Cost of living 2018 in the Philippines

We have been here in Ilocos Sur since 10/17/17, have a good handle on what it costs to live here if you live like a Filipino.  We own a house, real estate taxes are next to nothing, so I have no handle on costs or rents
We spend about $300/month 15,000 pesos, for food and other grocery store items like soaps, razors etc.  The electricity is less than $50, 2,500 pesos, / month.  We do not have air conditioning , but we do have an electric cook top, refrigerator, 6 fans, a stereo and cable tv and an electric pump to provide us with running water from the well..  The cable, the best available through Cignal, is $20/month 1,000 pesos.  We split the internet connection with our family neighbors, the total cost is also $20 per month, we pay half.
            The tricycle costs are 20 or 30 pesos for a ride Into Santa, the bus rides to Vigan are 30 pesos one way.
            My wife and I each got our teeth cleaned plus I had a tooth ache and received extra work in my mouth plus a prescription for antibiotics and another pill to help each the situation of acid in my mouth.  The dentist's fee for everything was $30, 1,500 pesos, the pills cost less than $10, 500 pesos.  The dentist required x-rays, and unlike the USA she did not have that function in her office.  We had to go to the local hospital, paid $17, 850 pesos, and got it completed the next day.
             Other medication that I take, losarten potassium for blood pressure and metformin for blood sugar, are about 50 % more expensive here, but a prescription is not required.  In the US it costs $28 for a 3 month supply, here it is about $42, about 2,100 pesos.
              We don't spend much for entertainment, mostly we attend or host parties, more than 20 these 3 months including 3 weddings.
              I don't have a phone, using a Samsung tablet, my wife pays something like $15/month for hers.  My wife has a savings account into which I deposit checks from my USA bank, it takes 20 banking days to be available here, so we brought cash to use at first.  BDO bank charges $5 for each foreign deposit, but once a month isn't so expensive.  We opened a US dollar account with very low interest payments, but the idea is to never have a total balance in all foreign accounts on any one day be $10,000 or more or extra reporting is required on the federal income tax return.
               My wife went to the eye doctor in Vigan and had her eyes examined and bought new lenses and frames for a total cost of $60, 3,000 pesos.
                We have taken some long trips for which we pay a family member 500 pesos to drive plus fill the tank.  The gas price here is about 38 pesos/liter or 152 pesos/gallon, about $3.04.  The trip to take 10 of us to Baguio had a total cost of about 2,000 pesos.  We did not buy gas in Baguio as it was about $.80/gallon more.
                I will try to answer any questions anyone may have.

I buy metformin from generika cost 1 peso per tablet. |I monitor my blood regularly and recently had a blood sugar test to confirm my levels over 6 months and came out dead right so the tablets are doing their job

davtjo wrote:

I buy metformin from generika cost 1 peso per tablet. |I monitor my blood regularly and recently had a blood sugar test to confirm my levels over 6 months and came out dead right so the tablets are doing their job

Are they 1 gram tablets or 500 mg, half a gram?  That price is very cheap, what is generika?

My family and I live in Palangan, Puerto Galera, Mindoro. We pay 15,000 php per month for rent. We have a pool, jacuzzi,two bedrooms upstairs/ downstairs with 2 CRs. And a parking garage. We also are on a beachfront property. Electricity runs 5-6000php per month,with one aircon running quite a bit because of our baby girl. 👶 I use a transfer company to deposit money from the states into my Philippine back account. It cost 1% for each transfer and the money is usually in my account here within 2 business days. Metrobank doesn't charge for the transfer and I am required to keep a minimum balance of 2,000php. Tricycles cost about 25 pesos to go to Mulle and the van service from Puerto Galera to Calapan is 100 pesos one way. We have our own vehicle so we use that for all our transportation needs. Our expenses for all our groceries (meat, fresh vegetables,pampers, bottled water for the baby ect.) is about 15,000 pesos per month. Unfortunately the local internet service is very sporadic and expensive. Currently we pay 2,000 pesos each month for only 2mbp. The cost of 4mbp is 6,000 pesos per month. But due to such sporadic service we have only had to pay the price for 2mbp.

