site?I will catch up on the other replies in the week-end, thanks everyone.....oh and yes I do emergency plans and about $15,000 for the rainy days....and am aware of the Visa rules.....I just need to complete my degree then I may come back to Australia later so of course I have my plan B.Thanks!

G'day Wallaby,Ok, now you have provided some more information, i think perhaps you will do just fine, but i still suggest you don't live anywhere near Cebu City.As i mentioned, we will be living at Carcar, this is a small town approx 1 hour south of Cebu City. It is more like a country area with a lot cleaner air! There is a Gaisano mall ( currently being extended ) a Jollibee ( very important! ) banks, smaller shops, resturants, even a few western styles eateries. It is just one multicab ride and then a short taxi ride or jeepney to anywhere in the city. One thing you will need to do is to compromise on your food because if you wish to eat the same things as in Australia you are in for a nasty surprise.For example breakfast cereals are dearer than in Oz, fresh milk is very hard to find and if you do find it you will pay through the nose for it! In short, as far as food is concerned, anything that has a brand you recognise will be more costly than in Australia.Me, i like my food! but don't sweat it too much, there are ways around it and if you're willing to just do without a few things and compromise on others, then your grocery bill will come down appreciably.Some grocery sites for you to look at are www.robinsons-supermarket.com.ph/ and also www.rustansfresh.com and www.makro.com.ph.If you are a coffee lover, like me, you'll soon find that 99% of Philippine coffee is sh**! That coupled to the fact that you can't find, or afford fresh milk will make it a challenge to do the basic thing of making a decent cup of coffee at home. It can be done like almost all other things, it just takes time and experimentation. Good thing about the Philippines is you can buy pretty well anything in just a very small quantity, so if you want to try a new coffee for example, you just buy a single serve sachet to try it.Jim Sibbick is another Aussie who has spent a vast amount of time in the Philippines.I have always found that anything he says.......... you can pretty much take as gospel so check out his site. I would just like to add that whilst i believe Jim is pretty much 100% correct in what he says, it will pay you to remember that we all are different and we all have different needs so by all means you can gather all the information you can but until you are actually there you can't fine tune it.Don't worry too much about the safety issue. Usually most trouble you hear about in the Philippines involves someone doing something stupid, flashing money about, being a dick%ead in general, conflict over property, conflict over a woman, etc etc......... you get the picture? Keep your nose clean, keep a low profile and you'll be just fine.Best of luck to you mate.

[Jim Sibbick]

Jim Sibbick is another Aussie who has spent a vast amount of time in the Philippines.I have always found that anything he says.......... you can pretty much take as gospel so check out his site. I would just like to add that whilst i believe Jim is pretty much 100% correct in what he says, it will pay you to remember that we all are different and we all have different needs so by all means you can gather all the information you can but until you are actually there you can't fine tune it.

Thankyou!Yes, good idea to remember I am a budget traveller who will happily stay in accommodation for P100 per night.I also look for the best deals for food, regardless of the ambiance so will eat pork and rice at the Golden Crust on Colon for P32.If Davehounddriver and the whole family and the dogs ate out for every meal at the places I eat, he would have change out of his usd $800 monthly food budget.Obviously the cost of living very much depends on the lifestyle you want.Regards: Jim

[Fast&Furious]

What I hate is that my grocery budget for 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs living in Cebu and shopping mainly at Fooda and partly in the street markets runs very, very close to $800 a month. I could live on a lot less if I was single though.It also peeves me when Fooda cheats me. Happened today. They put stickers on the freezer saying their Johnsonville brats are 95 pesos and when you get home you find out the receipt says you paid 325. Or the 2 exact same bags or rice that we got charged 215 pesos for one and 235 for the other. But SM grocery store has done the same thing to me. Price of eating regular, north american type food I guess.

That happens everywhere....you need to check your receipt AT the supermarket. It's not a perfect world. Nowhere.Speaking of Bundaberg for the other Aussie, I have been there but I won't live in Sydney mate....I have lived in many areas of Australia but Sydney is a hole, no thanks!Anyway, speaking of groceries, I have been searching for a while for websites of supermarkets so that I could understand the local costs, is there any site?I will catch up on the other replies in the week-end, thanks everyone.....oh and yes I do emergency plans and about $15,000 for the rainy days....and am aware of the Visa rules.....I just need to complete my degree then I may come back to Australia later so of course I have my plan B.Thanks!

