Low end/cost of living

[socrteez]

Good day and thanks for all the insite. I'm moving to phuket/patong to take a teaching class...I'm not a drinker and plan on living in a modest apt....I have to be careful with my finances, making sure i have a safety net if things don't work out. I don't spend frivolously and am curious how much i can expect to spend on a monthly basis. Thanks!

[LivinLOS]

30 - 40k min living calmly but ok.. Maybe add 5 - 10 if your chose to live in Patong..

Not easy to live on that but definately possible.. Also definately possible to spend 3 or 4 times that much..

[socrteez]

Thanks....looks as if i can get into a modest apt for less than 10,000bht....your estimation seems a bit high, being as the cost of food is rather cheap. What are the other expenses?

[marc26]

Originally Posted by socrteez

Thanks....looks as if i can get into a modest apt for less than 10,000bht....your estimation seems a bit high, being as the cost of food is rather cheap. What are the other expenses?

transportation-renting or buying a motorbike or taking motorbike taxis or tuk-tuks. phuket is very spread out

visa runs-dont know if you have to do this if you are teaching

general entertainment-i know you said you dont drink but im sure you dont want to just sit in your room

[LivinLOS]

Water and electric
Medical cover
Motorbike + fuel (cheaper than taxis)
Food
House necessities (shopping, soap and cleaning, etc)
Mobile phone credit
Visa Runs
Basic Entertainment (DVD's)
Sat or cable TV ??
Internet

You get 'nickle and dimed' to death.. Dont forget all thais firmly believe we are all millionaires and will price you accordingly.. I have not even factored in anything fun like women parties drinks or going out budget.

Living on less than 30k would be a very sad dull existance.. I know people who struggle to live in Patong on 80k.. OK so they do drink and have GF's but they dont live madly lavish.. I cant seem to keep my budget at under 120k a month.. My utils are now over 15k !!

[seafox]

Originally Posted by marc26

transportation-renting or buying a motorbike or taking motorbike taxis or tuk-tuks. phuket is very spread out

visa runs-dont know if you have to do this if you are teaching

general entertainment-i know you said you dont drink but im sure you dont want to just sit in your room

and sitting in the bars drinking water or coke is still going to cost you money.

And are you a monk? Otherwise you will be hard pressed not to be spending money on the ladies until you find a keeper, and even she is going to cost you some money

[cotambear]

scooter + petrol = 4-7k a month
electricity, water, telephone???
clothes, toileteries etc???
entertainment (up to you, videos, cable, books, gym etc)????


beer, cigs and girls are the big money eaters imho eg
fags - 60 baht
beer - say 4 bottles singha - in a bar - 240baht
bargirl - 700 baht to 1k 2k or more
you can`t do that every day on a teachers salary

or you could join a puritan church.........

[marc26]

And are you a monk? Otherwise you will be hard pressed not to be spending money on the ladies until you find a keeper, and even she is going to cost you some money

i have a keeper, and when im around, costs me and arm and a leg!!
when im here, monthly stipend not too bad, but when im in los, reaching into the pocket never stops

[LivinLOS]

Add in girls and you can put 30k a month that way easy !!!

[steve@thaib]

My buddy lived in patong on a 28k teacher's salary. Your'e not living it up but he seemed to get by ok, and there was 2 0f them because he had his girl with him.

If your'e not much of a bar crawler and eat where the locals eat I reckon you can get by reasonably well on 30k. If you can get appt for 10k and budget 5k per week you will be fine.

[seafox]

with my luck it would be 30K plus Barfines since no one wants to stay with me longer than a night

Just joking no comment necessary.

[Lightemup]

OMG I realized I cant even afford to live in Patong if this work stops
My last 30 days there.....man, you dont even want to know, but it surpasses LiL's budget several times....
Ok, did some shopping also, videocamera etc. not everything was on drinks and women.

That said, my partying would slow considerably down living there permanently, at least I hope it will

[seafox]

Originally Posted by Lightemup

OMG I realized I cant even afford to live in Patong if this work stops
My last 30 days there.....man, you dont even want to know, but it surpasses LiL's budget several times....
Ok, did some shopping also, videocamera etc. not everything was on drinks and women.

