Brent
Working in Nakhon Nayok
Monthly Earnings 60,000 – 65,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
30 000 Baht for 18 hours of teaching ( 8 a.m – 4 p.m Mon-Friday). My girlfriend works at the same school and we live together so our joint salary is 60 000 Baht. With private lessons we each bring in an extra 1000 – 2000 Baht.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
One full salary – 30 000 Baht.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I live in a one bedroom studio apartment with a fridge,cable TV,free WiFi and shower @ 5000 Baht/month
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I rent an old vacuum cleaner resembling Honda for 900 Baht now. I used to rent a Yamaha Mio for 1500/month until it was stolen. Petrol costs 400 Baht/month.
Utility bills
900 – 1000 Baht for electricity, 350 Baht for water and about 500 for the use of the washing machine.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
6000 – 9000 Baht a month. It ranges around 6 – 7000 when we stick to Thai food and cook at home once or twice a week. Goes up to about 9000 when we go to Bangkok for Western meals and splurge on snacks at 7-Eleven.
Nightlife and drinking
I don’t really go out and prefer saving my money for travelling. The occasional beer at home amounts to about 200 baht.
Books, computers
I set aside 1500 – 2000 every month in case I see something I like.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
I’m home by 4:10 p.m everyday and have not stressed about anything work related...EVER. – That should sum it up.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Food, clothes and general necessities.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
Well, in order to survive, 25000 – 30 000 if you live outside of Bangkok and 35k upwards if you live in the major cities. Where I live, there’s nothing to do really, no Western food temptations or anything like that. My girlfriend and I save one salary clean every month, which means that two people are surviving off 30 000 Baht a month and living very comfortably.
Phil's analysis and comment
I've been through Nakhon Nayok several times. It's the quietest of backwaters. When I first read that Brent earned 60-65K a month to teach in Nakhon Nayok, I almost fell off my chair, but as you read into the survey, you will see that that amount of money is the result of two salaries. Brent's life sounds incredibly stress-free but he lives in a place where there is absolutely nothing to do. From his answers here, it even sounds like 'buying snacks from 7-11' is something of a treat. But I'm certainly not going to knock it. Each to his own and all that. Brent and his partner are saving 360,000 baht a year for travel and other things - and that's a tidy sum of money in Thailand. I think some teachers would love living in such a quiet location but it would drive other teachers crazy. I couldn't live there personally.
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