How much do you spend per month living on Samui?

[DrPhibes]

36 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

Ha! As a retired educator, I am all about giving the Stepdaughter a taste of different experiences. Took them to Sout Korea so they could experience the cold, snow, food, touch of skiing. Ha! I am creating desire for more. She immediately said she wanted to go back for diving. Being older than dirt … I began SCUBA in the 1960s in the Southern New Jersey sand quarries. Before the certification requirements. For me, it would be like going back to the beginning. Last time I had the equipment on was in 1979 getting certified in Florida. Astronauts? Born too early, but appreciating the majority of our world being under the water that is a given … magic!

Diver Dan (marionettes), Sea Hunt (Lloyd Bridges), and Flipper as well as living in SoCal near the sea were my diving inspirations.  Ya, not exactly young myself...

[XtraFly]

How much you guys spend monthly on

 

1- Electric bill ?

2- Water bill ?

3- Internet bill ?

4- Cellphone bill ?

5- Various Insurances (renters, health, auto, etc.)?

6- Home cleaning/ Maid service?

 

Thank you in advance.

[Tropicalevo]

52 minutes ago, XtraFly said:

How much you guys spend monthly on

 

1- Electric bill ?

2- Water bill ?

3- Internet bill ?

4- Cellphone bill ?

5- Various Insurances (renters, health, auto, etc.)?

6- Home cleaning/ Maid service?

 

Thank you in advance.

This is going to have some big variances depending on location and numbers of people in the property.

The votes from Plai Laem are:-

 

1 & 2 Utilities.

Approx 2,750 per month BUT I have solar panels. No batteries, excess goes back into the development. (Meter goes backwards.)

Development utility charges are much higher than local government.

Electricity 8 baht per unit. Water 50 baht per cube. PLUS VAT.

50% of my property is given over to office and staff.

No TV's. Rarely use aircon. 4 fridges. (One for beer, one for food, two for staff. One desktop and three laptop computers with big screens.

Biggest single cost is probably the swimming pool pump.

 

3 Internet 1,500 baht per month per house. Private company supplies it. Very fast and very reliable. (Bluechip.)

 

4 Cellphone  Approx 1,200 baht per month. I do not use apps. (AIS)

 

5 Insurance  Car 15,000 baht per year. Body 9,000 USD per year. (April.)

 

6 Home cleaning  Nothing. We employ six cleaners for the business.

 

I live in the house alone. Staff are there during the daytime.

 

NB. I think that my biggest outgoing is the body. As well as medical insurance there is the beer cost to sustain it. Also, all staff have free beer at the end of the working day on Saturdays. The monthly beer bill is quite high. ????????????

 

[khunPer]

4 hours ago, XtraFly said:

How much you guys spend monthly on

 

1- Electric bill ?

2- Water bill ?

3- Internet bill ?

4- Cellphone bill ?

5- Various Insurances (renters, health, auto, etc.)?

6- Home cleaning/ Maid service?

 

Thank you in advance.

A bit rubber-string questions, because it's depending of size of household and lifestyle...

 

1- Electric bill ?

Average 4,000 baht a month, can be as low as 3,500 baht in colder season, and 4,500 baht a month when it's hot and more aircons are running; electrics include a small pool pump. Unit price is around 4 baht per kWh.

 

2- Water bill ?

1,250 baht to 1,500 baht a month; water supply by truck. 250 baht per cubic meter. If you have government water supply it's relative cheap. Many places have a well and don't charge any water to renters, whilst beachfront and uphill will often be depending of delivery by truck, and sometimes supplemented with storing of rainwater in big tanks.

 

3- Internet bill ?

631.50 baht a month for 100/100 Mbit fiber, plus 533.93 baht a month for 4G(/5G) backbone.

 

4- Cellphone bill ?

20 baht minimum top-up a month, I hardly call any, and I don't use mobile data. A data/talk subscription (you need an address approval) costs from around 500 baht a month.

 

5- Various Insurances (renters, health, auto, etc.)?

13.326 baht a year for 1st class car insurance, note it's depending of size/price of car, and how long time you own a specific car.

6.088 baht a year for fire insurance, which price is depending of how many millions baht you are insured for.

2.080 baht a year for PA 1st smart senior, premium is depending of age and insurance sum, so it can be anything from 880 baht to 5,080 baht a year when using the company I use, i.e. Bangkok Insurance.

