I get the occasional email now and then from random people who want to know how much money they need to live here. It's not a question I can just throw a number out to answer. I have noticed an increase of visitor's to my blog who seem to be looking for a place to escape America due to the declining economy. So I decided to give a quick post about how much I spend on living in the Philippines. So I'll put it like this. Many Filipino's make $2.00 a day and live here. Could an American live off of $2.00 a day? That sounds great to the average American but you have to consider that most Filipino's live in large families and use the money to support everybody under one roof. The dollar as I'm writing this at the moment is worth 48 pesos. $100 would then convert to 4,800 pesos. Sounds like alot but what can 4,800 pesos buy? Well let me try to make this easier for the mind of an American. Last time I was in America I think a can of coca-cola costs about .75 cents. That same can would cost you about 21 pesos here which is .44 cents USD. A pack of cigarettes is around $5.00 in the US but here on my island you can get a whole carton of cigarettes for 300 pesos which is $6.23 USD.
My apartment I'm living in at the moment is a 2 bedroom 1 bath. Its two story and has all the space I need. I am paying 7000 pesos/$145 a month. I then have to pay for water and electric. My last water/electric bill was 3,500php/$72 and I run my air conditioner constantly because its hot here. I live in a gated community and its quite and I've never had any trouble with anyone living here. Eating here is another matter. Most of the foreigners I know living here seem to eat much like myself. I'm lucky enough to have a Pizza Hut and a McDonald's here and frequent them often.
How Much is a Pizza at Pizza hut?
My last meal there was a medium pepperoni pizza, 1 order of garlic bread, 1 personal pan, 2 Pepsi's and I paid about 550pesos/$11.43USD.

I spend about 150 pesos/$3.12 to fill up my motorcycle.
So as long as you can keep dollars coming in to the country you can live relatively cheap providing that the economy in the US doesn't collapse all together.

I hope this helps give you an idea of what your going to need...