Rose Tinted Glasses?

[BobBKK]

7 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Further to my post #25 above, I'd guess we spend about 5-6000 a month on food, which includes an average of 1000 a month on western food that I order from someone who sends it on a bus for me to collect. I have toast for breakfast, with tea from Ireland which is far cheaper than buying here, despite the postage - 7 Euros for 80 bags, so strong I can use each bag twice. Noodle soup for lunch, western food in the evening which costs an average of 100 baht a day. That might consist of a pork dish, mince, beef stew, salmon, steak or pork pies, home-made burgers. I used to have a beer and snack each evening but reduced that to weekends when watching the football for health reasons, as when I reduced to two nights a week I lost several kilos.

My wife usually has market food but also makes strange-smelling concoctions with ingredients from the garden. And we feed five dogs, not on scraps but rice with chicken or liver. How some people say they need 100,000 a month to live on astonishes me. But, as I wrote above, I have no rent to pay. I live in the countryside but am never bored as I have plenty to read and watch on tv, and one night out a week is enough for me. I also have many hundreds of dvds bought before I moved from Bangkok, as in those days there was no satellite tv or internet and I thought I'd be bored out of my skull. How things have changed.

So, all in all, once the car is paid off I'll be living in comfort for around 12,000 a month.

Happiness! but i must say 12,000 is quite low. I own a house and recon 40,000 is my expenditure monthly but then I enjoy 'new friends' and they need a gratuity. I guess taking off those 30,000 might do it.

[Pilotman]

1 hour ago, stropper said:

absolute load of you know what, you poms all live in disney land !

how do you know what I spend each month and on what and how it compares to what I spent in the UK? Answer, you don't,  as this was a query from a bloke in the UK, best keep your thoughts and opinions to yourself mate and save us all from your pithy comments.  

[khunPer]

Thanks to op for sharing, especially now when it's often talked about prices has increased in LOS.

 

Would it make sense to compare with similar costs in baht for LOS?

As OP say: "No hi-so or Low-so, the same lifestyle I would like in LOS, Per Calendar Month Cost". I have calculated 1 GBP = 38 THB.

 

Life style, and where one live in Thailand, would make some difference, but it's a good list for comparison.

 

• Rent  - £650 - 2 bed detached
  UK: 24,700 baht 
• Electric - £35
  UK: 1,330 baht
• Gas - £45
  UK: 1,710 baht
• Council tax - £110
  UK: 4,180 baht
• House insurance - £30 
  UK: 1,140 baht
• TV licence - £13
  UK: 494 baht
• Water - £17
  UK: 646 baht
• Car - £400 - Lease
  UK: 15,200 baht
• Car insurance - £55
  UK: 2,090 baht
• Car Tax - £22
  UK: 836 baht
• Car Fuel - £60 - £1.30 P/L
  UK: 2,280 baht, i.e. 49 baht per liter
• Car Mot/Service - £30
  UK: 1,140 baht
• House cleaner - £40
  UK: 1,520 baht (we don't know number of hours?)
• Sky TV/Internet/Phone - £40
  UK: 1,520 baht
• Mobile phone - £26
  UK: 988 baht

Somewhere in the region of £1550 to start; i.e. 58,900 baht

 

A nice pint of HBA beer - £3.30 / 125 baht

Indian Curry/rice/naan & side - £12 / 456 baht

Weekly Supermarket shop - £75 / 2,850 baht

Supermarket bottle of a nice Rioja/St. Emmilion - £8 / 304 baht

4 x 500 Ml Adnams Ghost ship beer - £6 / 228 baht

Home delivered Pizza - £10 / 380 baht

Sandwich/Crisps & soft drink lunch - £4.50 / 171 baht

Fish & Chip takeaway - £6.50 / 247 baht

Decent Breakfast & Coffee - £8.50 / 323 baht

 

Polo Shirt - £80 - Ralph Lauren / 3,040 baht

Polo Shirt - £7.50 - Sports direct / 285 baht

Pair of Chinos - £30 - M&S / 1,140 baht

Boxers X 3 - £10 - Supermarket / 380 baht

 

Cinema visit - £8 / 304 baht

Decent live band - £15 - Local pub/club / 570 baht

Swimming pool visit - £5 / 190 baht

Gym Visit - £5 / 190 baht

 

Golden Virginia tobacco - 50g - £24 / 912 baht

 

My similar monthly expenses are:

• House (if I should rent a reasonable 2-bed house in same area, I own my house so cannot compare)
  20,000 baht
  –4,700 baht, or about same
• Electric (no gas for me, but more electric)
  4,000 baht
  +1,000 baht (aircon, and did OP include heating?)
• Council tax
  300 baht (so far no tax, but I pay for gabage collection)
  –3,880 baht
• House insurance (6,000 / 12)
  500 baht
  –640 baht
• TV licence (Cable TV, 4,000 / 12)
  340 baht
  –154 baht (or same)
• Water (expensive, as per truck, 250 baht a week)
  1,100 baht
  +454 baht (but having no pipe water or well water, I might be odd)
• Car (if new price is divided in months over 10-years, we don't know OP's car make)
  ca. 7,000 baht
  –8,000 baht (would depend of car make, I have a Toyota Avanza)
• Car insurance (1st class 16,000 / 12)
  1,350 baht (a more expensive car might cost more)
  –740 baht
• Car fuel (depending how much one drive and engine size, I drive average 9,000 km a year, use E20 and have 1.6L engine)
  ca. 750 baht a week, ca. 26 baht a liter
  –1,500 baht week / –20 baht liter
• Car Mot/Service (authorized Toyota service ca. 4000 / 12 + tyres/battery etc.)
  ca. 600 baht
  –500 baht
• House cleaner (OP didn't specify, so difficult to compare, I paid for half day 6000 / 4)
  1,500 baht, so same
• Sky TV/Internet/Phone (I have Internet 30/10Gb and home-country IP-phone)
  700 baht
  –800 baht
• Mobile phone (I tank up, 20 baht minimum a month, depending how much it's used for talk and data; I don't use much, and probably less than normal
  100 baht (or less)
  –900 baht

My "similar monthly expenses" would be 38,240 baht, or 20,660 baht less than UK.

