Cost Of Living Questions

[loong]

You mentioned UBC, satellite TV.

Many expats here hate it and say it is overpriced at around 4000 baht/month. In Pattaya I get Sophon Cable TV for 3600 Baht /YEAR. This offers about 60 channels including, :-

All Thai 'free to air' stations

Deutche Welle, BBC News, Bloomberg, Fox News, RAI Italia, a Russian channel, Al Jazeera English, Canal 5 (France)

Several local (cable) stations aimed at expats

Several movie channels in English and Thai

At least two sports channels

and some others I can't remember.

I think UBC/True Gold is about 1600 Bt/month and Platinum 2,500? What do you get for 4000? I don't think that they have a package above Platinum.

Sophon is very poor quality in my opinion. I've never found the sound quality good.

[neverdie]

plus visa runs

-> no visa runs required.

My GF and me spend about 3500 a day if you include petrol and car costs, but I guess if you try to live a simple Thai village style life 1500 is possible.

This had me thinking a lot... So, you 2 spend 3500 baht a day of pocket money? Isn't that a lot...

I'm still stuck at this massive power bill you've got coming. Firstly, you need to find a system that in summer will actually reduce the outside temp from 35 deg ++ to a very CHILLY 23 Deg. What on earth are you leaving Europe for if you like it so cold.

I'm guessing to have a 500-600 square metre home at that temp, ur gonna be burning some electricity. Since you are living in a house, you can work on about 3.5 baht per unit of electricity.

A gardners going to set you back about 6000 to 8000 thb.

I'd say by the sound of things, your going to spend a little more than the 200,000 baht per month, once you consider school fees, full health insurance for a family of 4 & all that yadda that goes with the way you want to live.

Thanks for the useful post!

Power was in fact one of my bigger concerns. I had budgeted 10k a month, but reading your post, I will rather try to get a smaller house or try to reduce the airconned areas. Otherwise the 10 or 12 aircons will hit me hard.

3.5 baht per unit of electricity...

hmmm... how much units does a bigger aircon unit use if it is on at all times?

gardener... 6 to 8k... that's in a year?

I don't need a full time gardener. Just someone who does the occasional mowing and clean up.

Sorry, the 6k to 8k related to 6 to 8 thousand baht per month. If you have a pool and a big garden & you expected that you needed a gardner 2 days a week to take care of all of that, then you need a thai one for 5 days a week. If its not that big of a job, naturally you can work downwards.

As for the aircon, the lower the temp goes, naturally the higher the cost is going to be, as well as considering, not all areas need to have aircon running at once. I use to set my aircon for 25, now i find that too cold and set it for 26 plus (you will probably increase the temp with time as you climatise).

If your just renting, then i guess you get whatever aircon unit that comes with the rental, if your buying (which im guessing your not since your not a thai and either is your wife) then look for aircon units that are inverter models. I run inverter aircon in the bedroom as its the one I have on the most. To give you an idea, my entire house runs on about 7-15 units of electricity per day (depending on the season)...but Im living in the slums compared to your mansion (about 150 square metres). But I have a big yacht

I was thinking your costs were going to be higher than 200k because of the childrens education & thought you might be at least running one decent sized car, if not a second for your wife, plus insurances, rent etc etc. Foods the cheap part, but then again if you expect to be eating exactly the same foods & brands of food that you do at home then you will pay accordingly. The important part is with health insurance, especially with farang kids, don't skimp - you could live to regret that.

As time goes by, I am sure you will reduce the cost of living as you and your wife become THAILAND SMART.

[neverdie]

You mentioned UBC, satellite TV.

Many expats here hate it and say it is overpriced at around 4000 baht/month. In Pattaya I get Sophon Cable TV for 3600 Baht /YEAR. This offers about 60 channels including, :-

All Thai 'free to air' stations

Deutche Welle, BBC News, Bloomberg, Fox News, RAI Italia, a Russian channel, Al Jazeera English, Canal 5 (France)

Several local (cable) stations aimed at expats

Several movie channels in English and Thai

At least two sports channels

and some others I can't remember.

I think UBC/True Gold is about 1600 Bt/month and Platinum 2,500? What do you get for 4000? I don't think that they have a package above Platinum.

