Cost of living in Philippines
Posted on November 15, 2005
Filed Under Living in the Philippines |
Cost of living in the Philippines
I see the question being asked ” how much would I need to live in the Philippines?”
This is an open ended question and there are no hard and fast rules to this either answer depends on many variables and I feel the primary variable is you!
What is the lifestyle that you want?
Do you want to maintain the lifestyle that you currently have?
How long do you want to live there?
And finally how much do you have? And how much do you have NOW?
Some folks will tell you that you can live in Philippines for $100-$150 a month. WOW this is great! If I just save $18,000 I can live in paradise for 10 years! Or $36,000 can keep me for 20 years! Where do I sign up for this? Others will tell you that you can live comfortable on $1200 to $1500 a month. I tend to lean towards the latter.
WARNING! Do not be fooled or lead in by the smaller amount. There is nothing you can do to prepare yourself for the hardship and sacrifice that comes with “cheap living”.
yes, you can survive on that little bit and that is just what you will be doing is surviving!
What we fail to ask ourselves is “what is the standard of living for $150 per month?” I will answer this frankly and directly. You will not have much of a standard or much of a living. If you want to come to Philippines and enjoy the country and an easier lifestyle, and I assume that you do, you will need much more than $100-$150 a month to live.
When I decided to go to Philippines I was “inspired” by this notion as well and as I looked into it more and more I decided to raise the standard more. And eve then I wished that I had take more money with me.
I decided to stay for 6 months and I would take with me $2,400. I planned the budget well and down to the penny with the help of my girlfriend. What we both failed to remember was that I would need “start up” money as well so when I got there I had to buy thing for my home that I was moving into….This ate into my capital immediately.
I wish I had kept records of what I bough when I was there and how much it cost so that I could share it with you. So just know that whatever you want to live on you will need to add some “start up” to that as well.
I managed to live on about $300 a month when I was there and I deeply wish that I had taken more with me.
I will begin a series of post that will share with you how I managed this. And once again I will speak frankly and if you are looking for pie in the sky this post will not be for you.
I hope that you, if you chose to, use it as a guideline and then build upon it. Then when you decide to go…You will have information that I wish I had….and some information that I wish I had all in one place.
Leave comments and questions as well and I will gladly answer them.
Sincerely,
Don
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