Residing in Cagayan de Oro and enjoying my life. Lease a fully furnished studio condo across the street from SM mall , 24/7 armed security 300.00 dollars per month. Food for myself 150.00 dollars  per month and i eat well. Cable tv  & wifi 30.00  dls. per month. Water and electric, 70.00 dls. monthly. I use my air con a lot. On all the time when i am home.  Cigs, 50.00 dls. per month. 30 packs x 1.40 per pack.  No car but use taxi a lot to get around the city. 30.00  dls. appr. monthly. Doc. visit, 10.00 dls. No meds cause i am a healthy guy.  Teeth cleaning 10.00 dls. Cavity repair 10.00 dls. Visa renewal for 6 months, 70.00 dls. Clothes i buy in the states and bring here.  Cinema 3.50 dls. So that's about 650-700 dollars per month counting any surprises. I have a budget of 1,000 dollars per month. Since i have an active social life, i make sure i enjoy myself and manage to spend appr. 300.00 dls  per month on entertainment and charity. I could never live on 1,000 dls. monthly  in California. I figure at 64 yrs. old, i am going to enjoy the balance of what life i have left here, God willing.

That's good to know.  I usually bring a three month supply with me when I fly in from the US  but I ran short last trip and was buying 850 mg pills. They seem to be working but I couldn't find blood strips for my tester to see accurately how well they were working.

I live in Concepcion Tarlac, we own two storey house we build in 2016, we have 6 Air cons, and 8 celling fans, most of them run day time only, air cons not all running at the same time, power is at 6-7000php per month, food is at 15000php or some way there, Car fuel 1000php per week if not going for long trips, I have tricycle that I use to visit family or the farm, I have little gym at home where i get my exercise from and a Bicycle that I use every second day, but only in the mornings when is less traffic, Internet is at 1000php unlimited this is great deal we have, Cignal is 720php for two boxes, I do not think my life here is cheaper then Back home In Australia, in fact it will be batter for me back there then here, I am not on Pension as yet, my income here is from my rent back home, at the moment i am in good condition haha sounds like a machine but any way, and we both have no medical problems, we have baby Son he is 2 years old now, so he keeps us both healthy and happy and yes active too. I forgot to mention we go out very often to shopping Centres as we love to watch Moves, to do that it is day trip, and we eat out, mostly lunches every second day, but to visit Shopping Centres is for our Son so he can have a play at  play centres, and for us to get out of the province,

Hi . I have been living in Subic Bay for 7 months , the biggest thing I notice ,  it is a lot different to living permanently than just visiting. Prior to me moving here I visited the Philippines every 2 months for around 6 years . Living in one area you get to know the locals , the right places to shop , how much you should pay , and after a while you learn of the ideal place to live and what is the appropriate cost of Rent .
I pay 25000 pesos a month for a modern 3 bedroom penthouse, fully furnished. That is about $550 Australian. This is out of town a bit so it is cheaper. I am moving in town soon and I will pay the same rent . But I will be in a resort and on the beach , but only one room. You can rent very cheap here and the apartments are very good and clean . Filipinos are very clean people.
Food varies a lot so it depends on if you want to eat western food or Filipino food. Western food is a lot more expensive and it is about the same price as at home in Australia. Petrol is half the price of fuel then at home . I can drive around locally on 1000 pesos a week which is about $25 Australian.
You must have cable tv here because there are no local channels. But it is cheap compared to Australian cable . I pay a combo of WIFI and cable 1500 pesos a month , $ 35 . Transportation is great value. It starts with a jeepney at about 10 cents to travel a few kilometres and then trycycles are about 1 dollar for the same journey. If you live in the provinces taxis are expensive but in Manila they are cheap only $5 to travel 10 kilometres . Cars and motorbikes are twice the cost of what you would pay back in Australia. I bout a 2000 model Nissan Maxima for 200,000 pesos. Which is about $5,000  Australian .same car in Australia you can buy for about $2,000 . I recommend you buy some sort of transport if you are living in the provinces . But in the city's like Manila you don't need it . Because taxis are cheap and they are everywhere. Beer and spirits are very cheap $1 for a beer and about $2 for a nip of spirits. The thing I like about living here is flying to other Asian countries and through out the Philippines is very cheap.

