Good day, Home Edders!
In my country, a lot has been written about the cost of living in cities and urban settings. So, I decided to write about the cost of living in a countryside setting where my husband was born and raised. I am going to specifically discuss the cost of living in a little-known Barangay called Tandoc. A barangay or Barrio is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines. According to Google Maps, Tandoc is about 2 hours 28 minutes travel by car from the place where we usually ride a bus home.
To give you an idea about Tandoc, it is not traversed by a main road or highway it is located between two main roads namely Pan-Philippines Highway and Panganisan-Nueva Ecija Road. These two roads have a small road that connects to the Barangay of Tandoc. Five years ago, the population of Tandoc is listed at 945.
If you see Tandoc on the map, and or, visit it. You could see that it is somewhat isolated because there are no major roads traversing the barangay but it has fairly caught on to technology and modern way of living thanks to the water irrigation and electrical facility that was installed a few years ago. The people of Tandoc have also caught to modern transportation by buying their own motorcycle which they mainly used when they go to the center of commerce in the town of Guimba. Tandoc's main product is planting rice. Tandoc is blessed to have a small lake where all sorts of non-salt water aquatic products can be caught or harvested.
Let's Talk about the Cost of Living in Tandoc
Did I mention earlier that Tandoc's main product is rice? With that said, rice is outside of this discussion since residents of Tandoc are not buying rice all year long. Residents of Tandoc keep a supply of rice after every harvest (they harvest rice every 3 months). This is true because my husband has experienced it all his life (since he was born and raised in Tandoc by his farmer father).
In this discussion, I will be specifically getting the information based on the life of my husband's elder sister which is actually living now in Tandoc. Her name is Annabelle, she is a retired registered nurse by choice since 2018. She chose to live in Tandoc because, of course, it was her native place (where she is also born and raised), and also, of course, it was in the countryside, no pollution (air and noise), fresh air, and all can be planted and harvested.
I'll be calling my husband's elder sister "Ate Annabelle" in this discussion. "Ate Annabelle" means "Elder Sister or Elder Sister Annabelle". It is also a sign of respect for elders.
Ate Annabelle has just harvested her rice crops a few days ago, so, again, rice is out of this discussion. Below is a photo of Ate Annabelle's rice crops while being harvested.
The water bill is also out of this discussion because all the households in Tandoc have their own traditional water pump installed near their houses. Tandoc is abundant in drinking water by way of water of these pumps.
Fish can also be taken out of this discussion because residents of Tandoc are heavily dependent on the small lake located inside the barangay for their fish needs. Crabs, shrimps, snails, and some species of clam can also be harvested from the lake.
Ate Annabelle's monthly electricity bill is at a maximum of $24 (I will be using US Dollars on the entirety of this discussion so that you guys will be able to easily compute the figures I am mentioning here and or compare it with the cost of living in your region).
So, the residents of Tandoc have the luxury of not buying rice and non-salt water aquacultures products like fish all year long.
With that said, let's take into account the commodities that residents of Tandoc are buying for their daily needs specifically Ate Annabelle.
Salt - about $0.16
A 250 gram of Iodized salt in Nueva Ecija is about $0.16. I will be using the SRP prices of the trade department in Nueva Ecija since Tandoc is in Nueva Ecija.
Image by andreas160578 from Pixabay
Cooking Oil - 350 ml of cooking oil is about $0.4
A 500 ml of cooking oil cost about $0.4 in the province of Nueva Ecija. It is a little cheap than those in Metro Manila.
Image by HomeMaker from Pixabay
Sugar - 250 grams of refined white sugar $0.3
Sugar is also cheaper in Nueva Ecija than in Metro Manila. 250 grams of refined sugar in Nueva Ecija cost about $0.3.
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Coffee - about $0.4
25 grams of coffee cost about $0.4 (which an individual can use to make about 3-4 cups of coffee).
Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay
Chicken - about $2.8 per kilo
Another commodity that is cheaper in Nueva Ecija compared to Metro Manila prices is Chicken. The commodity is one of the main reasons why some people living in Metro Manila are now starting to go living in their provinces.
Image by Xuân Tuấn Anh Đặng from Pixabay
Pork - about $6.4 per kilo
Another commodity that is traditionally cheaper in the province of Nueva Ecija when it compares to Metro Manila is pork. Ate Annebelle would only consume about $1.5 of pork in a day (about 250 grams), the same goes with the chicken.
Image by ludiarin from Pixabay
Taking into account the prices of commodities that Ate Annabelle needs to buy in a day for her daily life here's what her cost of living would be (Let's just take into account the prices of commodities that I mentioned here above)...
Ate Annabelle would only consume some pinch of salt in a day, it would cost about $0.01. Ate Annabelle would consume about $0.2 of cooking oil in a day. Ate Annabelle would only consume about $0.10 of cooking oil in a day. Ate Annabelle would consume about $0.4 of coffee in a day. Ate Annabelle would consume about $0.7 of chicken in a day. Ate Annabelle would consume about $1.6 of pork in a day. Ate Annabelle's electrical bill is at $24 a month.
Adding all her expenses, Ate Annabelle's expenses every month are roughly $115. That's the cost of living of someone living in the countryside where he/she is not buying rice for his/her everyday food and also not paying for the water bill.
And that's the cost of living of a single individual living alone in a countryside setting. What about yours?