Dan
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 34,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
34,000
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
3,000 (but I rarely do)
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 5,500 baht for a two bedroom, two story house near the On-Nut BTS.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
300
Utility bills
400
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
7,000
Nightlife and drinking
2,000
Books, computers
1,500
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Not bad, but buying a fridge or similar appliance finishes my monthly “petty cash”
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
DVD Rental- 5 films for seven nights all for only a 100 baht. Amazing Thailand!
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
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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