Jimbo
Working in Songkhla
Monthly Earnings 65,000
Q1. How is that income broken down? (full-time salary, private students, on-line teaching, extra work, etc)
My nett salary from an international school is 65,000 baht a month. I don't take on any other extra work.
Q2. How much money can you save each month?
I live on about 15,000 so manage to save 50,000 most months.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I have a small apartment that costs 3,500 baht a month. It has air-con but I never ever use it.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
As soon as I arrived I bought a small motorcycle for 20,000 baht and I spend a further 500 baht a month on gas.
Utility bills
Water and electricity come to around 300 baht a month and the wi-fi is free so utilities never really break the bank.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
For breakfast, I'll have a few bananas. Lunch at the school is free. For my evening meal I always eat out and that generally costs about 100 baht. I'll add another 1,000 baht on for weekend treats and the odd coffee. Let's call it 5,000 baht a month.
Nightlife and drinking
Zero. I'm a recovering alky.
Books, computers
Zero. But I did buy a new 10,000 baht laptop recently.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Excellent. I want for nothing.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
Puncture repairs
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
To just survive, you need 10,000. That goes up to 20,000 if you want a few treats. If you are looking for a hedonistic lifestyle, then increase it to 30,000.
But there is no need to complicate life. Why not keep it simple?
Phil's analysis and comment
You heard it here first - you can live a wild lifestyle down in Songkhla on 30K a month. I don't know - maybe you can!
Jimbo is clearly a saver. 50,000 baht out of 65,000. Now that's impressive!
Submit your own Cost of Living survey