Just to add to the cost here, I did my Conversion of my Australian Licence to Philippine Licence, gone to LTO, give them copy of passport and my licence, originals they have to see too, did Eye test 100php did blood test 100php, filled the forms hand it over to them payed 582php, and that was it, gone Shopping to SM Tarlac, then back it was all done, got my Official receipt and on this Saturday will get my Licence a proper one, all this in half a day and it is Valid for 5 years, that was good news for me, as every one tolled me it is only 3 years.. so they you go if any one wants one is very easy to get one.

My American husband and I live in Davao City and we own our house. We bought raw land and had a friend of ours, who is a General Contractor, build it. We bought our land at P1,500 per square meters. The land is among fruit orchards (mango, coconut, rambutan, durian, etc.) about 15 km from downtown, not in a subdivision. Our property is 2,000 square meters (about half an acre) and our house is about 230 square meters in area, with a 2nd floor, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, maid's quarters with separate bathroom, 2 car garage, 25 meter lap swimming pool. The cost of all this built 4 years ago is about P16 Million. This includes the land, all government fees, permits, electrical and water connections, etc. We use city water, not deep well.

As for utilities, our electric bill is between P7,000-P9,000 per month. We have 3 aircons but only 1 is usually used at night. We have a 4-door refrigerator and electric fans that run during the day. Our wall oven uses electricity. During cool weather like this time of the year, we don't use our a/c at all. Our bill is high because of the pool pump and filter system. Our water bill is about P900/month. Our LPG is about P850/month. We don't have cable connection since we did away with watching tv. We use prepaid mobile wifi and we spend about P1,500/month for data load. We use 3 prepaid cellphones and we spend about P500/month for load. We spend about P3,000/month on gas. We bought a 3-year old sedan in very good condition  and we use it to drive around town. For some trips downtown to see friends, etc. we may just take a taxi which costs about P200-P250 each way.

For our health and well-being, we go for massages and acupuncture about 2x/month. One hour massage and acupuncture costs about P1,100 per person, including tip. Our dental cost is P1,500 per person for teeth cleaning. We also planted a lot of vegetables in our garden. We have eggplant, okra, spring onions, winged beans, mung beans, long beans, corn, sweet potato tops, fiddle head fern. He also grows herbs and spices: Thai basil, bird's eye chili, Italian and local oregano, rosemary. My husband makes his own organic fertilizer, and fertilize our garden with that and vermicompost (earthworm waste). Our veggies look and taste really great! We have about a dozen free range chickens and feed them rice (palay) sprouts we grow ourselves. We get around 10 free range eggs a week.

Costs of food and sundries from the grocery and the market is about P30,000/month.

Both of us are US citizens. My husband started getting his pension here through direct deposit in a US$ account that has 0 balance requirement as long as there is deposits at least 4 times a year.

ginnylarry wrote:

Costs of food and sundries from the grocery and the market is about P30,000/month.

.

You grow veggies, have fruit trees and get 10 eggs a week and still spend 30,000 at the grocery and market?  How many people you feeding?

6 adults. Note that this also includes cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc. We also entertain quite a bit, and have guests from out of town and abroad quite regularly.

Also, 3 of us smoke and my  husband likes his beer during most nights.

Some expense , power we pay about 1000 piso a month tv think its 99 piso for sky a month free water , 400 piso month for fuel for bike food do a couple big shops in catarman about 5000 piso my partner buy manok ang baboy from market . Beer a bit on that and smokes 5000 piso , yeah 15k a month easy .

Hi everyone,

We are going off topic here. 
If you have questions about other subjects, please feel free to create a new topic on the Philippines forum.

For now, lets discuss about the cost of living 2018 in Philippines please.

Thank you,

Priscilla
Expat.com team 

davtjo wrote:

I buy metformin from generika cost 1 peso per tablet. |I monitor my blood regularly and recently had a blood sugar test to confirm my levels over 6 months and came out dead right so the tablets are doing their job

Just went to Generika in Vigan and the 850 mg tablets were 6 pesos each, about half of what I played at other drug stores.  The Losarten Potassium was also about half the price, gonna go there in the future, thanks for the tip.

500 gram generika is a generic pharmacy locat I believe throughout the Philippines

Hi Everyone,

I'm from the UK and been living in Iloilo since last September so I'm a relative new kid on the block. I'm living with my Filipina fiancée who spent some of her teenage years growing up here, so I do at least have the benefit of some of local knowledge.

