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The Cost of Living
Harry
posted on 26th November 2009
Working in: BangkokMonthly Earnings: 65,000
Q. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
A. My basic salary is 58,000 but on top of that I make around 5,000 in overtime (teaching IELTS/TOEFL exam preparation) plus I have a few corporate classes every week. On average I take home between 65,000 & 75,000 (occasionally more).
Q. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
A. Not as much as I should, but maybe around 10,000. I tend to blow this on annual trips back to the UK and the odd weekend in Pattaya, Phuket etc and 25,000 a year for health insurance.
Q. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
A. I bought a one bedroom condo in Phra Khanong, so I only have to pay around 2,000 a month to cover the pool, gym, security, insurance etc
Q. What do you spend a month on the following things?
| a) Transportation | Transportation - about 2,500 for the BTS and occasional taxis |
| b) Utility bills | 1,200 for electricity, 2,155 for Truevisions Platinum, 80 for water |
| c) Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping | both restaurants and supermarket shopping - 6,000. I like to cook so buy plenty of expensive ingredients. Eating out is far cheaper. |
| d) Nightlife and drinking | 20,000. Being a single guy, I enjoy a weekly night out drinking in the expat bars with my mates and then finding some company for the night. These things don't come cheap! |
| e) Books, computers | 1,000 for broadband. I don't need to buy books. |
Q. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
A. I live well and enjoy my life - my lifestyle was much quieter in my first two years here as I had a lower salary and a girlfriend (my life now is less quiet and I'm spending about the same amount of money without having to use my UK savings).
Q. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
A. Taxis and company (if you use your "big" head wisely).
Q. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
A. At least 30,000 - but it needs to be spent wisely.
Phil's analysis and comment
Harry admits that he has savings in the UK but we don't know how much and it's none of our business anyway. If those savings are left untouched and increasing year by year, then why shouldn't a man party most nights, bring a new friend home now and again and also enjoy a bit of cooking. I picked up on the cooking part because as Harry says - cooking at home can be more expensive than eating out if you buy good ingedients. But as an ex-colleague of mine once said - you don't save money by eating at home, but you do eat better. Yes, I agree with that.
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