 

What about costs for health care / health insurance?

 

We know that Western food/life-style is almost similar price, that wine is expensive in Thailand, and also beer, whilst dining out often can be little cheaper, or much cheaper – depending of Western or Asian food – and some products little cheaper, whilst brand names might be more close in price. So keeping Western life-style is not that different from living home, might even be little more expensive.

 

My weekly supermarket and market shopping is close to 3,000 baht, so about same-same, but we are three persons in the house, so that might make a difference; however, we don't drink beer and smoke.

 

For a cinema ticket I pay typically 160 baht, instead of 300 baht – little more for 3D in a high-end cinema room – and a live-band in a local pub is depending of what one consumes, but could be 200-300 baht, and could be same as in UK, around 600 baht.

 

Overall cost of living is still Okay in LoS., and when from my Danish home-country, we have some legal tax benefits on top that evens, what one might loose in government retirement pension, when living abroad outside EU. Health care is the major difference to think about, or calculate, as it's free at home. Well nothing is free, we pay (extremely) high taxes for it...????

But live is still wonderful...????

[Pdavies99]

Thank you for your figures, I guess your spend is high as a working person, here are mine as a retired person:

 

For me as one person

House owned

Car owned

Electric & Gas £70

Council tax - £85

House insurance - £16

TV licence - £13

Water - £9 (Metered)

Car insurance - £25  Fully Comp

Car Tax - £22

Car Fuel - £25 - £1.30 P/L

Sky TV/Internet/Phone - £18

Mobile phone - £17  (Pay as you go)

Supermarket Shop £50

 

Somewhere in the region of £350 to start. 

(If say some figures are low then double the Supermarket and double the fuel it still only comes to £425)

 

A nice pint of  beer - £3.70

Decent live band - Free

Exercise Free...Mountain Bike

Income tax - Minimal Retired

 

Holidays etc...quite a lot, up to me though...Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Thailand etc

 

I'm not knocking Thailand at all, I still love it there, but poor long term health made it impossible to live permanently in Thailand, (And bad mis-diagnosed, over treated drugs etc, very expensive treatment at certain International HospitalsI) I moved back in 2018 to the UK.  Holidays are great in Thailand etc as well!

 

 

[davidst01]

OP please re-write the entire thread and use a currency converter. put thai baht next to pounds. Its useless info to me at present

[marcusarelus]

You guys will have to do better on the owning a home vs renting costs.  Lets figure you used the cash to buy Apple stock instead of buying a home and rented figure out how much it really costs.  

 

As housing is the largest part of any budget one must make some adjustments to figure out real costs.  

 

To get a realistic cost one can't say I own as a positive.  Rent in Thailand is a small fraction of what it costs in the UK.  So no need to discuss anything else really if you want to be real and not trying to make a prejudiced point.  

 

Or compare rents in both places but not owing to renting - it does not work. 

[Peckerhead]

Many thanks for the feedback. It was not intended to be a buy versus rent thread or a request for advice in reducing my living costs, simply a comparison of like for like living costs.

 

I agree, health care is a big expense and needs further addressing.

 

Many people, in the UK, who purchased a property in the 70's/80's & 90's are sitting on a massive return on their initial investment. While equity release is gaining traction in the UK there is also a lot of asset rich and cash poor home owners.

 

Should long term care home residence become necessary the house asset will have to be sold to pay for initial care. However, I digress, perhaps a subject for another thread.

 

Khunper, thanks for your currency conversion and costings. Water by truck?

 

As Marcusarelus points out rent appears to be cheaper in LOS, I have no intention of buying any more property, either in the UK or LOS so it was a comparable rent I was looking for.

 

I have  tried retiring in Jomtien in 2015 for six months and also Malta for 6 months in 2016 but found my self getting bored rigid but that is something I need to address for my third attempt ???? I have an idea where my failings are.

Thanks  

 

 

[CGW]

6 hours ago, davidst01 said:

OP please re-write the entire thread and use a currency converter. put thai baht next to pounds. Its useless info to me at present

Present for you ???? 

 

[expatfromwyoming]

On ‎7‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 8:44 AM, faraday said:

Three pairs of Boxer shorts every month...??

 

 

Its the indian curries obviously

[khunPer]

55 minutes ago, Peckerhead said:

Khunper, thanks for your currency conversion and costings. Water by truck?

I live on an island, and there is not government tap water all over. As I'm beachfront, wells are difficult, and in my area with very reddish water (ocher and iron), so after some years we gave up with filters – and cleaning filters, and changing filter-sand – and instead have fine crystal clear water from a mountain well delivered by pick-up car with two cubic meter water tanks. Cost is 250 baht for a truckload water, which can last between 5 and 7 days when we are only three persons in the house. It's relative expensive in Thai prices, but still cheaper than public tap water in my home country, about half price...????

[Blue bruce]

very well done. Thanks for the info

[Nowisee]

 

Deleted.  Sorry, not relative to the OP.