11.400 baht a year for health with deductible/self-risk.

 

6- Home cleaning/ Maid service?

I had live-in young maids before, about 10,000 baht monthly plus accommodation, food, and other expenses, so summing up to around 15,000 baht a month.

Minimum wage for full day is around 325 baht per day (little variation be province) plus SS.

You can find hour-based cleaners for around 100 baht (or less) an hour, when making a fixed agreement for certain number of hours per day /days per week; for example from around 3,500 baht a month, if it's a smaller house and like two-three times a week.

Garbage collection 300 baht a month.

????

Edit: A that completed the votes from Maenam Beach...????

[XtraFly]

On 6/28/2021 at 7:08 PM, Silencer said:

Pre-Covid....80-100,000 a month. Villa rent and expenses 37k, eating out 12k, eating in 6k, insurance 9k, girls/bars/entertainment 30k+, misc 10k. 

 

Post-Covid. 40-50k month. What's changed? Rent 1/2 cost, have girlfriend and with bars closed don't go out much for partying, and saving to build house later this year. 

PreCovid Numbers 12K Eating Out 6K Eating In,

1- That's for two people correct ?

2- How many times eating in/out on weekly basis more or less, so I can get a gauge

3- 12K eating out including alcohol (No-sometimes-Always)

 

Or the 12K+9K strictly food, since you have 30K allocated for girls/bars/entertainment

Thx

[Silencer]

16 hours ago, XtraFly said:

PreCovid Numbers 12K Eating Out 6K Eating In,

1- That's for two people correct ?

2- How many times eating in/out on weekly basis more or less, so I can get a gauge

3- 12K eating out including alcohol (No-sometimes-Always)

 

Or the 12K+9K strictly food, since you have 30K allocated for girls/bars/entertainment

Thx

Two people: Yes

Eating Out: 2-3 times/week. Meal could be from 500 baht to 2000 baht, usually with at least one drink each, sometimes a bottle of wine. My gf loves to cook Thai food, otherwise eating out expense, with drinks, could have easily doubled, unless you went for cheap Thai meals mostly which we didn't. There were a couple splurges I did not factor in...like a two steak + wine dinner or lobster dinner.

[XtraFly]

1 hour ago, Silencer said:

Two people: Yes

Eating Out: 2-3 times/week. Meal could be from 500 baht to 2000 baht, usually with at least one drink each, sometimes a bottle of wine. My gf loves to cook Thai food, otherwise eating out expense, with drinks, could have easily doubled, unless you went for cheap Thai meals mostly which we didn't. There were a couple splurges I did not factor in...like a two steak + wine dinner or lobster dinner.

That aligns pretty well (PRECOVID) with what others were advising, I truly appreciate you.

 

that figure 12K+6K comes down to average 600BHT per day for two people eating in and out in nice places which I like from time to time. so my budget would be since I'll be single for a while 300BHT a day between eating at home, eating out at nice places as well as getting to go, eating left overs, and cheap food stands. and I don't drink unless I'm with someone, so the 300BHT daily sounds plenty at least to start, and then I progress into the 600BHT per day.

 

Hope I broke down it close enough to reality (PRECOVID) of course.

[Maha Sarakham]

20 hours ago, XtraFly said:

Hope I broke down it close enough to reality (PRECOVID) of course.

Out of curiosity, what did your number breakdowns end up looking like across the board after considering the replies here?

[gearbox]

On 7/21/2021 at 2:54 PM, XtraFly said:

How much you guys spend monthly on

 

1- Electric bill ?

2- Water bill ?

3- Internet bill ?

4- Cellphone bill ?

5- Various Insurances (renters, health, auto, etc.)?

6- Home cleaning/ Maid service?

 

Thank you in advance.

1.  Between 500-1000 baht per month, government rate around 4 baht/kwh. Only one small aircon 9k BTU used around 12 hours per day, plus the usual - fridge,oven (rarely used), microwave,hot water, a few laptops powered on 24/7.

 

2. 200-300 baht per month

 

3. 640 baht/month AIS fibre broadband unlimited usage, I believe it is 500mbps link , but realistically 250mbps seems like the download ceiling. 

