I'm new here. Can I live well on $1800 a month in Cebu

Hi Chefwayne,

It's great to read through this thread and find out so many things from other fellow expats . I have to say there are a lot of expats who really care by sharing their experiences. Being married to an American, lived in California for almost 11 years and came back here for good, there are a lot of developments that have happened from the time I left till now. I have been to Thailand several times when I used to work in Philippine Airlines as an Internal Auditor then Sales.I have to say that the food in Thailand is much better specially the fruits where every type of fruit that we both have, Thailand have them bigger and sweeter. Having a great King that is fully supported by his people and generous enough to provide for the needs of the locals, Thailand for me has one of the best practices in agriculture.

Your monthly budget will be more than enough for you to live here in a comfortable lifestyle. Later on, once we move towards our very own retirement years, we will move out of the Metro towards Southern Luzon, if not Cebu. If you prefer cooler places, but not too far from the Metro and near the beach, there are only two places that I know that will fit in the criteria, Cebu and near Tagaytay, South Luzon. These two places are near International airports, major malls, hospitals and beach resorts. IF you need VA assistance, Manila and Cebu are the only ones that can provide you with that.

Take the time to venture by visiting different places and take your time to look around. What we can do is connect you with trustworthy fellow expats and locals to make sure that locals will not rip you off. Of course there are no guarantees if you get hooked up with the wrong group when you venture out. I only connect with Professional people with integrity because I need to protect my own reputation since I hold multiple licenses here in the Philippines and in the US.

Let us know when you plan to come over and we can assist you in making your arrangements here.

Pinaymentor
Plan well. Invest well. Insure well. Live well...

check out  Davao Lot  better  than Cebu unless you like  a  lot  of  expats, they have  some  nice  subdivisions  but  it  is  an old  and  dirty city, no VA assistance  in Cebu, and  Manila  out patient  and  only for  service  related  issues

yes definitely! I can send you further details on tips if you want to.. cost of living in the Philippines is very low and with $1800 you can definitely save lets not be so long on answers.... what you really need is someone who can help you with the expenses first until you get the hang of it

Hi good eve sir Wayne! I'm AL a small entrepreneur temporarily live here in an Php 8000.00/month studio type condo here in Dapitan, Sampaloc, Manila Philippines of my daughter a Com Sci grad who work as a Data Base Engr in Hewlett Packard.My youngest daughter also live with us a 3rd year software engr student in FEU East Asia. I also had a son who live and work now in Cebu as a medical representative of ROCHE Philippines. Sir your choice of place you want to live is quite good because my son told me that Cebu is very nice and beautiful  place and he even said that he wants to live there for life.Sir your $1800=Php 73000 is too much to live here in Manila or in Cebu or anywhere here in the Philippines.Price of pork,chicken,beef Php 160-200/kg, fresh water fish Php 60-120,salt water fish Php 80-300,shrimps,crabs and lobster Php 200-1500. Rentals Php 2000-15000/month or maybe higher it depends to you sir, but it seems your a simple persons who wants to have simple living, you can really enjoy all the comforts that your budget can give includes wheels,maids and PA.Anyway I am more than willing to tour or guide you anywhere here in the Philippines and I can even accommodate you in my house in the province with my wife temporarily for free or you can ask for more about Cebu to my son and be friends with him. His fb ALmar De Belen Pili, My mobile 09352413011.

Sir I forgot to tell you about your health, there's no prob as far as your health is concern because I had a US vet friend who often see a hospital because of his knee injury and diabetes. In addition I recommend you to see also Sabang, Puerto Galera, Mindoro Oriental try to see in google satelite it's really also a nice place to live around there.You can live in local house with the Filipino owner and it's cheaper.But be careful and smart always because people when your new their price double or more.Good luck and god bless!

Hi sir again Veterans Memorial Medical Center is located in North Ave. Quezon City Phil.Anyway sir when you are at the airport don't take airport taxi because it's too expensive they use contract pricing not meter price reading.Better ask someone to see you at the airport for more comfort and safety.

Beware of  those  wanting to be  your  Guide or help you around, they want  to help you out of your money, you don't need a  guide and  their  are  metered Taxis at  the  air  port just  ask, just  read  up on where  you want  to visit  any cab driver  will take  you no problem also watch out  for  Expats  wanting  to help, a lot of  them make  a living  off of other  expats, not  all, just  use  common sense

Thanks Okieboy, good advice I never use guides takes the fun out of learning my way around.
I did read about the taxi's at the airport. The meterd taxi's are upstairs from what I understand. I'll ask around when I get there
Thanks again
Wayne

Taxi contractors are scattered at the airport in civilian or in uniform if nobody see you there talk only to the accredited taxi company and before boarding make sure it's done deal, i mean by contract or metered. Definitely beware of those people who are pretending and hiding to their stained white skin and pleasant looks.I don't think so you can have cheaper fare at the airport taxi's, maybe they use meter but there's a contract behind it that's what i knew, cheaper taxi's are those came from outside who brought passengers at the departure area.Anyway it's true use your common sense specially when dealing with approaching people specially girls. If you like or plan to have filipina partner or wife, to make sure to have a good and healthy partner or wife don't be in a hurry, better court single lady who work as a saleslady or waitress in a small restaurant or hire 3 young single maids so you can choose whom to court to them and surely they are good and healthy that can take care and love you for the rest of your life. Good luck & god bless!

