Do you spend more, less or about the same as you thought you would before coming to Thailand?

[ArnieP]

19 minutes ago, bignok said:

What is British food?

Meat and two veg.

Cod and chips.
Boiled beef and carrots.

 

And loads more but the question is quite likely a p*ss taking joke.

[CartagenaWarlock]

5 minutes ago, bignok said:

What is British food?

All those British breakfast with baked beans in tomato sauce and different pies filled with meat, fish and chips, Bangers and mash,  kidney pie, etc. I like roast lamb but not sure if it's a British or not. 

[Ralf001]

I spend 25% less than I earn.

[Ralf001]

23 minutes ago, ArnieP said:

 

 

And loads more but the question is quite likely a p*ss taking joke.

They either eat it on toast.... or dip in batter and deep fry.

[flexomike]

3 hours ago, Celsius said:

I spend way less. When I came here 10 years ago I thought I would only last 1 year. It helps if you hook up with girls that are actually employed.

 

In those 10 years I was able to save almost 1 million Canadian dollars. A lot more than if I was slumming it in Canada. 

 

However, I believe that Thailand is the exact opposite of the West. While back home people spend less once they get older, in Thailand due to no security and lousy healthcare the future costs will go up significantly. This is why I will be moving back very soon.

Must have one hell of a job to save that kind of money

[Bday Prang]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

I spend more now than when I came here back in 1993.

 

IMO it is due to the forex rates changing over the years.

probably got something to do with inflation too. Although I am not an expert

[Bday Prang]

55 minutes ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

like roast lamb but not sure if it's a British or not. 

Could be from Australia or New Zealand  but it tastes the same

[Bday Prang]

58 minutes ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

All those British breakfast with baked beans in tomato sauce and different pies filled with meat,

Pies are not part of a full english breakfast , Unless one comes from Wigan.

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, bignok said:

What is British food?

Specialist dishes, from Great Britain  and not generally available in the 30 - 80 baht "restaurants" you mentioned earlier. 

Best avoided to be honest

[bignok]

20 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

Pies are not part of a full english breakfast , Unless one comes from Wigan.

Pie and chips for breakfast. Can't beat that.

[Bday Prang]

22 minutes ago, bignok said:

Pie and chips for breakfast. Can't beat that.

A late breakfast maybe but I couldn't face it at 6am,  

Also any foreigners ( non British) who may have enjoyed a british style pie whilst in Thailand need to be aware that most of the pies for sale here are basically home made and of a high quality. They in no way resemble commercial mass produced pies as sold in the UK. which are virtually unfit for human consumption. and to be avoided wherever possible at any time of the day, especially the ones in tins

[Bday Prang]

2 hours ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

Except tom yum kung, steam lemon fish, and Massaman chicken I don't like any other Thai foods.

How many have you actually tried, If you like Massaman curry its very unlikely you would dislike Gaeng Garee ( yellow curry)  or Tom Ka Gai or any of the other coconut curries,

You need to be more adventurous I can't imagine I would enjoy living in a country were I didn't like the food 

[NextG]

I didn’t think about how much I would spend, but I spend less than I did twenty years ago, even taking into account the difference in exchange rates, simply because I spend less on accommodation. Not because I have downgraded, but because I stopped paying daily rates.  I would pay 45k per month to live in a spacious bungalow on the beach. Now I pay less than half that to live in a luxury apartment at the beach. 
 

[poobear]

My family and I (thai wife and son) spend MUCH more than we ever expected when I moved here. After living off Thai street food for about seven years I realized that eating only Thai food food and the cleanliness of the restaurants we used to frequent is not for me, especially now that I can afford better. Now my wife cooks almost every night and we treat ourselves to a varied diet. I thought I could live with only one scooter but now have a 6 year old Honda jazz and 650 royal enfield motorcycle along with the scooter. We have also spent much more on housing than i ever expected. The flip side of all this is Even though we have spent  an extra 75 thousand dollars to upgrade the area we live in, double the quality of our house, purchase more vehicles and get my son in a better school, and it has been well worth it.

