Callum
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 35,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I work at a Thai secondary school and my salary for the past two years has been 35,000 baht a month. I'm currently looking for a teaching position that will pay 50,000 a month at least.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
Virtually nothing. If you want to have a weekend away once a month (which I always try to do) then that can eat up any money left over from paying for the basics. 35,000 only gives you a month-to-month existence and it's high time I put a stop to that.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I rent a studio apartment for 7,000 baht a month on the outskirts of Bangkok but near enough to the sky-train line. It's not ideal because it's an old building and the management don't take great care of the facilities but I've furnished my apartment well and it's a decent place to come home to at the end of a tiring day.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I take a 10 baht motorcycle taxi to the skytrain and back every working day and then about eight stops on the BTS itself. No more than about 2,000 baht a month.
Utility bills
Air-con, water and internet all come to about 3,000 baht a month.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
About 8,000 baht a month. I eat Thai food virtually all the time. It's not that I don't crave Western food but I just find the portions too small and poor value for money compared to eating Thai. You can save a fortune eating Thai food, especially if you know where to go and become a regular customer at certain places. I only have about 3-4 Thai restaurants I use regularly.
Nightlife and drinking
I will sometimes go out on a Friday night with a group of teaching colleagues but it's never anything heavy. Probably about 5,000 a month I guess.
Books, computers
I use the internet at school and my 3-year old laptop serves me well at home. I download books for free off the internet.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
It's OK but could be a lot better and that's why I'm looking for something that pays 50K a month. That extra 15,000 I'm hoping will make all the difference.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Thai food in what I call the mom and pop restaurants, where it's about 50 baht a rice dish and the sodas are 15-20 baht.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
Bangkok is getting more and more expensive. I've noticed the difference in just the two years I've been here. I sometimes wander around these glitzy new shopping malls, peruse the menu prices and wonder exactly how much the Thais are earning who can afford to eat there, Crucially, how much more are they earning than your average teacher? (and I am very much your average teacher) I've come to realize that I need at least 50K to survive in Bangkok.
Phil's analysis and comment
Callum, that extra 15,000 will make all the difference. That's a big 180,000 baht a year or if you break it down further, it's 500 baht a day. You won't feel so bad about treating yourself to a Western meal every so often. You will have the money to move into a better apartment, even take a trip home or enjoy more weekends away. Good luck with finding a new job. There are certainly plenty about at the moment.
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