I can't answer all Priscilla's questions from an Iloilo point of view because some of the services I don't need or haven't had need of yet.

We rent a nice two double bedroom house in a small private/secure compound in the Lapaz area around 1.5 miles from the city centre here. That costs 26,000 a month which is on the expensive side in Iloilo. It's quite possible to rent a fairly decent place here for 50% of that and I've seen adverts for 3 bed unfurnished house rentals at 10,000 - 12,000 in areas like Pavia but you would definitely need your own transport living out there.

Food and household goods wise we spend around 10,000 - 12,000 a month. We eat healthily. Plenty of chicken, fish, vegetables and fruit which my fiancée prefers to buy at the local markets. That way veg and fruit are half the price of the supermarkets and chicken/fish about 30-40% cheaper. I try to minimise buying western branded goods in the supermarkets but I have a weakness for chocolate. If you want a bar of Cadbury's milk chocolate, it will cost about double the UK price.

We spend about PHP 4,000 - PHP 4,000 a month on electricity with aircon in the bedrooms only one of which we use unless someone is visiting. We have the aircon on a night to keep cool but use fans during the day as the house is in a sheltered courtyard. Otherwise it's consumption for appliances and light. Our landlord provides broadband and cable TV for PHP 600 a month and I subscribe to Netflix for PHP 550 a month.

It's incredibly cheap to move around Iloilo in taxis and the drivers in the majority are good guys who won't look to rip you off. All the journeys are metered. We're about 2 miles from the biggest SM mall here and that fare is PHP 100 (GBP 1.40) each way including a tip. I'm too tall to use the jeepneys here as they're a different design to those in Manila and have less headroom. If you live in central Iloilo I can't see any justification for having a car. The roads are pretty atrocious and with the greatest respect to my Ilongo hosts, they are quite simply the worst drivers on the planet bar none. Why throw away money on a vehicle that will depreciate very rapidly and likely end up getting wrecked ? I'd rather have the money in the bank and let the army of taxi drivers here have the business.

I haven't opened a bank account here yet. I just transfer from my UK bank account to my fiancée's account using an outfit called TransferWise. They have low costs and very good guaranteed exchange rates. If I make the transfer during the week, the money is usually in her BDO account within about 2 hours. Live example the GBP/PHP mid market rate is 72.306. TransferWise guaranteed rate is 72.31 with fees of GBP 3.97 to transfer GBP 500.00 so the effective rate is 71.74.

I have bought new reading glasses and also prescription sunglasses since I've been here and the cost with a decent optician was about on par with UK prices. For you Brits, believe it or not we have a Vision Express in the SM mall here and they are very good.

The biggest hurdle I've faced so far was getting my golf clubs shipped out here by air freight. If anybody is looking to do something similar from the UK I think I can now give you some hard earned advice on dealing with Philippine Airlines cargo and also the Bureau of Customs in Iloilo.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone on buying medicines here specifically I'm taking atorvastatin, candesartan (blood pressure control), omaprazole and rivaroxaban (blood thinner) courtesy of a heart attack in 2010. I've got about 4 months supply with me I brought from the UK (managed to hoodwink the NHS on that one when I went back at Chrsitmas). I've seen plenty of generic medicine suppliers here but recommendations are always good to have.

Cheers for now,

Al

Mugtech. Thanks for the info. As a correction, diabetes maintenance meds like metformin, glimeperide, etc are free in most drug stores in the US as long as you have some type of insurance.

On the internet, are you referring to wired or the network? I would be surprised that you are even getting 2mbps. For the wireless phones, I can pretty much tell you you'd be lucky if you get anything more than 1 mbps anywhere in the country. Phone companies like Globe advertise 4g LTE and speeds to 15mbs. Thats all false advertising. I've been there and done that.

You can test your speed by using www.speedtest.net.

samahantayo wrote:

Mugtech. Thanks for the info. As a correction, diabetes maintenance meds like metformin, glimeperide, etc are free in most drug stores in the US as long as you have some type of insurance.

I have Medicare parts A & B, no drugs are free in the USA.

