Australian couple save $24,000 a year after moving from Melbourne to Chiang Mai

[Torrens54]

20 hours ago, sattahip said:

And what is the source of income for this happy couple? Is it taxable in Australia? Or perhaps Government sourced? I'd love to hear so my cynicism is rebutted.

 

Yes, please. Do tell, are you Retired or are you both “Working from Home”?

Do you both have Health Insurance....what sort of Visas do you have ?

Looking forward to the next chapter !

[sammieuk1]

16 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Do I detect a twinge of envy from the Brexit participants?

That would be off topic and yes?

[vinegarbase]

Propaganda. This is like saying hey everybody I moved from Bangkok to a small town in Isaan and I am saving so much money! Look at me! If they wanted to save more money in Melbourne believe me there is a lot on that list that probably is not the same comparison or they could have cut back on. 

 

I was eating filet mignon every night in New York and when I move to Isaan and ate gui diao I saved so much money and you can too! Everybody move to Thailand. Just don't tell anyone about the visa hell a great majority of people constantly go through here. 

[Tradewind777]

You only get what you pay for. Pay peanut, get monkey.

[Lacessit]

12 minutes ago, vinegarbase said:

Propaganda. This is like saying hey everybody I moved from Bangkok to a small town in Isaan and I am saving so much money! Look at me! If they wanted to save more money in Melbourne believe me there is a lot on that list that probably is not the same comparison or they could have cut back on. 

 

I was eating filet mignon every night in New York and when I move to Isaan and ate gui diao I saved so much money and you can too! Everybody move to Thailand. Just don't tell anyone about the visa hell a great majority of people constantly go through here. 

Utter rubbish. Go out in Melbourne for a basic pub meal for 3 - 4 people, and you won't have any change left out of 3000 baht. Here the same bill will be under 1000 baht.

Woe is me, whatever shall I do about my visa hell? An agent does my 90 day reports for me. My retirement extension each year is about 20 minutes of my time at CM Immigration. Gee, I'm hard done by.

You are obviously ignorant of the cost of living in Melbourne. Try beginning with water, power and vehicle registration bills. They are not things one can cut back on.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Lacessit

[mehrdad]

20 hours ago, Ks45672 said:

When they get lung cancer from the burning season or rekt by a drunk pickup driver they will see how much the actual savings are....

Edited August 23, 2018 by mehrdad
Actually have too much drunk sedan driver !!! What is different with sedan or pickup driver ???

[Expatthailover]

20 hours ago, Ks45672 said:

When they get lung cancer from the burning season or rekt by a drunk pickup driver they will see how much the actual savings are....

Yet you still live but continually snipe and sneer.

Vote with your feet if you have the cojones

[anon4637435435]

im from melbourne and wish i could afford to move the family back comfortably with all things considered.

We would always go to aus once per year to see family do visas and so on but now more and more because we miss it. Its such a drag coming back to thailand. Hate to say it but chiang mai vs melbourne is a no brainer. Melbourne is better given it costs more!

Biggest mistake i ever made was to think i could save money in the long term and we could live more fulfilling lives here in thailand. 

The scams, racism, corruption, etc... soon make you realise Thailands actually expensive for how sht it is. If your a tourist and live like one though youll never see the true thailand. 

 

[Spaniel]

3 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

"... “Every six weeks, I’d fork out about $250 for a cut, colour and blow-dry. ..."

 

Back in the day, I could get a BJ and a lay for 90 Baht in Bangkok. That included the room. 150 Baht at current exchange rates.  I got a Thai wife who would cut my hair whenever needed at less than $250/6 weeks.  Hell, the house and utilities were about 2,000 Baht a month. 

Which day was that?      I have been here since 1967 and I don't recall things as cheap as mentioned in your post.

[3NUMBAS]

medical expenses and health insurance will wipe out any gains they made ..pity about their lungs with all the particulates flying about from rubbish burning

[happy chappie]

I'm fitting out some apartments and a house in udon.i use index,home pro,do home,lazada for furnishings and fittings.some things are well over twice the price of the uk and even more when compared to eBay.plus they all work and have the chance to return faulty items.the only things cheaper are petrol,chicken,pork,parking,council tax,property that I can't own.beer on the other hand is 40% more expensive from makro than Tesco in the uk.oh and lets not forget free hospitals.ive spent the best part of a million baht on healthcare in Thailand.cars aren't cheap either,Look what you can get for 780,000b in the uk

[Ks45672]

6 hours ago, Expatthailover said:

Yet you still live but continually snipe and sneer.

Vote with your feet if you have the cojones

Who said I lived in cmx?? 

Plz Try and keep up...... ?

