Peter
Working in Samut Sakhon
Monthly Earnings 81,000 baht
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
My take home salary per month is 81,000 baht. I work at a private Thai school as a mathematics teacher that runs a substantial English program. The school is approximately 30kms out of the city in Samut Sakhon. The school only employs teachers that are qualified as teachers in their home country.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
I am coming to the end of my first 12-month contract. My average savings per month are 30,000 baht.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
The school runs minivans to and from Bangkok for foreign staff and depart from Surasak BTS - so I chose to find a condo in this area. I pay 20,000 baht a month for a spacious condo in a modern apartment building with full size pool and running track. If I stayed for another year, I would look for something about 15K because I am not at home all that much.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
Transportation to and from work is free and I have a bike card for hiring the green bikes located on Sathorn Road. The first 15 minutes of each trip is free and the card only cost 320 baht which included 100 baht credit. I use the BTS a lot, taxis occasionally, although I always share with someone else, and scooter taxis extremely rarely. Overall, about 1000 baht on transport a month.
Utility bills
Water is super cheap. I normally pay about 60 - 80 baht a month for water. My electricity bill is normally about 1600 baht a month. I have a 3bb router which costs 630 baht per month.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I cook western food at home at least three to four times a week. I also eat cereal for breakfast like I would back in Australia. I know I could eat at the local Thai restaurants much more cheaply but I like to know that the food I put in my mouth isn't laced with sugar and oil. My supermarket bill is about 1500 baht per week. Lunch is provided free of charge for all staff at school. I also eat at mid range restaurants. I guess my monthly food bill would be about 10k per month.
Nightlife and drinking
I rarely drink. When I do it is normally just large bottles of local beer which are very cheap. I might spend 500 baht a week on drinks.
Books, computers
I bought my lap top from home for personal use. The school provides all secondary teachers with a lap top for school use. I also have an ipad from home. Touch wood I haven't had any expenses as yet.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
I live an extremely comfortable life in Bangkok. The daily commute to and from work is a grind. I leave home at 6.50am and if the traffic on Sathorn Rd is bad, some evenings I don't get home till 6pm. I have enough money to do whatever I want in this city within reason. Even pricey Sunday brunches or cocktails at some of the more expensive roof-top bars are within reach. At 37, saving is important to me. If I were ten years younger and wasn't worried about saving, I really would be able to go wild.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
The real bargains are the price of water, the cost of Thai food at local restaurants, the cost of beer at the smaller Thai bars, and the cost of seeing local sport. I can go and watch a football match between two of the teams in the Thai Footall League for 100 baht.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
If saving isn't important, I personally could survive on 50000 baht a month. That would include living in a less expensive condo and eating out less.
Phil's analysis and comment
A very 'safe' and sensible survey from Peter there. As he says, earning over 80,000 baht a month means he could 'go wild' if he wanted but he definitely prefers playing sports to propping up bars. And that's always going to cost you a lot less.
I get the sense that now Peter is hurtling towards the big four-oh, he's starting to think about planning for his future and financial security. I'm no financial planner but I don't see why he shouldn't be able to achieve his goals on the kind of money he earns, especially if he downgraded his accommodation or better still, invested in a property. Not sure how long he wants to stay in Thailand though.
Oh, and I don't think that commuting 'daily grind' is all that bad. 6.50am is a reasonable time to have to leave for week and I bet there are thousands of employees in Bangkok who would love to be home for six in the evening.
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