Thanks to the ongoing economic demolition, my expenses are down to about 10,000 baht a month, mostly spent on food, plus the usual electricity and phone bills.

 

No travelling, no restaurants, no movies, no new clothes, no impulse buying, it all adds up...or rather subtract...

 

If we keep going down that road, at some point we won't need to spend anything anymore, like our descendants, pictured below...

I never really kept up with expenses prior to the virus as I was always working, but now im budgeting around 40k a month excluding any emergencies. This includes a few small bills in my home country as well. 

 

And it is extremely BORING but at that rate I can weather the virus and the oil price for a couple years before needing to get back to work. 

I've worked from home for nearly 4 weeks, I'm in the "at risk" age group and was told not to attend the office.

 

Savings - about 2,000 Baht a week on fuel and tolls.

Costs - an extra >3,000 Baht a month on our power bill (A/C in the office all day).

 

Whilst that is a net saving I've been climbing up the walls without the social contact of the office and have decided that 2-3 days a week in the office is an acceptable risk. We're not exactly packed in like sardines and there are mask, sanitiser and distancing measures in place.

 

im not saving any, i had already stopped going out drinking,

and even before covid i had gotten bored of rice dishes at resturants

and the only thing i can eat now is potato salad and apple pie which is much more expensive,

also fell back to the damned chain smoking & cappuchino drinking

which adds another layer of fat & -15k balance sheet

1 minute ago, Crossy said:

Whilst that is a net saving I've been climbing up the walls without the social contact of the office

 

Tell me about it. Im used to high pressure 13-14 hour days day in and day out and then BANG sit at the house all day twiddling my thumbs with nothing to do. 

 

Id take a job as a Kerry delivery driver if I was allowed just to pass the time. 

4 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

Tell me about it. Im used to high pressure 13-14 hour days day in and day out and then BANG sit at the house all day twiddling my thumbs with nothing to do. 

 

Yeah, agree although I gave up the high pressure stuff a while back. I find I'm doing a lot more paperwork and a lot less engineering, at least it's helping to clear the backlog ????

 

Saving about 10,000 baht per month. No Amazon Cafe, no Smoothies at Tipco Squeeze, no dining out...trip to BIG-C every Friday to stock up for the week and weekends out to a few local street markets with GF so whe can satisfy her urge for nasty smelling fish pastes and assorted accompaniments. Eating much healthier also as I am cooking almost daily...and can control what goes into my meals.

Not saving anything as beer is more expensive now.

Buying a few bottles at a time is more expensive than buying boxes at Makro.

30,000 a month.

saving big time, but i'm not in LOS at the mo. can buy alcohol but too scared to go out too often. no facemask order here atm. no leisure activities. car does 3 weeks to the gallon. it does suck though. have money but can not do anything with it.

3 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

30,000 a month.

your beer chang budget?

What's a lockdown?

 

13 minutes ago, jastheace said:

your beer chang budget?

Ha.

No, mostly golf and going out.

I'm saving 20,000 baht a month. Strictly speaking, I'm not isolated because I can either go to my GF's village, or she visits me at the condo. I can shop for meals or food daily.

Being alone doesn't bother me, I'm comfortable with my own company. Plenty of music, books and videos.

I don't socialise with the other farangs at my condo. If they are going to sit around without masks and complain about everything, I'm not interested. Enough whingers on TV.

I have a morning and evening cardio exercise program. Can play golf, hoping the swimming pools reopen on May 1.

To me, being a hermit is not all that bad, except I'm not.

I've not actually kept track of what we have spent in simple maths, I have not filled up the truck for over a month obviously not going to the bar everyday still have beers at home which work out half price, eating and cooking at home buying the food from makro no going out for morning coffees buy from 7/11 for 25 baht instead of 85 baht.

The wife is a good cook she make big pans of soups and stews and curries that way we can get 3 or 4 meals or put in the freezer for later day,

Electric bill over a 1000 baht less this month,

Like someone mentioned no buying new clothes

We stopped the cleaner we will do ourselves for now 

Overall we must have saved quite a bit.

4 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I've not actually kept track of what we have spent in simple maths, I have not filled up the truck for over a month obviously not going to the bar everyday still have beers at home which work out half price, eating and cooking at home buying the food from makro no going out for morning coffees buy from 7/11 for 25 baht instead of 85 baht.

The wife is a good cook she make big pans of soups and stews and curries that way we can get 3 or 4 meals or put in the freezer for later day,

Electric bill over a 1000 baht less this month,

Like someone mentioned no buying new clothes 

Overall we must have saved quite a bit.

There's currently a glut of mangoes in Chiang Rai, I'm making smoothies and freezing them. 1 minute in the microwave, only wish I had more freezer space.

I only buy new socks and underpants. Since I met my GF 7 years ago, she buys shirts and pants for me in the secondhand shops. Saves a bundle.

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Since I met my GF 7 years ago, she buys shirts and pants for me in the secondhand shops. Saves a bundle.

My GF's mom sent me two T-shirts which she thought I'd like: One is a Singha shirt in Royal Yellow and the other is a Leo Shirt, white with large Leo Tiger on the front. Not sure if she's sending some sort of message...waiting for the SangSom Sportshirt ....

6 minutes ago, tonray said:

My GF's mom sent me two T-shirts which she thought I'd like: One is a Singha shirt in Royal Yellow and the other is a Leo Shirt, white with large Leo Tiger on the front. Not sure if she's sending some sort of message...waiting for the SangSom Sportshirt ....

LOL, you feel she's hinting you're an alcoholic? If they are XXXL, that would be confirmation.

I went to makro last Sunday and they have discounts on certain food items I dont know if they are doing it in your area worth a look, a few things a normally buy had some discount 3 tins of beans down to 60 baht

3 hours ago, Moonlover said:

What's a lockdown?

 

See the picture in the opening post.

I save a lot because of the alcohol ban alone. When I am paying at the cashier for my shopping the amount is so small now and I always ask myself what I forgot to buy or if the cashier made a mistake. 

Have not counted how much ,but to be honest we have spent far less ,only filled the car once and its still half full,as our son and his girlfriend are not here at weekends our lecy bill has gone right down 

My normal budget is 10 to 15K per month, now it's easily less than 10k.

 

Isolating here in a small village is not much different from pre-Wuhan Virus, but when we decided to build and stay here the agreement was at leat one holiday per month to somewhere nice. So now we have been nowhere for more than 3 months and am saving a fortune but now as bored as F. I haven't transferred any money in 2 months from the UK, and not even been to the ATM in the nearest town. The car has been sat outside, used a couple of times by my brother in law for work, when he gets some. I stopped drinking 2 months ago so that has also made a difference. What alcohol ban? ???? .

 

My UK bank account is actually going up for the first time in ages.

 

My only additional expenses are the odd thing from Lazada and food from PaleoRobbie.

 

 

i estimate Saving at least 10k a month

 

what's the secret to lower electric bill when ya stay home 24/7?

3 minutes ago, Andy from Kent said:

 

what's the secret to lower electric bill when ya stay home 24/7?

Sweat your balls off like a Neanderthal. 

4 minutes ago, Andy from Kent said:

 

what's the secret to lower electric bill when ya stay home 24/7?

candles

28 minutes ago, spiekerjozef said:

candles

Four candles ?    or Fork Handles ????

50 minutes ago, Saltire said:

My normal budget is 10 to 15K per month, now it's easily less than 10k

 

51 minutes ago, Saltire said:

So now we have been nowhere for more than 3 months and am saving a fortune but now as bored as F

How much is the "fortune"?