Hellobee

I decided to track my spending for a week to share how much I spend living in the Philippines. At the end of the post I also have a breakdown of all my estimated monthly expenses. For reference, ₱52 Philippine pesos is about $1 USD. This is what we spent money on in the past week!

Saturday – March 16, 2019

We spent the entire day at a coffee farm for an epic day of unschooling. They hosted us, so I only spent money on drinks after we left the farm. ₱80 ($1.52) for a large bottle of water, a Sprite and a Gatorade. I give my driver a ₱200 ($3.81) tip as he worked hard carrying all our stuff in the heat.

coffee berries

I don’t want to cook, so we head to the mall food court to eat dinner. Charlie eats 2 slices of Shakey’s pizza that comes with 2 iced teas for ₱140 ($2.66), Olive eats chicken katsu with rice that comes with iced tea for ₱99 ($1.88), and I eat a rice shwarma bowl for ₱90 ($1.71).

I head to the market downstairs to pick up a couple of things. I cannot meal plan and usually go to the market three times a week.

*imported product

• butter* – ₱129 ($2.46)
• Bonne Maman French jam* – ₱260 ($4.95)
• 6 Japanese cucumbers* – ₱220.8 ($4.20)
• half honeydew* – ₱121 ($2.30)
• green Thompson grapes* – ₱192 ($3.65)
• milk* – ₱77.50 ($1.48)
• 2 Yakult* – ₱90 ($1.71)
• wine* – ₱340 ($6.47)
• Spanish chorizo* – ₱195 ($3.71)
• native tomatoes – ₱56.64 ($1.08)
• 2 white onions – ₱60.72 ($1.16)
• calamansi (similar to lime) – ₱33.88 ($.64)
• organic cilantro – ₱50 ($.95)
• wheat bread – ₱85 ($1.62)
• Total = ₱1911.54 ($36.39)

Total spent for the day: ₱2520.54 ($47.98)

Sunday, March 17, 2019

My vet is closed on Sundays but opens the office for me to buy some meds I need to send to El Nido! Some friends rescued a litter of 4 puppies in bad shape, and I send canned high calorie puppy food, flea powder, dewormer, iron supplement and vitamins. It costs ₱1992 ($37.79) and ₱100 ($1.90) to ship on a bus, but they will pay me back. Usually I pay for animal meds myself when helping locals, so I work it into my budget.

he has been named Napoleon and is doing much better!

I drop off 2 loads of laundry at the laundromat. It’s ₱200 ($3.81) for an 8 kg (17.6 lbs) load, and I weigh my laundry at home to make sure I get as close to 8kg as I can. We do 8 loads of laundry a month. Total spent: ₱400 ($7.61).

Our usual Sunday ritual is to head to Booksale, a local used bookstore. There are two locations and we go to the one farther away on Sundays. We purchased about 100 books in the past week at both locations so I don’t expect to find too much, but we never leave empty handed! We buy 13 books for ₱973.75 ($18.47).

We eat lunch at a local restaurant – grilled cheese for Olive, chicken quesadilla for Charlie, and a tomato caprese torta with iced tea for me. Total: ₱630 ($11.95) and I leave a ₱60 ($1.14) tip.

Two of my friends are speaking at an event at a local hotel that also has a farmer’s market, so we head there afterwards. We end up spending 6 hours there as my friends brought their kids so we all hang out. I never spend this much on eating out, but we eat dinner at the hotel and I consume many glasses of wine throughout the day, chatting with friends stopping by the farmer’s market. Total: ₱3695.71 ($70.12)

Total spent: ₱7856.46 ($149.06 USD)

Monday, March 18, 2019

My friend asks me to send 10 more cans of the high calorie puppy food. It costs ₱1580 ($29.98) plus ₱100 ($1.90) to ship to El Nido, but he will pay me back. My driver refills our 5 gallon bottle of filtered water for ₱40 ($.76) — we go through 8 of these a month. He took a tricycle (tuktuk) to come to the hotel to pick us up the day before since I had been drinking (responsibly ;)), and he drove my car home afterwards so I give him ₱100 to get home and for the tricycle ride the night before (rides are ₱50).

I’m hosting Book Club in April so I download three fiction books (since we read a nonfiction book in March) on my Kindle to read before making my selection. The Silent Patient ($13.99), Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine ($11.99), and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo ($12.99)

Total spent: ₱2194  ($41.63)

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Chore day so lots of expenses! The gas light is on and I need to fill up my car. My car is a gas guzzler. ₱2455.13 ($46.58)

Book Club is on Thursday and we’re all bringing snacks. I head to the only specialty store in town that carries imported cheeses, meats, and goodies to buy breakfast sausages and steaks for the kids, and cheese and crackers for book club. It’s not cheap!

• 2 large packages breakfast sausages ₱1013.20 ($19.22)
• 2 US Ribeye steaks ₱1770 ($33.58)
• 2 packages crackers ₱390 ($7.40)
• Large jar pickles ₱280 ($5.31)
• cheese (gouda, blue, swiss) ₱1434 ($27.21)
• Total: ₱4987.20 ($94.62)

Next it’s the Korean market for kimchi and kids’ snacks. ₱730 ($13.85)

And the supermarket.