OIC. Not on Medicare yet so I don't pay for those  drugs. Maintenance drugs are free in most drugs stores.

Wasn't sure where to post this. Health care related. I have relatives in the Philippines who self-insure themselves with health care. Works out just fine for them. Being a senior also buys you at least 20% off your bill. I have looked into health insurance with Philippine carriers but it's not any cheaper than US carriers. Plus, there too many stipulations. And coverage is not as good. All agents are after is commission. A large chunk of your premiums go to them. Which is the general rule in any insurance scheme in the Philippines.

I know a US citizen who is insured with GeoBlue. It's a US based company that covers medical and Rx when you are abroad for extended periods. They are pretty happy with them.

I live in Kawit, Cavite and costs for me are- food P16,000/ month. Electricity P2,300/ month. Fuel P1,000/ week if drive a lot but tend not to drive too much now. Internet P1,700/ month.

Hello everyone,

Please note that i am re opening this thread. 2 additional threads have been created from the off-topic posts removed from this thread.

If you want to share your experience on these topics, feel free :

- how difficult was it to renew your visa?
- Experiences with regards to the cost of education

However, let us share only about cost of living on this present thread.

Thanks in advance,
Bhavna

Tread carefully when shopping/buying a condo in the Philippines. Don't assume the construction is the same as in Western countries. There is no such thing as full disclosure of the state of the unit let alone the structure. And God forbid you find problems. Getting a resolution is non-existent existent. And be prepared with maintenance and association fees. As someone already implied, make sure the fire protection systems are working. The infrastructure for public fire departments is poor. Filipinos like to smoke inside their units even if building regulations prohibit it. The main source of fire in high rise buildings!

Mugtech is right. The condo market in the Philippines is saturated! Reselling is a real problem unless you are willing to take a loss.

Also, depending on what you are used to, the standards of ppl.there are not the same. Remember, you are living in close quarters between units. I would definitely rent/lease and observe first if you really want a condo. Don't listen to brokers bc they only have one interest in mind.

I will go along with this guys on condos, I have few friends who have bought condos of the plan, and they have been so excited about it, looked great and beautiful, but when they took over it was nothing as it was on the plan or the photos they showed them, but they can not come back from this, it is funny how they advertise every thing, yes much cheaper of the plan, but you are getting cheap one any way, you will always get what you pay for, not more but less yes, they have learned how to get us one way or the other, the prise we pay for chasing their Woman haha, this is why we are here right, what else ???

No different from cell phone plans. Globe for example advertises 4g and 25 mbps. Funny thing is it does not exist in the Philippines. You'd be lucky if you get 1 Mbps anywhere in the country. That condo experience you described is very common. All false advertising. Don't get duped.

sam if your already living full time in tarlac you might get a surprise when you apply for a aussie pension, my friend was refused age pension because he was already living with his pinoy family in the philippines for the last 3 years even he visits australia every year

Hi Barkz you need to tell me more about this part, I do have few aussi friends here 2 are in Angeles and one is in Cabatuan, they all have aussi age pension, but what I understand from them is their pension is deposited in Australian bank and then they do transfer to Philippines, apart from that i thought Australia and Philippines have good relationship, but if they don't i understand that part too, I will not be affected by any of this, my Plan is to move back to Melbourne and live there permanently with Family, waiting till my Kid is school age 2 more years and Wife to get Permanent Visa and I am out of here, personally i do not like this country and I like even less people here, yes I am married to one, that was before I learned what type of people  Filipinos are, I do love my Wife but I am a Man who lives by principales if you know what I mean,

Hi again Barks, did some research on Age Pension form Australia, well can not refuse him a age Pension, I do not have full storey here, but they basically can not, Philippines is not in agreement with Australia for Social Security, but we are talking about age pension here, problems we all have here is finding the right health insurance, this is one of reason i wish to move back home..

Hello everyone,

Please create a new topic if you have questions or want to share on another subject.

This one is only about the cost of living.

Thanks in advance,
Bhavna

I know that this is a pretty low figure but where could I live fairly decently with a fixed income ( disability check once a month from the U.S.) of $1000.00? I know its not much but I really don't need much except a decent place to rent .No frills or nightlife for me. Just want to mix with people but no rustic lifestyle either. I am also learning Tagalog and heard that they are always looking for people to teach English. Also heard that it is easy to get rolls in commercials and such if you are American. Is any of this true?

