Tammy
Working in Bangkok
Monthly Earnings 48,000
Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?
I work in a private school in Bangkok. My salary is 38,500 baht and I make another 10,000 from teaching private students,
Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?
Nothing! But I've only just come out of two years of a financial slump. I've finally bought a scooter so I should be able to save at the very least 2,500 per month. My first two years here were semester contracts, so I wasn't paid for three school holidays. There's also tuition fees that I have to pay for my part time studies and the visa fees every 3 months.
Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?
I live in an apartment in a blue collar neighbourhood just behind Silom. I pay 7,500 baht rent for a large (54m) studio.
Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?
Transportation
I have a scooter so fuel works out to about 400 bht per month. But I also like going out so averaging taxi fares and bikes under 500 bht per month
Utility bills
Utilities average 1100 bht, which is high but I have a fridge running all the time and I like to cook - it's amazing the amount of power that is consumed by a toaster oven and an induction plate
Food - both restaurants and supermarket shopping
Food is hard to judge because I keep pantry items as well as a stocked fridge. I budget about 6,000 bht per month. I enjoy the occasional Sunday roast and take advantage of the drinks deals around the city
Nightlife and drinking
Nightlife is about 4,000 bht per month for a big month out but usually I just chill at home and drink
Books, computers
I don't buy books, but I did have to buy a second hand laptop a few months ago - it cost me 11,000 bht. Amazon has tons of free books.
Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?
Comfortable without being outlandish.
Q6. What do you consider to be a real 'bargain' here?
The yellow stickered mark down items at Tops after 5pm.
Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?
A minimum of 60,000 baht will make life easier. Especially when I need to pay for my tertiary education.
Phil's analysis and comment
Even though 38,000 might probably be enough for a teacher to survive on in Bangkok, I bet Tammy's quality of life increases dramatically with that extra money she makes from teaching private students. It may only be 10,000 baht a month but 10K can make a big, big difference. Which brings me to a question that a number of teachers have asked me recently after reading these cost of living surveys - how do I find private students? I'm not going to attempt to answer that question here because there are probably dozens of different methods but all you need to do is find a handful of privates (literally two or three) and if you are a decent teacher and students enjoy learning with you, then word of mouth will carry you the rest of the way. Almost every teacher who teaches private students says this.
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