Axel
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 127,000 baht
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I do not work for a school but for a company actually. I'm a big fan of this section and I thought I'd contribute too even if not teaching related.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
I save a lot less than what I should. I put away 20k at the beginning of each month and usually save what is left by the end of the month. That is never more than another 10k.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I pay around 30,000 baht for a one-bedroom condo (55 sq metres) in the city centre.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I use a mix of taxis, motorbike taxis, Uber and BTS, whatever is more convenient at that time. I'd say probably 100 baht per day minimum.
Utility bills
Utility bills was included in the rent but It's about 1,000 to 1,200 baht per month for electricity, 100 baht for water, 800 for internet and 500 baht for Netflix
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
This where it hurts I spend around 2,500 baht weekly at the supermarket. I buy a lot of imported food and that costs quite a lot here, much more than back home in Scandinavia. And maybe another 16k in eating out. I like to treat myself on weekends to nice places.
Nightlife and drinking
It really depends, there are weekends where I could stay home and do nothing and weekends where I could spend maybe 10,000 but I'd say around 25k per month
Books, computers
I bought a computer last year so nothing this year and probably 500 baht per month on books. There is no section for this but I'd like to add that I do spend quite a big of money on clothes every month as well as we need to be perfectly dressed where I'm working and it could be sometimes another 10,000 per month. I fly back home twice and it costs me around 60,000 per year. My insurance, visa, work permit and cell phone bills are covered by my employer.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Pretty good, honestly except for the food and some alchohol it's much cheaper than back home. With the same salary I would never afford the same kind of lifestyle compared to in my country.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Taxis (even Uber X), Thai food, local restaurants, utilities like water bill.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
That's a tough question to be honest. The lowest amount I have lived on was when I first arrived and that was 50k per month - and I still felt like I was living a very decent lifestyle here in Bangkok. If you want to live in the city center and enjoy life I'd say 45k to 50k at least.
Phil's analysis and comment
Axel is not a teacher but as he said in the survey, he's a big fan of our cost of living section, so we'll allow him to take part even though most teachers will probably not be that interested in what a 'company employee' is earning.
That said, I've worked with many teachers down the years who have 'lucked out' and used teaching as purely a stepping stone to moving into other kinds of employment. Often a case of right place and right time, if you teach working adult students, you can sometimes make good contacts and hear of the most unlikely job openings. Foreigners welcome! You might be interested in reading this article I wrote a while ago on real-life stories of foreigners who have beat the 'teacher trap'.
A plea for your kind help.
There never seems to be a shortage of teachers out there who are good enough to take part in our cost of living survey - and that's fantastic! I'm extremely grateful. Could I also get a few of you to help out with updating our region guides if possible. I would love your feedback if you are teaching outside Bangkok. Here is the list of towns and cities covered in our region guides. Please don't feel that you have to answer every question. If you just want to fill in a couple or three answers then that's an enormous help! Muchas gracias.
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