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The Cost of Living
Dan
posted on 5th October 2009
Working in: BangkokMonthly Earnings: 34,000
Q. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
A. 34,000
Q. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
A. 3,000 (but I rarely do)
Q. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
A. I pay 5,500 baht for a two bedroom, two story house near the On-Nut BTS.
Q. What do you spend a month on the following things?
| a) Transportation | 300 |
| b) Utility bills | 400 |
| c) Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping | 7,000 |
| d) Nightlife and drinking | 2,000 |
| e) Books, computers | 1,500 |
Q. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
A. Not bad, but buying a fridge or similar appliance finishes my monthly “petty cash”
Q. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
A. DVD Rental- 5 films for seven nights all for only a 100 baht. Amazing Thailand!
Q. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
A. For a farang? At least 20,000 baht
Phil's analysis and comment
In my opinion 30-35,000 baht a month is the absolute minimum you can survive on in Bangkok so Dan is a nice case study to start off with. He works in the capital and earns 34,000 a month.
He's certainly got things sorted out in the housing department, paying only 5,500 for a house in a great location. I'm guessing that because his utility bill is so low the house either doesn't have air-conditioning or he very rarely switches it on. For me a house without air-con blasting away (at least in one room) is no fun at all. That said, Dan doesn't skimp on his grub, and he's obviously something of a 'taxi man'. With the average cost of a taxi journey being about 80 baht, he must take plenty of cabs. I'm with him all the way on the bus thing. While 500 baht a week spent on nightlife hardly puts him in the Peter Stringfellow category, 3,000 baht a month going into the savings account is a bit worrying. I'm sure Dan would like to build up more of a savings 'cushion' if he could.
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