How much do you spend a month?

[CharlieH]

2 minutes ago, CGW said:

You must have electric and water bills, my biggest monthly bill is my electric bill.

Agreed and mine was a whopper (in comparison) because of the recent 40+ heat !

 

But, in Thailand there are no fixed charges so if you need you can control your costs. In the UK you have fixed charges that you can do nothing about and your budget starts there. 

[FruitPudding]

19 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Don't follow your logic. I was referring to the fact that you have no need to buy an overcoat in Thailand as you would need during the UK winter.  As for the Girl's blouse ? you calling me one or are you saying you wear one in the winter ? What has your Dad , whom you claimed wore shorts until 12 years old, got to do with the current day cost of living ?

It's called a joke! Lol.

[FruitPudding]

2 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Agreed and mine was a whopper (in comparison) because of the recent 40+ heat !

Yeah, mines doubled this month.

[ThaiBunny]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Ten years younger? I'd call that living dangerously.

Is there any other way?

[Old Croc]

This topic crops up regularly.

Someone declares it's cheaper to live in their own country because they can buy milk, cheese (the perennial favorite) or a lettuce cheaper back in good old Florida, Sydney or Bristol. 

Spoiler alert, there are many things that can be bought cheaper elsewhere than in Thailand! The only reasonable way to compare overall costs is to look at a complete shopping basket of goods and services.

The Numbeo site provides something close to that. It's data is compiled from input by 1000s of local contributors and provides a better indication of relative costs than almost any other easily available measure. It's much more accurate than just one disgruntled TVF member checking out the price of a kilo of cheddar in Coles and declaring their country is cheaper. It proves Thailand is cheaper overall.

However, if you compare average salary to the cost of living, Thailand IS more expensive than many of our home countries (average wage in LOS is about 20,000 baht). I wouldn't want to live on that.

Few of us still earn the average wage in our home countries, our pensions usually lag far behind. But, that overseas pension (must import 65,000 baht or 3x Thai average wage) makes Thailand very cheap for expats and can provide a good standard of living!

 

If you're spending overseas money, Thailand is very cheap.  

 

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Old Croc

[ThaiBunny]

1 hour ago, Sticky Wicket said:

Surely there must be some inflation? or is it deflation nowadays?

Only if you don't use Sidegra

[geoffbezoz]

2 minutes ago, FruitPudding said:

It's called a joke! Lol.

Sorry bit slow today, you mean a joke like your initial post of UK being cheaper than Thailand ?  Now I get it ????  I see you started another poll on when people came to Thailand so assume that is a joke of some sorts too ?

[ThaiBunny]

1 hour ago, lapamita said:

so your hookers are going older and less

Nope, still two at a time

[Lacessit]

2 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

Is there any other way?

yes. Asking for ID so age can be determined is one.

[FruitPudding]

3 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Sorry bit slow today, you mean a joke like your initial post of UK being cheaper than Thailand ?  Now I get it ????  I see you started another poll on when people came to Thailand so assume that is a joke of some sorts too 

You have a very odd sense of humour.

[RJRS1301]

2 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

I'm paying the same price for hookers as I was paying ten years ago

Same quality? ???? 

Cheap Charlie ????

 

 

[ThaiBunny]

Just now, RJRS1301 said:

Same quality? ???? 

Interestingly the quality of the performance is higher - I put it down to the availability of pornography. Guys are much more adventurous now than then

[FruitPudding]

7 minutes ago, RJRS1301 said:

Same quality? ???? 

Cheap Charlie ????

 

 

You gotta pay for experience, man!

[Delight]

  It helps to understand the changing financial fortunes especially for Brits since 2004

Period 2004 to 2007 - A decision was  taken by Allan Greenspan ( Chairman of the Fed) in 2003 . This  decision was to take Fed Fund rates down to 1%. In 2000 they were 6%.) . This created economic an sweet spot for Brits who imported. Why -because UK base rates were closer to 4%

 

 

 This decision  translated to 70 Baht to £.  Some claim 74

(As an aside this decision was the first stage that resulted in the great recession)

 

Period 2008 to 2016. the economic sweet spot has gone. 50 Baht to the £. All central bank rates are about the same.

Period 2017 to present. Economic sourspot for the Brits. 40  Baht to the £ . Cause -the Brexit referendum result and the speculators reaction to it.

