Chris
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 104,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
I teach at an international school and make 104K a month after tax. I work Monday to Friday, and get the usual school holidays off. I also get paid a 13th month salary bonus as well as a return flight to the UK each year. I pay 20% of any health insurance claims that I make. (There is no housing allowance at my school.)
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
I save around 50% of my money each month. I should aim to save more really.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
We pay 21,000 Baht a month for a nice 1 bedroom/1 bathroom condo on a high floor. It's directly next to a BTS station. My girlfriend earns significantly less than me, so she contributes 7,000 Baht and I actually pay 14,000 Baht.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I spend around 300-400 Baht on the BTS each month, and around 140 Baht on gas for my scooter. (A full tank is 70 Baht, and I tend to fill-up once a fortnight.)
Utility bills
Not sure to be honest. Definitely less than 2000 Baht a month for everything including electric/water/phones/internet/subscriptions etc. I split every bill with my girlfriend 50/50, so I usually pay less than 1000 Bath a month on utility bills.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I eat Thai food everyday for lunch, and have never paid more than 90 Baht for a lunch. I tend to eat a lot of Western food for dinner, but I rarely spend more than 400 or 500 Baht on a meal. I know some of my friends spend 1000's on brunches and fancy steaks, but I very rarely do that.
Nightlife and drinking
I'm a very light drinker, so I save a lot here. I can count the number of heavy nights out I've had over the past couple of years on one hand.
Books, computers
Gadgets and computer games are my downfall. I probably buy a new video game or a new electronic item once a month. Some of these gadgets can cost more than 10,000 Baht (but never more than 15,000). The most expensive thing I ever bought was my scooter (30,000), but that was a necessity.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Many people would say that I live a boring life, but I very much enjoy what I do. It's a very comfortable standard of living for me.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
The cost of nice accommodation. Back home you'd have to pay double the price in order to get somewhere half as nice to live.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
My girlfriend takes home 32,000 a month, and she is not Thai. We split our bills/food costs 50/50, but she pays a third of the rent. Any less than 32,000, and I would definitely have to pay more of her rent share.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thanks Chris. I guess with you earning three times what your partner does, it's only fair that you pay the lion's share of the monthly bills but I've always found the whole idea of discussing 'who pays how much for what?' to be something of an awkward situation. It can be difficult for a couple to talk about money because it's often hard to decide how much is fair.
My wife and I have a system that seems to have just evolved. I pay the monthly utility bills. I pay for all the supermarket shopping unless it's something like cosmetics, which are specifically for her. When it comes to eating out, I'll pick up the tab probably 80% of the time. Whenever we travel, my wife will pay for her own flight and we'll split the accommodation costs 50/50. Once we get to a destination, I'll pay for all the food, transportation and entrance fees, etc.
Yet not once have we ever sat down together and said stuff like "well, actually I think I pay too much for this" or "you should contribute more to this", etc.
It strikes me as a strange system at times - but it seems to work OK.
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