[ronrat]

Anyone paying 10 bucks for a beer in Melbourne is clearly going to some hipster wankfest joint. And paying that much for rent would suggest that as well. I lived for 30 years without a car in Melbourne.

[Damrongsak]

8 hours ago, Spaniel said:

Which day was that?      I have been here since 1967 and I don't recall things as cheap as mentioned in your post.

1977-80.  Peace Corps volunteers have ways of living cheap. Have to when you get paid less than 3,000 Baht/mo.  I think my house in Loei was 500/mo.  No indoor plumbing or shower or sink or window screens.  The one in BKK was maybe 1,200.

[namatjira]

Well I am not sure chiangmai has any sporting events that

can compare to the MCG.....the national gallery is also on a slightly different level as is everything....she is a free lance journalist so this will 

allow her to live on noodles for another month as they bask in the sunshine

of their new life.....comparing Melbourne to chiangmai is idiocy.

wages are not same same chiangmai.....it’s a digital nomad puff piece that’s all.....almost hilarious......

 

[aircooledflat4]

International Living Magazine is a boileroom spammer which recycles the same BS template only the names and cities are changed. Today its Michelle and Jason, Chiang Mai and Melbourne. Next week it’ll be Dick and Jane uprooting from some shockingly expensive first world joint with everything to Nakhon Nowhere. But hey everybody! Look at us! We saved 20 grand!

 

The writers of this dumbass crapola conveniently neglect to mention Melbourne is one of the great cities of the world and consistently rated as one of the most livable. No surprise people the world over want to live there. Chiang Mai?? Don’t make me laugh..

[james1995]

CM must be a lot cheaper than Bangkok.  i just got back from staying in Bangkok for a week and the prices were nutz, almost comparable to living in the US.  i guess Thailand is not such a bargain anymore.  you can still save money, but maybe only 20% or so.

Edited August 24, 2018 by james1995

[Nemises]

International Living Magazine is a boileroom spammer which recycles the same BS template only the names and cities are changed. Today its Michelle and Jason, Chiang Mai and Melbourne. Next week it’ll be Dick and Jane uprooting from some shockingly expensive first world joint with everything to Nakhon Nowhere. But hey everybody! Look at us! We saved 20 grand!
 
The writers of this dumbass crapola conveniently neglect to mention Melbourne is one of the great cities of the world and consistently rated as one of the most livable. No surprise people the world over want to live there. Chiang Mai?? Don’t make me laugh..

Yep, well said. Being familiar with the IL mag, living in Melbourne & CM I concur 100%.
The only +/- I have is that the Melb climate can be horrendously cold AND hot. The cost of electricity and most importantly....the cost of my 2hr weekly massage! ($A120 Melb, $20 CM).

[Galactus]

On 8/23/2018 at 9:52 AM, sanemax said:

I wish that posters would stop moaning all the time , it makes for depressing reading, all the negativity 

 

moaning? so who needs some cheap aussies coming to Thailand to save money?

i m not moaning, just found this story a nonsense in a country where locals struggle to survive with a 9000 baht minimum wage.

and this is the news we get. an aussie couple saved 24 000 AUS Dollars! who cares what they saved? do they contribute this country?

these are like parasites trying to take advantage of thailand.

[Lacessit]

6 hours ago, aircooledflat4 said:

International Living Magazine is a boileroom spammer which recycles the same BS template only the names and cities are changed. Today its Michelle and Jason, Chiang Mai and Melbourne. Next week it’ll be Dick and Jane uprooting from some shockingly expensive first world joint with everything to Nakhon Nowhere. But hey everybody! Look at us! We saved 20 grand!

 

The writers of this dumbass crapola conveniently neglect to mention Melbourne is one of the great cities of the world and consistently rated as one of the most livable. No surprise people the world over want to live there. Chiang Mai?? Don’t make me laugh..

It's certainly livable if you have enough money to heat and cool your house in Melbourne winters and summers. Not to mention the rates your local council is going to gouge you for.

Granted, it has great sporting facilities and the sand belt is home to some world class golf courses. But hey, Chiang Mai has two ring roads and Melbourne is still trying to get its first off the drawing board.

[tso310]

Lucky they don't drink wine.

[lust]

Who comes to Thailand to drink wine?

[Small Joke]

I used International Living website extensively, I have also lived in MANY of their suggested countries since I left Australia in 2012, one in Europe, one in the UK, one in North America, and three in South East Asia.

For the most part, they paint a dangerously rose tinted picture of the real costs.

Having said that, I live in a better part of CM now than Nimman, similar amenity level, minus pool (a waste unless you practically live in it) in a suburban gated compound, with a huge shopping complex nearby, and ONE traffic light on the Superhighway that feeds the Airport road, for far less than the OP. ?

