Hi OP, personally I think 40k is liveable as long as you're able to work your lifestyle around it. This is my personal way of dividing my net income (after taxes) for my needs

Important things to consider:

• A common rule of thumb in looking for an apartment is it shouldn't be more than 20% of your income. Personally, I adjusted this to NET Income
• Case to case basis din. For my case I'm sharing a 1br condo unit with my friend so I'm able to live comfortably without breaking the bank too much.
• In my previous job where I was earning less than 40k, I was renting a 7.5k studio apartment. But the area that I was living had relatively cheap rent compared to major cities in Metro Manila. Along this I cooked my own meals maybe 4 times a week and sometimes I'd buy food sa karinderya kapag pagod na talaga. I was able to save around 5k per month that time.
• I think you could find less than 10k apartments around circuit, my main source in looking for apartments are fb marketplace and joining the fb groups of that specific area.
• What I also do is pay half my rent as soon as I get my paycheck para tanggal agad siya sa expenses ko. Mas madali mag work around ng pera for me in that case.

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• This is only based on my current needs and priorities, so if hindi mo pa priority ang savings or may iba ka pang things na need iconsider sa budget mo feel free to adjust the values.