Darren
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
40,000 - 50,000 Baht
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
About 5,000
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
8,000 Baht for a 1 bedroom apartment (living room and seperate bedroom) on the river.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
2000
Utility bills
1500
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
6000
Nightlife and drinking
0
Books, computers
1000
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
We do pretty well, we are not living in luxury but we are not struggling either.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Definitely the food, we can eat out everyday for under 200 Baht.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
If you are single, 25,000. Married I would not want to live on less than 35,000
Phil's analysis and comment
I think Darren would probably fall into the category of 'typical western teacher' in terms of lifestyle (apart from the fact he doesn't spend money on nightlife and the demon drink) He earns 40-50K a month, which is enough to get him a decent apartment and he seems to be doing OK. Saving 5,000 baht a month is better than nothing, but stuffing 60,000 baht a year under the mattress is never going to give you a golden retirement. One trip home every year and that little nest egg is wiped out in an instant. I don't know of Darren's plans but perhaps teaching in Thailand is something he only wants to do for a few years and that's perfectly OK.
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