Isaiah
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 67.000 baht after tax.
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
All of it. At my school, I'm there 50 hours a week for 53K. I also tutor a group of 9 nannies and their manager for 3.5 hours on one of my days off for 4,200 a session.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
This is my first month making this much and I have had a lot of big expenses, but I estimate that I should be able to save about 23K a month easily.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I stay in a modern 50 square meter, one bedroom condo with my girlfriend. I pay the rent, which is 13K a month. Good security, fitness, pool, washing machine in room, kitchen, etc.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
About 3,000. BTS and MRT to and from work every day, and then taxis on the weekend.
Utility bills
Electricity: 1,400 a month. Insulation is not great, so the air gets left on all night at 22-24 degrees, but we don't use it during the day since we don't need it or are not home. Water: 260 a month. We do laundry almost every day or two. Internet: 600 a month. Cable TV: I think 140 / month. AIS 3G plan for phone: 440 / month. Total is about 2,840.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I try to budget myself about 8,000 a month for both of us but that will probably increase now I’m making more money. I usually eat Thai food or bagels for breakfast, big homemade sandwiches or Thai food for lunch and Thai food in the evening. On weekends, we might go out to a restaurant and spend between 250-600 baht. I also eat about 1,000 baht worth of chocolate and other foreign foods a month (included in the 8,000)
Nightlife and drinking
Traditionally I have drunk 2-3 big cans of Cheers beer pretty much every night, but recently I have been exercising more and only drinking 2 cans maybe 3 times a week. I don't go out and my girlfriend doesn't drink, so it comes out to 1,500 to 3,000 a month usually.
Books, computers
0-1,000 on books. Nothing on computers.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
With my new job on weekends, my standard of living is great. I'm finally able to eat whatever I want, not constantly eat reduced price food, treat my girlfriend to nicer things, and save a significant amount of money.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Vegetables. They are super fricking cheap if you don't buy them at a foreign grocery store. I don't understand why Thai people don't eat more of them given how cheap they are.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
Basic survival I would say 23k, but surviving with a shred of dignity would be 28-30k. 40K is pretty okay for a person with no debt or dependents, but 50k is the minimum I would ever settle for.
Phil's analysis and comment
You heard it here first - "50K is the minimum I would settle for in Bangkok" And I think Isaiah is right. I used to think that 40K was the amount to aim for but as prices in Bangkok increase at an astounding rate, I'm leaning towards 50K as well - especially if you want to live in a 13K condo and put 23K a month away for a rainy day.
I guess a lot of people reading this will say there's no need to spend that much on an apartment, etc - and that's a fair point. But Isaiah works hard. He does a 50-hour week at school and then a few more hours of private tutoring on one of his days off. He deserves to come home to a nice place in the evening.
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