Benjamin
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 42,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I work at a Thai secondary school and my full-time salary after tax is 42,000 baht. In the past I've tried topping up that salary with private tutoring but I just wasn't ruthless enough. I felt bad charging students 500 baht an hour when I knew they couldn't really afford it. Plus I got tired of all the cancellations.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
I try to put at least 5,000 baht a month into a bank account for a trip home to see the family.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I live in a very Thai-style studio apartment with one big bedroom / living area, a small bathroom and a balcony that's just about large enough to hang out some washing. The rent is 5,000 a month.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
There is a direct bus route from home to school and I only need to travel half a dozen stops. I guess even with the odd taxi at the weekend, my transport bill is less than a thousand baht a month.
Utility bills
Although my apratment has air-conditioning, I very rarely use it. Water and electricity come to about 800 a month so not bad.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
During the week when I am working, I will pick something up from the many street vendors in my neighborhood and microwave it at home. I tend to skip breakfast (not good I know) and lunch at school is free. I will often splash out on a Western treat at the weekend but the monthly food spend is no more than about 5,000.
Nightlife and drinking
Friday night tends to be my only big night out. A group of foreign teachers from the school all gather at a local restaurant where the beers are cheap and the staff know us well and make us welcome. 2,000 a month.
Books, computers
I replaced my laptop last year (I think it was about 20,000) but I don't play games or read a lot of books.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Let's put it this way, I wouldn't like to have to live on less than 42,000 (the salary I earn now) My father always taught me that the golden rule of life in terms of money is 'never spend more than you earn'. It sounds a ridiculously obvious rule to live by but it's amazing how many teachers I have worked with who just can't follow it and are broke with barely half the month gone.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Street food if you know where to go and who to buy from. My regular vendors look after me with slightly larger portions.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
'Survive' is such a horrible word. I can't believe anyone comes here to teach English to just survive but I guess some folks do. Looking at the job ads on ajarn, there must be teachers in Bangkok living on 25k salaries. I really don't know how they do it.
Phil's analysis and comment
Some interesting points there Ben.
I also learned that golden rule of never spending more than you earn and I also worked with many teachers who would get their 30-35,000 cash payout at the beginning of the month and immediately think they had to blow it all in the first week.
You make a good point about being 'ruthless' if you want to take on private students. As I wrote in my guide to freelance teaching, everyone who makes good money teaching privates has to develop a business acumen at some stage. If you let students walk all over you with last-minute cancellations and don't insist on payments in advance, freelance teaching will become more and more frustrating.
We would love to get your cost of living surveys and you can do so by filling in the on-line form. Tell us about your lifestyle!
Many teachers unfortunately fill in the form and just provide a list of figures and no back story. It's those glimpses into a teacher's lifestyle that make these surveys interesting and enjoyable. Many thanks for your contributions.
Submit your own Cost of Living survey
