Monthly Cost Of Living In Phuket

[monty1412]

PC, nice to meet you. Ive decided to shift in with you for a month and see firsthand how the heck you can live on 30K Baht a month. Im in BKK and have given up on budgeting on a monthly basis. I am here as expat and earn an indecent salary with tax benefits but would dearly love to get some discipline into my living costs...

My rent is 55K per month Cable electricity and a water bill that defies any logic, rhyme or reason probably takes that to 60K. I give my Gf about 20K every month and send home for the children about 110K a month as well.

Try and bank/ save money for rainy day but cannot seem to get food/ insurances/ drinks and social life below 100K per month.

So welcome to your new roomy for a while....

Whats your address. will be there Saturday.... cheers

[petercallen]

If accomodation is paid, no kids, expensive health cover, golfing, foreign bar scene, then 30k is adequate but as far as living..its more exsisting and is comparable to be in a council flat in Tower Hamlets on social security

I did not include cars, we have a new one on order, i i did not include hollidays

our last one in december cost approx $16700 for 2 weeks i am talking about

everyday living expenses, and i am sure a lot of the anonomus readers who

follow this forum would like to know what they are

Spell check is still not working for me on this forum, when i try the screne just

goes blank

[stevenl]

PC, nice to meet you. Ive decided to shift in with you for a month and see firsthand how the heck you can live on 30K Baht a month. Im in BKK and have given up on budgeting on a monthly basis. I am here as expat and earn an indecent salary with tax benefits but would dearly love to get some discipline into my living costs...

My rent is 55K per month Cable electricity and a water bill that defies any logic, rhyme or reason probably takes that to 60K. I give my Gf about 20K every month and send home for the children about 110K a month as well.

Try and bank/ save money for rainy day but cannot seem to get food/ insurances/ drinks and social life below 100K per month.

So welcome to your new roomy for a while....

Whats your address. will be there Saturday.... cheers

What, social 100K per month and can't get any lower? Without any children?

[petercallen]

PC, nice to meet you. Ive decided to shift in with you for a month and see firsthand how the heck you can live on 30K Baht a month. Im in BKK and have given up on budgeting on a monthly basis. I am here as expat and earn an indecent salary with tax benefits but would dearly love to get some discipline into my living costs...

My rent is 55K per month Cable electricity and a water bill that defies any logic, rhyme or reason probably takes that to 60K. I give my Gf about 20K every month and send home for the children about 110K a month as well.

Try and bank/ save money for rainy day but cannot seem to get food/ insurances/ drinks and social life below 100K per month.

So welcome to your new roomy for a while....

Whats your address. will be there Saturday.... cheers

You would get a nice villa with a large pool for 55K in Phuket

You spend or save over 290K a month or Over $9300 in Thailand

I find that hard to beleive but you hear a lot of strange things on forums

[petercallen]

Why would you think that, basic wage in Thailand at 300 baht a day working 6 days a week

is just over $3000 anually and Thai people live on that amount, 35k a month is $13500 anually

which is more than some people

have to live on in some fully developed countries

Many of the Thais on minimum wage have accomodation and some meals provided, so the 300baht a day is almost all disposable income

Given the wingeing by a large number of employers about the 300 baht hike, I suspect that quite a few of the 'benefits' could well be eroded.

"I give you sam roi a day, you now pay for noodles".

OR

"You want free noddles, you stay on 250 baht a day. If you not like, you go see your lawyer"

I know of one establishment that keeps the tips given to the employees and gives the staff

the leftovers to eat instead

[steelepulse]

Here's a few expenses to think about. 2 kids int'l school, that's minimum 700K/yr. How about insurance for the cars, house and health insurance for the family? Petrol on taking kids to and from school 5 days/week? Between these three items above that's close to 1 million baht right there. Throw in auto repair, home repair, electric, cable, food, eating out, going out, etc. and you're looking at a minimum of 120K/mo living an ordinary lifestyle.

[pagallim]

Without wishing to be insulting, you seem to post quite a few of these types of threads Peter, and I can't quite fathom the purpose. Is it important what you, or others have and how they use it? Most people don't seem to care much, with their priority being their own lifestyle, whether that requires thousands or hundreds of thousands a month.

Self justification isn't a requirement for visa extensions (yet.......... ).

[kawapower]

Here's a few expenses to think about. 2 kids int'l school, that's minimum 700K/yr. How about insurance for the cars, house and health insurance for the family? Petrol on taking kids to and from school 5 days/week? Between these three items above that's close to 1 million baht right there. Throw in auto repair, home repair, electric, cable, food, eating out, going out, etc. and you're looking at a minimum of 120K/mo living an ordinary lifestyle.

