Cost of living in the Philippines, July 2018

The months of July was a weird month since I moved to another house, that means I lost the deposit from the house before. My landlord, there was pretty clear about that.
Lots of people asked me why I moved and took the risk of losing my deposit. The house was just not the right location for me and there was something wrong with the acoustics in the house. Noise seems to gather up inside and bounce and resonate on the walls. Maybe because the hollow blocks were not filled up properly, I have no idea, but I have never lived in a more noisy house than that one.

And I have learned that sharing the grounds with a Filipino Family is not my kind of thing. I know I am a guest int his country, but the hypocrisy of cleaning up the polluted and trashed area 2 weeks prior to the arrival of the foreign owner, kind of showed me how hypocrite some people are. The family kind of lived on this constant untidied and trashy compound, with jobs half-finished lying around everywhere, only to shape up just before the husband was to arrive from the UK.

it is very annoying to step over constant laundry, toys and gardens tuff when you want to park your bike, or find your brand new motorcycle underneath a white paint job or cement job without being covered up.

So when I saw the Cliff House I was determined to move there. And I know no place is perfect, but this comes pretty close. And yes, there is karaoke here also, but the sound does not resonate inside my house, it is outside where it should be. And yes there is a water problem in this area, but gosh the view, the peace, and quietness, the endless turquoise ocean in front of me, makes it all worth the long drive to San Juan and Siquijor.

because I moved I spent a little more money this month on stuff for the new house, like pans for the kitchen and a barbecue. And because I hired a local woman to help out in the house half a day a week, that adds to my budget also.

Furthermore, the prices in the Philippines continue to rise. gasoline was 34 pesos when I first started riding my bike here two years ago, now it is 56 pesos per liter. And the rice was around 34 pesos for a kilo of good quality rice, now that is around 51 pesos and in Dumaguete even 80 pesos per kilo.

And I am sure more prices have gone up, but I do not keep track of prices on local markets, I just buy what I need. But for sure I pay more for mangos, 170 pesos per kilo and chayote seems to have doubled the price, and pork has become more expensive.  And apples used to be 10 pesos and now 20 per piece.
Hotel prices have gone up and so has rent for long-stay houses. In Dumaguete, it is hard to find a decent home for less than 10k or even 15k.

Although prices are rising fast here and poor people struggle to get by even more so. It is still so much cheaper than in f.e. Europe.
I have added in the table the US$ price so you guys can see how affordable life still is here.

Subject	Amount in PHP	Amount US$	Note
Rent	18,000	338.17	Cliff house, including watr, elelctricity and internet
Drinking water	110	2.07
Fuel Motorbike	2,300	43.21	price per liter 56 pesos, Premium 95
Eating out	5,962	112.01	1 person average 2 meals a day
Groceries	6,826	128.24	I stuffed my freezer with meat, pork atm 270 pesos per kilo
Clothes	140	2.63	4 shirts in the Ukay Ukay
Phone	99	1.86	Smart promo for internet
Maid	100	1.88	I pay her 25 pesos per hour
Pans and a bbq	1,300	24,42	the new house came with some purchases
hairdresser	100	1.88	she charges 50 pesos, but makes my hair nice with a free oil treatment, so I pay her extra
new diary	270	5.07	paper diary
Replacement tap bathroom	300	5.64	what you break you have to fix 🙂
Service check motorbike	735	13.81	5000 km service and oil change
Motorbike general	330	6.20	flat tire, wash, air, luggage strap
Travel	589	11.07	ferry to Dumaguete, 1x round trip, habal habal to the port, terminal fee
TOTAL	37,161	698.16

 

For the rest is was a month with a lot of uninvited visitors…..

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