Mind to comment about guide. I think it's a lot better and more comfortable to a new comer. You yourself can choose which one to be by staying first at least a week in a hotel , then go out and see the church,market,park,restaurant,hospital ect. that way you can be friends with the priest and local people,luckily Cebuano's speaks Visayan and English so it's quite easy for you Sir to adjust wherever you wish to live.Anyway Sir you needn't flew to Manila then fly to Cebu.Just take Cebu Pacific Air, they have direct flight from Bangkok to Cebu Happy Trip!

Good day Sir! I think your advise about the guide is misleading! Definitely people offers help or something else in exchange of fee to make a living and bring food to his/her family. It's a common thing to us people around the world to make a descent and fair living out of our goods or services.Sir is he going to give or pay the guide thousand thousand dollars? Of course not! only what is due and fair enough for his/her goods or services in exchange of his safety and comfort, right? Anywhere in this world have good and bad guys the only thing that we can do to avoid or minimize misfortune is to pray to god to guide us wherever and to be very careful of our acts,attitudes,words, and belongings because bad guys are watching anytime and anywhere!

chefwayne wrote:

Hi,I know his has probably been done to death but I'm new here and need to ask. I've been living in Thailand for a while and now want to move to the Philippines. My question is can I lie well on $1800 a month in Cebu?
I don't drink I'm a retired chef so I cook for myself. I don't do the bar fine kind of life style, and I want to live close to the beach.
Is it doable?
Thanks
Wayne

Hope i can meet you sir we have just the same lifestyle but im not a chef, i hope you're doin good now. Im here in Doha for work  but Im a Filipino

Hello chefwayne,

Good day!

Regarding your inquiry, its like a salary of a manager in the Philippines already. With that, you can live comfortably in Cebu City. Like what After7_al said, you can take a flight to Cebu directly through cebu pacific airlines. Well much have been said about the place but I think whats important is that we must always be careful when we deal with people in a foreign land. I think its normal in any country, like here in Thailand, people would also tend to overprice everything when i but something. But its much better there for foreigners cause there wont be too much problem speaking in english unlike here in Bangkok. Hope you'll enjoy your life in cebu chef! God bless!

Hello, 

I believe that is more than enough for you to spend on monthly basis. You see, the average monthly salary in Cebu is about 10K to 20K, and your monthly ration is more than 70K in peso terms, so you are "well off" so to speak.

Just make sure your place has a lock, and everything is ok. You might want to have your own car there too to make it convenient for you to get around.

Cheers and have fun!

after7_al wrote:

Hi sir again Veterans Memorial Medical Center is located in North Ave. Quezon City Phil.Anyway sir when you are at the airport don't take airport taxi because it's too expensive they use contract pricing not meter price reading.Better ask someone to see you at the airport for more comfort and safety.

Why do you keep calling people "SIR"?

All people deserve to respect regardless of age, so my one way of showing respect to a person unknown to me is call him sir, sir!

Calling people "Sir" when their names/usernames are there for your eyes to BEHOLD is sometimes rude (and weird quite honestly).

~off topic~

Just to remind you that the subject of this discussion is about cost of living.

Thank you.

Sometimes the cost of living is having to be called sir.

Christine wrote:

~off topic~

Just to remind you that the subject of this discussion is about cost of living.

Thank you.

Thank you for the reminder. But the conversation shows a sample of the kind of people he has to deal with when he moves to Cebu. Needless to say, it isn't just the cost of living he needs to know to get by in Cebu.  Although you are right. It is off topic. :-) Cheers!

yes it's very possible.  i have a friend in cebu, also an expat i can connect you with.. pm me if you're interested. he can offer a more accurate response to your questions.

i am wondering why most foreigners go to cebu when in fact there are a lot of islands here in the philippines -- provinces that are far better than the cities.

also, one should hv to reconsider the lifestyle he is going to pursue...thats the most important choice to do -- perhaps one can get around the city for few weeks..

but as i compare hospitality to foreign land... there's none that can come up with philippines...