 

4. 1200 baht/month Dtac share package postpaid, 5 sim cards, 600 min calls, 30GB internet. Separately I have 1 year AIS 10mbps/100GB per month data sim for around 120 baht/month. The AIS works well sometimes inplaces where Dtac has limited coverage. I use 2 X Dtac sims and the AIS sim, my GF uses one Dtac sim, the remaining 2 Dtac sims are used by her business.

 

5. 12500 baht per year insurance for Toyota Hilux (my GF has no accidents and gets pretty good discount).  The insurance is the equivalent of what we call "comprehensive insurance" in Australia. Don't know the motorbikes insurance cost (we have 2), but they are much cheaper. I stay here on travel insurance, either free from my gold plated credit cards, or purchased. Travel insurance is around $100-120USD per month for my age bracket.

 

6. We don't use cleaner services, but one-off casual midsize villa cleaning (including washing/ironing) can be done for 300-500 baht per one service (2-4 hours)

[khunPer]

On 7/21/2021 at 1:57 PM, khunPer said:

2- Water bill ?

1,250 baht to 1,500 baht a month; water supply by truck. 250 baht per cubic meter.

To be correct, it's 125 baht per cubic meter, 250 baht is for a pick-up truck-load of two cubic meters...????

[XtraFly]

13 hours ago, gearbox said:

1.  Between 500-1000 baht per month, government rate around 4 baht/kwh. Only one small aircon 9k BTU used around 12 hours per day, plus the usual - fridge,oven (rarely used), microwave,hot water, a few laptops powered on 24/7.

 

2. 200-300 baht per month

 

3. 640 baht/month AIS fibre broadband unlimited usage, I believe it is 500mbps link , but realistically 250mbps seems like the download ceiling. 

 

4. 1200 baht/month Dtac share package postpaid, 5 sim cards, 600 min calls, 30GB internet. Separately I have 1 year AIS 10mbps/100GB per month data sim for around 120 baht/month. The AIS works well sometimes inplaces where Dtac has limited coverage. I use 2 X Dtac sims and the AIS sim, my GF uses one Dtac sim, the remaining 2 Dtac sims are used by her business.

 

5. 12500 baht per year insurance for Toyota Hilux (my GF has no accidents and gets pretty good discount).  The insurance is the equivalent of what we call "comprehensive insurance" in Australia. Don't know the motorbikes insurance cost (we have 2), but they are much cheaper. I stay here on travel insurance, either free from my gold plated credit cards, or purchased. Travel insurance is around $100-120USD per month for my age bracket.

 

6. We don't use cleaner services, but one-off casual midsize villa cleaning (including washing/ironing) can be done for 300-500 baht per one service (2-4 hours)

Thank you for all that info. my understanding you are 50+ and those numbers are based on 2 people occupancy, I like the idea of the Credit Cards travel insurance it's very smart of you.

[XtraFly]

On 7/23/2021 at 6:37 AM, Maha Sarakham said:

Out of curiosity, what did your number breakdowns end up looking like across the board after considering the replies here?

Hi Maha,

 

What a great question, haha.  I'll share below of course, but I'm just afraid I can be way off or way too cheap if any of you guys think any of my calculations are wrong please guide me, it would be very beneficial.

 

a- I attached the screenshot from my csv file

b- Those numbers are in BHT so disregard the $ sign (my apologies don't know how to change it yet lol)

 

1- Rent I can get it for 15-17 and will be happy, I just over estimated for PRE-COVID prices and make my life easier If I can't find less prices.

(my estimates are based on 85-100 square meters)

 

2- Eating out and Groceries 13K is plenty for me, since I cook a lot and I eat 1-2 meals a day and I eat left overs, I usually just live on snakes and rarely a red meat eater (I drink Gallons of water though) I also don't drink alcohol unless I have a company and I really have to drink so I'm not the party pooper.

 

3- The Electricity /Water/Internet cost is basically based off of other people answers here and on numbeo.com and other cost of living websites and I calculated lower than Per since he mentioned it's him and his family living at the house as well as pool pump cost which here in the Us it accounts for a lot of electricity like the A/C units. (my estimates are based on 85-100 square meters)

 

4- Massage is based on 2hrs session three times a week and I get a deal (hopefully) to agree on monthly discounted rate so it comes down to 250bht per hour or 500bht per 2hr session (24hrs monthly) I know I know but I really love Massage and Yoga also. it's kinda my thing.