120k!! I have a great life style on 40k per month, I have 2 small bikes, one big bike, one car, rent a nice house, gf and her daughter, we want for nothing!!

[kawapower]

PC, nice to meet you. Ive decided to shift in with you for a month and see firsthand how the heck you can live on 30K Baht a month. Im in BKK and have given up on budgeting on a monthly basis. I am here as expat and earn an indecent salary with tax benefits but would dearly love to get some discipline into my living costs...

My rent is 55K per month Cable electricity and a water bill that defies any logic, rhyme or reason probably takes that to 60K. I give my Gf about 20K every month and send home for the children about 110K a month as well.

Try and bank/ save money for rainy day but cannot seem to get food/ insurances/ drinks and social life below 100K per month.

So welcome to your new roomy for a while....

Whats your address. will be there Saturday.... cheers

Oh my god are you crazy or just have to much money that you don't care, you give your gf 20k per month!! crazy!! I give my gf nothing and she is still with me after 3yrs, yes I have paid for a new house for her family which was 500k but they will get nothing else!! we live a great life and want for nothing!! you people with so much money are cannon fodder for the Thai girls!!

[KarenBravo]

you people with so much money are cannon fodder for the Thai girls!!

Why do you presume that?

Maybe people like to dine at good restaurants, drink fine wine, go diving, fishing, or, do one of many other activities that cost money.

Maybe they like to drive a good German car instead of a rice-rocket.

To me, the only sin is spending money you can't afford.

[bikkalad]

I hate life here. Boring. You need 200-300k if you want some fun in phuket. Even then its boring fun..........i dont think my life would be part boring Hostile17......on that,but then again i might try to make it

[kawapower]

you people with so much money are cannon fodder for the Thai girls!!

Why do you presume that?

Maybe people like to dine at good restaurants, drink fine wine, go diving, fishing, or, do one of many other activities that cost money.

Maybe they like to drive a good German car instead of a rice-rocket.

To me, the only sin is spending money you can't afford.

Of course it depends on what sort of person you are, if you like fine wine expensive cars etc then cost of living is higher, I don't go to bars, I prefer to eat Thai food and drink cheaper beer, I am happy!! I have a Nissan, I have two Suzuki's, I have a Kawasaki, I have a gf and her daughter 40 k is plenty!!

A friend of my gf gets given 100K by her bf per month!!! up to him to me it is crazy!! many falangs are love struck and give everything again up to them!!

Edited April 24, 2012 by kawapower

[Hostile17]

civil wars starts tomorrow.

You wont have the money to go back home with 40k, 50k for a last minute airfaire to a decent western country.

Up to you if 30baht thai food is your preference, you'll be suffering greatly in 10years from malnutrition and many possibilities of cancers.

40k is enough to survive, not to live and certainly not enough to give your child a PASSABLE education.

[KarenBravo]

Funny how these types of threads always attracts posts that either says "you must be mad to spend that much a month", or, "that's existing, not living".

It seems that whatever the poster spends per month, they expect everyone else to spend the same amount.

If you make a million Baht a month, it would be pretty strange to only spend 30,000 Bt per month (unless you were saving for something).

If 30,000 Baht per month is your budget, then it would be foolish to spend more than that.

Edited April 24, 2012 by KarenBravo

[kawapower]

civil wars starts tomorrow.

You wont have the money to go back home with 40k, 50k for a last minute airfaire to a decent western country.

Up to you if 30baht thai food is your preference, you'll be suffering greatly in 10years from malnutrition and many possibilities of cancers.

40k is enough to survive, not to live and certainly not enough to give your child a PASSABLE education.

Absolute bollo*ks, I have savings so no problem of me going anywhere should I need to quickly, so Thai food is crap? you honestly think Thai food will give you malnutrition and cause cancer? 40k is more than enough to have a good life!! my gf's daughter goes to a good school, the education is mostly up to the child and how much she wants to learn!!!

If you want to give your gf 20k or more per month good luck, any decent Thai girl will not demand lots of money!

[kawapower]

Funny how these types of threads always attracts posts that either says "you must be mad to spend that much a month", or, "that's existing, not living".

It seems that whatever the poster spends per month, they expect everyone else to spend the same amount.

If you make a million Baht a month, it would be pretty strange to only spend 30,000 Bt per month (unless you were saving for something).

If 30,000 Baht per month is your budget, then it would be foolish to spend more than that.

