How do they pay for food, rent, entertainment every month? I'm a 27 year old Filipino American and I want to visit Philippines next year. I want to know hints on living cheap in Philippines for a month and have fun doing it.
Anonymous
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Some live off a lot less
like to help
We met a security guard in one of the large shopping centres in Cebu who lives on 40 Australian Dollars a month which is even less. One of the women who works at a beauty parlor has 8 children and earns $1 Aus a day so that is even less again. Accommodation can be as cheap as you like. 3 of us shared a room at Vacation Hotel Cebu for $A30 a night (and that was with a pool) and it is so cheap to eat. You can buy fruit and vegetable from the local markets and do it extremely cheaply......but the supermarkets are really good prices too. You will really love Cebu, it is a beautiful place and everyone is really nice.
statices
A lot of filipinos live on 40 USD a month, some even lesser. How do they pay for expenses?
Some don't. The live in shacks or houses made of cardboard boxes or scrap materials. Some live with relatives so they won't have to pay rent. As for food, some Filipinos get food from their backyard, like vegetables. for others, I do not know how they manage. For entertainment, they don't pay for it. Some just watch TV at the neighbor's house. ;-)
KansasDragon
If you're going on a trip for fun, and going to rent a room.. keep these words in mind "PENSION HOUSE".
You can find a nice clean, decent room, for very low prices per day. Possibly $7/day or less. (Warning the showers are likely cold water.)
To give you an idea of expenses, I took over 30 people on a rented bus tour of Bohol Island, buying the food, and the entry to a couple of tourist locations for about $120. That's for everything for the day, for 30 people. The beach, 3 tourists sites, bus and driver, food...
If you have family in Cebu, you can live very inexpensively. What is the purpose of your trip? What do you want to do? What style of living do you want?
If you want, drop me a note, and I'll see if I can get you some more answers from my fiancee's cousins in Cebu. I usually chat with them every 1 or 2 days.
Anonymous
Don't listen to anyone else, I have family who work there and they don't earn much.
I have two aunties who are high school teachers, they only get 3000-6000 pesos/month.
My uncle hired a maid and only pays her 2000 pesos/month
Life is hard in the Philippines, but you can get food for cheap.
Buy your food from the local open markets and cook it yourself, cheapest way to eat.
Restaurants are more expensive, it costs about 60 pesos to buy a Big Mac, this is already expensive for most people.
Entertainment - only the richer people usually go the cinemas, etc...
Rent - most share an apartment, and most still live in their parents' house...
Filipinos are very family-oriented and they will do all they can to help each other out.
You must understand that the wealth is not spread evenly in the Philippines. There are the very rich who have condos, houses, etc (like me), and the very poor who live in the slums, shanty houses, etc... Even the middle class I'd say live a hard live in terms of money.
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By the way, I have 3 houses in the Philippines:
1 is our main house, 5 bedrooms + attic + veranda + garage + garden
1 is for rent at 10,000 pesos/month to a lawyer, behind our main house
1 is where my other relatives stay
and my father has purchased lots of land in the province.
And, my father bought me a condo in mandaluyong city :D