 

5- Maid Services based on twice weekly for 1-2hrs so a total of 8 monthly visits, and since it was mentioned it's around 325bht for full day minimum wage I'm assuming 250 for 2hrs simple cleaning and organizing work and agreed monthly schedule can be fair deal.

 

Concerns:

 

Still have my doubts about my calculations for maid and massage services, and will still look into do I wanna own a car or a Vespa or neither, I'll decide more when I get there and stay for 1-2 months and see what kind of limitations and struggle that will really affect me and my style of living.

 

keep in mind my budget is anywhere from 60K-80K BHT.

 

Maha how about you share with us your numbers or guesstimates as well ????

The rest of you all, I can't thank you enough for sharing with me such valuable info. based on your experience, you are making my planning much much easier and realistic. Thank you guys ????

 

[Tropicalevo]

Good spreadsheet. I have assumed THB and not USD for the currency.

Just observations from my side.

One can eat out on less than 200 baht per day but not many westerners want two Thai meals (lunch and dinner) every day.

Good quality, reasonably priced western food can be from 200 to 800 baht per meal. French steaks - 600 baht. US steak up to 1,300 baht. Hotel restaurants - more. expensive (and always ++).

Alcohol can make a mockery of your eating-out budget.

Your electricity budget could work if you are on the local PEA supply. (3.5 to 4.5 baht per unit.) If you are in a private development, then the unit price varies from 5 baht to 29 baht per unit.

Private swimming pool and/or aircon usage could kill the electricity budget. Especially older a/c units.

The massage ladies that we use (in villa) would give you 20 Thai massages a month for that monthly budget. (Unless you are on the happy ending massages.)

[gearbox]

11 hours ago, XtraFly said:

Thank you for all that info. my understanding you are 50+ and those numbers are based on 2 people occupancy, I like the idea of the Credit Cards travel insurance it's very smart of you.

Correct...I'm above 50 and we are a 2 people household. If you are below 50 you may need to pay more for visas. I don't know much about the costs, but one guy nearby in his forties paid around 60k for some of these dodgy visas, either education or volunteer, can't remember.

[khunPer]

13 hours ago, XtraFly said:

I like the idea of the Credit Cards travel insurance it's very smart of you.

Check the small print in you credit card insurance. If you stay 180 days or more in Thailand, you are resident, and your credit card insurance might not cover you.

I have MasterCard travel insurance on my Danish card, and it covers me when I travel out of Thailand, ane even when I visit my home country Denmark, but it don't covers me while I'm inside Thailand, as I'm now resident here.

 

Also check what a "travel" is, some insurances have a limit of number of days away from registered home country, i.e. for example 60 days. Year long travel insurances have similar limits, you need to return to your registered home country after a certain number of day, else it's not "travel", some even have restiction for number of days in total within a year.

 

The major difference between travel insurance and health insurance is that a travel insurance will repatriate you to your registered home country, instead of "repairing you" at your destination, i.e. if you are not covered by a health insurance, or free government health care, you are on your own, when you get home. Furthermore, the repair might be cheaper in Thailand than in US...????

[khunPer]

13 hours ago, XtraFly said:

Hi Maha,

 

What a great question, haha.  I'll share below of course, but I'm just afraid I can be way off or way too cheap if any of you guys think any of my calculations are wrong please guide me, it would be very beneficial.

 

a- I attached the screenshot from my csv file

b- Those numbers are in BHT so disregard the $ sign (my apologies don't know how to change it yet lol)

 

1- Rent I can get it for 15-17 and will be happy, I just over estimated for PRE-COVID prices and make my life easier If I can't find less prices.

(my estimates are based on 85-100 square meters)

 

2- Eating out and Groceries 13K is plenty for me, since I cook a lot and I eat 1-2 meals a day and I eat left overs, I usually just live on snakes and rarely a red meat eater (I drink Gallons of water though) I also don't drink alcohol unless I have a company and I really have to drink so I'm not the party pooper.

