| End of August 2009 | ||
| Rent: | 7,000 | --- Been the same since October 2006 |
| Electric: | 3,388 | --- 12 Month average per day 112 PhP |
| Water (metered): | 480 | --- This is for bathing, toilet flushing, watering plants, house cleaning, etc. |
| Water (filtered): | 260 | --- This is for drinking, cooking, making coffee … human consumption uses |
| Cell Phones (for two) | 700 | --- We pay no monthly fee, this is the average we spend on "Load' (voice minutes and texting) |
| US Phone Number and US Calls | 300 | --- I use Skype yo maintain a US phone number and make a few calls to the US per month |
| Cable TV ~ 50 channels): | 550 | --- ESPN (some US baseball and basketball, almost no US football, entire F-1 season, |
| Internet | 999 | --- Wireless DSL, ~ 256 kbps, overall speed is slow on average |
| Newspapers | 260 | --- Philippine Star Saturday and Sunday, Manila Bulletin Sunday only |
| Yard Boy | 650 | --- Once a week for 1/2 day, give or take |
| Maid/Plancha (ironing) | 734 | --- 2 ladies, 1 day a week housecleaning and ironing (lots of ironing) |
| Manicure/Pedicure | 217 | --- It's done wonders for my ingrown toenail |
| Car Insurance | 1,083 | --- Full coverage all risks, PhP 1000 deductible |
| Diesel | 2,000 | --- Many months have been less, this is a good average |
| Tolls | 1,800 | --- Often this is less also, but more trips to Zamales will drive it higher |
| Car Maintenance | 4,000 | --- I'm including a reserve for tires and shocks, they don't last long on these roads |
| Food (at the gate) | 5,000 | --- This is only a rough estimate, the ladies come several times a week, what we spend varies widely) |
| Food (Supermarket) | 12,000 | --- Again, an educated guess, we don't track day by day |
| Medical Insurance | 100 | --- PhilHealth |
| Direct Doctor bills | 300 | --- On average one of us sees a doctor once a month (not averaging in my eye operations, yet) |
| Prescriptions | 2,500 | --- This includes some US vitamins that I prefer |
| Restaurants | 4,000 | --- Typically lunches at the mall (There's no place to go out for dinner nearby) |
| Delivery Food | 2,000 | --- Pizza, Chinese delivery, etc. For the "I don't want to cook days" |
| God Only Knows | 4,333 | --- pocket change, occassionbal tricycle, wastage, God Only Knows |
| Monthly grand total estimate | 54,654 | |
| Today's USD - Peso rate | 48.75 | |
| Monthly USD Total | 1,121 | |
| Worst rate ever | 1,370 | --- this is our monthly estimate at the worst peso rate we have seen since 2006 |
| Best rate ever | 979 | --- this is our monthly estimate at the best peso rate we have seen since 2006 |