John
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 105,000 baht
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I work at a private school in Bangkok (with 400 students) My basic salary is 95,000 and I can earn another 10,000 from private students.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
A large portion of my paycheck goes to paying off school loans and credit cards, but I can still save about 30,000 baht per month.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
The school provides free housing for their teachers. My wife, daughter and I live in a four-room town house.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
We usually spend 1,000 baht a month on gas for the car, plus maybe around 300 baht for taxis here and there.
Utility bills
Utilities and maintenance are covered by the school.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
We eat out maybe every other night, so plus groceries maybe 3,000 per month
Nightlife and drinking
The nightlife scene doesn't really appeal to me. I'll go out with friends and drop maybe 200 baht a couple of nights a month.
Books, computers
Internet and phone plans come out to around 1,000 per month.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
My family and I live very comfortably. There isn't much that we have to worry about. I sometimes get the itch to move to a "better" school with more prestige and name recognition, but I always come back to the conclusion that I'm very happy where I am.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
It has to be the food. Thai food is amazing, and Bangkok has a wide selection of international cuisine when you want something different.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
I've built up my salary working at the same school for nearly a decade. I've lived on 30,000 per month when I was single and didn't have any problems. I'd say in the 30,000 to 40,000 range is a fine place to start for Bangkok living, if you don't mind staying away from the expensive restaurants and nightlife most of the time.
Phil's analysis and comment
Thank you John. That's a fine package you've got there sir! I can't understand why you would do the private students though when 95K plus free housing and utilities is a great deal already.
Was there some mistake with the monthly food spend John? 3,000 baht seems awfully low for a family of three unless you've found some ridiculously cheap Thai places. Even then that's only 250 baht a week each. That can't be right? LOL
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