Sophon is very poor quality in my opinion. I've never found the sound quality good.

Gold package comes in at 1568 baht per month.

Platinum is the highest package at 2000 baht.

Mobile telephone calls WITHIN thailand are as CHEAP AS! The land line is a little more expensive. If your calling overseas you can do via the internet or look for calling cards where you enter the code first.

After you have set up, I will come down & reduce your monthly living costs considerably, if you take my advice and say pay a small fee of 3 million baht just kidding

[manarak]

excellent info, thanks... the puzzle starts to get shape.

regarding taking care of the garden, I think I could do it myself in 2-3 hours per week.

the gardens are not big in Thailand anyway, and I have experience of taking care of 5000 sqm at home (4 hours per week).

But then I don't know the speed at which grass grows in Thailand.

So... maybe this means a gardener for one day a week.

And about the aircon, yes, we are likely to get used to the temperatures. I think 25-26 °C is fine, even at the beginning, I was too heavyhanded on my starting estimation.

But I prefer not to bet on my wife and children to show discipline in that area...

I was thinking your costs were going to be higher than 200k because of the childrens education & thought you might be at least running one decent sized car, if not a second for your wife, plus insurances, rent etc etc. Foods the cheap part, but then again if you expect to be eating exactly the same foods & brands of food that you do at home then you will pay accordingly. The important part is with health insurance, especially with farang kids, don't skimp - you could live to regret that.

We'll not run a big car - we'd rather have a big house and just one, small car.

I got education and health insurance covered by separate budgets.

I tried to read a lot about health insurance for expats in Thailand, but the list of partial reimbursements, maximum amounts and other exclusions were too long and too different from one to another, that I couldn't make any useful comparison, especially for the severe conditions which are covered by multiple daily amounts with limits... too complicated.

So I decided to go for a 100% coverage insurance from home, it even pays the medical transport back to Europe if Thai hospitals are not able to fix us up, as well as glasses/lenses and dental work, except dental prothesis. Expensive, but comprehensive.

A friend who let out rooms had a tenant who had the aircon set cold and 24hours a day. The cost worked out roughly 100 Bt Sq m per month.

So in a 400 Sq m house you could be looking at 40,000 Bt. Of course I don't know how efficient that unit was so you can't take that figure for granted.

That's very interesting info - thanks!

So, if I aircon about 200 sqm for 12 hours a day, this cost would come down to the 10.000 I had originally budgeted (not taking into account the effect of a higher temperature).

I'll add 50% error on that anyway to be on the safe side.

[henryalleman]

Hello all

I am considering moving to Thailand with my family (now that's original...), and I'm doing my calculations to estimate our cost of living.

I am sure this question has already been asked, but I have been searching the forums and other internet sites for some time now, and I am still unable to locate some definitive info on some of the expenses I need to include in my cost of living, especially insurances and utilities.

I'm not looking now for a contest about who will pay less, I just want safe amounts that I can budget on, as well as input on some budget items I might have overlooked.

We are a family of 4, 2 young children (7 and 5 y.o.) - wife is not thai.

We will live in a big house (400-500 sqm) with pool, probably in the area of Jomtien/East Pattaya, Pong, Siam country Club, etc.

Thank you for any input.

(in baht)

Utilities

Power - I have no idea what to budget. We will make heavy use of Aircon, TV etc. We are 4 people in a big house, temperature in living quarters will be ca. 23-25 °C.

internet - I need a good connection. How much is the best available?

cable TV - I read UBC is 1600 baht a month? I have internet 8MB real speed and goldpackage 5True) cost about 3200 Baht a month

water - Family with children and a large pool. I have no idea.

telephone - what is your typical monthly bill without international calls? 100 Baht a month and 3 baht per call regardless the time

mobile phones - is 400 baht monthly per phone enough?

long distance calls - I budget those separately, I plan to use Skype. As an alternative, are there cheap call-by-call solutions? Yes they are numerous check out the different VOIP call websites

Insurances

House - I'd like to insure the house itself up to 10m (replacement value), and the contents for about 2m. I heard about premiums around 10-20k a year. Is that accurate?

