If you have any money saving ideas post them here. Must be a few of us cheap Charlie's out there.

Tips for Australian tourists in Thailand

1 Subscribe to Jetstar newsletter and get return tickets for around $450. Last flight perfectly on time same other airlines.

2 Book accomodation via TripAdvisor and then Agoda. Seems obvious but going this way rather than other sites or direct to Agoda can save 50 per cent. Agoda much cheaper than others now for some reason. Some say ring hotel direct but doesn’t work for me.

3 Consider low season travel. Khao Lak in May has been lovely with nice weather. Good for Australians as winter time. I burn easily and don’t like sunshine all the time. 

4 Pick big hotel with excellent buffet breakfast. Then only need a small nightly meal.

5 I like good chocolate. Bring from home.

 

All a bit obvious but friends are going to Bali spending 4 times as much for similar hotel and relatively expensive fares etc. South of the equator so high season. 

 

 

Make your own baked beans

Use every tea bag 2x

 

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Make your own baked beans

Use every tea bag 2x

 

I got the Makro beans you suggested, soaked them overnight. Made up some tomato sauce from tinned, chopped tomatoes, Maggi, Siracha sauce. Put in the oven at 140*C for three hours.

Horrible, beans still hard.

As for tea bags, I use leaf tea in a proper teapot. 

 

One good way is to sup Chang as opposed to Singha, Bht 170 for 3 as opposed to Bht 188.

Just spend less money. Saves a lot ????.

1 - I find Agoda cheap. Cant see how TA helps. Compare price with booking.com. Or ask for room discount if direct by paying 3 nights or more.

 

2 - Buy coffee from 7/11 and make in room. Buy bananas from market to have for breakfast or snack.

 

3 - take excess toilet paper, toothpaste, soap and shampoo from hotel.

 

4 - travel low season.

 

5 - download airasia, scoot apps. Check for specials.

 

6 - look for insurance specials via comparison sites. Use codes.

 

7 - use Bolt for transfers.

 

8- travel by train. Super cheap if fan carriages.

 

 

 

 

28 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

I got the Makro beans you suggested, soaked them overnight. Made up some tomato sauce from tinned, chopped tomatoes, Maggi, Siracha sauce. Put in the oven at 140*C for three hours.

Horrible, beans still hard.

As for tea bags, I use leaf tea in a proper teapot. 

 

One good way is to sup Chang as opposed to Singha, Bht 170 for 3 as opposed to Bht 188.

Mine were perfect after 30 mins in the pressure cooker.

12 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Mine were perfect after 30 mins in the pressure cooker.

With or without the sauce please?

My Australian BP meds in Thailand 21K+ baht pa.  Exforge

Thai generics 1300 baht pa

Leave Thailand, come to Germany and tell the immigration you're an asylum seeker. Free living, only the weather is not very comfortable. ????

Never get married, never have kids, never have pets........anything else is just peanuts.

 

(I've been married twice, have four kids and had four dogs and two horses......so I know what I'm talking about)

1 minute ago, norbra said:

My Australian BP meds in Thailand 21K+ baht pa.  Exforge

Thai generics 1300 baht pa

Had a stroke 8 years ago, doc had me on all sorts of pills exforge HCT being one of them... my monthly pill bill was 37k at the hospital pharmacy... luckily my insurance covered the cost.

 

Lost a heap of weight and due to being unconscious in hospital for a few weeks also got off the booze and ciggies.

No more hypertension pills as my BP is consistently normal now and has been since I was released from hospital 2 months ago.

 

Ask a Thai person on minimum salary. 

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Ask a Thai person on minimum salary. 

Clever idea. Never thought of that.

6 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Had a stroke 8 years ago, doc had me on all sorts of pills exforge HCT being one of them... my monthly pill bill was 37k at the hospital pharmacy... luckily my insurance covered the cost.

 

Lost a heap of weight and due to being unconscious in hospital for a few weeks also got off the booze and ciggies.

No more hypertension pills as my BP is consistently normal now and has been since I was released from hospital 2 months ago.

 

So the way to save money is get sick.

3 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

So the way to save money is get sick.

I gave up smoking when sick. Easier to do. 

Tuna and chickpeas are the cheapest form of high protein food. 

During Covid restrictions we had fibre internet installed, had a couple of service interruptions every month.

Now we are getting out of house more without internet on phones,we dumped fibre and now we each have 12 month sims 300mbps and when shared 140gb pm saving 7K baht pa

Get rid of Gf / Wife.

Go for short term hire agreements as required

 

"Always borrow money from a pessimist. They’ll never expect it back"

24 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

So the way to save money is get sick.

Very sick, saving over 400k a year sorta makes it worthwhile but I don't recommend the 3 goes at cardiac arrest though..... am glad I was unconscious !!

43 minutes ago, JustAnotherHun said:

Leave Thailand, come to Germany and tell the immigration you're an asylum seeker. Free living, only the weather is not very comfortable. ????

