Cost of living in the Philippines

[Sangoma]

Excluding rent, how much would you need to live a comfortable life, UK standards?

[alicat]

good question!coz we plan to move in phil.
after one year...

[Ana_may365]

it depends,how many people in one family?or only urself? for foods,clothing,bills etc etc. its talking a 150£ a week per person.thats not allowing for going out to a pub or a restaurant.but if u go to a pub u must allowed 40£ or 50£ a per night.

[andypaul]

about 5000 pounds a week if you can pay it in to my account on the 1st of each month that would be nice. So kind of you to offer

It really depends but whatever you decide on for the area i would make sure you have a inflation linked iocome or one which can cope with big increases which look very likely.

[Sangoma]

it depends,how many people in one family?or only urself? for foods,clothing,bills etc etc. its talking a 150£ a week per person.thats not allowing for going out to a pub or a restaurant.but if u go to a pub u must allowed 40£ or 50£ a per night.

Is that in the UK or Philippines?


Put it this way, for a family of four, excluding rent but including everything else, which figure woud be sufficient per month for a reasonable standard of living

P20,000
P30,000
P40,000
P50,000
P60,000
P70,000
P80,000
P100,000


I have read that the minimum would be P40k, and any more would make life increasingly comfortable.

[jimeve]

it depends,how many people in one family?or only urself? for foods,clothing,bills etc etc. its talking a 150£ a week per person.thats not allowing for going out to a pub or a restaurant.but if u go to a pub u must allowed 40£ or 50£ a per night.

Thats very expensive, wife and myself go to a restaurant and have a few drinks
spend only 2000 pesos, you;r talking about phils right.

£40 / £ 50 night

[tomoboyle2000]

u must allowed 40£ or 50£ a per night.

WOW Things have shot up in the Phil
Think we will stay in the UK now its cheaper

[Ana_may365]

it depends also to both of u[mr.&mrs.]how did u spends ur money.i remember when im still there in phils[after the british embassy denying my tourist visa application]me and my hubby spents 5,000£ for 3 months including our foods,hotel,flights and our drinks everynights we go out.weve been in koh samui for 1 month,pattaya for 1 month and 1 months also in phils.and the important is im the one who holds our money to pay everything.

[alicat]

so if you saying 150£ a week per person,one thousand
pounds a mounth should be enough for everything...
foods,gas for 2 car,doctor,dentist,clothes,shoes...etc???
what u think?1000£ a mounth?im asking this coz we plan to move
soon to phil.

[stuartfarm]

From talking to a few friends who live in da phills , $1000 or £500 a month will give you a comfortable life.

These figures are from friends in Palawan and Cebu , Of course Manila will be more expensive

[alicat]

oh!yah,thanks for the info...1000£ a mounth should be enough
then coz we live in subic..

[benb]

Is that in the UK or Philippines?


Put it this way, for a family of four, excluding rent but including everything else, which figure woud be sufficient per month for a reasonable standard of living

P20,000
P30,000
P40,000
P50,000
P60,000
P70,000
P80,000
P100,000


I have read that the minimum would be P40k, and any more would make life increasingly comfortable.

Hi Sangoma,

They are several factors to consider.

Assuming two adults and two kids who need to go school.
I would imagine P15K per person/month to be comfortable.

This figure is based on my wife's relative's family living in Mindanao.

In Manila, I would assume at least P20k per person/month.

Cheers

[keithAngel]

Excluding rent, how much would you need to live a comfortable life, UK standards?

This is a how long is a piece of string question, Sangomar even UK standards depends the person , I will have more direct personal imput in a few months from my own experience and from my Thailand exploits I needed excluding flights £130 week averaged over 10 weeks this included hotel with pool and cable internet in room (i arranged the router) meals out ,golf twice a week and trips out I suspect the Phils should be comprable but it always costs more at first untill you suss things out

[jimeve]

I forgot some of you are extravagant millionaires.

[kimmi]

Thats very expensive, wife and myself go to a restaurant and have a few drinks
spend only 2000 pesos, you;r talking about phils right.

£40 / £ 50 night

I agree with u with this one..

[Ann07]

I agree with u with this one..

same here....

[ervenescence]

it depends also to both of u[mr.&mrs.]how did u spends ur money.i remember when im still there in phils[after the british embassy denying my tourist visa application]me and my hubby spents 5,000£ for 3 months including our foods,hotel,flights and our drinks everynights we go out.weve been in koh samui for 1 month,pattaya for 1 month and 1 months also in phils.and the important is im the one who holds our money to pay everything.

I think you're talking about holidays not the real cost of living in the Philippines. But then, if you're living in a highlife so maybe you are probably right.