dswan

i think why a  lot  want to go to Cebu is  because  of other  expats, it has  some  nice  subdivisions  but  to me the  city is  old  and  dirty and  i have  no interest  in knowing a  lot  of  expats, i have  a  few  close  friends  and  i avoid  the  others

dswan wrote:

i am wondering why most foreigners go to cebu when in fact there are a lot of islands here in the philippines -- provinces that are far better than the cities.

also, one should hv to reconsider the lifestyle he is going to pursue...thats the most important choice to do -- perhaps one can get around the city for few weeks..

but as i compare hospitality to foreign land... there's none that can come up with philippines...

dswan

I agree with you. Despite all the "shortcomings", the hospitality in the neighborhood is unlike in other places. Thailand and Laos are ok too. :-)



Okieboy, the place is ok too. Yes, there are parts of Cebu that's dirty such us Colon st. and the surrounding area (and that is definitely not the place to go to), so visit a place somewhere else. Most of the locals "escape" from the city proper of Cebu and go to the nearby towns to relax. You might want to do some a little research so you can plan ahead your trip if you get bored in your new place.

One thing is for sure, you are well off if you have more than 50K pesos a month.

I can see that you've  already got lots of input but I'm going to put my two cents in.

I dont think you'll like it here.  Any way you slice it, your money doesn't go as far here nor is there as much available to buy here. 

Just about everything they do in this country is second class unless you spend big money.  The service is lousy because most Filipinos are just flat lazy and they seem to think they deserve to get paid just for smiling.

You won't like the food either.  It's terrible and it's doubly amazing to see how many fat women and guys there are over here considering that it's supposedly a tropical country where fruit and vegetables could be presumed to be readily available.  Somehow, most Filipinos just don't mind eating junk food and food that been boiled or fried to death.

Realtors are, mostly, a total joke.  Many of them have zero ethics and zero real knowledge about business.  Any amateur can get into that business and they're all out there, in Manila anyway, selling crappy little cracker-boxes that only a hamster would want to live in.  There's going to be a building bust here that's going to surprise a lot of people.

As for the women, you'll be very disappointed I think because you'll come to find out that the vast majority of them have ulterior motives for wanting to associate with foreigners whereas the really classy women don't want or need to associate with foreigners.

And that's not to mention the fact that the upper-class society here, to me, just really doesn't seem to care about really helping their country.  They're all just wanting to make as much money as they can. 

At least, in Thailand the people there do seem to take some pride in their country and have taken reasonably good care of it and done a lot with the resources they have....as you can tell by the obviously greater cleanliness of it.

Manila is noisey as hell, it's dirty, you don't see nearly as many people smiling as you do in Thailand and it's very hard to get around in.  Cebu and other towns are probably easier to navigate.

My comments are based on living in Pasay City for about 2 years on about $800 a month so I do realize that the kind of money you're talking about will buy you a much better slice of what's available but I really can't imagine why anybody would come to this pit rather than Thailand.

Regards,
Art

I agree with wanderingsalcero. Although I am from the Philippines, and I consider myself nationalistic, it is rather hard to have pride in your country when you actually have an option to have an open mind. Comparing it to Thailand makes living in the Phil lousy. It is easier to get around in Thailand even on public transportation (AND SAFER, less costly and more convenient).

A lot of condo units there are for sale and are rather VERY EXPENSIVE when the space you are getting isn't really big enough for a decent man to live in. The noise and traffic in Manila is bad, and Cebu is boring, and many well-to-do families there don't care at all on helping others. Regarding the men and women getting overweight, well, rice is always the main course and is relatively cheaper than meat. Their diet consists of 65-70% Carbs.

The things that you can buy there (even food) are second class, unless you know where to buy them and how much you are willing to spend. Beware of street foods. You don't know what kind of disease you can acquire from eating them.

On the other hand, there are other things that make my country really stand out. While there are the negatives, there are also the good ones.

PS. I don't visit Cebu. I just think it is boring. And just to keep this within the topic, your monthly ration is more than enough for you to live well in Cebu.

Don't go looking for women with skimpy shorts and shirts. Look for the decent ones, if I might add.

Hi. Sure u can live with that amount. That's more than enough. If u want, we can show you a nice house for rent inside a safe, gated subdivision.

Where in the Philippines you would like to live? Cebu is a nice place. You can surely live with that budget. That's more than enough.

yes indeed,it really depends on your life style,but once your there just adjust to the local ways and youll be fine.Just use common sense and budget your money wisely.good luck,maye we meet there sometime next year,planing a trip there too.Stay in touch.

Of course you can live off of 1800 USD in the PH. I used to live off of 400 USD a month there too. I even know an expat who lives in a Filipino village who lives off of 100 USD a month, amazingly.

You can live off of any amount in the PH. It's just that if you are living off a low amount, like I did, then your qualify of life will go down.

If local Filipinos can live off of 200 dollars a month, or less, why can't you? You can live off any amount, but your quality of life will vary.

