Living in the Philippines-On a budget

Sample budget from a forum member

I've been in the Philippines for 3 months now and I think I've got enough spending history to provide an

accurate budget for

our monthly living expenses. The expenses listed are for a modest lifestyle for my wife and I. We do not

drink or smoke, we dine out 2-3 times a month, and do not purchase too many Western food products.

When we shop, we almost always buy at the local market, not the mall. The exception is groceries,

Our total monthly budget is 17,800 php or $371 ( 1 USD=48php)

Rent- 5000php

Our apartment is a 2-bedroom about 65sqm in size. It's pretty basic with cement floors, no hot water

and a Filipino style comfort room. When we need hot water for bathing or cleaning, we heat it on the

stove.

Electricity- 500php

The temperature is very mild in Baguio so AC is never needed. For 500 php we get normal household

use including a 6.0 cu. ft. refrigerator and a laptop and modem running 24/7.

Water- FREE

Water is included in our rent. This does not include free drinking water. Drinking water is rolled up into

our grocery budget.

Cable TV- 550php

Basic Philippines cable TV lineup. Nothing special here.

Internet and Telephone- 1800php

I do contract technical writing and medical transcription with various US based employers so I've opted

for a 1mbps Internet connection, which costs more. A normal 384 kbps connection costs 999php.

Groceries- 5000php

This is the area that fluctuates the most, but we always spend 5k or less on groceries. We eat meat

(chicken, pork, or beef)every day, sometimes 2-3 times a day. We buy very few Western brands, usually

dairy products, condiments, or spices. We shop almost exclusively at SM for meat and dry goods.

Produce and eggs we buy at the local market.

Transportation- 2000php

This includes taxis around town and bus fare to visit family in the provinces and Manila. We seldom take

jeepneys. Baguio is pretty small and you can get most anywhere in town for under 70php one way in a

taxi. For this budget, we get one out of town bus trip for 2 per month and about 10-15 round trip taxi

rides.

Misc- 3000php

This is our catch-all category for things like clothes, medicine, doctor bills, LPG tank refills, family

assistance etc. We have yet to spend more than 500php in any single month from this budget. What is

unspent is rolled over to our emergency fund to cover those big unexpected expenses. Once we get to

50k in that fund, this monthly expense will be reduced based on historical spending.