Welcome to August. I’ve been keeping track of my finances and health in a pretty detailed fashion throughout July and here’s how things stand as of now.

The good news is I came in under budget. I’m working on a baseline of 250,000 pesos a month (around $5000.00). That’s a pretty comfortable living standard for the Philippines. My goal is to bank $1000. of that each month to be used for travel adventures. I didn’t achieve that this past month. I had a some unusual and unanticipated expenses and I’m also living a little too large. Still acting like I’m on vacation sometimes (two week millionaire syndrome). I’ve got a savings nest egg as well but I don’t intend to tap that unless there’s an emergency or other unusual event that requires me to do so. Ha, but I’m not opposed to spending my kids inheritance if I feel like it!

So, according to my handy spending tracker app, this is how it breaks down for July:

Rent: P45,000 ($900.) Yeah, probably too much. I could get a nice enough place for half that. Fuck nice enough though!
Groceries: P40,000 ($800.) That’s somewhat more than I was spending in Korea, but I’m not getting commissary prices here.
Charity: P27,000 ($540.) I help out when and where I can.
Drinking: P22,000 ($440.) Okay, I enjoy my beers. This also includes lady drinks, and I’m pretty generous with the girls.
Shopping: P21,000 ($420.) Non-food purchases. Mostly stuff for the house (i.e. ceiling fans, etc).
Domestic helper: P21,000 ($420.) I’m overly generous with this salary by half I suppose. But that’s how I roll.
Eating out: P17,000 ($340.) Breakfast most everyday, dinner a few times a week, and occasionally dinner for two if I’m lucky.
Entertainment: P9,000 ($180.) This covers dart league, Hash cash, SOB entrance fees, and other “just for fun” activities.
Immigration fees: P8,000 ($160.) Still need to get moving on the retirement visa, although it’s not really cheaper.
Transportation: P6,500 ($130.) Mostly for my driver, also Jeepney and trike fares.
Hotels: P5,500 ($110.) What with my power and water situations, I’ve been booking lodging without leaving town. An anomaly. I hope!
Electric: P5,000 ($100.) This was surprisingly low. I expect it will be more next month.
Phone: P4,000 ($80.) Hey, I’ve got unlimited data! Slow as molasses, but as much as I want!
Propane: P2,500 ($50.) A tank for the stove and for the grill.
Vet: P2,000 ($40.) Taking care of my Buddy!
Laundry: P1,500 ($30.) I could buy a machine and put Tere to work, but why not spread it around?
Gifts: P1,000 ($20.) Two birthdays at Alley Cats this month.
Water: P850 ($17.) Don’t get me started on the water situation! That does include my bottled water too.
Medical/Pharmacy P850 ($17.) Lucky month health wise. Just one prescription refill.
Cable/Internet P800 ($16.) You get what you pay for, but this is currently my only option. Hey, it works. Most of the time.
Personal grooming: P100 ($2.) I got a haircut and gave a 50 peso tip. About time for a pedicure though.

So that adds up to around P230,000 ($4,600). Four hundred banked for travel and will hopefully settle down some this month and save even more. Or I’ll find a girlfriend and go broke. One of those!

As for my physical health (we’ll deal with my emotional health another day) all indicators are positive. At least the ones I’m tracking.

Blood pressure is consistently below 130, which is a significant improvement over my Korea readings. My resting heart rate is in the mid-60s, which is also much better than before the move here. I don’t know why.

As to my weight, I started the month at 201 and finished it at 197. Very happy to have finally broken the 200 pound barrier. I’ve rewarded myself by relaxing my low-carb routine. I’ll have toast with breakfast these days and I enjoy a guilt-free ice cream when the mood strikes me as well. As long as I stay under 200 anyway.

Still doing my walking of course, but I’m not walking as much as I used to in Korea. I guess I have more of a life here, even with the extra 8 hours per day to fill. I made my 20,000 step goal only 12 days last month, and was under 15,000 (my self-imposed minimum) on 7 days. Some of those were weather-related though.

There you have it. Life is good and getting gooder!