Cost of Cell Service in Philippines

Awesome!  I'll check those out tomorrow.  I did google that before but maybe I didnt ask it right.  Have a great night!  (Or day in your case!) 

fixfireleo wrote:

Awesome!  I'll check those out tomorrow.  I did google that before but maybe I didnt ask it right.  Have a great night!  (Or day in your case!) 

Thank you!! Have a good night.

And for some the advice offered is overlooked or treated as here say. Contempt? Ignorance?
Regardless of input by members due diligence is the order of the day.

Steve.

According to the first link you sent me,

"The following common items are classified as prohibited items and are not allowed to be brought into the Philippines:



Onions, potatoes, garlic and cabbages
Coffee
Used clothing and rags
Toy guns"


They cant possibly mean that you arent allowed to bring your clothes with you?  Especially on vacation?

It also says dusty is paid based on "fair market value".  So I am assuming the same audio equipment that I would be lucky to get $500 for here in the USA would sell for $1000 there just because it is all top brand names?

They do not except used clothing as donations… You can’t ship used clothing you can however bring it with you.  Hell if I know why… Maybe they think they’re beneath used clothing donations even know in the US They are perfectly exceptable for the rest of us. In any event, had shippingcat  you cannot

This is a country that just destroyed many containers of Yolanda aid. Good luck figuring that out… I sure can’t.

Tim_L wrote:

Yeah man, unless you plan to live like the locals, for me at least, $1,000 US wouldn’t cut it. In my case, I prefer to keep some semblance of a western lifestyle. Do that here, costs more then it does in the US. Coming from a 4,500 sq foot home in the US, this 80m condo is already a major shock. Lol.... I live in Cebu and chose a place fairly close to Ayala mall since I won’t be driving here. Wanted to make it somewhat easy on myself. I take a taxi most places for around $2-3 each way. My electric runs me about $200 a month. I run at least 1 A/C 24/7 and at night I run 2. Faucet water is around $10 a month, bottled water around $10 also. Internet, $40, 2 bedroom condo $1,100.00.
I could certainly live cheaper but, why do I want to skimp here when I didn’t back home.
But, I’m sure that there are people living much cheaper then me here.
Condo has full generator backup power so that alleviates the rolling blackouts.
Markets here are fairly decent. Might have to hit three or four different ones for various US food products and of course, they are much more expensive here then in the US.
US beef is hellish expensive here and the selection is not good. Mostly Australian, New Zealand and local beef here. They do not taste the same as US beef, not even close sadly.
Anything imported is generally way more expensive. A laser printer in US for a couple of hundred bucks could be double or more here. Protectionism at it’s best.
A monitor that I could get in the US from Amazon to my door for $800 is $1500 here.
Shipped is pretty expensive to get things here as well. I was going to ship my 27” iMac over here, $1,200 to do that. Just ordered a new one the other day from Apple. $2,300
To the door from Apple Asia.
And anything that takes 10 minutes to complete in the US, may takes hours, days, weeks here. Lol. Snails pace is the order of the day here.

I know a lot of this sounds ugly and it is and can be. There is definitely a lot to get used to over here my friend but, it’s a nice place, people are very friendly for the most part and I am enjoying my time here.
Just a lot of pitfalls and dangers over here so, definitely educate yourself before you get here. you ain’t in Kansas anymore over here so to speak.

Feel free to message me if you have any private questions. I’ll try to help as much as I can.

I agree with this. It's not cheap to live in the Philippines if you want to live like you did in the States, but on the other hand it IS less expensive overall, especially for upscale housing rental.  You do have to pay more to get away from the noise and pollution in the cities though so that was essential for me. I didn't work my ass off for 40 years to live in a noisy, neighborhood with trash on the streets.. 

We have a newer small car, a nice place with ocean/mtn views a bit outside the city center, and eat out fairly often. Two elementary kids in private schools plus her niece in high school. It all costs about $2500/mo. Sure, a single guy could probably do it for half that but not with a car and you would probably be in a noisy neighborhood I think.

If it weren't for my GF and the kids (not mine) I wouldn't be here, plain and simple. My place in the Western US has views of the mountains, a great climate, no trash on the streets, great golf, hiking and biking and quality of life. But it's not the adventure that is the Philippines, that's for sure.

Sounds like you have some awesome options in either country.  I thought it was cheaper outside of the city than inside the city?  I dont want to go too far out, I dont plan on having a car and I want to stay close enough to still use taxis and uber.  I might have a little better budget than I thought since I may be able to rent my condo in Florida out as furnished and get more per month for it.  I dont plan on living in PH forever (unless I love it that much).  Probably just from 54 to 60 then Portugal from 60 to 62 then back to USA.

With electronics also keep in mind that the Philippines are 220V and electricity quality fluctuates.  I've heard reports that electronics meant for the US dont last long there.

fixfireleo wrote:

Sounds like you have some awesome options in either country.  I thought it was cheaper outside of the city than inside the city?  I dont want to go too far out, I dont plan on having a car and I want to stay close enough to still use taxis and uber.  I might have a little better budget than I thought since I may be able to rent my condo in Florida out as furnished and get more per month for it.  I dont plan on living in PH forever (unless I love it that much).  Probably just from 54 to 60 then Portugal from 60 to 62 then back to USA.

We are still in the city, just up on a hill and out of the city center. And our condo is off the main road. Both those attributes bring more peace and quiet, and cleaner air, but at a higher cost for the unit. Still just a 10 -20 min jeepney or taxi ride into town. Yes, going out of the city completely would be less expensive but as you say it gets more difficult to access services..