• broccoli ₱205.72 ($3.90)
• crimson grapes ₱235.64 ($4.47)
• 6 Japanese cucumbers ₱182.4 ($3.46)
• green lettuce ₱56 ($1.06)
• chili peppers ₱29.20 ($.55)
• red kidney beans ₱59.76
• white kidney beans ₱59.76
• 2 bulbs garlic ₱10.41
• 2 white onions ₱62.37
• squash for dog food ₱150.28
• beef for dog food ₱286.87 ($5.44)
• cat food ₱203.50 ($3.86)
• milk ₱91 ($1.73)
• ice cream bar ₱50 ($.95)
• total: ₱1682.91 ($31.97)

The used bookstore is upstairs so we always stop by when we’re going to the market. We buy 5 used books for ₱470 ($8.92).

Meanwhile my driver is paying the water bill and sending money to a vendor in Manila that I bought a bunch of used books from for our playspace. Water bill = ₱417.8 ($7.93), Books = ₱2540 ($48.19) There are so many errands here because you have to physically go pay many of your bills.

On the way home we stop by a fruit stand. The apples are ₱30 each here, and at the supermarket they were ₱50 so it’s a big difference. ₱513 ($9.73)

I was planning on staying home, but a friend visiting from El Nido is in town and wants to have dinner. ₱1950 for dinner, drinks, and dessert for me and the kids.

Total spent: ₱12,876.41 ($244.62)

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

After spending so much yesterday, my plan was to spend nothing today. That didn’t go according to plan…

salsa over eggs with dragonfruit 

• Internet bill arrives and driver goes to pay it in person. ₱1899 ($36.03)
• 2 dozen farm fresh eggs delivered ₱280 ($5.31)
• Refill 5 gallon filtered water ₱40 ($.76)
• It’s our driver’s birthday, so I give him ₱1500 ($28.46)
• To Charlie for cleaning a prodigious amount of dog pee and doing additional chores ₱200 ($3.79)
• I have meet someone at the mall to pick up resort paperwork, so I head to Booksale to buy her son a couple of books and of course end up getting some for my kids too. ₱1263.50
• A new grilled chicken restaurant opened so I have to try it. ₱102
• I need to buy a box and tape to ship the paperwork to El Nido so I head to Daiso. Also pick up hair ties and headbands for Olive. ₱352
• Ship box to El Nido ₱100

Total spent: ₱5736.5 ($108.98)

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Tonight is the first meeting of our book club! Charlie and Olive’s sitter comes over and they order pizza. We read Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness for book club, and I really enjoyed it. Those of you in design fields will particularly enjoy it!

grilled pineapple with sugar, cinnamon, rum and brandy

• Olive’s graduation fees ₱1100 ($20.87)
• Olive’s 3rd grade tuition deposit ₱1000  ($18.97)
• 2 Shakey’s pizzas delivery ₱500 ($9.50)
• Babysitter ₱3000 ($56.99) for babysitting during book club and house/dogsitting for 4 nights while we were in El Nido

Total spent: ₱5600 ($106.39)

Friday, March 22, 2019

We have a problem with the electrical wiring at our resort, so I head out to the hardware store as soon as it opens. Spend ₱50,585 ($960.99) on 250 meters of electrical wire. This is a business expense so I won’t include it in my expenses, but just to show you that we maintain our own electricity, water, etc. I need to get it to the resort asap and a private van is picking up 7 of our guests from the airport at 9am, so they stop by my house to take the wire to El Nido. To thank the guests I buy them bread rolls called pandesal ₱180 ($3.42) that is typically eaten here for breakfast (the guests are Filipino-Canadian).

My phone charging cords are not working well so I head to Miniso where I buy a lighter charging adapter (previous one was stolen when car was in shop), 2 charging cords, and  a pop stand for my phone ₱725 ($13.77). I pay for my cell phone bill ₱1051 ($19.97) and buy 15 pairs of daily disposable contacts ₱1495 ($28.40). Charlie gets a haircut ₱200 + ₱50 peso tip ($4.75), and we head to the McDonald’s drive through. It’s ₱359 ($6.82) for 2 McDonald’s Happy Meals + cheeseburger meal for our driver. Last stop Booksale for 10 books for ₱655 ($12.44).

• Charlie and Olive’s allowance ₱400 ($7.60)
• Cleaner Daily Salary ₱250 ($4.75)
• Driver Weekly Part-Time Salary ₱1500 ($28.50) + Overtime ₱750 ($14.25)

I typically deduct overtime from money my driver owes me, but he asks me not to deduct it this week because he has to pay his daughter’s school tuition next week. I usually double overtime pay because my driver is so reliable and I really don’t want to lose him!

Total spent: ₱7438.42 ($141.31)

.  .  .  .  .

My total expenses for the week come out to: ₱44,222.33 ($840.11)

Of course the week I decide to track my expenses, I end up going out and spending more than usual. Our biggest expense is rent, which is $664 for a 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom house on a large lot. We could definitely find something cheaper as this is a new construction, but we host a lot of guests so it’s nice to have the space.

This is what our monthly expenses look like:

Expense	Amount PHP	USD
Rent	35,000	$664
Electricity	5000	$95
Water	420	$8
Filtered Water	320	$6
Internet/Home Phone	1900	$36
Car Payment & Insurance	20,000	$382
Gas	10,000	$190
Cell Phone	1000	$19
Laundry	1600	$30
Groceries	25,000	$477
Eating Out, Entertainment	20,000	$382
Netflix	550	$11
Kindle Unlimited	525.86	$10
Driver	8000	$153
House Cleaner	3000	$57
Babysitters/Dog Sitters	4000	$38
School Tuition	4000	$76
Taekwondo Classes x 2	6000	$115
Pet Food/Animal Rescue	10000	$190
Kids’ Allowance	1600	$30
Books	15000	$300
	172,916	$3,269

 

Feel free to ask me any questions!