Car - I'd like to insure damages to third parties only, with me as a designated driver (17 years without claim) First class insurance for an Isuzu MU7 2 years old about 16500 Baht per year. Up to 10 million coverage.

Scooter - same as for the car

health and accident - no cost savings here, I will go for a top notch expat insurance from home with 100% coverage and all extras

Food & beverages used at home

here I don't know. I plan on sending our home employee to the thai markets and have her cook food for us at home.

what about 300 baht per person and per day? in a month, that would be: 300*4*30 = 36000 baht

(this should include beverages and breakfast/lunch for our employee)

too much? not enough?

Then comes the maintenance budget.

aircons - I believe aircon maintenance is every 6 months, but how much per aircon unit?

pool - Then the pool maintenance - how often and how much?

garden - Gardener for 2500 square meters?

house repairs - usually back home this is a % of the cost of the house. what about 5%, i.e. 50k baht?

car - what does the yearly service cost?

petrol - I think I'm on the safe side with 6000 baht per month, I don't drive much

Then the dreaded "miscellaneous" expenses.

No idea what to put in there, will 2000 baht a month cover that?

- proceedings with thai authorities - visa, driving licence, etc.

- everything else I didn't think about?

And finally the "personal allowances".

My wife will certainly like to get some massages, go to the zoo/aquapark/shopping/movies with the children, dining out, taking taxis, buying clothes, buying toys, etc.

I thought about 500 baht a day per adult plus 250 baht per child, putting the total at 1500 baht per day for the whole family?

Ok

The rest is depending on your lifestyle, so very difficult to answer;

But a complete dinnerin a good restaurant for 2 adults and 2 children is seldom over 2000 Bhat.

[jackr]

My GF and me spend about 3500 a day if you include petrol and car costs, but I guess if you try to live a simple Thai village style life 1500 is possible.

What a load of <deleted>.

You mentioned UBC, satellite TV.

Many expats here hate it and say it is overpriced at around 4000 baht/month. In Pattaya I get Sophon Cable TV for 3600 Baht /YEAR. This offers about 60 channels including, :-

All Thai 'free to air' stations

Deutche Welle, BBC News, Bloomberg, Fox News, RAI Italia, a Russian channel, Al Jazeera English, Canal 5 (France)

Several local (cable) stations aimed at expats

Several movie channels in English and Thai

At least two sports channels

and some others I can't remember.

WeTV (cable) has most of that, including cartoon channels for the kids, for 350 baht.

[jackr]

So, if I aircon about 200 sqm for 12 hours a day, this cost would come down to the 10.000 I had originally budgeted (not taking into account the effect of a higher temperature).

I'll add 50% error on that anyway to be on the safe side.

Also depends on the size of the compressor per given unit. If you have a 5kw motor in their (as an example) and ran it flatout, it'd be around 3.5 baht x5 x24 x30 = 12,600 baht per month. The 3.5 baht is the cost price of a unit of juice so 1kw would be 3.5 baht an hour. Something like a Mr Slim is only around 2-3 kw and is good for a small room. In any case, you'd hardly be running aircon flatout and correct-sized inverter types for each room would save a lot as the compressors ramp up and down as opposed to starting and stopping. After you've acclimatized, something like 27/28 degrees just using aircon at night is doable.

[sriracha john]

My GF and me spend about 3500 a day if you include petrol and car costs, but I guess if you try to live a simple Thai village style life 1500 is possible.

What a load of <deleted>.

Agreed.

You mentioned UBC, satellite TV.

Many expats here hate it and say it is overpriced at around 4000 baht/month. In Pattaya I get Sophon Cable TV for 3600 Baht /YEAR. This offers about 60 channels including, :-

All Thai 'free to air' stations

Deutche Welle, BBC News, Bloomberg, Fox News, RAI Italia, a Russian channel, Al Jazeera English, Canal 5 (France)

Several local (cable) stations aimed at expats

Several movie channels in English and Thai

At least two sports channels

and some others I can't remember.

WeTV (cable) has most of that, including cartoon channels for the kids, for 350 baht.

and PTV (cable), likewise, brings it in at 250 baht.

