Aaron
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 65,000 - 85,000 baht
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I work at a large private Thai K - 12 school with a base salary of 65k . In addition to this, we have the opportunity to work extra hours (both during the regular school hours as well as Saturdays) and so this nets me an additional 5k to 20k baht per month. This is only possible during the periods of the year where we have regular instruction time so only about half of the year.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
On average on the base salary I'm putting away about 30k, with a little more during those extra working periods. I caution the reader on this in that I haven't made significant purchases here such as new laptops, iphones, etc. Flying home costs about 35,000 baht if I get a decent deal on the flight and that certainly cuts into the savings.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
My monthly rent for a studio condo is 8,000 baht. The condo has a pool, small exercise room, 7-11, laundry, coffee, and a restaurant. It's in Onnut and about a 15 minute walk to the nearest BTS. Size is about 30 sqm. The condo itself came with most everything I need, although lately I do wish I had a better kitchen set-up. I think at some point soon I'll splurge and get a bigger place with a kitchen to do some cooking at home.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I spend about 2,000 baht a month on this. If I recall correctly a 40 trip BTS rabbit card is about 900 baht a month. In addition, I typically take taxis a couple of times a weekend when I'm with the girlfriend.
Utility bills
These are dirt cheap here and a real bargain in my opinion. Electricity is billed directly, and I never go without air-con when it's hot. This runs me anywhere from 700 to 900 baht. Water is 150 baht, internet and basic TV channels 750 baht, mobile phone plan 200 baht. I just assume between rent and all my utilities it's 10,000 baht total, which is pretty good in my opinion.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
This one gets a bit expensive. I do like my Western food, and without a kitchen I'm at the mercy of the restaurant and pubs. During the week I typically don't spend more than 200 baht a day on food and a latte in the morning. Weekends I'm apt to spend about 500 baht a day on average, though this also includes my girlfriend eating too. In total, 8000 baht a month for food.
Nightlife and drinking
This one's also a bit expensive. A night out with the lads would run me anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 baht about. We do this I would say twice a month, with that number going up for birthdays and other celebrations.
Books, computers
I spend on average about 3000 baht a month on books and 2000 baht on PS3 games. The books honestly aren't a necessity as one can often get them on Kindle and ebook from download sites, however I still like wasting a few dollars on Dungeons and Dragons and Comic stuff (nerd).
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
I feel that I live better in many ways than my teaching colleagues back home, in that I don't take work home and can afford to go out and do things if I feel the desire to do so. I feel I can get around the city pretty easily, eat what and where I want, see movies, play games, enjoy a few beverages with the lads and enjoy warm weather and still put a few bucks away for a rainy day.Sometimes however it does still feel as if I'm living a university life, in that I live in a studio and such.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Hmm, well I think transportation is amazing. Back home between car payments, petrol, and insurance you could be looking at a solid quarter of your income. This is simply not the case for me here. Also, rent CAN Be had for a decent price, but to an extent you get what you pay for. Finally, hey c'mon who can argue with those utility bills I stated. Back home I was paying about 2,500 baht...just for mobile phone service per month.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
In Bangkok I'm going to echo what others are saying at 35k to 40k baht. If we break down the numbers, one could live on 20k I suppose. However, I don't think most of us came from Western nations to live poor in Asia. Even at 40k baht it's a struggle to fly home and visit family and friends, which should be considered a necessity in my opinion. Saving for a rainy day, enjoying more luxury and such quickly pushes this amount towards or north of 50k baht.
Phil's analysis and comment
Anyone who earns at least 65,000 baht a month and spends just 10,000 of that on rent and utilities is always going to have plenty of money left over for treats. And that's exactly what we see from Aaron's figures above. He clearly enjoys his lifestyle in Thailand.
A couple of points I'll comment on though.
I'm not sure by cooking at home that Aaron will particularly save money on food but as a colleague of mine once said - "When you cook at home, you don't save money but you do eat far better'. I totally agree with this. For the 60-100 baht you would spend on an average meal in an average Thai restaurant, you can cook a fantastic meal at home for that same money. And I really started to enjoy cooking once I got into it. I think it's a very important skill for a man to have.
The annual flight / trip home to see family and friends is always an interesting discussion point because as Aaron says, it can really eat into your savings. I also agree with Aaron inasmuch as the flight home once a year is just something you have to do.
I think there are two ways to handle the trip home. You can look for the cheapest flight possible and spend 12 hours or more cooped up in economy class. Then when you get home, rely on the generosity of family and friends to provide you with accommodation and meals, etc.
I did this myself several times in the 90s. I remember paying 17,000 baht for a return flight with Bangladesh Biman (are they even still in business?) and then for the two weeks I was back in England, apart from the odd round of drinks and a bit of shopping, I hardly got my hand in my pocket. I think I did the whole trip for about 30,000 baht. There's no shame in it. Let's face it, when you're a 30K a month teacher, it's all you can afford. Family have to understand this.
Now I'm a bit older and with perhaps a little more money around me, I can't do the economy class thing anymore. I can't afford business class either so I tend to shop around for those airlines offering 'premium economy' with a better seat and a bit more legroom. And once in England, it's nice to meet up with friends and 'pay your way' and take your family out for a meal or two, etc.
In conclusion, nowadays if I did the annual trip to England and went the Cheap Charlie route, I could maybe get away with doing it for about 70,000 baht. But as it is - premium economy ticket, gifts for the family and not being particularly thrifty while you're there - that figure has risen to easily 110-120K a trip.
Either way, it's still a significant amount of money.
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