Agree if you make lots of money then your cost of living will be higher, if I were lucky enough to have 1m per month any girl I was with would still not get a lot, if that makes her unhappy she would know where the door is!! and I would certainly not put anything in her name!!

[kawapower]

civil wars starts tomorrow.

You wont have the money to go back home with 40k, 50k for a last minute airfaire to a decent western country.

Up to you if 30baht thai food is your preference, you'll be suffering greatly in 10years from malnutrition and many possibilities of cancers.

40k is enough to survive, not to live and certainly not enough to give your child a PASSABLE education.

If civil war starts tomorrow you will not be leaving Thailand tomorrow!!

[kawapower]

Funny how these types of threads always attracts posts that either says "you must be mad to spend that much a month", or, "that's existing, not living".

It seems that whatever the poster spends per month, they expect everyone else to spend the same amount.

If you make a million Baht a month, it would be pretty strange to only spend 30,000 Bt per month (unless you were saving for something).

If 30,000 Baht per month is your budget, then it would be foolish to spend more than that.

I do not expect others to live on the same budget as me, but I am amazed at how much some falangs give to there wife or gf.

[KarenBravo]

Maybe they can afford it?

Like another poster said, why would I care what others spend and what they spend it on?

Edited April 24, 2012 by KarenBravo

[kawapower]

Maybe they can afford it?

Like another poster said, why would I care what others spend and what they spend it on?

Again agree, I am not bothered about the falang that drives past me in his BMW or the fact he gives his gf or wife 100k per month, good luck to him and even better luck for her! I am happy it works for me so all is good!

[HongKongPhooey]

recently started living on 60-80k per month.

I hate life here. Boring. You need 200-300k if you want some fun in phuket. Even then its boring fun. Terrible waterpark, overly expensive water sports, country clubs for the millionaires taking up all the golf courses. If you want a national park not plastered with thai families throwing trash everywhere(and most of us from the suburbs are used to be able to take a bike out and be in a large forest/park in 5mins. you have to go 2-3hrs away for any shopping you have to fly to bangkok if you want choice. If you want any music show, theater performance, circus cirque du soleil style or whatever else type of art that has been entertaining civilizations for the past thousands years then you have to fly home a couple times a month.

What do you mean by water sports being expensive? If you are an expat then paying tourist prices for anything will be expensive. If you live here then you would buy your own kayak, sail boat, windsurf/surf board, jet ski etc etc and then go for free every day, just like you would anywhere else in the world you wanted to have a water sport as a hobby.

You hate Phuket but your stuck here, we get it . Won't be long till your wife gives birth and you will be able to go home again.

PC, nice to meet you. Ive decided to shift in with you for a month and see firsthand how the heck you can live on 30K Baht a month. Im in BKK and have given up on budgeting on a monthly basis. I am here as expat and earn an indecent salary with tax benefits but would dearly love to get some discipline into my living costs...

My rent is 55K per month Cable electricity and a water bill that defies any logic, rhyme or reason probably takes that to 60K. I give my Gf about 20K every month and send home for the children about 110K a month as well.

Try and bank/ save money for rainy day but cannot seem to get food/ insurances/ drinks and social life below 100K per month.

So welcome to your new roomy for a while....

Whats your address. will be there Saturday.... cheers

55K rent is not what I would call a 'basic' cost of living. Like most people I would agree that these threads are pretty pointless, but I think the OP was just trying to discuss basic day to day costs from the point of view of how cheaply you can live if you wanted to. It's pretty obvious we could all spend millions if we had it to spend. He even said in his OP that he wasn't talking about rent as he owns his own home so mentioning your 55k per month rent was pretty pointless IMO.

Funny how these types of threads always attracts posts that either says "you must be mad to spend that much a month", or, "that's existing, not living".

It seems that whatever the poster spends per month, they expect everyone else to spend the same amount.

If you make a million Baht a month, it would be pretty strange to only spend 30,000 Bt per month (unless you were saving for something).

If 30,000 Baht per month is your budget, then it would be foolish to spend more than that.

Agree if you make lots of money then your cost of living will be higher, if I were lucky enough to have 1m per month any girl I was with would still not get a lot, if that makes her unhappy she would know where the door is!! and I would certainly not put anything in her name!!

Serious question Kenny. Do you not see yourself in an equal long term marriage one day where your partner would be entitled to half of what you own?

[Hostile17]

civil wars starts tomorrow.

You wont have the money to go back home with 40k, 50k for a last minute airfaire to a decent western country.

Up to you if 30baht thai food is your preference, you'll be suffering greatly in 10years from malnutrition and many possibilities of cancers.

40k is enough to survive, not to live and certainly not enough to give your child a PASSABLE education.