That said, my partying would slow considerably down living there permanently, at least I hope it will

but hard to do when there is a little cutie around every corner and you can drink 20 beers a night and not wake up feeling like crap. The only thing I would definitely have to cut back on would be the 7AM crash into bed scenarios.

Every time I walked down the street or went into a bank and saw a lovely thai lady would put me on the prowl that night.

[Dodger]

I'd reckon 45 to 50k bahts to exist, 70 to 100k to live okay. 5k spending per week???? electricity, petrol, ubc, internet, water and food would blow a big big hole in 5k, how you going to get around? are you never going out? what if you meet a girlfriend? dental & hospital contingency money? insurance, taxes, maid or laundry costs? clothing?

Second thing why ask, get a reply from an expat that has lived here for years and then tell him he's wrong??

[marc26]

Originally Posted by seafox

but hard to do when there is a little cutie around every corner and you can drink 20 beers a night and not wake up feeling like crap. The only thing I would definitely have to cut back on would be the 7AM crash into bed scenarios.

Every time I walked down the street or went into a bank and saw a lovely thai lady would put me on the prowl that night.

i wasnt there long enough to be considered an expat but 8-9 months, i was still coming in 6-8am 4-5 nights a week

[seafox]

Originally Posted by marc26

i wasnt there long enough to be considered an expat but 8-9 months, i was still coming in 6-8am 4-5 nights a week

I handled that o'k for 2 weeks but was happy to have the liveaboard dive trip as a break before the last 4 nights

[marc26]

Originally Posted by seafox

I handled that o'k for 2 wweks but was happy to have the liveaboard dive trip as a break before the last 4 nights

yeah old man, had to wake you up when you were nodding off in ao's room

[seafox]

Originally Posted by marc26

yeah old man, had to wake you up when you were nodding off in ao's room

I know, was down for the count that night. Too bad as I was having a good time but just could not keep my eyes open. If we had gone bowling I probably would have stayed up until 4 AM. Just went back to hotel and passed out. Thank god we got a tuk tuk because I probably would have fallen off a bike.

[M & M]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

Water and electric
Medical cover
Motorbike + fuel (cheaper than taxis)
Food
House necessities (shopping, soap and cleaning, etc)
Mobile phone credit
Visa Runs
Basic Entertainment (DVD's)
Sat or cable TV ??
Internet

You get 'nickle and dimed' to death.. Dont forget all thais firmly believe we are all millionaires and will price you accordingly.. I have not even factored in anything fun like women parties drinks or going out budget.

Living on less than 30k would be a very sad dull existance.. I know people who struggle to live in Patong on 80k.. OK so they do drink and have GF's but they dont live madly lavish.. I cant seem to keep my budget at under 120k a month.. My utils are now over 15k !!

LIL, your post here is of great interest to Marcia and I as we have done a budget considering living costs for when we move there.

When you say your "utils", do you mean water, electricity telephone etc as being 15k per month? Is that just for your apartment? And are you a couple? (if you don't mind me asking). There will be three of us as we're bringing our son. We will be renting a two-bedroom apartment/townhouse and really like the A/C revving and best high speed internet available for gaming and downloading for our son. At present we have no idea...but we have "guestimated" ourselves...Could you give us a "guestimate" at how much it mught costs us for "utils" per month bearing the above in mind. As we WILL beilieve you!!

I know it's not the low end of the market that we're talking about...apologies to socrteez

We have allowed in excess of 120k per month and that doesn't include the hefty education costs we will have for our boy.

At least I won't have to spend too much on bar fines as Marcia will, no doubt, limit that, maybe just 30k - 40k a month!?? ROTFLMAO

Mike

[nelsonone]

Originally Posted by M & M

At least I won't have to spend too much on bar fines as Marcia will, no doubt, limit that, maybe just 30k - 40k a month!?? ROTFLMAO

Mike

Look who's lookin' for a home made spanking..........Marcia oh Marcia......look what Mike had to say on the board...................55555

How much have you budgetted for marcia's BF's Mike............55555

[LivinLOS]

Originally Posted by steve@thaib

My buddy lived in patong on a 28k teacher's salary. Your'e not living it up but he seemed to get by ok, and there was 2 0f them because he had his girl with him.

