cost of living comparison: Hawaii vs. Philippines

 I moved to Philippines from Hawaii a little over a year ago. I had lived in the Philippines for two years before, back in 2003-2005, when I first met and married my Filipino wife. So I knew many of the pro's and cons of living here in Philippines compared to living in USA. 

Probably the #1 pro (that we can actually look at.. you know, besides overall happiness or maybe the fact that I feel my kids get a better education, or should I say they are not bombarded by all the social influences—drugs, gangs, etc. – as they would if going to school in USA) is cost of living.

 The US dollar is worth many php, or Philippine pesos. It is possible to buy much more with less money. The current exchange rate is approximately 1 USD to 50 php. 

  I will show you several examples that are of concern to me and probably many others: 

 fist one,  I recently bought a condo located in one of the biggest metropolitan areas of the Philippines. I paid $4.9 million php for it, that comes to about $98,000 USD. (note: in philippines, they seem to not like giving loans and so my 5 years of financing cost me big time.. almost double the price!) The same condo in hawaii is easily $500,000 and often much more. 

second, Here's my grocery haul from last night.. (see picture) a typical weekly run. In case you can't see the total on the receipt below, it came to 1895 php. That’s about $38 usd. The same amount of food in hawaii would cost $100+.

Little things are also evident like simply going to the movies. Over here the whole family (4 of us) goes and we pay just 1500 php.. that’s $30 (popcorn and soda included) In hawaii it was $10 per person per ticket, and then about $30 more for that popcorn and soda for 4 people. More than double! 

third, OK, here's one that USA wins for cheaper wares.. when it comes to computers and other electronics. I built my PC that I'm using now for $500 usd. The same components bought new in the philippines would be about twice as much or more. Same goes for TV’s.. bet on paying roughly double what you can find in US. I have, however, found this cheap USB accessories and other computer things place here. It's called CD-r King and I think they get their stuff from China. I buy USB charging cables there for 30php. (60 cents)  

so overall, living in the Philippines costs way less that living in USA. (although I can only claim to know cost in CA and HI). I would say it's 2-10 times cheaper depending on what you are buying, and where you shop. Thanks for reading, :)
 
 word count: 475