Absolute bollo*ks, I have savings so no problem of me going anywhere should I need to quickly, so Thai food is crap? you honestly think Thai food will give you malnutrition and cause cancer? 40k is more than enough to have a good life!! my gf's daughter goes to a good school, the education is mostly up to the child and how much she wants to learn!!!

If you want to give your gf 20k or more per month good luck, any decent Thai girl will not demand lots of money!

Yes, thai schools are great if you want to learn how to count incorrectly, write languages incorrectly or be taught about the world of nakon-nowhere in geography class.

[Hostile17]

honkey why do you insinst on posting on these forums when you do absolutely nothing in phuket. <deleted> you don't even know that if you board your own equipement, you'll get beaten to death by the mafia if you want to use a spot with waves

[HongKongPhooey]

I think that's my favourite post of all time. Beaten to death for stealing a wave form the mafia.

[KeyserSoze01]

How long is a piece of string?

These threads always run in circles as no two people are alike. Nor are their wants, needs and desires.

[kawapower]

I think that's my favourite post of all time. Beaten to death for stealing a wave form the mafia.

lol yes that is an amazing post, and no I will never marry a Thai girl, staying unmarried is by far the better option.

[phuketrichard]

Peter, I did agree with you in that topic....

I'm with you on this one. Much the same as us. We have no rent to pay or children to support and I estimate we spend 30K/month on general costs and the other 20K/month to cover car/medical insurance plus other incidental expenses. On the other hand we don't go out to bars or clubs at night, that can easily add much more to the monthly expenses.

I would say our costs have gone up slightly. Fuel for car up a lot, groceries maybe up 4%.

I fill the car up once a month and there is not much difference in the cost

Groceries may be up slightly but we have bought most other items we needed

for the house so our costs are down

hahahah; I drive my daughter to school back and forth for the 5 days a week, wish i could get by on filling my car once a month!!!

gas costs me over 5,000 baht /month has gone from low of 32.5 last year to now 38.8 for gasahol 91

Groceries have gone up about 15% in the last year ( and this is market shopping as well) eating market food has also gone u about 15-20%

Utilities, (electric, cable, internet) Rent- all same as last year

school fees ( $11,000/year ) same as last year

groceries/eating out for two of us about 12,000/month

main thing is existing on 30,000 a month or living on more

Edited April 25, 2012 by phuketrichard

[xylophone]

Try to keep the expenses down but never works and have been living here for 5 years now. I like my little "luxuries" and don't see a need to scrimp and save when I've worked hard all my life.

An estimate of my outgoings as follows:- MONTHLY

Rent 13k; Elect 1k; Health Insurance 6k; Petrol 2k; Wine 9k; Food shopping 15k; Meals out 4k; Tennis lessons 5k; Massages 12k; Nights out 16k; Total is 83k per month.

Don't really eat Thai food and farang food can be expensive.

Anyway as has already been stated in various ways, we are all different, so the reality of such a discussion is much the same as debating how many fairies can fit on the head of a pin.

[falkan]

Rent 3500bath Food 15000bath Nights out 5000bath Petrol 1000bath

[petercallen]

Peter, I did agree with you in that topic....

I'm with you on this one. Much the same as us. We have no rent to pay or children to support and I estimate we spend 30K/month on general costs and the other 20K/month to cover car/medical insurance plus other incidental expenses. On the other hand we don't go out to bars or clubs at night, that can easily add much more to the monthly expenses.

I would say our costs have gone up slightly. Fuel for car up a lot, groceries maybe up 4%.

I fill the car up once a month and there is not much difference in the cost

Groceries may be up slightly but we have bought most other items we needed

for the house so our costs are down

hahahah; I drive my daughter to school back and forth for the 5 days a week, wish i could get by on filling my car once a month!!!

gas costs me over 5,000 baht /month has gone from low of 32.5 last year to now 38.8 for gasahol 91

Groceries have gone up about 15% in the last year ( and this is market shopping as well) eating market food has also gone u about 15-20%

Utilities, (electric, cable, internet) Rent- all same as last year

school fees ( $11,000/year ) same as last year

groceries/eating out for two of us about 12,000/month

main thing is existing on 30,000 a month or living on more

Costs me between 1500 and 2000 baht a month for fuel

Dont have children so not paying 28400 baht a month on school fees

A person who has a child at the BIS told me he paid $6000 a year or 15500 baht a month

Wife says market prices where we live about the same as last year

30 to 35K a month is what we pay on average and our groceries and eating out

costs about the same as you

We pay no rent and have no finance or bank loans