Hi Randall2,

I'm not American but a Brit living in Iloilo. I'm going to defer to your compatriots on whether in they think $1,000 is enough to live on cheaply here but I'm not sure it is. Cost of living does vary a fair bit depending on where you live but my own view is that unless you are willing to live somewhere outside a population centre it might be a struggle. If you have thoughts of being anywhere safe and half decent in Manila then forget it. Your $1,000 might just cover the rent on a small apartment. Most expats living in Manila though are still working for foreign employers. Most of us who are retired wouldn't live in Manila if you paid us to  How will you be fixed if you need healthcare here ? Health cover is expensive. Utilities especially electricity can be expensive, again depending on where you live. What about transport if you were to live outside a city ? Do you have any savings to fall back on ? Not sure about the English teaching if you have Tagalog. I don't know of anyone doing that. Education here is pretty fair and a good percentage of people in the population centres have at least some if not reasonable English. As for the commercials. Well, if you're a Brad Pitt lookalike maybe  . If not then I doubt it. Employment here is almost impossible to come by here for expats unless you try and start a business and that carries a lot of risk with it.

Good luck.

Thank you for replying.  I am actually wondering though about anywhere at all in the Philippines that could be cheap enough but safe too. The site would only let me choose one city at a time though. I do realize that the city is far more expensive and don't expect to come and find a great place for cheap but there must be somewhere that is good to live and still affordable. The teaching and acting thing is laughable I know but it's just something I read on another sitereply lol. Again, thank you for your reply.

my own experience in Philippines if you wish to live on the cheap side of things, then find a nice Province not to fare from any of the City's there, there a lots of Provinces to choose from, but yes must look at safety part of it too. any way on Main land of philippines is great and safe, I mean Mainland is where capital City is, Manila..

Hi again,
It's no problem. I can give you some idea about the Iloilo area where I live. Maybe others will respond on other areas. Safety/security is always a consideration anywhere here. Not because there is someone waiting to kidnap or murder you round every corner. Far from it. The people are in the main very friendly and welcoming. It's about being sensible and realizing this is comparatively very poor country. All westerners are pretty much viewed as being wealthy. I once had a shop girl actually ask if I would marry her. When I asked her why she actually said because you are a westerner and wealthy. I like to think that maybe she fancied me just a little too but needless to say I declined the offer. Your $1,000 per month is many times what the average working Filipino will earn. For a good proportion of the population here, their overriding worry is about being able to put food on the table today. Rent will be your main monthly cost. To live somewhere secure and fairly comfortable here in Iloilo will set you back anywhere between say PHP 10k-30k (USD 200-600). That depends on whether it's city or outlying suburbs, furnished or unfurnished and obviously size. Next up food/toiletries/household. For two of us, I reckon in the region of PHP 10k-12k per month (USD 200-240). We split our shopping between the produce markets and supermarket. Electricity is relatively expensive here and costs us PHP 4.5k-5k a month (USD 90-100). We run one aircon unit for half the night plus fan in the day plus light and appliance power. Transport depends on whether you run a vehicle. Living in the city here I don't. The roads and the standard of Filipino driving are atrocious! Filipinos (even those with decent vehicles) are in my experience pretty much the worst drivers I have seen anywhere and I've been around a fair bit. Taxis are plentiful and cheap. Getting out fairly regularly I reckon we spend around PHP 3k a month (USD 60). Communications will vary on your own set up. I have broadband in the apartment + mobile wifi + prepaid cellphone and that comes in at around PHP 2k a month so around USD 40. I guess they are the main expenses and if I sort of average that you are up around USD 800 just on the basics. On top of that depending on your own situation you might have visa costs as well. I am staying here on tourist visa extensions and it costs me around PHP 3k every two months including the express processing fee so you could do it for PHP 1k less. Call it PHP 1k a month (USD 20).
You did mention I think that you are on some kind of medical/disability pension. If that means that you will need to buy medications here you will need to factor that cost in as well.
Anyway that's about it. I stress that those costs are my lifestyle living in Iloilo. Others may have different views based on their own location/experience.

Good luck again.