[ktamp]

I'm currently living in east pattya. It is a very nice area for families. But your budget and expectations are not realistic at all. You are going to blow you budget on running air conditioners continually in such a large house. My house is approximately 200sqm and I run two bedroom air cons at night and only one downstairs during the day. And that's only when we are home. I use fans to circulate the one air con running downstairs. My monthly electricity bill runs around 10,000 baht a month.

A house rental for a home that size is going to run you upwards of 70,000 a month. Probably closer to over 100,000. Water is fairly reasonable. At least compared to what I was used to paying in the states. But you will need to water your garden daily if it doesn't rain. My gardener didn't show up for a week and half in april and my garden still hasn't recovered.

You haven't budgeted for school which is very expensive if you want an international one. My son attends regents and it is over 100,000 baht per term. It is probably the most expensive international school but the others won't be much less.

Thailand can be very expensive when you live your life like you do in your home country. You are not going to get everything on your wishlist with a budget of 250,000 a month especially since you haven't even factored in schooling costs. If running air conditoners in every room continously is important, then you need to stick with a much smaller house. Homes here are not insulated and running air cons is the biggest drain on electricity.

[MJP]

My GF and me spend about 3500 a day if you include petrol and car costs, but I guess if you try to live a simple Thai village style life 1500 is possible.

What a load of <deleted>.

You mentioned UBC, satellite TV.

Many expats here hate it and say it is overpriced at around 4000 baht/month. In Pattaya I get Sophon Cable TV for 3600 Baht /YEAR. This offers about 60 channels including, :-

All Thai 'free to air' stations

Deutche Welle, BBC News, Bloomberg, Fox News, RAI Italia, a Russian channel, Al Jazeera English, Canal 5 (France)

Several local (cable) stations aimed at expats

Several movie channels in English and Thai

At least two sports channels

and some others I can't remember.

WeTV (cable) has most of that, including cartoon channels for the kids, for 350 baht.

Not entirely.

If you average out the annual spend, without rent it comes to 30,000 a month or 1000 a day. Add a few bits and pieces in and I think that the poster 'clausewitz' is probably about spot on.

Trust me I've done the costings in detail. Down to bars of soap.

[manarak]

A house rental for a home that size is going to run you upwards of 70,000 a month. Probably closer to over 100,000. Water is fairly reasonable. At least compared to what I was used to paying in the states. But you will need to water your garden daily if it doesn't rain. My gardener didn't show up for a week and half in april and my garden still hasn't recovered.

You haven't budgeted for school which is very expensive if you want an international one. My son attends regents and it is over 100,000 baht per term. It is probably the most expensive international school but the others won't be much less.

Again, thanks for all the good info on costs, it very much helps me to "zero in" on the budget.

Please understand that what I listed is a "wishlist", and obviously I will work downward from there until I hit a spending level compatible with my income.

Housing costs are taken care of separately. I'll not have to pay rent, I'll have a lifelong usufruct.

My son attends regents and it is over 100,000 baht per term.

This precise school also has been budgeted already (I visited it with my wife last year), and is not included here.

Water is fairly reasonable.

So you water your garden daily and probably have a swimming pool - can you please tell me how much your water bill is?

About the aircons, all your posts helped me a lot to minmax our probable use.

In the night, 3 rooms will have aircon.

During the day, probably only the living room, for which I must see that there is an "airflow concept".

I'll make the aircon unit technology and the floor plans a factor when choosing the property.

Quick question: what effect does a central AC unit have on costs?

Edited June 24, 2009 by manarak

[ktamp]

My water bill is between 400-500 baht per month. I have a small garden and swimming pool. Last month is was just over 300 baht because it rained alot and the gardeners did not have to water as much. If it's under 400 baht, the government pays it. You will get a bill but it will say 0 under amount owed.

There are no central air conditioners in any house I have seen. I have asked my husband about this who is in this business and he says no. He doubts there are any central air conditioners in residential homes. Fans do help alot and are fairly inexpensive. I only run the air con in the living room during the day because it is always the hottest because it has sliding doors on 3 sides. I use fans in the kitchen and dining room and it stays reasonably cool because the back of the house is shady.