[vbkelly]

it depends,how many people in one family?or only urself? for foods,clothing,bills etc etc. its talking a 150£ a week per person.thats not allowing for going out to a pub or a restaurant.but if u go to a pub u must allowed 40£ or 50£ a per night.

aw i don't think so that expensive it might have 10people in your family

[andypaul]

I forgot some of you are extravagant millionaires.

I will be if Sangoma keeps paying me the 5 k a week

Problem for some couples is money will flow out as the party is in town 24/7 if whitey boy about.

[cheesewiz]

wow i didn't know that how expensive to live in the Phils now (for 4 years here in UK)

but serioulsy speaking, i think £150/week per person is unbelievable for me. A normal regular employee get about Php 350/day wage (according to my sis) still surviving. I hope she's not talking about how a semi-socialite people live in the Phils.

Last year when I went home for 4 weeks excluding my plane ticket I spend £1500 (treating the whole family of 10) of course we didn't go to boracay. palawan or bohol the main thing is treating them on any food they want a bit of shopping and going to enchanted kingdom, mall of asia and places that are not super expensive but memorable and everyone's happy.

[keithAngel]

I forgot some of you are extravagant millionaires.

OOOh which ones , I will send begging p.m.s at once

[tiN]

When i was in the PI for 9 months, my hubby sending me £1000 a month ( includes all the bills i need to pay )..

But it seems in PI is quite expensive now..=(

[KeithD]

I forgot some of you are extravagant millionaires.

They can even afford to burn the mansion down

[andypaul]

When i was in the PI for 9 months, my hubby sending me £1000 a month ( includes all the bills i need to pay )..

But it seems in PI is quite expensive now..=(

1000 a person or was that for a large household?

[tiN]

1000 a person or was that for a large household?

for a large household..

[Sangoma]

There doesn't seem to be any deffinite figures coming out.

Interesting I heard from a friend in CdO, and he says he survives OK with his wife and two kids on just under P20k a month.

BUT he said as a westerner, I would need double that to think I am living as comfortably as he considers he does.

He also thinks I could pick up a cheap car for about P20k that will still get m around. To be honest, I think I would prefer something with an engine!!!

I hope to be back there within a month, for definitely more than a month, and maybe longer. Depends on whether my saltmine will give me unpaid leave, or if I have to resign, which of course I can't do until her visa app is submitted

[doonat]

average expenses of a medium sized family in metro manila to live a comfy life in philippine pesos: (£1 = 83 pesos)

* brand new car w/ all the basic stuff is 500k-800k pesos, 2nd hand car or smuggled car is 150k-400k in good working condition. luxury car 1M & above. (american & japanese cars)
* large lcd tv costs twice the price in uk (like lcd tv 80k-250k).
* electric bill (w/ aircon, no frost ref, washing machine, ironing, etc...) expect from 10k-15k a month depends on the usage
* maid, separate cook, gardener or baby sitter is 1500-3500 per month (you can have as many as you want all-around maids can usually do all the jobs)
* diesel or gas approx 2,000 a week if you dont want to ride the famous jeep of tricycle (aircon consumes much)
* cable and telephone w/ broadband 2,500 a month
* water bill 4,000+ monthly (excluding swimming pool)
* food & other necessities 500-1000 a day (depends on the quality of the items you buy, eat outs, etc... mall prices are much expensive)
* as for shopping: branded clothes & shoes are way cheaper in the phils
* haircut 200 pesos, dentist 500 per visit, spa costs 200-5k per session
* surgical enhancement 25k - 250k per area

hope this helps. pretty much 30k-50k a month is enough but depends on your location, outside metro manila can save you atleast 25%.

[johncar54]

I thought I would find the answer to this question on the net. So I browsed. Found quite a number of interesting pages but either they were a few years old or there was no date as to when they were current.

I know in 2006 when I got marred it was considerably cheaper for a similar lifestyle as it was in Spain, and at that time Spain was cheaper than UK. Not sure that it is now, as of course I have my income in pounds and the cost of living varies with the exchange rate.

Petrol is about 1.20 € a liter. Thats about £1 but a while back 1.20€ would have been 80 pence. So for me the cost of living here has risen. The same applies to Phil. If your income is in say pounds, with a weaker pound against the Peso, its got more expensive by comparison, even ignoring any actual rise in the peso price of goods.

[johncar54]

Hi Doonat

I was posting my reply at the same time as you.

Having seen your excellent post I would not have posted mine.

Thanks, really useful

[angel1231]

No disrespect to the filipina who married to the westener but is seems they add up to much of living expenses in the philippines. i would say u 'll live comfi in a little budget of ur own.dont exaggerate to much of it,,,,,