Spending money in the Philippines
Be Careful Spending Your Pesos!
Firstly, I want to say to anyone here in Cebu and especially those who have not been here yet and may decide to live here, be careful spending that Peso! Why do I say this, please read on... The Peso comes in 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 paper note denominations and as of this writing there is about 43 Pesos to the U.S. dollar. You will probably be using 100, 50 and 20 Peso bills most of the time. it is very easy to lose tract of what you are really spending. A problem is many of us are always thinking in U. S. dollars and we seem to be thinking if even subconsciously that 50 Peso note is 50 cents U.S. and the 100 Peso note is one dollar U.S. and it is not but roughly twice as much. That 50 Peso note is about equal to a buck in U.S. money and the 100 Peso note about $2.00 U.S. For instance, your in a supermarket and see an it for 50 Pesos and you are thinking, oh, its just 50 cents, but it is not, it is a dollar! You may not and probably are not even conscious of the mistake you may be making. I think I still do this after so many years here. Remember, every Peso is about 2 U.S. cents. Just double the value of the Philippine currency you have in your hand to the U.S. equivalent in dollars.
Even if you are well aware of the true value of the money you are spending it is very possible that you will spend way more than you intend too or even more than you may spend back home in a similar spending situation. How you may ask? This is how; some purchases here like drinks at a bar, cigarettes or taxi rides are so much cheaper than back home you may really, really splurge in other areas and spend to much. You may think to yourself, my rent for my apartment is only 15,000 a month and get way to confident and laza - faire in your spending habits and just plane over do it. Believe me, it happens.
It is also a very good idea when purchasing an item from the scores of side walk vendors to scrutinize the items quality and the price being asked as many times the vendor will give you a price higher than what he is really willing to except. If you are a foreigner this will most likely be applied to you more so than a Filipino looking to buy the same product. it is basically a way of life here to bargain from the stated price. Of course in regular stores or the department stores the price on the label is the price they want. When looking for an apartment, always try to negotiate the price down. If you see an add for an apartment with no price given which is very common and you call to inquire about that apartment, once the person on the other end of the phone realizes you are a foreigner, the price will 9 times out of 10 be higher than they had intended to ask. It is also very common for the landlord to be asking a higher price than he or she is willing to except, so always bargain. So, if you are coming here for a vacation or to live be wise with your money. Have a good time and spend in a responsible and prudent way as it is very easy to get carried away. You will have a great time...