I didn't see a budget for household help. You can expect to pay a maid full time 15,000 baht or more a month. It's on the high side but if you find a good maid, pay her well and treat her well because good maids are hard to find. I would caution letting a maid do your grocery shopping until you have gotten to know her and trust her. I pay my maid 8000 baht for 4 half days a week. It's high for a maid but I trust her implicently and even people I know who've lived in thailand for 8 years or longer say she is the best maid they've ever seen.

There are many housing compounds on the east side and it is what I would advise for a family. There are usually alot of children and families. Our own housing village has a play ground and my son has lots of friends in the neighborhood.

premierinternational.com and fairproperties.com are good places to look for available houses to get an idea of what costs might be like. Premier international lists the area the homes are in and is helpful in that regard. I would avoid living in pattaya if you have a family. Naklua and jomtien are nice but more condos than actual homes. The homes in the golf courses such as burapa and laem chebang are quite far out and probably not a good choice if your wife is going to need to rely on taxis. That will be expensive.

Let me know if I can be of any more help. I you decide on the pattya area, I'd be happy to meet your wife and show her around and introduce her to people. The expat community is quite nice in pattaya and I have met many other expat families. There is also an international ladies club which is a nice place to meet new people.

If your wife is planning to use taxis as her main transportation, I would live closer to sukemvit road where public transportation is better. Taxis can be quite expensive. While living on the east side is nice because it is quieter, there isn't alot to do out here for families. there are some very nice restaurants out here very reasonably priced.

[manarak]

Thank you Ktamp for the outstanding info.

Your neighborhood is the area where we are looking to move to.

I asked about central aircon because I visited a newly built house in East Pattaya last year with my wife, and it had central aircon.

Would you mind asking your husband what are the pros and cons of such a central system?

Thanks for the info about the maid. I had budgeted 10k, so I'll up that a bit then (take from my water that I budgeted too high and give it to the maid).

Be careful about fairproperties.com website, it has been infected with hidden iframe poisoning. Maybe it has been cleaned by now, but beware, the virus is really nasty.

Thank you again for the good info, we will certainly make contact when we'll be moving.

We have to wait for the school term 2009-10 to finish over here to make a clean cut, so that would mean Summer 2010.

Edited June 24, 2009 by manarak

[ktamp]

Thank you Ktamp for the outstanding info.

Your neighborhood is the area where we are looking to move to.

I asked about central aircon because I visited a newly built house in East Pattaya last year with my wife, and it had central aircon.

Would you mind asking your husband what are the pros and cons of such a central system?

Thanks for the info about the maid. I had budgeted 10k, so I'll up that a bit then (take from my water that I budgeted too high and give it to the maid).

Be careful about fairproperties.com website, it has been infected with hidden iframe poisoning. Maybe it has been cleaned by now, but beware, the virus is really nasty.

Thank you again for the good info, we will certainly make contact when we'll be moving.

We have to wait for the school term 2009-10 to finish over here to make a clean cut, so that would mean Summer 2010.

I believe a central air con unit would be very expensive to run. Houses here are not insulated and I believe a central unit would have a hard time keeping up. The advantage of single units is being able to run them only in the area of the house you are in. We don't run the bedroom ones at all during the day unless my son is playing in his room. A large unit running continuously would be quite expensive on electricity. You will find that the home designs while gorgeous are terrible for thailand. Having large windows is quite pleasant in that they let in so much light but it also lets in alot of heat. I keep my shades drawn during the day.

For the east side, probably paradise villa 1 or 2 would be a good fit for your family. The homes in those two compounds are quite large and about the size you are looking for. Paradise villa 2 is still under construction and you might be able to make some choices about the house if you get in before they are finished. I have a friend living there who got in before her home was completed and was allowed to choose the furnishings and flooring. Rent is probably going to run 100,000 baht or more though.

You should be able to save a bit though on your food budget. If you shop the local thai markets for fruits and vegetables they are quite cheap. I would only buy meat though at the international groceries because of the quality. When I came to visit last summer I really thought our grocery expenses would go through the roof but we actually spend less than we would in the US. Pay attention to where the local thai people shop. They always know where the good food and good prices are.

We have been here since january and will likely be here until 2012 so we will be here when you get here. If you are looking for a relocation company, I highly recommend asian tiger transpo. They were simply outstanding. They handled the moving of our belongings and all the details of moving in a new house including setting up our cable, internet, electric, drinking water delivery..etc.

