Danny
Working in Mae Ai, Northern Thailand.
Monthly Earnings 10,000 baht
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
10,000 baht
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
Nothing. No holiday pay either.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I live in a sustainable baan din (earth house) on an agriculture project and accommodation is currently free.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
About 1700 baht
Utility bills
500 baht
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
Both restaurants and supermarket shopping: At Tesco Lotus about 2k per month, restaurants about 2k per month. Drinking water 70 baht per month. Beer about 500 baht per month.
Nightlife and drinking
Nightlife? No chance.
Books, computers
I just get my laptop fixed cheaply when it goes wrong.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Unique and basic but stress free
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Food and vehicle tax.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
Out here in the sticks, if I rented a small apartment, I could get by on about 15k a month. At the moment, I mainly live on-site and only pay for food and drinking water.
Phil's analysis and comment
I think that Danny's is a special case because he also said in his e-mail to me - "for me, it isn't about the money. A stress-free life developing a language project for a worthwhile foundation is more valuable than that which I could earn elsewhere. The 10K I earn is a stipend while I am doing my degree"
Fair enough.
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