James
Working in Mae Sai (Chiang Rai Province)
Monthly Earnings 28,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I earn 28,000 from my job at a private school. I have also in the past earned up to 2,500 baht a month from private tutoring, but don't do that all the time.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
14,000. It is easy to live cheap in the North. I have lived months on less than 12,000 before when I needed to save.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
My girlfriend and I pay 3,500 for a small one-room apartment in an apartment block with a few other farang teachers. We don't have a kitchen, but we have set up a camping stove in our little covered outside area which has a sink. We mostly need to go out to eat but that's cheaper anyway. Wi-fi is included.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
We rent a motorbike from our landlord for 2,000 baht a month and put in about 250 baht of petrol in each month. That is good for all our day to day transport needs. We go to Chiang Rai town once every two weeks or so which is 46 baht each way on the minibus. We could ride the bike for less but it isn't the nicest journey, especially in the rain. Might spend 100 baht on taxis while we are there. Going to Chiang Mai costs about 600 baht return, but we only do that once every 2 months or so.
Utility bills
Utility bills for water and electricity range from 300 baht to 1200 baht a month for the two of us depending on air con usage. The average is about 600 baht a month with air con every day for a couple of hours.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
Food can be very cheap if you eat out locally (street food 20-40 baht / restaurants 35-60). A few restaurants that serve Western style food (about 100 baht for a burger) If we do cook something then it is usually to cook in a larger group of teachers. Including 7/11 snacks I pay on average 100-250B a day for food and drink if I'm at home in Mai Sai.
Nightlife and drinking
There isn't much night life in Mae Sai, but I don't mind that too much. If I do go out for a beer then a large Leo will probably be 70 or 80 baht. Sitting with others teachers from the school having a beer at the apartments cost 55 baht a beer from 7/11. I go out in Chiang Rai once every 3 or 4 weeks with teachers who live there, and one night will cost me about 600 baht
Books, computers
I don't spend any money on this really. There is a nice second hand trade in book shop in Chiang Rai where I have exchanged books and spent a maximum of 150 baht over the year.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Comfortable and happy while saving. We could live more extravagantly if we wished, but instead we save our money to spend on travel during our holidays.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Rent and eating out are very cheap.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
If you did not want to save any money but still wanted to ensure you always had funds for visa extensions and unexpected costs, while occasionally treating yourself to western comforts or a night out, 20,000 should be enough, but 25,000 would be more comfortable.
Phil's analysis and comment
James lives in a one-room apartment with his Thai partner. They are usually referred to as studio apartments and in England we often give them the rather unglamorous title of 'bedsits'. You really need to get along with someone if two of you are going to share such a confined space - or work different shifts perhaps.
I'm sure James is a fine fellow but his lifestyle is just not for me, despite the fact that he lives and works in one of the most beautiful areas of Thailand. However, some may consider sitting around on the floor cross-legged and sipping large Leos with a bunch of other teachers part of the exotic adventure. I don't know.
When I planned the questions for these cost of living surveys many years ago, I wasn't interested in a teacher's age. Perhaps I felt it was too much of an intrusion. However, this is one of those surveys where I would love to know how old the writer is. If James was in his early to mid twenties, then his lifestyle is one I can imagine someone 'tolerating' for several years but not so much for a guy perhaps in his forties or older.
Everything that James mentions above I have done and experienced myself - the small, shared studio apartment, the living on about 400 baht a day, the diet of cheap streetfood meals, the occasional Western splurge and the saving up for a weekend away. In your twenties you're just grateful to be living in Thailand. But I think it's natural to seek out a better standard of living and a few more creature comforts as you get older.
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