 

3- The Electricity /Water/Internet cost is basically based off of other people answers here and on numbeo.com and other cost of living websites and I calculated lower than Per since he mentioned it's him and his family living at the house as well as pool pump cost which here in the Us it accounts for a lot of electricity like the A/C units. (my estimates are based on 85-100 square meters)

 

4- Massage is based on 2hrs session three times a week and I get a deal (hopefully) to agree on monthly discounted rate so it comes down to 250bht per hour or 500bht per 2hr session (24hrs monthly) I know I know but I really love Massage and Yoga also. it's kinda my thing.

 

5- Maid Services based on twice weekly for 1-2hrs so a total of 8 monthly visits, and since it was mentioned it's around 325bht for full day minimum wage I'm assuming 250 for 2hrs simple cleaning and organizing work and agreed monthly schedule can be fair deal.

 

Concerns:

 

Still have my doubts about my calculations for maid and massage services, and will still look into do I wanna own a car or a Vespa or neither, I'll decide more when I get there and stay for 1-2 months and see what kind of limitations and struggle that will really affect me and my style of living.

 

keep in mind my budget is anywhere from 60K-80K BHT.

 

Maha how about you share with us your numbers or guesstimates as well ????

The rest of you all, I can't thank you enough for sharing with me such valuable info. based on your experience, you are making my planning much much easier and realistic. Thank you guys ????

 

 

Looks fair enough, but I would count 3,000 baht for maid's cleaning - the less hours, the more expensive per hour - and add some for laundry and ironing, you should count 40 baht to 50 baht per kilo; perhaps you can make a deal with the maid.

 

For massage you should count 600 baht for two hours, unless you wish two hours traditional Thai massage. I have for example a personal masseuse coming that gives me combined two hours custom program with oil massage and foot massage for 600 baht, normal price for oil massage is 300 baht an hour, and same for foot massage most places; however, if you aim for a hi-so place you can pay 3,000+ baht for two hours (spa and massage only, no kinky extras, it's just in hi-so 5-star environment)...????

 

Renting a small car, which could be a fun-to-drive Suzuki Caribbean Jeep, or a small Toyota or the like, would on long term basis cost you from about 15,000 baht to 25,000 baht a month, the lower sum for an old jeep. Buying a similar new small car is around 500k baht (cars are high taxed). A small motorbike/scooter costs between 3,000 baht and 4,500 baht a month to rent for a newer one, buying a new small Honda or Yamaha is about 50,000 baht. Insurance and vehicle tax are included when renting, but it might only be mandatory insurance - especially for motorbikes/scooters - which covers next to nothing. Bear in mind that Samui probably has the highest traffic fatality rate in Thailand, perhaps in the whole World, so if you are not used to drive two-wheeler think twice; and we are furthermore supposed to mainly drive in the left hand side of the roads.

 

Counting the official "retirement rate" of 65k baht month as a base for a single person's budget makes sense, and then adjust for personal needs and life style. Some can live fine on the half, others can hardly survive on the double.

 

The joker in a single's budget is spirits cost and especially accompany-expenses, which can easily add another 75,000 baht to 100,000+ baht a month - I know from experience, and even that I'm not a drinker, others will kindly help me not to get disappointed, by suddenly have a budget in the too low end...????

However, if you run low on food budget, you can always eat "all you can" for 58 baht in BigC...????????

 

 

[XtraFly]

On 7/25/2021 at 2:20 AM, khunPer said:

Looks fair enough, but I would count 3,000 baht for maid's cleaning - the less hours, the more expensive per hour - and add some for laundry and ironing, you should count 40 baht to 50 baht per kilo; perhaps you can make a deal with the maid.

 

For massage you should count 600 baht for two hours, unless you wish two hours traditional Thai massage. I have for example a personal masseuse coming that gives me combined two hours custom program with oil massage and foot massage for 600 baht, normal price for oil massage is 300 baht an hour, and same for foot massage most places; however, if you aim for a hi-so place you can pay 3,000+ baht for two hours (spa and massage only, no kinky extras, it's just in hi-so 5-star environment)...????

 

Renting a small car, which could be a fun-to-drive Suzuki Caribbean Jeep, or a small Toyota or the like, would on long term basis cost you from about 15,000 baht to 25,000 baht a month, the lower sum for an old jeep. Buying a similar new small car is around 500k baht (cars are high taxed). A small motorbike/scooter costs between 3,000 baht and 4,500 baht a month to rent for a newer one, buying a new small Honda or Yamaha is about 50,000 baht. Insurance and vehicle tax are included when renting, but it might only be mandatory insurance - especially for motorbikes/scooters - which covers next to nothing. Bear in mind that Samui probably has the highest traffic fatality rate in Thailand, perhaps in the whole World, so if you are not used to drive two-wheeler think twice; and we are furthermore supposed to mainly drive in the left hand side of the roads.