[mstevens]

I have found over the years that there are more interesting things to do in Thailand, more nice places to go out to, great restaurants to eat at etc and so my spending in Thailand has gone up to levels that are about the same as I would spend if I was back home. In Thailand I feel that I get so much more for my money, most of the time at least, and as such I am happy to spend more than I thought I would. I figure that you only live once so may as well enjoy it!

[Northstar1]

10 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

That is a good question.

I have some money for the time when I won't be able to work anymore. But for how long? Good question.

I like my work with computers, so I don't really care about retirement. 

And then there is the question if I want to survive until I am 90 or have a good life until I am 70 or 75. I don't really have an answer.

Another with no plan b?

????

[scubascuba3]

8 hours ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

All those British breakfast with baked beans in tomato sauce and different pies filled with meat, fish and chips, Bangers and mash,  kidney pie, etc. 

Yep this stuff if eaten daily will slowly make you fat plus get cholesterol nice and high

[CartagenaWarlock]

7 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

How many have you actually tried, If you like Massaman curry its very unlikely you would dislike Gaeng Garee ( yellow curry)  or Tom Ka Gai or any of the other coconut curries,

You need to be more adventurous I can't imagine I would enjoy living in a country were I didn't like the food 

I tried most of them. I don't live in Thailand. I don't have to like foods to stay in Thailand. There are so many varieties from all over the World, why should I limit myself to only one country's cuisine? 

[CartagenaWarlock]

32 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Yep this stuff if eaten daily will slowly make you fat plus get cholesterol nice and high

As I said, I don't eat British foods at all. They taste so yucky to me. I  puke by looking at  British foods. I want varieties like Japanese, Korean, Mediterranean, Greek, Burgers, McDonald's fish burger, some Thai and Indian foods. I change everyday of the week to a different variety. 

[scubascuba3]

27 minutes ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

As I said, I don't eat British foods at all. They taste so yucky to me. I  puke by looking at  British foods. I want varieties like Japanese, Korean, Mediterranean, Greek, Burgers, McDonald's fish burger, some Thai and Indian foods. I change everyday of the week to a different variety. 

you lost people on McDonald's, american food has got to be the worse, anyway staying in Thailand and not liking thai food is a shame

[OneMoreFarang]

3 hours ago, Northstar1 said:

Another with no plan b?

????

What would such a plan B be?

 

Some of us get a monthly pension until we die. Ok, that will last until we die.

 

And some of us don't have that. So they take whatever money they have and think about how long it will last. And that depends of course on how much we spend. I could try to live from 10 THB a month. I know it's possible, lots of Thais do it. I have to calculate it but I guess then I should be able to finance my life until I a over 100 years old.

Or I sped 100k per month, enjoy life, and it won't last that long. Or something in between.

I guess we all have to make an estimate how long we possible will live or want to live.

 

I guess worst case I could go back to my home country when I run out of money. I guess they will still feed me. But that is not exactly what I want. 

 

 

[Hummin]

32 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

What would such a plan B be?

 

Some of us get a monthly pension until we die. Ok, that will last until we die.

 

And some of us don't have that. So they take whatever money they have and think about how long it will last. And that depends of course on how much we spend. I could try to live from 10 THB a month. I know it's possible, lots of Thais do it. I have to calculate it but I guess then I should be able to finance my life until I a over 100 years old.

Or I sped 100k per month, enjoy life, and it won't last that long. Or something in between.

I guess we all have to make an estimate how long we possible will live or want to live.

 

I guess worst case I could go back to my home country when I run out of money. I guess they will still feed me. But that is not exactly what I want. 

 

 

I understand your thinking, and I believe most who did a relocation as you did, just had fun as long it lasted, and a bit shocked when they finely was there at retirment, and realized life was still good, and much better than expected. The only minus was, they did not save for their better days at the end. 

