Stephen
Working in Jomtien, Pattaya
Monthly Earnings 80,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
80,000 is my full-time salary from a private school. I don't do any other work since I value my work-life balance and therefore wish to keep weekends and the bulk of evenings to myself.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
About 30,000. Actually somewhat more during Covid but these are of course exceptional times.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay 10,000 baht a month for a studio apartment with a shared pool and gym.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
2,000 baht.
Utility bills
Another 2,000.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
15,000. I make my own breakfast, generally have street food for lunch (two dishes for never more than 150 baht) and dinner for 300 baht maximum (often Western food such as fish and chips at an Irish pub).
Nightlife and drinking
13,000 for drinking and travel (my equivalent to nightlife). 6,000 baht goes on drinking. I try and restrict drinking to no more than two bottles of beer a day. With snacks, 6,000 is as high as things get per month. But I also have a travel budget of 7,000 baht per month, which does not get spent every month but which averages out to 7,000 monthly over the year.
Books, computers
500. I am an avid reader but things are cheap on Kindle.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Given the weather, the access to beaches and the fact that I am always eating lunches and dinners out, my lifestyle is hugely better than it would be back in Europe.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Accommodation and eating out.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
'Survive?' Well if I had to simply scrimp by, I reckon I could eat street food, downgrade to a cheaper area for my condo and quit drinking. Then I think I could get things down to around 30,000 per month, but then I may as well stay in Europe! So to have a decent lifestyle in Jomtien / Pattaya, you would need around 50,000, as long as you remember that you are not here to party. If you are partying and going to bars all the time, then you need 100,000 as a baseline. That's what I think the tourists are spending here.
Phil's analysis and comment
I always think it must be difficult to live in a place like Pattaya and resist the temptation to go out partying every other night, but Stephen seems to manage it pretty well.
Stephen also mentions the fact that he's saving more money during these Co-vid times and I think if there's just one advantage to be gained from this mess, it's probably that one.
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