cost of living

This is the current thread in the yahoogroup I belong to. I shared with them "ours" (monthly expenses) but realized I wasn't able to elaborate on it. Here are our share on this thread (and a few tips in order to save):

house
- We loaned from my folks so we're paying them monthly instead. Amount and when we pay varies if we have extra savings. :) Unlike Pag-ibig or banks, they don't charge us interest and late payment fees.

electricity - 2K/month
- Since December 2007, the highest bill we had was Php 2,000 during the months of April & May. There was even a time that our bill was only Php 1,000 imagine! We are living in a 30sqm area. What we do is we turn off the lights in the kitchen/sala when we are all in the bedroom watching TV. We also use the aircon for roughly 3-4 hours every night. We usually turn it on around 9:30pm-10pm until about 2am. Hopefully, we can bring down our electricity to at least Php 1,500/month. Our last billing is for Php 1,900. Php400 to go!

water - 400/month

phone bill - estimate 600/month
- My boss is paying for my phone bill. He availed of the Globe rebate promo and gave me the sim to use. In excess of the credit amount on his bill, I settle personally. That's about Php 300/month. Hubby is using a prepaid account and roughly uses Php300 load/month as well. We did not bother getting a landline.

Enzo's milk - 3.2K
- NAN HA 2 is cheaper in SM, roughly Php800. He consumes about 4 cans in a month.

Enzo's diaper - 530/month
- Pampers Comfort (orange) is cheaper in Landmark, roughly Php265 for the 38's pack (Large). We seldom buy Huggies Dry Comfort since we bought the Smart Nappy (washable diaper) in Mothercare. This is what he uses at night. 2 packs are at least good for a month.

Enzo's vitamins - 400/month
- He is now taking Supplemin-C and Growee Drops.

Enzo's check-up - ranges from Php 550 - 5.5K
- His pedia's ordinary consultation fee is Php 550 while his monthly vaccines vary from Php2,400-5,500. That IPD shot is way too expensive!

grocery - 4K/month
- I try to stick to my goal of only Php1,500/2 weeks. Sometimes it is feasible if I only have to buy food items but once I have to replenish our supplies (like shampoo, facial wash, fabric conditioner, toothpaste, etc.) then that's another story. So roughly Php2,000/2 weeks is enough for us.

Yaya's salary - 2.3K
- excluding her toiletries which we also buy for her. I even buy her the Belo soap (blue one which is cheaper than the pink one)!

We don't have cable so we are a certified-Kapamilya hihihi! and we also don't own a car yet so we save on gas!