 

Future - With a no deal Brexit the Brits will look back fondly at the wonderful days when £1 would buy 40 Baht

 

[geoffbezoz]

15 minutes ago, Delight said:

  It helps to understand the changing financial fortunes especially for Brits since 2004

Period 2004 to 2007 - A decision was  taken by Allan Greenspan ( Chairman of the Fed) in 2003 . This  decision was to take Fed Fund rates down to 1%. In 2000 they were 6%.) . This created economic an sweet spot for Brits who imported. Why -because UK base rates were closer to 4%

 

 

 This decision  translated to 70 Baht to £.  Some claim 74

(As an aside this decision was the first stage that resulted in the great recession)

 

Period 2008 to 2016. the economic sweet spot has gone. 50 Baht to the £. All central bank rates are about the same.

Period 2017 to present. Economic sourspot for the Brits. 40  Baht to the £ . Cause -the Brexit referendum result and the speculators reaction to it.

 

Future - With a no deal Brexit the Brits will look back fondly at the wonderful days when £1 would buy 40 Baht

 

Further Future - The UK will still be part of the EU and join the Euro.  Pound gone for ever

[potless]

2 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

I'm paying the same price for hookers as I was paying ten years ago

You didnt say what you were paying 10 years ago. Is it like for like? When you say hooker, I assume you mean a female stress technician in a house of horizontal refreshment as opposed to the "number 2" in a rugby team. 

[Swedenlars]

What a load of nonsense  you write without any references,
 
"Most items are actually cheaper in the UK now (clothes, food, technology etc etc) and better quality."
Well here is a reference;
 
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Thailand&country2=United+Kingdom
 
As for better quality please provide supporting evidence considering the limited amount of good that the UK produce themselves directly.

Forget Numbeo. He is right. In the UK you get many things cheaper than in Thailand. Just open your eyes and use your brain. In the UK and for that matter also in other countries in Europe they have constantly sales. And I mean sales. Not fake 10 % you always see in Thailand. I was in London for Boxing Day Sales in 2018. You would not believe how cheap I bought branded stuff. No chance in Thailand. Numbeo is right when it comes to rents, cars ,and maybe a few more. Of course overall Thailand is still cheaper. But not necessarily for branded items. Plus in Europe the branded stuff is not fake. I could tell you a few stories.......

Gesendet von meinem SM-N950F mit Tapatalk

[wgdanson]

49 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Insurance 950bht, safety inspection 300bht, tax 900bht.

Usually 2k in repairs, this year rebuilt alternator and leaking oil hose.

The compulsory insurance is Bht 600 alone. So what do you get for your extra Bht 350 ?

 

Safety inspection for Bht 300, that's £7.50. No you could not get that at Kwik Fit, but you can't get quicker than a Kwik Fit fitter.  LOL

 

And if your car was 20 years old in UK, either it would be classed as a classic...so no road tax, or it would be scrapped .

[arithai12]

3 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

I'm paying the same price for hookers as I was paying ten years ago

Are they the same ones?

[Kwasaki]

3 hours ago, FruitPudding said:

Thailand is getting pretty expensive.

Not for me it hasn't everything pretty much the same depend on time of year for some foods.

I like my beer and over 15 years gone from 28 to 47 for large bottle which ain't bad.

[Wake Up]

3 hours ago, Blue Muton said:

As Mr. Micawber famously put it;

 

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

The best advice in the world that is not followed by the masses. Some bad  reactions occur when people fail to understand these words. It results in them blaming others for their misery, political parties rising to power promising to better your life, the us versus them mentality, jealousy, robbery, and the big con. I have known people make 100 dollars a week and be happy and I have known people make 1 million dollars a week and be happy. But most in these categories regardless of income do not follow this principle. How many people think if they just got more money they would be happy. But they would actually be the same as they are miserable, wasteful, lack common sense and feel entitled to whatever ... Look at all the lottery winners and what happens in their lives.  

 

If you live by these principles and have good health you and you family will live a blessed life anywhere on the planet earth. If you don’t then you will suffer serious mental issues and let the advertising world and other people dictate your emotions and politics and beliefs about life.

 

I thank my ancestors every day for me being born in a poor family that taught me this critical lesson. Even after making lots of money I know now that this lesson is a central principle to a healthy life. Yet it is criticized and ignored by the masses and will be until the next Great Depression when we all realize that this lesson is a key to living a well rounded happy life. ????????????

[CGW]

6 minutes ago, Wake Up said:

The best advice in the world that is not followed by the masses. Some bad  reactions occur when people fail to understand these words. It results in them blaming others for their misery, political parties rising to power promising to better your life, the us versus them mentality, jealousy, robbery, and the big con. I have known people make 100 dollars a week and be happy and I have known people make 1 million dollars a week and be happy. But most in these categories regardless of income do not follow this principle. How many people think if they just got more money they would be happy. But they would actually be the same as they are miserable, wasteful, lack common sense and feel entitled to whatever ... Look at all the lottery winners and what happens in their lives.  

