Seven Month’s Spend for Travelers, Retirees and Nomads
When I decided to travel the world full-time, I set a monthly budget for myself of $1600 Canadian dollars (about $1,200 USD) per month. I know that it will vary depending on where I am in the world, but I plan to stick to it as best I can and hope it all evens out in the end. This Blog Post is only to give you a general idea of what to expect to for a long term stay in the Philippines. Your expenses could be much lower or higher than mine depending on your style of living.
All figures below will be in US dollars.
Let’s see how my cost of living compares to my budget in my Cost of Living in the Philippines:
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Cost of Living in the Philippines
I spent 7 months living in Mandaluyong, a city in Metro Manila in the Philippines. If you follow this blog or my YouTube channel, you will recognize this as a continuation of my previous Mandaluyong Cost of Living. In total I would end up spending 8 consecutive months living in Metro Manila.
If you’re new here, I usually spend 4 weeks in each city I visit around the world and make Cost of Living blogs posts to reflect that. If you’re interested in seeing how much four weeks would cost, you can read my first Mandaluyong cost of living.
As some of you know, I had recently met a new found love interest and this was the reason I decided to stay so long for this next round. And instead of writing seven different blog posts to tell everybody the same thing I am compiling it all into one blog post. Here we go
Accommodations
I ended up staying this entire time in Pioneer Woodlands. The only difference here is I moved into the tower that Em(new found love interest) lives in. As a refresher, Pioneer Woodlands consists of 5 towers located next door to SM Light mall in Mandaluyong. Over the course of 7 months I would stay in two different units, both in tower 4. I should make note here that one of these units is available on AirBnb but I negotiated directly with the owner for a longer term stay.
Unit 10A Tower 4 (available on AirBnb).
This was a very comfortable unit and only 9 floors separated Em and I. You might as well say Em lived with me the entire 7 months. But each of us having our own place did give us time to be alone when we wanted so it worked great. This unit included a view of the pool and had everything one could need including a full kitchen and bath, great wi-fi, multiple A/C units, washing machine and work station. The host is also fabulous and worked as best she could with me on pricing.
This unit staggers on pricing because I didn’t know how long I would stay. I started off only committing to 4 weeks for which I paid $650 or around $162 per week. If you remember, I paid less than this for my last 4 week stay in Mandaluyong, but I did try to negotiate with my former AirBnb host to keep that price and he instead raised it citing fluctuating electricity prices and an increase in maintenance fees. So by negotiating directly with the owner of 10A I was able to save around $40 on the month.
After the first 4 week stay I asked to keep the unit for an extended period of time and could we get the price even lower. She had some bookings she was already committed to via AirBnb so I would stay for another 6 weeks, leave for two weeks, and come back again for another 6 weeks. Giving me a total of 16 weeks in this unit. The best price I could get from her was $860 for the 6 weeks which works out to about $143 per week.
Keep in mind that these prices are all inclusive of electricity, water and wi-fi.
Unit 15N Tower 4 (no AirBnb listing)
I wanted to keep my unit in 10A but I was also looking for ways to save some money because I seemed to be going through it quickly. After trying to get the owner of 10A to go a little lower for an additional 8 weeks to no avail I found unit 15N. Not as nice as 10A, but it worked and I was able to get a decent rate from one of the caretakers of multiple units in Pioneer Woodlands. Once again this unit was all inclusive of Internet, water and electricity.
The unit was comfortable enough with the usual amenities. The only thing missing here was a washing machine but with Em being the gem she is, I was able to use hers which was only a couple of floors away. The living room had a bit of a funky layout with no real couch, but instead a twin bed that acted as the couch. Not really a big deal for me as I don’t ever sit in front a TV anyway.
I was able to stay in unit 15N for 8 weeks at a total cost of $1078 or about $134 per week.
Break Down
- First 4 weeks in 10A – $650
- 12 weeks in 10A – $1720
- 8 weeks in 15N – $1078
Total cost for accommodation for Seven Months: $3348
If you’re interested in checking out unit 10A you can find it here: Pioneer Woodlands, Tower 4 10th Floor
Looking for short term accommodations? Check these great deals:
- Luxury Accommodations: – The Westin Manila – Set in Manila and with Shangri-La Plaza reachable within 500 metres, The Westin Manila features concierge services, non-smoking rooms, a restaurant, free WiFi throughout the property and a bar. This 5-star hotel offers a 24-hour front desk and an ATM. The hotel offers an outdoor swimming pool, fitness centre, evening entertainment and room service.
- Mid-Range Accommodations: – Edsa Shangri-La, Manila -Nestled in Mandaluyong City’s financial and commercial district is the luxurious Edsa Shangri-La, Manila. The hotel boasts numerous leisure facilities such as a spa, an outdoor pool, a gym and 6 dining options.
- Budget Accommodations: – Go Hotels Plus Mandaluyong – Avida Towers Riala Tower 3 is situated in Cebu City, within 2.7 km of Ayala Center Cebu and 3.5 km of SM City Cebu.
Or check here for the latest deals on Booking.com
Check out my Quezon City Cost of Living
Cost of Living in the Philippines – Activities
I mentioned earlier how I would spend two weeks away from unit 10A. Since there were already bookings in the unit, Em and I decided to take a little vacation. I wanted to return to Bacolod anyway and it just so happened that the time we had available coincided with the Maskara festival. I’ll leave it to you to google what Maskara is but briefly it is a huge festival that happens every year on Negros Occidental.
