Thanks for your reply.

I have not been to the RP, but I’ve done a lot of research on various countries and have narrowed my choice down to the RP – likely Cebu, but maybe Subic/Olangapo although that area is getting more and more expensive from what I’ve read.

I also realize that the RP is not the US and that there is oppressive heat and humidity, heartbreaking poverty, power outages, the “Kano” tax and other issues, but as mentioned, I feel that the RP is the best place for me for a variety of reasons, not just financial and that I will have to make sacrifices and trade-offs. (I read about your “computer adventure” and other stories.)

I’ve always been able to live inexpensively and to adapt to different living environments and I’m sure that the culture shock will be overwhelming at first and will last for quite a while.

Health care will eventually be an issue for me as I get older and will be factored into my cost of living expenses.

As mentioned, my goal is to live on about $800 per month and to bank the remaining $500 or so every month for emergencies.

I don’t plan to “live large” on that amount, and I’m more of a “Wal-Mart” type of person than a “Nieman-Marcus” type.

I will also set aside about $10,000 USD in “seed” money to “set up shop” so to speak as I will have to buy many of the things that I will be leaving behind.

I would like to have a car, as I love to drive and have my independence, but navigating traffic in the RP might be better left to others and I will likely hire a driver for weekly grocery shopping trips and take cabs/Trikes elsewhere.

Ideally, I would like to live in an area with other US retirees who can “show me the ropes” of living in the RP, in addition to my online research.

I think $800 per month would be reasonable for a single guy in reasonably good health. (I do not currently take any maintenance meds, but again, that will likely change as I get older.) and I will have to also factor in the cost of health care, which is something I have not investigated yet.

I also realize that this subject (Cost of living in the RP) has been beaten to death here and I appreciate your input and patience.

Thanks again.
Pete

Yes I would say you are on the right track. A single guy could eat for much less than we are spending, or much more … as you say, where you eat and what you eat are the key … also, how much will you cook for yourself. Eating out can be very cheap … even ordering in from some places. Example, we order say a couple times a month from a local place that does (what they call) Chinese cooking. Some of their food is quite good, but it’s kind of bland and boring … no real Chinese would own up to cooking it Lol .. but a couple hundred pesos will yield enough for several “foreigner” size meals, btought to your foor in minutes … and if you tipthe delivery guy 5 or 10 pesos he’ll be your freind for life … tipping is done here, but it’s nver obligatory and certainly never at the rate we typically tip in the US). There’s a little shop a few blocks away, 5 minute walk,that sells empanadas, little pastries that are alot like mini-calzones, filled with ground beef, ground pork, ground chicken, ham and cheese, vegetable mix, etc. It’ll set you back P120 for a box of a dozen … assorted the way you ask for, along with a plastic sack on non-hot hot sauce. Depending on your appetite, that’s three of four meals for about $2.50.

Supermarket food can be pretty cheap too … a can of tuna and a bottle of mayo can make a lot of tuna sandwiches. You can buy tons of ready to heat meals too, fish balls and such, sticks of pork BBQ, 9 pesos uncooked in the supermarket or 20 pesos a stick in local shops. You can get a whole chicken 9they are small), spit BBQ’d and ready yo eat for P160/P165, cook a cup of rice and there’s ameal for tonight and meat fir a chicken sandwich or two tomorrow, and if you throw the carcass in apot and add water, half a cup of rice,seasoning and P50 worth of cut up and cleaned ready to cook veggies from the supermarket, you’ve got several nights worth of chicken soup.

OTOH, if you want only “American food”, much is available at the supermrket, but expect to pay more than in the US for it … I think the best thing to say is, as my wife has said many times, the difference in cost between livig here and living in the states is you have a much broader range of costs here … you _can_ live much, much cheaper than in the US … but many people may not want to live as cheap as they actually can live … that’s the part that is difficult to predict.

regarding transpo, yes a car is aluxury … I wouldn’t even own one except for two reasons …a., I use it mostly for family trips, and that’s somehting totally optional, and b., I’ve pretty much had a car for 50 years now and I choose to give myself the luxury here.

I take it that you haven’t lived here before, correct? The point I always try to make is, cost of living is the _last_ thing you should be worrying about. There are many factors of life here that some Westerners have difficulty with. Until you have been here and dealt with finding your way around, with being a foreigner and having essentially no rights and no voice in how things are done, gone shopping and found everything “out of stock, sir”, paying bills (oh you can’t pay that here sir),dodged motorcycles, gotten cut out of line a few thousand times, just when you thought it was your trun, said ‘no’ to a hundred beggars when your heart told you you should real help, watched dogs starving to death, etc., etc. you will never know if it is for you. (I also note you didn’t mention anyhting regarding health care, which I pointed out to you). Again, money is essentially the easy part.

