Is It Really Cheaper In The Sticks?

[connda]

Styx

[1FinickyOne]

On 9/15/2023 at 12:57 PM, LaosLover said:

Are Tops Store prices any diff? Are Chain restaurants? Is healthcare at similar standard to CM?

 

Do you save money just because there's nothing to do?

Well, depending how you define the sticks.. there are no Tops store but if there were, prices would likely be the same... same as to chain restaurants - though if you go into stick cities you will find some... and no, healthcare is not not even close to similar as usually there are just a series of small clinics, some good, some not. 

 

first, it is not that there is nothing to do, just different things... it was never unusual to find 20 visiting family members hanging out, making a meal together, chatting. 2nd - if you want CM or Bkk style hanging out, you have to go there... 

[1FinickyOne]

On 9/15/2023 at 5:02 PM, LaosLover said:

Like I said, I lived in the actual sticks (30 minutes to Walmart/McDonalds). I doubt I will again.

Wait until season.. it will take your 30 minutes to get down Nimman if you want to go to Big C - 

[Lacessit]

7 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

Call it the sticks if you want but it's Styx. 

The River Styx was the main river in the Greek Underworld that separated the realm of the living from the realm of the dead, which the ferryman Charon had to take the souls of the dead across.

 

I assume you are inferring life in a rural Thai village is the realm of the dead.

[Lacessit]

On 9/16/2023 at 11:55 AM, transam said:

A chauffeur included..............????

2 or 3 village girls as well.....

[Lacessit]

7 hours ago, Irish star said:

CM an CR are not the sticks try KK or Bueng Kan as examples , you spend more on alcohol because so damn boring I wasted 4 years in Isaan I will never get back 

I don't regard any days in Thailand as wasted, except perhaps when I am transiting through Bangkok.

OTOH, I do consider I wasted many years of my life in Australia.

[TigerandDog]

On 9/16/2023 at 2:01 PM, Gecko123 said:

"the sticks" seems to generally carry an uncomplimentary connotation, although perhaps more so in the US and Canada than in other English speaking countries. It's also the type of word you could use in a self-deprecating way as in "What    (am I) are we doing living out here in the sticks?" without causing offense, but if someone not from the area says something like "Why on earth are you living out in the sticks?" (implying that you live in an undesirable location) that could cause offense.

 

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/stick

stick noun (COUNTRYSIDE) the sticks [ plural ] informal disapproving

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sticks

sticks plural  : remote usually rural districts regarded especially as backward, dull, or unsophisticated

 

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/stick

 

If you say that someone lives in the sticks, you mean that they live a long way from any large cities.

[informal, disapproval]

He lived out in the sticks somewhere.

 

https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/stick

the sticks informal : an area in the country that is far away from towns and cities

• We live way out in the sticks. [=the boonies, the boondocks]

 

https://www.quora.com/What-does-sticks-mean-in-slang 

What does 'sticks' mean in slang?

It simply means you’re referring to someone - or to a place - a bit isolated, a bigger bit of one-mindedness, adamant about maintaining a particular lifestyle without any outside interference.

It could also include a crude mindset, a hillbilly attitude that can be either “gosh darn” friendly or else “puff up” antagonistic. “Backward” comes to mind; so does “ignorant.” Although they might be intelligent, by standard measurements, they have a mindblock that has created a membrane between themselves and others who are talking about them.

At any rate, it’s not a complimentary word to throw around, alluding to a deep lack of formal education but a hefty dose of family education, hardly ever to the understanding of those beyond the “sticks” boundaries. It’s growing up and growing old in a comparatively backward part of the country.

 

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the_sticks

the sticks (uncountable)

1. (Canada, US, informal, derogatory) A remote, rural area; a place that is removed from civilization such as the boondocks.

what a load of BS

[ignis]

Depends on a number of things.....  Me would not live anywhere but out in the sticks, as I have done all my life in many Countries 

 

 

 

back in 2003 found a nice Village and had a house built moved in in 2004......  back then turn off the main road = tarmac for 1 km, the next 6 km was a dirt track, these days it tarmac...  All houses here are detached 2 are 6 bedrooms, 2 are 4 bedrooms and the others are 3 bedrooms... now at almost 73 not likely to ever sell or move

 

Cheaper ? put it like this about 1 x week go to next Village to have a meal, prices have gone up,  now pay 40 baht..  yesterday a farmers wife came down the Village with her cart - bought big bunch bananas 30 baht,  most Veg at the local market is 3 - 10 baht [most are local farmers so straight from the fields]...  eg: Big Cauliflower 15 baht, 3 big carrots 10 baht...  