[daveb1]

This might help!

Utilities

Power - 5000-7000 BAHT PER MONTH

internet - 1000 baht per month

cable TV - 1600-2500 acording to package

telephone 200 baht

mobile phones - 300- 400 baht monthly per phone

long distance calls - skype 350 baht per

Insurances

House - 2% of value of valuables House buidings insurance 7000 baht per

Car - around 5000-7000 baht per

Scooter -dont

Food & beverages used at home around 3500-5000 baht per week

aircons - I believe aircon maintenance is every 6 months, but how much per aircon unit? 500 baht

pool - Then the pool maintenance - how often and how much? 6000 baht per month for about 3 visits per week

garden - Gardener for 2500 square meters? 4000-7000 baht per month

house repairs - usually back home this is a % of the cost of the house. what about 5%, i.e. 50k baht?

car - depends on car

petrol - 300-400 max per

Then the dreaded "miscellaneous" expenses.

No idea what to put in there, will 2000 baht a month cover that?

- proceedings with thai authorities - visa, driving licence, etc.

- everything else I didn't think about?

[Pierrot]

Then the dreaded "miscellaneous" expenses.

No idea what to put in there, will 2000 baht a month cover that?

- proceedings with thai authorities - visa, driving licence, etc.

- everything else I didn't think about?

As a rule of thumb, I usually put it at 30% of my monthly expenses. Your expenses are based on your lifestyle, so for me it makes more sense to put it as a % of your average expenses rather than a fix amount.

[manarak]

Then we don't put the same things into "miscellaneous" Pierrot!

With this item I want to cover all unplanned but necessary and somehow expected expenses, like paying for official papers, have ID photos made, sending and getting back by express mail application forms or other documents, etc.

And thanks for all the good replies, I think I've got the budget figured out! :-)

P.S.

Pierrot, is that Saint-Ex in your avatar?

Edited June 25, 2009 by manarak

[huskerpr]

Sorry, but I cannot find any other thread to post a comment such as I have. I'm not sure anyone will have a answer, probably more of a discussion topic. My concern is this. I read recently that the Thai Government is not allowing foreigners to buy homes even in the name of their Thai wife and can even confiscate it if found to have been purchased that way. Secondly I read the foreigners cannot invest in agriculture such as livestock and or rice. If both of these are true how does the government expect me to support my Thai wife and our children. I'm trying to be a responsible man and take care of my family the way I'm suppose to but these type of laws just do not allow me to do this....any advise out there. Just venting I guess.

[lioness]

200,000 a month!!!

We live on 10% of that. Comfortably.

Me too, glad I'm not the only one, last time it got mentioned I was accused of penny pinching, which was way off track.

[loong]

Sorry, but I cannot find any other thread to post a comment such as I have. I'm not sure anyone will have a answer, probably more of a discussion topic. My concern is this. I read recently that the Thai Government is not allowing foreigners to buy homes even in the name of their Thai wife and can even confiscate it if found to have been purchased that way. Secondly I read the foreigners cannot invest in agriculture such as livestock and or rice. If both of these are true how does the government expect me to support my Thai wife and our children. I'm trying to be a responsible man and take care of my family the way I'm suppose to but these type of laws just do not allow me to do this....any advise out there. Just venting I guess.

I suggest that you start a new topic with your questions, you may get more of a response.

You cannot, as far as i know, invest in agriculture as such. Ie start a company. You can give your wife the money for HER to invest. Remember the golden rule, you will be gifting her the money, so don't expect any return if anything goes wrong. Unless your wife has good experience of farming and/or livestock, my advise would be to forget it. You/she will almost certainly lose. Look around and consider why there are so many poor farmers/livestock keepers. Experienced people cannot earn good living.

[Tompa]

I don’t know how you guys manage to live off 20000b/month? The only way I can see this is if you already own a house and paid for car/motor bike cash, and don’t travel anywhere.

