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$860 Montlhly Budget & Cost of Living
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Can I live well in the Philippines on $860 per month (veterans disability compensation and free healthcare for life)?
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Yes, like ABCDiamond says, it depends on your definition of living well. I moved here with an income of $750 to spend. The peso wasn't good and dropped to P40.5 to the dollar in January, 2013 and it was pretty rough. I can live cheap such as a small house or apartment. I lived without an air conditioner. It is humid here but fans actually work pretty good. I lived in Arkansas for a while and fans blow hot air there. Here the humidity is more of a non condensing type. One thing is the electricity, to me, is very expensive. Costs almost 3 times more than what I was used to paying. Sometimes I paid the equivalent of almost 30 cents per kWh. But my biggest bill, even today, is food. You can add up all my other bills and my food bill is still more. It isn't that I eat a lot. It is because I don't eat much of the cheaper Filipino food. I like hamburger and it is high, about $5 a pound. Chicken is about half that price. Pork is less than burger but I can't eat a lot of pork. The only pork I can eat needs to be lean which is more expensive. Bread, I spend $1.50 ish a loaf which isn't too bad. Not much stuff in cans here. A lot of things you just wont find. If you are used to eating different foods, you may can do well in the food department here. I am not sure about your health coverage. I do know that Medicare doesn't work here. There was whispers that they was going to try and get it working here but I am not holding my breath on that. My income before any deductions is almost $1000 now. I was injured when I was 32 years old and my SS wasn't mature so I am a little below average. I manage to live here comfortably on that amount which after deductions is about the amount you have. If you have a lot of high expectations, you probably are not going to like it here. If you can live without some things for a year until you figure how to budget your money, then you have a good chance. ***Budget your money is key!***
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There is no VA hospital here, I live on $1000 a month very well but I also live “native” so to speak,local food and I'm the only white guy in my area. No big deal really,rent is $110 for a decent little house and food is cheap.