Gustav
Working in Samut Prakarn
Monthly Earnings 35,000 baht
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I work at a private university and my salary is 35,000 baht for 15 contact hours per week.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
10,000 baht
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
My condo costs 5,000 a month
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
Fuel for my motorcycle is around a thousand baht a month.
Utility bills
Electricity, water and internet comes out to 1,200 a month
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I mostly eat Thai street food. I guess with a bit of supermarket and convenience store shopping, my total food bill is no more than 7K a month.
Nightlife and drinking
Nothing at all.
Books, computers
Books and other educational things come to about 500 baht a month
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
I've got quite a good standard of living. I live sufficiently comfortable without being concerned about living pay check to pay check.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Taxis and food. Nowhere else can you get a full meal for the cost of what it is here. And taxis, 60 baht for a 5 km trip. What a bargain!
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
To survive and live frugally, 20,000 baht a month is enough for a foreigner, but to live comfortably, I would say you need 35,000 baht+
Phil's analysis and comment
I'm not surprised that Gustav spends nada on nightlife. I live in Samut Prakarn too and there isn't an awful lot to do for a foreigner once darkness descends. What is available in terms of 'neon light entertainment' is very much a Thai scene. In fact one thing that constantly leaps out at me from these surveys is that most teachers will maybe go out for a drink once or twice a week and leave it at that - that's if they go out at all.
Bangkok has a reputation as being one of the great nightlife cities of the world (over-rated some would say) but once you settle down to live and work in this city, much of that nightlife is best left to the tourists.
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