Your combined, total Food expenses were about $500 US, so I figure a single guy who would probably eat out more often and order home delivery more often would spend 1/2 that amount, and not 1/3rd, so let’s assume $250 US Food expenses for 1 person. (11.5K PHP)

Also, your total Car expenses are about $200 US per month.

Assuming no Car, but instead bus, rail, trike, Jeepney, cab, etc… or hiring a driver for a few hours a day once a week or so, can we then assume that figure to be halved as well?

So then, let’s then assume a $100 per month expense for “Transportation” for someone without a car. (4,600 PHP)

So that would be a savings of $350 US per month for a single guy without a car. (16.1K PHP)

Deduct that from $1,121 US and we have:

$771 US per month. (35.5K PHP)

(No, I was not trying to hit the aforementioned figure of $777 – that’s just the way the numbers came out.)

Maybe a single guy will have a lower cost for housing and electricity as well, or perhaps higher, depending on where he chooses to live.

But using your numbers, it would seem that a single guy in decent health could live on $777 in the Phils, not counting money for emergencies and other unforeseen circumstances.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks.

BTW, great site. Very informative.

Delighted to see you on. Good comments too, here’s y cut at the answers:

#1. Couting says: I actually used to excplain it differently, but the language I used came from a BI phamphlet I have see. You can count the days from the first full day you are in the Philippines until the day your passpoprt gets stamped, de[paetring. or, you can count the days from the day your passport is stamped “Arrived’ until the day _before_ your passport is stamped on departure … it will comes pout the same. The point ius, there is a ’spare’ day …the day you arrive in the Philippines _or_ the day you depart the Philippines is not counted.

A relarted quesyion that I was asked before but could find no reference for … I learned from personal expereince last month. The BU at NAIA apparently keeps the same ‘day’ from start of a business day to start of the enxt day, they do not ’start’ the new day at midnight. I arrived at 00:30 on the 24th of February and it was closer to 0100 on the 24th before my passport was stamped, but it shows me entering on the 23rd. People have asked me that ‘midnight’ question several times, centering around the idea tat they would “drag their feet” leaving the airplane and “walk slow” so as to arrive at the Immigration kiosk _after_ midnight local. Apparently, that doesn’t copunt.

Late night arrivals do, though, “cheat” the visitor out os aday, so if you can plan to arrive at like 0600 or 0900, it’s better becuase you get more time to do somehting on that day.

Secondly, “Why would airlines refuse them boarding’? They were scheduled to be in the Philippines 1 day longer than 21 days, is why. The airline violated the law by boarding them. In order to gain their certificate to allow them to fy passengers to the Philippines, an airline has to agree to follow the laws of the Philippines. This includes insuring passengers they deliver here are properly documented. Fines for not comply can range as high as $50,000 USD ($10,000 USD is typical), _PLUS_ the airline bears the responsibility of returning the ‘refused’ person to point of origin or ‘home country’. This is actually a pretty common rule, world wide, and the reason the airlines typically check passports, visas and dates.

Yes it is surprising how many people have run afoul of that return postage deal in many different countries. One could take the position it is “bad customer service” on the part of the consulates/embassies … or could could take the position of being a clerk in the bowels of the building and having these passports piled on your desk with now addresses, no envelopes and no budget for postage. Either way, it is about you getting your document back, rather than the correctness of your opinion … sometimes people lose sight of this fact.

Even with my years of service in the most well-funded government service in the world … USA … there is more than one time something didn’t get done … or some government employee dug into his/her own pocket to get something done … because the budget had no line item for a stamp, or a cheap long distance call, etc.

I was under the impression that the “day you arrived” (date your passport is stamped) was the first day, but you say “you count this from the first full day you are in the Philippines”.

Secondly, you say “airline should have refused them boarding “- why would the airlines refuse them boarding? Is this a US rule? And how would the airlines know if they were going to extend their Visa or not? It makes no sense to me.

You are right about sending a prepaid return envelope, even though the Visa application does not specifically state this! I did not include one here in Austria, and I phoned them them a week later inquiring where my passport was. “But sir, you did not include return postage!” was the reply. They were holding it in the Embassy, but had never contacted me.

Thanks for the article.

Not because I can’t take criticism, but because your message only firms up the feeling I had when I wrote the essay … our country, who once excelled at “doing” now is basically in audience mode waiting for “someone else” to do. Although I didn’t make the errors on purpose and regret making them in a general sense of workmanship and respect for orderliness, but unfortunate as they may be, it seems clear the message “came through”.

The disheartening part for me is, you only find my thoughts “interesting”. In other words, you might find my thoughts resonate strongly with your on views, or you might find yourself very much opposed to some of the thing you say. Either way would be fine with me, but the fact that my words inspire no more emotion than a cursory examination of grammar and spelling leads me to believe the whole exercise is pretty pointless.

“Interesting” is a comment much like “Uh-huh” … which technically means one is in agreement but today is commonly used as the response of the member of the conversation who really just can’t wait for it to end.

Anyway, thanks for pointing out the errors, fixing them now.