For a few years now is very easy to do supermarket shopping on-line - comes next day = Tops/ Big C./Lotus's

 

Within 6 km there are 2 Private Hospitals + 2 Government Hospitals

 

Across the road one 3 bedroom house is rented out 6,500 baht per month, next Village friend rents 3 bed town house for 4,000 baht month.

 

[LaosLover]

On 9/17/2023 at 10:33 AM, captainjackS said:

exactly.   woman+house can make a huge difference compared to renting a condo / apartment in the city.

Doesn't a GF budget line item come with country living?

 

Is anyone out there in the hinterlands (not sticks) living solo?

[473geo]

Oh yes cycling to the farm and doing everyday farm work saves on a gym membership ????

Lightest I have weighed for years 

[moogradod]

On 9/15/2023 at 4:19 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

It is cheaper, absolutely.

 

 

 

How about that one ? This is an original picture of my wifes first house. We then continually upgraded (as well in another place) to a 3 bed 3 bath pool villa in which we soon fully move in from a high rise condo directly at the sea. But below is in the "countryside".

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by moogradod

[OneMoreFarang]

12 minutes ago, moogradod said:

 

How about that one ? This is an original picture of my wifes first house. We then continually upgraded (as well in another place) to a 3 bed 3 bath pool villa in which we soon fully move in from a high rise condo directly at the sea. But below is in the "countryside".

 

I saw something like that when my girlfriend asked me to visit her village many years ago.

I was shocked. I don't remember much more from that visit.

Now we both live in a high-rise condo in Bangkok. No mosquitos, no family nearby, no village life. ???? 

[473geo]

13 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I saw something like that when my girlfriend asked me to visit her village many years ago.

I was shocked. I don't remember much more from that visit.

Now we both live in a high-rise condo in Bangkok. No mosquitos, no family nearby, no village life. ???? 

I guess there are more like me in my aircon room in rural Isaan watching TV, on the internet, thinking ok no problem, believe what makes you guys happy ????

[artotle]

It is absolutely so much cheaper.

 

Mostly from space and amenities to comfortably cook for yourself, grow your own <deleted>, build your own <deleted>, maintain and repair your own <deleted> (vehicles etc). That being said, if you're not willing to put down for a house and some land and not willing to be proactive with almost everything, then it's not for you.

 

When you're ready for that managing personal finances and cutting costs will be much easier, also less temptations around here. I cook 90% of my own foods, do all my bike repair and maintenance myself, grow a bunch of fruit, herbs, veggies on site. Whatever we don't have at home is extremely cheap in local fresh markets and they are actually fresh.  I live around 7k from Udon Thani city, and even in town restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, bars are half price from larger cities. 

 

I make roughly 100k a month and living in Bangkok I had 10k to save monthly, in Pattaya maybe 20k and in Udon Thani I don't spend much more than 50k on everything. 

 

Some words to end this with, while many basic necessities are somewhat cheaper, moving to "the sticks" makes you change your perspective and lifestyle to be less reliant on outside services = lower cost of living, increased value. 

 

[Nick Carter icp]

3 minutes ago, artotle said:

It is absolutely so much cheaper.

 

Mostly from space and amenities to comfortably cook for yourself, grow your own <deleted>, build your own <deleted>, maintain and repair your own <deleted> (vehicles etc). That being said, if you're not willing to put down for a house and some land and not willing to be proactive with almost everything, then it's not for you.

 

When you're ready for that managing personal finances and cutting costs will be much easier, also less temptations around here. I cook 90% of my own foods, do all my bike repair and maintenance myself, grow a bunch of fruit, herbs, veggies on site. Whatever we don't have at home is extremely cheap in local fresh markets and they are actually fresh.  I live around 7k from Udon Thani city, and even in town restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, bars are half price from larger cities. 

 

I make roughly 100k a month and living in Bangkok I had 10k to save monthly, in Pattaya maybe 20k and in Udon Thani I don't spend much more than 50k on everything. 

 

Some words to end this with, while many basic necessities are somewhat cheaper, moving to "the sticks" makes you change your perspective and lifestyle to be less reliant on outside services = lower cost of living, increased value. 

 

 

   If you bought a house and land and grow much of your own food and repair your own motorbikes , what do you spend 50 000 Baht a month on ?

[artotle]

7 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   If you bought a house and land and grow much of your own food and repair your own motorbikes , what do you spend 50 000 Baht a month on ?

 

I'm a sole provider for a family of four, two dogs and a cat. Bills, schools, groceries and shopping, gym memberships, hobbies, other activities.

[mokwit]

Is It Really Cheaper In The Sticks?

 

If you are living in a village with your wife's family, no.