 

If you live by these principles and have good health you and you family will live a blessed life anywhere on the planet earth. If you don’t then you will suffer serious mental issues and let the advertising world and other people dictate your emotions and politics and beliefs about life.

 

I thank my ancestors every day for me being born in a poor family that taught me this critical lesson. Even after making lots of money I know now that this lesson is a central principle to a healthy life. Yet it is criticized and ignored by the masses and will be until the next Great Depression when we all realize that this lesson is a key to living a well rounded happy life. ????????????

Cut to the original question, how much a month? you can't live on "happiness" 

[Gecko123]

 

On a spending strike to protest Thai government's immigration policies and treatment of retired expats. Last 3 months have only spent 30,352 baht, 10,117/month, or about the Thai daily minimum wage. No rent expense, no air con, no travel, minimal car usage, basically just food, internet, phone, electric, misc. To be honest, had quite a bit of food stuffs and bulk cooked frozen meals in the freezer which has supplemented my food costs a lot, but still definitely being frugal.

 

Three hundred thirty seven baht per day, baby. Living on such a down to earth budget doesn't just make me feel Thai. It makes me feel vindictive. Not bad vindictive - good vindictive. Kinda makes me feel like a vindictive Thai, which is not a bad head space to be in. Anybody out there wondering how much foreigners contribute to the Thai community per year, just subtract what you spend per month from the above figures and multiply by 12. You contribute a lot, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

 

About these claims that food prices in Thailand have really shot up, I've tracked my food expenses every month down to the 25 satang level for over 16 years. About 5 years ago I started doing the vast majority of my grocery shopping at big box retailers, mainly Big C and Makro. I basically bought what I believe to be a healthy diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, seafood (lots of shellfish), pork, chicken, nuts, Western diet level of dairy products. No eating out. Phenomenally low food wastage. On average over the 5 years my monthly food budget has been about 10,000 baht, basically buying whatever I wanted with almost no effort to economize. Some years, the annual total was within a few hundred baht of the previous year. Last year my total annual food budget increased to 142K or 11,833 per month but I believe that this increase can be attributable almost entirely to increased consumption of fresh ground coffee, imported chocolate, imported nuts, dairy, and more expensive imported fruit (i.e., seedless grapes, dates, blueberries). In a word, in the aggregate, food prices in Thailand have been fairly stable.

 

Numbeo says that grocery prices in a West Coast, USA city I am looking at are 43% higher than in Chiang Mai (not where I live but the best comparator on Numbeo.) That would mean the same groceries would be maybe $525/month in US for what costs approx $369/month in Thailand. If anything, I think this understates what groceries in US would cost. I'm budgeting more in the $650-$750 range, at least initially. Interestingly enough 16 years ago in California if memory serves me well I was paying in the $350/month range for groceries, so groceries in Thailand are now about the same price as they were in California 16 years ago.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Gecko123

[Delight]

36 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Further Future - The UK will still be part of the EU and join the Euro.  Pound gone for ever

 Interesting thought!

[geoffbezoz]

Just now, Delight said:

 Interesting thought!

Whilst the UK  cling to the pound the UK Dinosaurs have something to cling to also.  Many of the Brexit dinos now I remember as fresh faced wannabees in the 70s stating the UK was wrong to adopt metric standards.  That same retard thinking will prevail whist they have a crumb of hope that the UK will leave the EU. Get rid of the pound and and the life line of the Brexit hopeful  dinosaurs will be extinguished.  The Euro will strengthen against it main competitor and once 2025 comes along with China as the dominate economic force  the Euro will be the currency that matters, not the US dollar. IMHO 

[potless]

3 hours ago, Blue Muton said:

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

That was long before credit cards came on the scene.

[taninthai]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Apart from wine and cheese, I've not found anything cheaper in the UK.

Recently bought a 60" LG TV, only difference in price was 3 year warranty in Thailand (Lazada), 5 year warranty in UK (John Lewis).

 

My house and girlfriend are considerably cheaper in Thailand, as is my council tax, water, internet and electricity.

 

I believe milk is cheaper in Uk and better quality and basic bread is about the same price????????????

[BritManToo]

15 minutes ago, taninthai said:

I believe milk is cheaper in Uk and better quality and basic bread is about the same price????????????

500gm of flour costs 16bht and makes a 750gm loaf in my bread machine.

[simon43]

I pay 3,000 baht per month for a modern, 2-bed house in half a rai of land. The car on finance costs another 11,000 baht a month.  Medical insurance is about 4,000 baht a month.  Utilities are about another 4,000 baht.  Food etc is 10,000 baht a month.  That makes about 32,000 baht.

[CharlieH]

Some off topic/inappropriate posts removed.