[Small Joke]

50 minutes ago, tso310 said:

Lucky they don't drink wine.

It's really not that much of a difference between Australia, maybe $5-8 for quaffing stuff (I don't mean the horrible fruit wines either) At the luxury end, yes, it's silly.

But then again if you're Californian, the price is 4x here for something like Beringer.

Australians pay a premium for home produce that actually gets exported far cheaper, then of course, the middle man here and taxes, bring most sub 1K thb wines to a similar price point as in Sydney.

Kind of weird that they tax wine like they do, but maybe it protects the beer and cheap spirits industry here, who knows without the statistics, or real rationale, not the 'moral' claptrap, a lot of it ends up going unsold, and spoils. They should hammer tobacco products instead!

I always check the year on quaffing wine 'specials'. Anything over 3 years old is best avoided unless you know it well!

 

[lust]

6 minutes ago, Small Joke said:

It's really not that much of a difference between Australia, maybe $5-8 for quaffing stuff (I don't mean the horrible fruit wines either) At the luxury end, yes, it's silly.

But then again if you're Californian, the price is 4x here for something like Beringer.

Australians pay a premium for home produce that actually gets exported far cheaper, then of course, the middle man here and taxes, bring most sub 1K thb wines to a similar price point as in Sydney.

Kind of weird that they tax wine like they do, but maybe it protects the beer and cheap spirits industry here, who knows without the statistics, or real rationale, not the 'moral' claptrap, a lot of it ends up going unsold, and spoils. They should hammer tobacco products instead!

I always check the year on quaffing wine 'specials'. Anything over 3 years old is best avoided unless you know it well!

 

Yes but this brings me back to my previous point. Who comes to Thailand to drink wine?

[Small Joke]

8 hours ago, aircooledflat4 said:

International Living Magazine is a boileroom spammer which recycles the same BS template only the names and cities are changed. Today its Michelle and Jason, Chiang Mai and Melbourne. Next week it’ll be Dick and Jane uprooting from some shockingly expensive first world joint with everything to Nakhon Nowhere. But hey everybody! Look at us! We saved 20 grand!

 

The writers of this dumbass crapola conveniently neglect to mention Melbourne is one of the great cities of the world and consistently rated as one of the most livable. No surprise people the world over want to live there. Chiang Mai?? Don’t make me laugh..

Agree with your first Paragraph. I lived a year in Melbourne, (Sunbury actually) and loved it!

However, Chiang Mai is, if you don't compare apples with oranges, one of the better places you could live is the entire SEA region.

About the only spoiler is the burn off, which is largely out of locals power to act on.

By Asian standards, it is clean, safe, pleasant, uncrowded, several very good hospitals, and an hour by plane from some of the worlds best in both care, and value. The airport is a pleasure to use compared to Swampy and the other disaster, DMK.

There's enough food choices and night life for a codger like me.

And reliable utilities, and adequate internet.

The other nightmare public (gangster) transport has been seen off by Grab, forever.

I have a garden, and dont hear roosters or traffic, just birds, and the odd poodle.

I'm quite happy with my lot.

I would not return to Aussie even if I won the lottery!

It would take a civil war here to send me packing.

 

 

[impulse]

I saved more than that moving from California to Texas. 

 

And almost that much selling one of my cars and moving from the inner city to the boondocks, just within Texas.

 

Edited August 24, 2018 by impulse

[Small Joke]

30 minutes ago, lust said:

Yes but this brings me back to my previous point. Who comes to Thailand to drink wine?

Nobody, but it's nice to know it's there, we probably average a bottle a week... ? Cin-cin!

[Small Joke]

14 minutes ago, impulse said:

I saved more than that moving from California to Texas. 

 

And almost that much selling one of my cars and moving from the inner city to the boondocks, just within Texas.

 

There are some nice spots in the USA, and if I had the passport or green card, I would certainly consider the quieter towns and states. Americans are quite spoiled for consumer choice compared to the rest of the world, everything everywhere else costs too much for what you get, even when Costco came to Australia, you could not compare the value vs the USA.

[Lacessit]

4 hours ago, Galactus said:

 

moaning? so who needs some cheap aussies coming to Thailand to save money?

i m not moaning, just found this story a nonsense in a country where locals struggle to survive with a 9000 baht minimum wage.

and this is the news we get. an aussie couple saved 24 000 AUS Dollars! who cares what they saved? do they contribute this country?

these are like parasites trying to take advantage of thailand.

Do try reading the OP again.

Their contribution to the local economy is eating out every night, having beauty treatments and massages. Shelling out 20,000 baht a month for an apartment in Nimmanheimen.

If they are saving money while doing that, good luck to them.

Tell me - what is YOUR monthly spend in Thailand?