Ricky
Working in Chiang Mai
Monthly Earnings 40,000 baht
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
My salary from a government school is 32,000 baht a month after tax and I top it up with about 8,000 baht from private tutoring three evenings a week. I don't work weekends.
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
If I manage to save 5,000 - 10,000 then I've done well.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I rent a small townhouse with another teacher about ten minutes from the city centre. It costs 8,000 baht a month and we split all the bills down the middle. It works well. The house is big enough to both feel we have our own place but just cross paths in the living room or kitchen.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
Anyone with any sense buys or rents a scooter in Chiang Mai. It's tricky to get around using public transportation. Gas runs me just a few hundred baht a month. Buying a scooter was definitely one of my better decisions.
Utility bills
Electricity is about a thousand baht and the water bill is next to nothing. We have internet that costs about 700 baht a month. That's really it.
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
I cook at home as much as I can and will often make 2-3 portions to put in the freezer as a back-up. Sometimes when I've got private students in the evening on the back of a hard day at work, I need something quick and convenient. I only really eat out at the weekend and even then I avoid expensive Western food joints. All in all probably about 6,000 a month.
Nightlife and drinking
I tend to limit any nocturnal habits to Saturday nights only and I might spend a thousand baht on a good night out so 4,000 a month should cover it.
Books, computers
I love my computer games! This probably comes to another thousand baht a month.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
It's OK. Sure I would like to live in a nicer house in a nicer neighborhood and be able to afford to travel more, but I'm reasonably happy.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
The cost of running a scooter (gas, repairs, etc)
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
I would find it very hard to live in Chiang Mai on less than 30,000 baht a month but lots of foreigners do - and seem to survive.
Phil's analysis and comment
It's been a while since we heard from a teacher working in everyone's 'favourite city'. 40,000 seems to be enough for a decent lifestyle without going overboard. The question as always is how many years can you keep doing this for before the reality of the hour sets in?
I'd also be interested to know how much private students in Chiang Mai are willing to pay for an hour long English lesson these days?
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