This is what we spend on an average month (for 3 people and 2 dogs)

Rent (2 floor house about 200sqm) – 10000B

Car (installment payments 2 cars 1-2 years old) – 35000B

Car insurance – 2500B

Car service – 1000B

Petrol (we drive a lot back and forth to Bangkok) – 15000B

Electricity (2 aircons in upstairs bedroom, 2 downstairs. An aircon is always on somewhere) – 15000B

Internet plus landline phone – 1600B

UBC – 2500B

Cable – 300B

Mobile – 5000B

Personal health insurance (Alliance) – 5000B

Maid (5 times a week, 3 hrs per time cleaning/laundry) – 8000B

Gardner (perhaps twice a month) – 1000B

Food (eat out/in) – 20000B

School fees (private but obviously not in Bangkok/pattaya which are just rip offs) – 4000B

Dog food – 5000B

Others – 30000B

Overseas trip (1 a year) – 20000B

Works out at around 180000B/month. You could obviously spend a lot less than this if you had to, but we can afford it and want to have decent living standards.

Tompa

[Pierrot]

P.S.

Pierrot, is that Saint-Ex in your avatar?

No, Andre Malraux. A adventurer, a bit a smuggler on the side, a great writer (The Royal Way is a great book about his adventures in Cambodia), a fighter, critical of the French colonial rules in Asia, he helped organized a resistant movement in Indochina, later he joined the republican army during the Spanish civil war, and, during De Gaulle government, he became France's first minister of culture. If my life is only half as full and successful as his, I will quite happy .

A couple of quote from him :

“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.”

“There is always a need for intoxication: China has opium, Islam has hashish, the West has woman.”

[manarak]

a quick question just for clarification:

it has been said that power costs approx. 3.5 baht the unit.

what is defined as a unit in Thailand?

I think this thread now nicely sums up budget concerns for east Pattaya! Well done and thank you all!

[innkeeper]

Hello all

I am considering moving to Thailand with my family (now that's original...), and I'm doing my calculations to estimate our cost of living.

I am sure this question has already been asked, but I have been searching the forums and other internet sites for some time now, and I am still unable to locate some definitive info on some of the expenses I need to include in my cost of living, especially insurances and utilities.

I'm not looking now for a contest about who will pay less, I just want safe amounts that I can budget on, as well as input on some budget items I might have overlooked.

We are a family of 4, 2 young children (7 and 5 y.o.) - wife is not thai.

We will live in a big house (400-500 sqm) with pool, probably in the area of Jomtien/East Pattaya, Pong, Siam country Club, etc.

Thank you for any input.

(in baht)

Utilities

Power - I have no idea what to budget. We will make heavy use of Aircon, TV etc. We are 4 people in a big house, temperature in living quarters will be ca. 23-25 °C.

internet - I need a good connection. How much is the best available?

cable TV - I read UBC is 1600 baht a month?

water - Family with children and a large pool. I have no idea.

telephone - what is your typical monthly bill without international calls?

mobile phones - is 400 baht monthly per phone enough?

long distance calls - I budget those separately, I plan to use Skype. As an alternative, are there cheap call-by-call solutions?

Insurances

House - I'd like to insure the house itself up to 10m (replacement value), and the contents for about 2m. I heard about premiums around 10-20k a year. Is that accurate?

Car - I'd like to insure damages to third parties only, with me as a designated driver (17 years without claim)

Scooter - same as for the car

health and accident - no cost savings here, I will go for a top notch expat insurance from home with 100% coverage and all extras

Food & beverages used at home

here I don't know. I plan on sending our home employee to the thai markets and have her cook food for us at home.

what about 300 baht per person and per day? in a month, that would be: 300*4*30 = 36000 baht

(this should include beverages and breakfast/lunch for our employee)

too much? not enough?

Then comes the maintenance budget.

aircons - I believe aircon maintenance is every 6 months, but how much per aircon unit?

pool - Then the pool maintenance - how often and how much?

garden - Gardener for 2500 square meters?

house repairs - usually back home this is a % of the cost of the house. what about 5%, i.e. 50k baht?

car - what does the yearly service cost?

petrol - I think I'm on the safe side with 6000 baht per month, I don't drive much

Then the dreaded "miscellaneous" expenses.

No idea what to put in there, will 2000 baht a month cover that?

- proceedings with thai authorities - visa, driving licence, etc.

- everything else I didn't think about?

And finally the "personal allowances".