If your'e not much of a bar crawler and eat where the locals eat I reckon you can get by reasonably well on 30k. If you can get appt for 10k and budget 5k per week you will be fine.

I say 30k is just about possible... Also was that recent ?? I think theres about 10% per annum inflation recently and the place that its hitting the hardest is in basic market items (with the least markup room).. The kind of budget is possible but its the kind of budget that literally denies you buying a single starbucks coffee or having a steak dinner should you feel partial to it. That kind of budget would not make me happy with my lifestyle.

Theres been some good posts on this topic in detail breaking down living expenses...

OMG I realized I cant even afford to live in Patong if this work stops
My last 30 days there.....man, you dont even want to know, but it surpasses LiL's budget several times....
Ok, did some shopping also, videocamera etc. not everything was on drinks and women.

That said, my partying would slow considerably down living there permanently, at least I hope it will

I am quite worried.. With Jimmys wedding etc I had some extra expenses (suits, her slinky wedding party frock, we bought him a plasma TV for a wedding present, etc) but I needed to wire some additional Euro's over and when I looked at my online statements I had wired 10k Euro only 2 months previous.. Thats a bit out of control !!!

LIL, your post here is of great interest to Marcia and I as we have done a budget considering living costs for when we move there.

When you say your "utils", do you mean water, electricity telephone etc as being 15k per month? Is that just for your apartment? And are you a couple? (if you don't mind me asking). There will be three of us as we're bringing our son. We will be renting a two-bedroom apartment/townhouse and really like the A/C revving and best high speed internet available for gaming and downloading for our son. At present we have no idea...but we have "guestimated" ourselves...Could you give us a "guestimate" at how much it mught costs us for "utils" per month bearing the above in mind. As we WILL beilieve you!!

I know it's not the low end of the market that we're talking about...apologies to socrteez

We have allowed in excess of 120k per month and that doesn't include the hefty education costs we will have for our boy.

At least I won't have to spend too much on bar fines as Marcia will, no doubt, limit that, maybe just 30k - 40k a month!?? ROTFLMAO

your 120k budget should be ample for a nice lifestyle with pretty much everything.. My utils bill (and by which I mean just water and electricity) is an anomoly, its a 5 bed house and its seems to have become a bit of a commune, theres currently 7 adults living here and so electric and water bills are high (I have to pay water for pool evaporation and gardeners useage and water is very expensive pumped to the top of the hill).. I would think 3 - 5k depending on AC use is a far more normal apartment bill for elect and water..

Guesses on normal house costs if utils are not inflated

Electric 2.5k - 4.5k (about 2k per AC so 1 or 2 used lightly)
Tel line for broadband 1k min (up to 2.5 - 3k for very good).
UBC 1.5k (basic package.. 2k for full)

If you really like AC and dont get used to fans its easy to waster double your electric bill on AC.. I am not a big AC person but it goes on in the bedroom to cool down room for an hour or two..

[steve@thaib]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

I say 30k is just about possible... Also was that recent ?? I think theres about 10% per annum inflation recently and the place that its hitting the hardest is in basic market items (with the least markup room).. The kind of budget is possible but its the kind of budget that literally denies you buying a single starbucks coffee or having a steak dinner should you feel partial to it. That kind of budget would not make me happy with my lifestyle.

To be fair, it was 2004 so maybe it would be harder to do now? I did'nt realise that inflation was running that high in Thailand.

[LivinLOS]

BTW just picked up the june Andaman post and theres a couple of pages devoted to cost of retirement living in there.. The guy makes no bones about the fact that its a very min lifestyle that hes budgeting but its more for an old person who just wants to live in the sun.

Even with his base costs being low (6k per month rental bungalow in the sticks) once he had covered everything from electric and water (drinking) utils and foods etc etc etc his basic was 48k baht or 1200 USD. There was a 4k per month pocket money for the wife but there was little else that could be cut and still have basics..

Forget all ideas of living here on <500 USD per month.

Andaman post current issue is not yet online but will be in a few days..