 

Im in the position of having pention as long I live, but still save and have some solids both places in case things changes rapidly and out of my control. Of course most of my solids is in my wife name here in Thailand, but still managable to not impact me to much for my happiness. In my mind, it is already written off, but have to say, so far, so good, and far better than the most pessimistic contributers here forecasted. 

 

One thing is to live while you have the chance, but also to manage to live as long life is good. At the end, it is always an exit if bull pie comes and take you. 

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

As I said, I don't eat British foods at all. They taste so yucky to me. I  puke by looking at  British foods. I want varieties like Japanese, Korean, Mediterranean, Greek, Burgers, McDonald's fish burger, some Thai and Indian foods. I change everyday of the week to a different variety. 

british food makes you puke so there must be a fair proportion of jap , korean and indian food off the menu too

[CartagenaWarlock]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

you lost people on McDonald's

They don't become one of the most popular food on the planet for nothing. Tell me another food that is as popular as McDonald's on the planet Earth? No British puke inducing food will ever come close to the McDonald's. No I don't like everything in McDonald's but I like their french fries and the fish burger. I don't like most Thai foods only a selected few. And there is nothing to be ashamed for of for that. Most of the YouTube guys extolling Thai foods because they can eat a meal for 50 baht (less than $2). I'm yet to see a YouTube video extolling expensive Thai foods in a decent restaurant. Go to India, you can find foods even cheaper than Thai foods and some of them are more delicious than Thai foods. 

Edited July 18, 2023 by CartagenaWarlock

[CartagenaWarlock]

1 hour ago, Bday Prang said:

british food makes you puke so there must be a fair proportion of jap , korean and indian food off the menu too

Yes. I don't like all the foods in the menu. But I have not found any British food that I like except lamb roast but  I consider  lamb roast as a universal food.

[Trippy]

I've been spending less every year that goes by. The only time I spend money is when I go out, so I moved into a house that I like to stay in, and go out far less not because I'm trying to cut down, but because going out doesn't interest me as much anymore. 

I cook at home by choice, get occasional restaurant food delivery, and get girls delivered as well for 1,000-1.200 baht total.

Life is good. 

[alien365]

5 hours ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

As I said, I don't eat British foods at all. They taste so yucky to me. I  puke by looking at  British foods. I want varieties like Japanese, Korean, Mediterranean, Greek, Burgers, McDonald's fish burger, some Thai and Indian foods. I change everyday of the week to a different variety. 

We get it, you don't like British food. A quarter of this thread so far is you telling us this. 

[OneMoreFarang]

28 minutes ago, Trippy said:

I've been spending less every year that goes by. The only time I spend money is when I go out, so I moved into a house that I like to stay in, and go out far less not because I'm trying to cut down, but because going out doesn't interest me as much anymore. 

I cook at home by choice, get occasional restaurant food delivery, and get girls delivered as well for 1,000-1.200 baht total.

Life is good. 

Lunch with BJ together with the desert. Sounds good.

[GammaGlobulin]

It is best, at least I have found it so for me, never to tally up how much one spends during any given period of time.

To do so is both shocking and worrying.

 

I subscribe to the local ethos which is to never plan for tomorrow, and to never worry about what one does not plan for.

 

Almost everybody runs out of money at one time or another.

Best to wait for that day to arrive, and then begin to worry.

 

[alien365]

I spend more, but it's mostly due to the car and eating out. I felt I had to change car due to the flooded roads and for my own safety in the event of a crash (I initially had an eco car). My pickup should now be good for another 20 years+.  As my cats have aged, so has the spending on them. Changing their food to Royal Canin and occasional visits to the vets means I spend about 3k per month on my cats alone. Fortunately I don't have kids as I see they would the a lot more expensive to maintain than my cats. Regarding food, I have now started buying more food from the local market to reduce costs as I was spending more than 20k per month on food before that.