Em had never been to Bacolod before and it would also give me a chance to hang out with Martin from the Bacolod Food Hunters who had become one of my best friends after having spent a month there perviously. I would film 5 videos in a ten day period in Bacolod with Martin once again organizing every one of them.
After 10 days in Bacolod, Em and I would spend another week in Boracay and record one more video before returning to Mandaluyong. The expenses in this category do not cover the entire 17 days we spent in Bacolod and Boracay. It only covers what my expenses were for this time. Em had a significant amount of money spent for this trip as well not included here. What it does include is my airfare, all of the food tours I filmed and the accommodations in both Bacolod and Boracay.
Total Cost for Activities for Seven Months: $700
Martin and I visit celebrity Filipino chef JP Anglo’s Mushu in Bacolod:
Dining and Restaurants
The dining category is not nearly as bad as you might think and it incudes every video I made during the 24 weeks I spent in Mandaluyong. Though I want to be clear that during this 7 month period, Em incurred a lot of expenses that are not reflected here, especially when it comes to food. Em and I have a tendency to just buy meals at whatever point with no direction as to who buys what and when. For instance, if she buys lunch as we are working, then I buy dinner that night or vice versa. Same applies when we go out somewhere. Em is very independent and will let you know quickly that she doesn’t need a man to take care of her.
The biggest expense for me for dining would have to be a video I filmed at Dampa Seafood Market. I ordered a ton of fresh seafood and this accounted for more than $160 of my total dining budget.
As usual, this category makes up Grab deliveries, dining out and expenses incurred for content I made. For comparison sake meals in Mandaluyong can vary widely. You can get a tapsilog meal for as little as $2.50 and if you want western food it will be much more expensive. Grab deliveries can vary anywhere from $4-5 to as high as you want to to go for food. As with every country, the local cuisine will always be much more affordable than International dishes
Total Cost for Dining out for Seven months: $1,689
Seafood Feast from Dampa Seafood Market:
Cost of Living in Philippines – Groceries
Attempting to try and be a bit healthier, my grocery category is mostly fresh fruits and vegetables as well as things like laundry detergent and other cleaning supplies, For general comparison, you can buy a 3 pack of apples for less than $2. A fresh mango will cost less than $1. Yogurt will be around $4 for 500 grams. Laundry detergent you can get for as little as $2 for 1 kilo of powder. If you want the big western brand names it gets a bit more expensive. Downy Fabric softener for instance is going to cost a little under $6 for 1.5 litres.
Total Cost for Groceries for Seven Months: $790
Cell Phones
This is the same as usual only multiplied by several months. My Cell plan was with Globe and it works great anywhere in Manila with decent speeds. This only consists of topping up my sim card that I purchased when I arrived in country.
Total Cost for Phone and Data for Seven Months: $65
Transportation
Metro Manila is a sprawling city so you need to use transportation of some kind. This mostly consists of some Grabs and a lot of trikes around Mandaluyong. Trikes are the Philippines version of rickshaws or tuk tuk’s. Little motorized bikes with a cart that take you short distances.
All things considered, for 7 months, transportation was relatively inexpensive
Total cost for Transportation for Seven Months: $374
Looking for fun things to do in Manila? Check out some of these tours from Viator
Visas
During this period I would extend my visa several times. There are a couple of key moments that get a bit more expensive to extend a visa. The first one happens when extending beyond the 2 months in country mark which I have explained in my Cebu Cost of Living. At the 6 month mark there is another step that is a little more expensive. Once in country beyond 6 months you have to pay for a certificate of temporary residence. This two month extension cost me approximately $50 where as a standard 2 month extension costs approximately $34. It works out on average to be about $24 per month over these seven month
Total Cost for Visa for Seven Months: $175
Miscellaneous Expenses
This category covers pretty much everything that’s not included above. I include alcohol in miscellaneous, because I do enjoy a beer from time to time while hanging around the Airbnb. You might not drink and if you are planning a budget you can easily omit this cost. For me, alcohol makes up about 60% of this category. Of course being there that long, little odds and ends arose. I got sick one time and thought I have covid so I had to buy some prescription meds and covid tests. I don’t remember exactly as that was a rough week and I can’t find the receipts but it was inexpensive from what I remember. The tests and some antibiotics for an extremely soar throat was in the area of $20
One thing to note in the Philippines. Banks charge hefty fees for foreign card withdrawals regardless of amounts withdrawn. It works out to a little over $3 for every transaction so if you have to pull money out, pull out as much as possible in one transaction.
Total Miscellaneous Costs for Seven Months: $530
One thing I can’t live without while on the road full time – Saves me lots of money too!
Cost of Living in the Philippines – Totals
Cost of Living in the Philippines
As you can see from the table above, this 7 months was very inexpensive. $7,771 works out to a little over $1,100 per month which keeps me under my monthly budget of $1200. But there is a bigger picture to look at in all of this. My cell phone for instance. The entire 7 months cost in the Philippines is significantly less than I would pay for a single month in Canada. The total cost of $7,771 for the seven months would be less than what rent alone in Canada would have cost me for 6 months. And I have spent more on a Friday night out in Toronto than I did for the entire 7 months of miscellaneous expenses.
While I am running through my savings at an alarming rate, I am going to enjoy the ride for as long as I can. And I think we can all agree that living abroad can be much cheaper than living in some of our home countries.
Have you lived in Philippines for any length of time? Were your numbers similar to my cost of living in the Philippines for Seven Months? Do you have any other tips for potential travelers? Leave a comment and let me know. I would love to hear from you.
