Blog
Stay updated with our latest articles, insights, tips, and comprehensive guides designed primarily for expats planning to settle in the Philippines.
Parts and Replacement Equipment To Keep On-Hand
This post outlines parts that one should have on-hand for routine maintenance and emergency repairs.
diy 23-12-2025
Essential Tools for Expats Living in the Rural Philippines
Living in rural Philippines means one thing very quickly becomes clear -- you are your own maintenance department. Skilled labor exists, but availability, timelines, and quality vary. When something breaks, waiting days or weeks is often not an option.
diy 21-12-2025
Non-Human Guests In Your Philippines Home
In many parts of the Philippines, a perfectly sealed, pest-free home is not the baseline expectation. Instead, there is a widely accepted understanding that some creatures will live with you, not because of neglect, but because of climate, architecture, and cultural pragmatism.
culture 21-12-2025
Essential Car & Motorcycle Maintenance Tools & Parts: Rural Philippines Edition
A car or motorcycle is only as reliable as the maintenance schedule the owner follows. In the rural provinces, you are going to have almost no choice but to do these activities yourself.
diy 21-12-2025
Security Cameras Around The House
So, you've gone to all the trouble of building a house in the Philippines. Even with the lower cost of living, there's still a notable investment that has been made. You want it to be safe. You want to be safe while you are living there. No guarantees in life, but one common approach to improve the overal security situation is to deploy a set of security cameras.
security 20-12-2025
The Filipino Fiesta
Filipino fiestas are community celebrations held in towns, cities, and barangays across the Philippines. They are typically tied to a patron saint, a religious feast day, or a local historical event, and they blend Catholic tradition with pre-colonial customs, family obligation, and social display. Nearly every locality has at least one fiesta each year.
culture 20-12-2025
My Latest Diesel Generator Issue
I was traveling for a couple of weeks in early December for work. One day after I left, the girlfriend texted me with a picture of a puddle of diesel fuel that was accumulating under the new generator we just bought two months ago. Insert profanity-laced, sarcastic tirade here.
diy 20-12-2025
The Filipino “Dirty Kitchens”: Function Over Formality
In the Philippines, the term “dirty kitchen” doesn’t mean unsanitary. It means practical. A dirty kitchen is a secondary cooking area—usually separate from or adjacent to the main house—designed for heavy, messy, smoky, or high-heat cooking. It exists because Filipino cooking, climate, and household life make a single pristine Western-style kitchen impractical.
culture 20-12-2025
Christmas Carolers and Coins: A Filipino Holiday Tradition
In the Philippines, Christmas doesn’t arrive quietly. It announces itself early—sometimes as early as September—and one of the clearest signs that the season has truly begun is the sound of children singing carols, pangangaroling, outside your gate, hoping to earn a few pesos.
culture 20-12-2025
How To Correctly Write a Filipino Address So Your Packages Are Actually Delivered
I had trouble with Filipino addresses when I first got here. So, here's a summary of what I've learned since then.
culture 18-12-2025
Shopping: Filipino Style
If you've lived in the United States, Western / Northern Europe, or a few other places in the last ten years, you've probably become accustomed to, if not spoiled by, online shopping plus delivery within a day, maybe a couple of hours. The situation is more complicated in the Philippines.
expat 17-12-2025
The Filipino Love for Karaoke
Karaoke holds a special place in Filipino culture, functioning as a form of entertainment, social bonding, and emotional expression. More than a pastime, it is a shared experience that cuts across age, income level, and region.
culture 15-12-2025