money, Philippines, retirement, expat, living, costs, prices
English Posts

Good morning, give me money!

It is almost a daily greeting from the neighboring children when they spot me: Hello, give me money! At first, I thought: you impolite little greedy ones. Now, after a week or so, I wonder if they even know what they ask, for their notation of the sentence is more like: have a nice day.
Maybe somebody pulled a trick on them and taught them wrong. Like I did so many years ago on Curacao when I told my Brazilian friend that Good morning, have a nice day in Dutch sounded like Ik wil een ijsje…..(I want an ice-cream). When he greeted all those leaving churches that Sunday morning he got what he asked for: an ice-cream.

Lucky for me he had a good sense of humor and he liked ice cream a lot

I’m in my little Filipino version of my ivory tower coping with my finances. Once, writing for my (no longer online) Dutch Website I wrote about a safe place I created for myself: The Ivory Tower. it took 1000 steps to reach the top room that was my sanctuary. And there way above the world, I could recuperate from the storms below.

Climbing the few steps to my new home on Siquijor it feels like I climb up to my ivory tower. The view is spectacular and the world seems to drop away once I’m home. Except for the guard dog of my landlord, next to the building in his den. he barks a lot, bored to his wits sitting there all day, nobody walks the poor thing and his poo does not smell very nice.
Needless to say, I complain almost daily about it. Whoever thought of a guard dog next to a rental house that lives day and night his enclosure must have lost his mind. The value of your property drops the moment you put the dog in and leave him on his own.

Okay, back on topic: Give me money. That seems to be the mantra of my life at the moment.
Remember all those articles I wrote about the budget?? Where I press the importance of having some back-up cash for a rainy day?
Well, I have some, not much and after this week I will even have less.

cost of living, philippines, daily life, prices, budget, money, monthly

Money seems to have wings these last few weeks and there have been a few financial setbacks

First of all traveling in the Philippines is not done on a budget of 50k pesos. For hotel prices have gone up a lot in the last 2 years.

So I’m also recuperating from 6 months “over the “- living. And dipping in my savings. I collected a lot of information on my trip and many hours of footage which is freely available on my website and YouTube Channel and the donate button is there for a reason.

road safety, personal safety, riding a motorcycle in the philippines

With YouTube taking away my advertisement my revenue dropped so much it will not even pay for my hosting costs anymore

So I decided to buy new, cheaper hosting and say goodbye to the expensive grid hosting at MediaTemple whos service has gone down over the past few years. The first hosting at InMotion Hosting went all wrong, but they voided the order and said they refund my money……no money refunded yet. And now they even stopped replying to my email about is. So I opened a dispute at the bank. But it has been dragging on for weeks now.
I must say customer service at BDO also sucks.

That was close to 5500 pesos disappearing into thin air……

opening a Filipino bank account

I probably have been driving an unregistered motorcycle for over 6 months, with special thanks to LTO Calapan

In September 2017 I thought: Maybe I need a renewal of my motorcycle registration? I was not sure for the paperwork holds several dates and the license plate another. I have a new plate number and it was not clear to me if the renewal date was still to be guessed from my plate or I should follow the OR (a form the LTO gives you). It took a 1.5-hour drive to the Calapan office only to be told I need to come back august (plate number ends with an 8) of 2018. I asked they were sure for my insurance ended in September, they were sure.

So I renewed my insurance and drove on Filipino roads, passed checkpoint and coast guard, loading bills were drawn up and papers checked and it was only on Siquijor somebody told me: you should have renewed August 2017……WTF…..if that is true, I’m going to LTO first thin on Monday, if that is true than the fine is 200 pesos per week…….calculate 32 weeks x 200 pesos is 6,500 pesos fine and the costs of the registration.

cost, money, Philippines, daily expenses, cost of living

What about all those officials looking at my papers checkpoint after checkpoint not pointing out to me I had to renew my plate?

With special thanks to the Calapan LTO officer in charge that gave me wrong information. To be continued!

And then I’m diagnosed with a beginning cataract. No rush there yet, but I like it to be checked. The consultation fee is 800 pesos and after that, I will also know the costs of the surgery so I can save up.

And the broken molar. it does not hurt (yet) but it needs fixing, that should be around 1200 pesos I guess. And you know dentists, once you open your mouth, you open your wallet, he is bound to find some other fixes.

Next: moving into a new home drains your budget also, there is always something you need to buy, in my case a router (3,999 pesos) and a kettle (375 pesos) and some towels (350 pesos) and a water dispenser (275 pesos)
and some tiny bits and things that add up fairly quickly. And I rented the house through messenger, upon arrival I waas told I have to pay one months rent as a deposit. There was no mention of that in the negotiations. And I have rented here before, they know I always pay….no arguing that part, so 17,000 pesos still due to pay.

The flat tire and the ferry from Dumaguete to Siquijor are paid from my regular budget, but the visa extension that is coming up, I have to pay from my savings this time.

Expat in Dumaguete

Do you see how easy money can flow out of your wallet due to unexpected circumstances?

When I did the maths, I become a little down over it, especially the LTO drama. Such a waste of money, more so: I was in time the first time around.

When the children greeted me this morning through the open window with a: hello, give me money, I almost replied: maybe you give me some money, I’m a poor woman at the moment.
The next few months I have to live on the sober side of life, I have a visa run coming up in 6 months and that eye operation to save up for.

I’m not complaining, don’t get me wrong. Just explaining and just writing away on my new laptop which I needed urgently but I regret a little buying it.

 

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