G'day Wallaby,Ok, now you have provided some more information, i think perhaps you will do just fine, but i still suggest you don't live anywhere near Cebu City.As i mentioned, we will be living at Carcar, this is a small town approx 1 hour south of Cebu City. It is more like a country area with a lot cleaner air! There is a Gaisano mall ( currently being extended ) a Jollibee ( very important! ) banks, smaller shops, resturants, even a few western styles eateries. It is just one multicab ride and then a short taxi ride or jeepney to anywhere in the city. One thing you will need to do is to compromise on your food because if you wish to eat the same things as in Australia you are in for a nasty surprise.For example breakfast cereals are dearer than in Oz, fresh milk is very hard to find and if you do find it you will pay through the nose for it! In short, as far as food is concerned, anything that has a brand you recognise will be more costly than in Australia.Me, i like my food! but don't sweat it too much, there are ways around it and if you're willing to just do without a few things and compromise on others, then your grocery bill will come down appreciably.Some grocery sites for you to look at are www.robinsons-supermarket.com.ph/ and also www.rustansfresh.com and www.makro.com.ph.If you are a coffee lover, like me, you'll soon find that 99% of Philippine coffee is sh**! That coupled to the fact that you can't find, or afford fresh milk will make it a challenge to do the basic thing of making a decent cup of coffee at home. It can be done like almost all other things, it just takes time and experimentation. Good thing about the Philippines is you can buy pretty well anything in just a very small quantity, so if you want to try a new coffee for example, you just buy a single serve sachet to try it.Jim Sibbick is another Aussie who has spent a vast amount of time in the Philippines.I have always found that anything he says.......... you can pretty much take as gospel so check out his site. I would just like to add that whilst i believe Jim is pretty much 100% correct in what he says, it will pay you to remember that we all are different and we all have different needs so by all means you can gather all the information you can but until you are actually there you can't fine tune it.Don't worry too much about the safety issue. Usually most trouble you hear about in the Philippines involves someone doing something stupid, flashing money about, being a dick%ead in general, conflict over property, conflict over a woman, etc etc......... you get the picture? Keep your nose clean, keep a low profile and you'll be just fine.Best of luck to you mate.

I do get the picture however those women AND CHILDREN murdered brutally with automatic weapons was quite a shock which I did not expect to see in the Philippines. What if they go crazy towards foreigners?In rehards to Carcar...did they make up their mind or not?From Wikipedia:

Carcar became a city on July 7, 2007. On November 19, 2008, The City of Carcar was demoted along with 2 other cities in Cebu and 13 other cities in the Philippines. The Supreme Court ruled that the 16 cities did not pass the requirements for cityhood.^[2]On December 10, 2008, Carcar and the other 15 cities affected filed a motion for reconsideration with the Supreme Court. More than a year later, on December 22, 2009, acting on said appeal, the Court reversed its earlier ruling as it ruled that"at the end of the day, the passage of the amendatory law (regarding the criteria for cityhood as set by Congress) is no different from the enactment of a law, i.e., the cityhood laws specifically exempting a particular political subdivision from the criteria earlier mentioned. Congress, in enacting the exempting law/s, effectively decreased the already codified indicators."^[3] As such, the cityhood status of Carcar is effectively restored.On August 27, 2010, Carcar City in Cebu is now plain old Carcar again. It shares the fate of 15 other cities, after the Supreme Court reinstated a 2008 decision declaring as “unconstitutional" the cityhood laws converting 16 municipalities into cities.^[4]A previous law required towns aspiring to become cities to earn at least P100 million annually, which none of the 16 did.Voting 7-6, with two justices not taking part, the SC reinstated its Nov. 18, 2008 decision declaring as unconstitutional the Republic Acts (RAs) converting 16 municipalities into cities.On February 15, 2011, the supreme court upheld for the 3rd time the cityhood of Carcar and 15 other towns in the Philippines. ^[5]

Thanks for the supermarket links, I'll need more time to look carefully at them.Cheers

[Skip]

In Cebu City, I require about P65000 per month. I just proved to myself I can still do it on that amount by only spending P35000, hotel included, in 3 weeks in December, after I decided I had enough of Leyte for a while. I still had a good time on P35000On P65,000 per month, I can live permanently at the Cebu Century Hotel, eat out for every meal, live with a girlfriend or entertain the ladies on a daily basis, pay extension fees, socialise with friends every day, have a daily reflexology massage and travel occasionally to other islands. However, out of Cebu City, away from all the distractions, I can get by on a lot less. AUD $800 is plenty for a comfortable lifestyle. I rent in Palompon Leyte. that is not to say I live permanently in Palompon Leyte, i work in Australia and just go home when I have enough money. Elsewhere on these forums, I have given the breakdown of my base monthly expenses. It is AUD $170 per month for rent, electricity, internet, cable TV, gas and mobile phone. AUD $800 leaves plenty left over for entertainment, eating out, extensions etc.Regards: Jim

Thank you Big Jim for the current boots on the ground report regarding inexpensive accommodations in Cebu.We also would like to thank you for your colorful website about traveling around Visayans (middle island group).Well done sir -- Jake

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Edited May 12, 2011 by Kuya Lee
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[piglett]

yes $800 would be plenty , if you live the fillipino life style, but if your in to the western life style no, i make about $1200.00 a month but i have no rent, eat local food, i have Internet and phone, electric service is good where i live but water is off and on so you save your water, i choose to live this life style, and love it , i was lucky to find a good woman, but the area i live very few white people and i learn the visayan the best i can. I don't think it would be wise for you to just leave your country ,visit first, than you can find a partner after you decide if you can live here, she can help you.

Location, location, locationif you intend to stay in a 5 star hotel in Manila it's gona cost yahowever if you live almost like the locals & own a small house in the province your costs will be much lesswhile staying in Sibuyan (Romblon province) i had a chance to talk to an older German fellahe said he had been there 12 years & doesn't intend to leavehe told me that if you own a small house on the islandyou can get along very well on as little as $300US good luckpiglett Edited May 24, 2011 by Boss Man
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[Art2ro]

One's source of income will always dictate what one's lifestyle will be depending also on the location where one lives and what the local economy has to offer!

[sonjack2847]

Hello allI have just left Cebu city after spending 1 month there and I kept a record of most of what I spent.Rent 10 000 pesosElectricity 3000pcable tv and internet 2000pWater 500pFood 3000pGas 300pToiletries 500pGym 500pMobile 100pHope this helps