Could you please elaborate your theory? How to come to Germany as an asylum seeker without a visa?  

1 hour ago, bignok said:

1 - I find Agoda cheap. Cant see how TA helps. Compare price with booking.com. Or ask for room discount if direct by paying 3 nights or more.

 

2 - Buy coffee from 7/11 and make in room. Buy bananas from market to have for breakfast or snack.

 

3 - take excess toilet paper, toothpaste, soap and shampoo from hotel.

 

4 - travel low season.

 

5 - download airasia, scoot apps. Check for specials.

 

6 - look for insurance specials via comparison sites. Use codes.

 

7 - use Bolt for transfers.

 

8- travel by train. Super cheap if fan carriages.

 

 

 

 

In relation to Agoda it is now chaotic in terms of prices. You can search 10 minutes apart and get different prices. A week later can be a fair bit different.
It will be say $100 if go Agoda direct but if search the hotel by a travel site,  or search engine such as google, the price by Agoda will be cheaper often by at least 10 per cent than direct. Probably because they are competing. There is an additional trick where you can book with hotels.com and pay a higher price but then send a screenshot of Agoda and they price match. Then hotels.com give a free night for every ten nights booked. Only worth it for long holidays. 
For travel insurance get the Bankwest credit card that has no annual fee and covers you for I think three months decent insurance at a time. Free. Also no fee for buying with foreign exchange compared to 3 or 4 per cent for many cards. 
 

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

I got the Makro beans you suggested, soaked them overnight. Made up some tomato sauce from tinned, chopped tomatoes, Maggi, Siracha sauce. Put in the oven at 140*C for three hours.

Horrible, beans still hard.

As for tea bags, I use leaf tea in a proper teapot. 

 

One good way is to sup Chang as opposed to Singha, Bht 170 for 3 as opposed to Bht 188.

if they make you fart a lot your   beans are good to go

 

mushy  peas also need a lot of hard cooking  on the stove

1 minute ago, ravip said:

Could you please elaborate yur theory? How to come to Germany as an asylum seeker without a visa? 

Option 1: Go to a visa free country near by, then throw away your passport and cross the border Wherever you want. If you're stopped, say the magic word "Asyl".

Option 2: Go from Turkey to Greece. As soon as you're inside the EU, take a train or bus to Germany, say "Asyl".

Option 3: Take with a few others a boat in Libya or Tunesia, and a few miles from the coast wait for a rescue ship from mission lifeline (or call them by phone). They give you a free ride to Italy. Then take the train to Germanistan. If you're lucky, the Italians will give you the ticket for free just to get rid of you.

 

For further information please ask one of the millions of ...aehm...refugees who made the trip since 2015.

If one does not want to spend the rest of his days for free in Germany - what I really understand - there's another way to save money:

Become a climate worrior!

Stop flying, stop driving, stop your aircon, stop to make children, in the end stop eating and breathing and save the planet.

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

With or without the sauce please?

Without, then after they were cooked I added the sauce and microwaved for 2 mins.

Have you put any thought into making a bit more money? 

1/  Give up alcohol. It's a Class 1 carcinogen anyway.

2/ Learn Thai. Good mental exercise, and plenty of free instruction.

3/ Take a songthaew instead of a taxi.

4/ Learn to cook for yourself.

5/ Take the free shuttle bus between Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang.

6/ In a new town, give yourself time to look around for accommodation in the 500 - 700 baht/night range. See any room first before committing.

7/ Buy secondhand clothing.

8/ Buy secondhand cars and scooters

9/ Shop in the local markets for fruit and vegetables in season.

10/ Exercise to stay healthy, cheaper than hospitals. Don't buy gym memberships, everything required is on YouTube.

11/ Only apply for a re-entry permit when you know you will need it.

12/ Do your visa extensions yourself. Agents charge about 3000 baht/hour for their services, better in your pocket than theirs.

13/ If you must have a GF or wife, find one who is also a Cheap Charlie.

14/ Never ever tell anyone else how much money you have.

15/ If you pay more than 200 baht for a 1 hour massage, you are paying too much.

16/ Be law-abiding and non-confrontational. Disputes here can be costly.

17/ Do not buy property in Thailand. Rent what is affordable.

 

1 hour ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

In relation to Agoda

One thing to watch for when booking more than one night on Agoda is they will charge you all nights at the rate of the most expensive night. 
 

E.g you book a week in a hotel & 6 of the 7 nights are 1,000b with one night 2,000b, they’ll charge you 7x2,000b

 

We always check each night & when necessary make multiple bookings (in the example above we would book the 6 nights at 1,000b & the 7th at 2,000b so 8,000b all in).

 

 

On a similar note when booking flights always check the price for one person as if there’s only 1 cheap seat left you can book that & pay the higher price for the 2nd person, otherwise you’ll pay the higher price for both.