Working in Bangkok

Monthly Earnings 35,000 baht

Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?

My government school salary is just under 35K a month. I very occasionally do private lessons as well but that wouldn't amount to more than 2,000 - 3,000 even in a good month. My full-time job tires me out enough.

Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?

Virtually nothing. If I have a month where I manage to save 5,000 baht, I'll spend it the following month on a weekend away or something.

Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?

I live in a 5,000 baht a month studio apartment with lots of nosey neighbors around me. I bet everyone in the building knows that I bought a plant on Saturday morning. I've been to friends' apartments that cost double what mine costs. You don't get a place to live that's twice as good, you get somewhere that's TEN times better! Renting accommodation at the very low end of the scale in Bangkok is not something I would ever recommend but I do it because I don't budget for more than 5K.

Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?

Transportation

Very little. Less than a thousand a month. I live a short bus ride away from the school but sometimes I walk if the temperature is comfortable. I have to start work at 7.30 am so I'm often leaving the house well before 7.00 and it's still fairly cool at that time.

Utility bills

The building owner makes it up as he goes along, then he gives the figures to the reception staff, who double it and add the date in. Joking apart, probably about 2,000 baht a month. It seems a lot to me because I don't turn on the air-con that much. Perhaps the a/c unit needs a good service.

Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping

I came out to teach in Thailand for a year and I did a lot of research on costs of living. The cost of eating well in Bangkok has really shocked me. Breakfast (a coffee and a snack) will cost me 60 baht a day. For lunch and dinner, I will seek out what I call tier 2 Thai restaurants, where the food is far better than street food, but still costs about 80 baht a dish. With a fruit smoothie that gets bumped up to about 130 baht. There's 10,000 baht a month on food right there and we're not even at the w/end.

Nightlife and drinking

I wish. Those wild nights out on Sukhumwit cost far too much for me. I'll have a couple of beers with teaching colleagues at a Thai bar instead. Even doing that a few nights a week adds up to 4,000 - 5,000 a month.

Books, computers

Not a lot. I have a smartphone like everyone else does but I tend to use the ancient computers at school.

Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?

It's a day to day existence. No more than that.

Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?

Bus fares are very reasonable as are taxi fares. So getting around the city never really costs you an arm and a leg.

Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?

Honestly? I wouldn't want to come and teach here again for less than 60,000 baht a month. That's enough for a better apartment and to have the money to travel and to see some of the country at a certain level (decent hotels, etc)

Phil's analysis and comment

Chris also had the following to say and they make some interesting footnotes.

"One thing that people forget to factor into these cost of living surveys Phil are all those horrible non-food supermarket items that you invariably need to buy on a regular basis. And they are often quite expensive. Last weekend for example I bought a can of shaving foam (250 baht) razors (125 baht) a can of air freshener (125 baht) hair conditioner and shampoo (300 baht) and cleaning stuff (200 baht) I find there's always one weekend in every month when all that kind of stuff seems to run out - and replenishing them is not cheap at all.

If I can add something else to the monthly food spend section as well. I'm amazed at how pricey Western food is here. I really don't know how teachers on a similar salary to mine can afford it. A meal at Burger King can easily set you back 300 baht. Places like Pizza Hut and Sizzler are even more expensive! When you're playing around with a budget of around 700 baht a day, to spunk more than half of that daily allowance on a pizza or burger (and an average pizza or burger at that) is just ridiculous"

Thanks Chris for a very honest survey. Someone commented on the ajarn facebook page today - "I don't know how people survive in Bangkok on 40K a month" (and that's 5,000 more than you earn Chris) In another comment, a teacher said "40,000 baht a month is becoming the new 30,000"

I don't think we're at the stage yet where we can label Bangkok as 'an expensive city' - but we are certainly getting there.

Last April I was in New Zealand - in an affluent little town called Nelson - and I got chatting to a very nice, middle-aged lady who ran a jewelery stall on the footpath (interestingly, Scottish comedian Billy Connolly was a regular customer she said) Being interested in the cost of living in New Zealand and how much people earned there, I was surprised to hear that this jewellry seller seemed almost to exist on the breadline. She used McDonalds as an example. "I go to McDonalds once a year on my birthday. I class McDonalds as a treat that I can't normally afford" 

I felt genuinely sorry for her but here we have Chris - a teacher in Bangkok - in exactly the same boat wouldn't you say? Except one is struggling to survive in her native New Zealand and Chris is experiencing the Asian dream / adventure. If you believe the hype that is.

Ray

11th October 2016

Working in Bangkok

Monthly Earnings 63,000

Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?

I work at a large government school in Bangkok and my salary is 43,000. I earn another 20,000 baht a month from private students.

Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?

Between 20,000 and 25,000

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 condo with a full kitchen.

Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?

Transportation

No more than 500 baht. I live in walking distance to my school and to the places where I tutor.

Utility bills

1,100 baht.

Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping

6,000 baht.

Nightlife and drinking

Nothing really.

Books, computers

About 1,000 baht.

Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?

Quite comfortable.

Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?

Food and housing.

Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?

About 40,000.

Phil's analysis and comment

A quickie from Ray that reads a little bit like an Excel spreadsheet. It's the details that make these surveys interesting I feel. The 6,000 baht a month that Ray spends on food? Given the fact he has a 'full kitchen' does Ray mostly cook at home? Is Ray to be found wandering around local markets chatting with the vendors and squeezing their ripe tomatoes? Why does Ray spend nothing on nightlife? Is it something he's given up on?

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If anyone fancies doing a cost of living survey, I've now put the questions on-line to make it easier and quicker for you. Please spare half an hour if you can. 

A number of teachers complete the surveys with just a list of figures. I don't wish to sound ungrateful but that's not really what we're looking for. There needs to be some sort of 'story' behind the figures as it were (it certainly makes the surveys more interesting to read) Many thanks!

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James

7th October 2016

Working in Bangkok

Monthly Earnings 120,000

Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?

I work at a tier 2 international school and my salary is 120k after tax and including a housing allowance.

Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?

70,000

Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?

18k for a large one-bedroom condo near Rama 9 (of which my partner pays 8k)

Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?

Transportation

Very little. I walk to work and run a small motorbike that runs on little more than fresh air.

Utility bills

Electricity, water and internet is about 2,000 a month.

Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping

Lunch is free at work so food only really consists of dinner, say 5k a month.

Nightlife and drinking

Nightlife probably accounts for 5-10k a month depending on how thirsty I get.

Books, computers

Very little goes on CPUs and books unless something needs replacing, so say 1k per month

Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?

Comfortable & with enough leftover at the end of the month to save for a half decent retirement. I have no pension or property to otherwise fall back on in the future.

Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?

Taxis are incredibly cheap, as is local food and the water bill.

Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?

30k over and above rent. But this can only be temporary unless you don't need to worry about retirement.

Phil's analysis and comment

You realise how cheap taxi fares are here every time you travel abroad. I caught a taxi from Birmingham Airport in England a few weeks ago to travel barely 10 kilometres and the fare cost over 1,500 baht. The same journey in Bangkok wouldn't have been 10% of that. 

Nice survey this one. Even though James earns a very good salary from an international school and could live the life of Riley, he's keeping a good eye on the future. And let me tell you James, the older the get, the more important that becomes. 

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