My wife will certainly like to get some massages, go to the zoo/aquapark/shopping/movies with the children, dining out, taking taxis, buying clothes, buying toys, etc.

I thought about 500 baht a day per adult plus 250 baht per child, putting the total at 1500 baht per day for the whole family?

I live in Bkk for the past 2 years in a 300SM house and my estimate for you for the life style you are looking as described above, you would need a budget of 200,000 bth or about $6000/month min excluding kids' school fees

[innkeeper]

Hello all

I am considering moving to Thailand with my family (now that's original...), and I'm doing my calculations to estimate our cost of living.

I am sure this question has already been asked, but I have been searching the forums and other internet sites for some time now, and I am still unable to locate some definitive info on some of the expenses I need to include in my cost of living, especially insurances and utilities.

I'm not looking now for a contest about who will pay less, I just want safe amounts that I can budget on, as well as input on some budget items I might have overlooked.

We are a family of 4, 2 young children (7 and 5 y.o.) - wife is not thai.

We will live in a big house (400-500 sqm) with pool, probably in the area of Jomtien/East Pattaya, Pong, Siam country Club, etc.

Thank you for any input.

(in baht)

Utilities

Power - I have no idea what to budget. We will make heavy use of Aircon, TV etc. We are 4 people in a big house, temperature in living quarters will be ca. 23-25 °C.

internet - I need a good connection. How much is the best available?

cable TV - I read UBC is 1600 baht a month?

water - Family with children and a large pool. I have no idea.

telephone - what is your typical monthly bill without international calls?

mobile phones - is 400 baht monthly per phone enough?

long distance calls - I budget those separately, I plan to use Skype. As an alternative, are there cheap call-by-call solutions?

Insurances

House - I'd like to insure the house itself up to 10m (replacement value), and the contents for about 2m. I heard about premiums around 10-20k a year. Is that accurate?

Car - I'd like to insure damages to third parties only, with me as a designated driver (17 years without claim)

Scooter - same as for the car

health and accident - no cost savings here, I will go for a top notch expat insurance from home with 100% coverage and all extras

Food & beverages used at home

here I don't know. I plan on sending our home employee to the thai markets and have her cook food for us at home.

what about 300 baht per person and per day? in a month, that would be: 300*4*30 = 36000 baht

(this should include beverages and breakfast/lunch for our employee)

too much? not enough?

Then comes the maintenance budget.

aircons - I believe aircon maintenance is every 6 months, but how much per aircon unit?

pool - Then the pool maintenance - how often and how much?

garden - Gardener for 2500 square meters?

house repairs - usually back home this is a % of the cost of the house. what about 5%, i.e. 50k baht?

car - what does the yearly service cost?

petrol - I think I'm on the safe side with 6000 baht per month, I don't drive much

Then the dreaded "miscellaneous" expenses.

No idea what to put in there, will 2000 baht a month cover that?

- proceedings with thai authorities - visa, driving licence, etc.

- everything else I didn't think about?

And finally the "personal allowances".

My wife will certainly like to get some massages, go to the zoo/aquapark/shopping/movies with the children, dining out, taking taxis, buying clothes, buying toys, etc.

I thought about 500 baht a day per adult plus 250 baht per child, putting the total at 1500 baht per day for the whole family?

I live in Bkk for the past 2 years in a 300SM house and my estimate for you for the life style you are looking as described above, you would need a budget of 200,000 bth or about $6000/month min excluding kids' school fees

[Rionoir]

Hope your family enjoys Thailand as much as you are planning on enjoying the bargirls... at least you aren't abandoning them I guess...

[johng]

what is defined as a unit in Thailand?

1 kilowatt hour ( kWh ) = 1 unit

When you use 1000 watts for 1 hour, that's a kilowatt-hour

[MJP]

Fair play to you guys if it's affordable, but some of the sums of cash being thrown around here are staggering.

US$6000 a month to live in Thailand?

Must say if you have your own place and have sorted all the costs out, we do it for an annualised average of about 20,000 a month now perhaps a bit less. Step out the door to go anywhere, do anything . . . it's possible to do two months budget in a week.

[Gary A]

If it cost 180,000 baht per month to live in Thailand, how much would it cost to live in a western country?