 

Counting the official "retirement rate" of 65k baht month as a base for a single person's budget makes sense, and then adjust for personal needs and life style. Some can live fine on the half, others can hardly survive on the double.

 

The joker in a single's budget is spirits cost and especially accompany-expenses, which can easily add another 75,000 baht to 100,000+ baht a month - I know from experience, and even that I'm not a drinker, others will kindly help me not to get disappointed, by suddenly have a budget in the too low end...????

However, if you run low on food budget, you can always eat "all you can" for 58 baht in BigC...????????

 

 

you cracked me up few times reading your post, but a lot of it makes complete sense, my understanding is If I really wanna live happy and stress free pay attention to those variable expenses before I make a mess

 

- Alcohol and drinking costs

- having a permanent dependent friend ????

- high end or VIP massages

- transportation cost (whether renting, buying, ride-sharing)

 

so it's wise to consider rent in an area where you don't need to drive far out for everything.

[XtraFly]

On 7/24/2021 at 6:48 PM, Tropicalevo said:

Good spreadsheet. I have assumed THB and not USD for the currency.

Just observations from my side.

One can eat out on less than 200 baht per day but not many westerners want two Thai meals (lunch and dinner) every day.

Good quality, reasonably priced western food can be from 200 to 800 baht per meal. French steaks - 600 baht. US steak up to 1,300 baht. Hotel restaurants - more. expensive (and always ++).

Alcohol can make a mockery of your eating-out budget.

Your electricity budget could work if you are on the local PEA supply. (3.5 to 4.5 baht per unit.) If you are in a private development, then the unit price varies from 5 baht to 29 baht per unit.

Private swimming pool and/or aircon usage could kill the electricity budget. Especially older a/c units.

The massage ladies that we use (in villa) would give you 20 Thai massages a month for that monthly budget. (Unless you are on the happy ending massages.)

so I'm taking your advice as well as KhunPer advise and revising my budget.

 

For the food I'll leave it where it's at so when it fluctuates I won't be concerned till I find out where I'm gonna be eating most of the time.

 

In regards to the Electricity budget if it's a private development and my space is 85-110 meters, without any pools and with new A/C unit, with connected laptop 24/7 and a TV on most of the time, how much you think the electricity bill would be ? a ballpark ?

 

[Tropicalevo]

3 hours ago, XtraFly said:

In regards to the Electricity budget if it's a private development and my space is 85-110 meters, without any pools and with new A/C unit, with connected laptop 24/7 and a TV on most of the time, how much you think the electricity bill would be ? a ballpark ?

Due to the variance in electricity rates, you need a 'number of units per month' to work out this one.

 

I cannot help with that as all of the villas that we manage have pools and a larger square meterage. Nothing compares (with thanks to Sinead O'Connor) to your requirements.

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, XtraFly said:

so I'm taking your advice as well as KhunPer advise and revising my budget.

 

For the food I'll leave it where it's at so when it fluctuates I won't be concerned till I find out where I'm gonna be eating most of the time.

 

In regards to the Electricity budget if it's a private development and my space is 85-110 meters, without any pools and with new A/C unit, with connected laptop 24/7 and a TV on most of the time, how much you think the electricity bill would be ? a ballpark ?

 

A small 0.5 HP pool pump eats about 350 W, the same as a larger TV running almost 24/7. Your joker is aircon, how many units, size, running temperature, and age and type; i.e. inverter aircons use about half the power consumption for same cooling effect. An old small compressor aircon might run almost 100 % of the time.

 

To brake down power consumption:

• A laptop charger is about 2 A input, so 440 W at 220 V (check you charger, it might be less).
• A flat screen LED tv runs at around 150 W to 350 W, depending of screen size and model.
• A small fridge is around 100 W, could be as low as 65 W.
• An older smaller compressor aircon is around 800-1000 W.
• A modern small inverter aircon circa 500-600 W.
• Hot water cooker 1 KW when cooking, some power if keeping water hot all day.
• Instant water heater in shower 3.5 KW when running, so depending of water temperature and lengths of shower.
• Ligting, if LEDs next to nothing, if old-fashioned type, change them to LED and save money.

