Will this salary take us through the month?

Hi Eien,

To answer you question about the sufficiency of P45,000/month for 2 persons will depend entirely on your lifestyle.  I've seen families of 4 live on less than P20,000/month. 

As for rent, the rate will depend entirely on location and access to mass transportation.  P20,000 to P25,000 will get you a studio to one bedroom in Makati or Ortigas (CBD).  Or it can get you a town house or 2 bedroom house further out in the city.   

As for your 2nd question, Filipinos are generally hospitable to all nationalities just like most Thais.  As long as your fiancee can speak English (most Filipinos understand and can speak English)then she should not have a problem.  Hope that helps.

Thanks for your input vin30!

I think I'm going to small studio/1BR as I'm not much of a person who likes to have their own house.
Of course people can make it with almost no money at all, or they just need to have golden edged Visa to have no financial worries. Personally I'm looking something inbetween.

I'm going to move there at the end of September. We shall see how everything works out.

Hello and welcome to Expat.com, Eien
I'll move your topic to Manila's forum for a better visibility; maybe you can already make some nice contacts there
For your accommodation you might want to have a look at Manila's Classifieds -> Accommodation section.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Arlette

Is this PHP45k gross or net of witholding taxes? Realize that you have to pay taxes here too. You have to live a very simple life to live on that money. Is the company providing you transportation allowance? Do you need travel everyday? Where is the office located? Having someone live with you with that money is tough. No worries about Thai women being here.It's not at all obvious that your fiancee is Thai because they almost look like Filipinas. Filipinos are very hospitable and I'm pretty sure that she can make friends easily. Just be very vigilant at all times because, you know what, wherever you are in the world, there are people who will try to steal, and take advantage of anyone. If you are a Christian, then, put on the full armor of God at all times. If not, then, better think positive at all times so that you will only attract the good people!
Things to consider for expenses here and try to find out from your employer what are the things that they will pay in your behalf.
1. working visa
2. cell phones, internet
3. expenses to consider, rent ( depending on how long you intend to stay here, you might consider doing rent to own), transportation, food,medical ( are you covered with health insurance),water, utilities, basic household stuff.
Will your company pay for your moving expenses? Fully furnished condos are quite pricey here, but if you don't have anything to start with, you've got no choice.
Let me know where is your office located. I've met some homeowners who has rooms for rent that are in a gated community in Makati. Or I know there are upcoming condo studio units that are affordable and they might do rent to own.

Sincerely
Pinaymentor

Eien, hows it doing now? any good?

Hi,

It has started off pretty nicely. Got 17k fully furnished studio two blocks away from work, so no need to travel daily.

Now just going to see what I'm gonna do with my fiancee. Might be moving over after we get married later this year/early next year.

So far I like the place and people. I never set any time frame for how long I'm going to stay in the same place, but starting off with at least one year. Shall see what happens after that.

sounds good! nice location I hope too. Hope it all goes better from here

no it is not enf for your expensess just stay there ...
regards

I hope you are settled in by this time. Join us as we plan to meet up towards the end of October! Let me know if there is anything we can do to help you out!

Sincerely,
Pinaymentor