Learn to cut unnecessary costs, and don't overpay or lend money to anyone. Spend efficiently. That's the key.

I now live off of 1800 USD a month here too, and am able to spend more freely than before.

Why do you want to move from Thailand to the Philippines though? From what I heard, Thailand beats the Philippines in almost every category - price, quality, culture, etc.

Also, beggars don't come up and touch you in Thailand like they do in the Philippines, which is scary and intrusive. They sit on the street and wait for donations, like in the US. As we all know, there are many negatives in the Philippines that over time become annoying.

WWu777 is totally correct.  Of course, it's nobody's business why this guy wants to move here but I really think that people don't realize the dichotomy of experiences a person can have in the Philippines.  It can really be amazingly scroungy but I don't think anybody realizes it until they've been here.

You're right about that begger stuff...it positively amazes me too.  I feel like slugging some of those people but the Filipinos don't think anything off it.

Art

they don't bother  me  that  much,  just  say Deli Lang. and  they go away, not very many here where i live only a  few  around  Christmas, i have  seen worse  in Los Angles Caifornia

wanderingsalsero wrote:

WWu777 is totally correct.  Of course, it's nobody's business why this guy wants to move here but I really think that people don't realize the dichotomy of experiences a person can have in the Philippines.  It can really be amazingly scroungy but I don't think anybody realizes it until they've been here.

You're right about that begger stuff...it positively amazes me too.  I feel like slugging some of those people but the Filipinos don't think anything off it.

Art

I feel sorry that you seem to have experienced more negative things in the Philippines. The location where you choose to reside makes a difference, and it is unfortunate you chose Pasay (Metro Manila). There is a lot more you are missing out in the Philippines.

There is a law there against soliciting, unfortunately that law has no teeth at all and the police don't seem to know what they are there for. Tragic!

Anyway, some may not like the place. Some may do. It is how you take care of yourself and how you assimilate to the culture that will make a difference. If you go to the Philippines, go to the provinces so you can enjoy nature (something you won't find in Pasay).

Cheers

I want to thank every body that has contributed to this.There is a lot of positive input and some negative. As with most things I will have to look and make a choice. The biggest reason the Philippines looks good to me is they speak English. After so much time in Thailand I got tired of speaking Thaiglish. I'm not one of those people that picks up a language very easy. Also as a Vet there is the V A medical help if I need it.
I will spend a month looking around then I go back to the states for a month to take care of some final business. I know I will live in Asia some where.Have to see the Philippines  to add it to the list or scratch it.
Thanks again

as i said  before  and  i am a  Vet, the  Clinic is out patient  and  for  service  related issues only, you would  have  to go to Guam for  other  VA medical treatment

That's OK it is still closer than Thailand and so far I would only need for service connected

Hi All, To answer some of the things about me and why Cebu and the Philippines. I didn't want to fly into Manila and Cebu is about the only other choice.From there I plan on looking around to find a place that is a good fit for me. I am a pretty quiet guy I don't do the bar thing, don't drink,and I'm not into the rent a girl thing either. If I find someone then fine if I don't then that's OK to it is not my primary purpose for moving there.  I have lived in India for 6 months and have seen poverty and lousy food and all that stuff. And I have been through the rest of Asia. So far I have found my comfort zone is up to me and how I adjust to each country.
I have met several people from the Philippines in my travels and they are such great people to be around that I made up my mind to come there to see for myself what it is like. The people I have met have been great ambassadors for their country.
I think it will be a great adventure.
One last comment. I don't understand the ones that are so negative about the Philippines. Why don't you move if it is so bad. I don't understand.
Thanks for all the input

chefwayne wrote:

Hi All, To answer some of the things about me and why Cebu and the Philippines. I didn't want to fly into Manila and Cebu is about the only other choice.From there I plan on looking around to find a place that is a good fit for me. I am a pretty quiet guy I don't do the bar thing, don't drink,and I'm not into the rent a girl thing either. If I find someone then fine if I don't then that's OK to it is not my primary purpose for moving there.  I have lived in India for 6 months and have seen poverty and lousy food and all that stuff. And I have been through the rest of Asia. So far I have found my comfort zone is up to me and how I adjust to each country.
I have met several people from the Philippines in my travels and they are such great people to be around that I made up my mind to come there to see for myself what it is like. The people I have met have been great ambassadors for their country.
I think it will be a great adventure.
One last comment. I don't understand the ones that are so negative about the Philippines. Why don't you move if it is so bad. I don't understand.
Thanks for all the input

You are welcome in my country. Stay safe and have fun. :-)

Hi Wayne, 
I think you can live well in that budget. Mactan is less expensive, and also close to many beaches.
Gudluck,in staying Philippines.

I have detailed Cost of Living articles at Costs of Living in the Philippines