 

If you rent a place, the aircon(s) might be a normal compressor type, as it's cheap to install, and cheap to repair, and the renter pays the power consumption; whilst an inverter aircon typically costs about 50 percent more to buy, is complicated and expensive to repair, but use up to 50 percent less power, which a landlord don't mind if the renter is paying.

 

To make an easy power consumption budget by circa consumption per day/24 hour period

•   6 KW laptop charger running 24/7, but might reach full charge when you're sleeping or out
•   3 KW TV running about 12 hours, if a huge screen, it might be more
•   1 KW small compressor fridge
• 10 KW older compressor aircon running almost 24/7 at 50% of max.
•   1 KW lighting and others, might be more, depending of shower and coffee habits

21 KW per day x 30 = 630 units per month. 

 

1 units is approximate 4 baht if paid per official meter rate, can be as high as 8 baht if paid to a  landbord by sub-meter, so your electric bill could be as high as from about 2,500 baht to 5,000 baht per month.

 

Reducing on aircon and running a smaller smart TV could half your electric costs. Having more than one aircon running can kill a low-level budget.

 

I used average 100 units - i.e. 400 baht per official meter rate - per month in my small rented bungalow with NO aircon and NO Tv, but a ceiling fan running (circa 20 W); changed bulbs to energy savers; a small "green" fridge; only making hot water for a mug of coffee at the time; having a PC (350W + ca. 100W screen) running approx 3-6 hours a day.

 

In my house today with power bills from 3,500 baht to 4,500 baht - the higher sum in hot season, but no friends in the guest rooms, else it might be more - low power consuming inverter aircons are still power eaters, i.e. use 1000 baht more in hot season, probably the inverter freezer/fridge also us little more, and the two small "green" fridges for cold drinks. I live beachfront, so we don't use much aircon, maximum two small inverter units running at same time cooling down to 25-28 centigrade (I don't like it much below 28, simply too cold), and in cold season only one in my hi-so daughter's bedroom at night (I've however been considering using the inverter in the master bedroom to heat when it's cold, yes it can heat down to minus 10 centigrade outdoor temperature, especially during freezing cold nights with a temperatur around 20 centigrade, we had a 100 year old rekord breaking cold-record with 17.9 centigrade a few years ago...????) 

 

If you have a long term rent agreement with compressor aircon(s), it might be worth considering installing inverter aircon(s) - with the landlord's approval - which typically can cost from as little as about 17,000 baht for the smallest units (LG-price) including standard installation (extra if long pipe run or any complications), and up to between 25,000 baht and 30,000 baht for a more grown-up size. Then you can compare with energy savings, if it's worth the costs; i.e. if you can save for example 5-6 units a day, which could equal as much as about 7,000 baht in a year if charged on official rate, and up to 15,000 baht in a year if paid at landlord's overcharge-rate. But check the actual meter readings first, and perhaps adjust you habits...????

[Tropicalevo]

How about this thought for a cheaper way of life.

Stay in a hotel for a year?

Many smaller hotels are offering rooms at less than 1,000 baht per night. I have seen as low as 500 baht per night.

Your will get a good deal for a six month or one year rent.

Electricity, aircon, water, wifi, cleaning - all included and probably a pool as well. Not sure about laundry.

Yes, only one room but on your monthly budget, you could probably afford two rooms. One for work/chilling the other for sleeping.

[XtraFly]

On 7/27/2021 at 9:17 PM, Tropicalevo said:

How about this thought for a cheaper way of life.

Stay in a hotel for a year?

Many smaller hotels are offering rooms at less than 1,000 baht per night. I have seen as low as 500 baht per night.

Your will get a good deal for a six month or one year rent.

Electricity, aircon, water, wifi, cleaning - all included and probably a pool as well. Not sure about laundry.

Yes, only one room but on your monthly budget, you could probably afford two rooms. One for work/chilling the other for sleeping.

I never really thought about it, but why not. Most likely I will have to try different islands, different areas, even different resorts to get a good gauge on where I'm really comfortable. I can get deals on hotels for 60 days at a time and move around to learn about the areas without being committed to a 1 year contract.