Things Which Are More Expensive In Thailand Than In Your Home Country?

[chris1dna]

Are you sayin that on $3-5k US a month that I will b poor in lifestyle? Dear Buddha I hope not.

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[chris1dna]

Sorry cant quote from lame TV app. I was speakin to everyone but specifically to BabyJ.

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[barefoot1988]

i think 5k budget might be alittle tight for a family if you are considering an international school for your child and renting a decent house

[Bender]

I buy my bedsheet in Europe as you can get better quality at cheaper price. In thailand for the same price what you get is bedshit.

[Naam]

answer to the reversed question: in my home country the 46.5% (soon it will be more) income tax are much more expensive than the zero tax i pay in Thailand. in other words, a 1,000 Baht bottle of wine is 535 Baht which is still freaking expensive when quality is taken into consideration

summary: down Thailand's racist wine prices!

dont you make 500b per half a minute even when retired?

no i don't. but based on your question it was interesting to figure out what income i have per day/hour/minute 24/7.

[chris1dna]

i think 5k budget might be alittle tight for a family if you are considering an international school for your child and renting a decent house

Thats depressing. You just ruined my plans.

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[chiangmaikelly]

I have no knowledge of the busses yet I possess a ticket to travel on Sunday,wake up and smell the coffee old chap

Old chap if you think busses are good and inexpensive in the UK you have never been on NakhonChai Air. How much to go 600k in the UK? How much by taxi, old chap? I go 60K in a new AC taxi for 250 baht.

Again mr genius you are comparing one small region of thailand. In phuket 250b is the price to SIT in the tuktuk(taxi starts higher)

Most small towns in thailand have NO transportation system. In the west you have buses in every little town.

And people comparing bangkok taxis and BTS to the subway in other country are not even considering monthly pass. Monthly pass in the west makes it cheaper than in thailand.

Absolute nonsense. Most small towns in the US have no public transportation. In some big cities like Detroit taxi drivers are afraid to go a lot of places. You are just spewing venom like a snake with a leak. What is your point? If you are that unhappy tell us all why on earth you stay? Maybe somewhere you can make sense of your attitude? Did they get the INTERNET in your wing at the Thai jail or something? Why, why would you go on about Canada? Who wants to go to Canada? Look at the population per square mile. No one wants to live in Canada. The poor people who do live there have to leave Thailand 6 months a year or loose their health insurance. If that was not the case the whole population would move to Thailand. So tell us BJ just why the heck are you here? A woman perhaps?

[chiangmaikelly]

Riding a bus in the West.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-dRSqJRI_Y

Edited October 13, 2012 by chiangmaikelly

[arthurwait]

à

Have you got enough brains to prove me wrong? Get me the price for using the BTS 4 times a day then compare it with a monthly pass in the west.

BTS will be up to 2x more expensive.

But its easier to act like an ass isnt it?

Back home for an unlimited pass its 1200 per month and unlike in bangkok the subway actually gets EVERYWHERE in the city. You never end up 5km away from a location. For that price you'll never need a taxi or anything else. Way cheaper than it would cost to travel around bangkok for a month.

1000 B for a monthly pass.

[SteveLynch]

Just had a holiday back with my family in Ireland

My missus found quite a few things a lot cheaper there ,mostly baby clothes ,things like prams ,car seats for infants ,household items ..even including sending to Thailand it would be way cheaper

She then went and got a haircut and nearly had a heart attack at the cost ......

[MrRealDeal]

Funny how the way you phrase a question gets a completly different response ..... ask people if "thialand is cheaper " and they all say it is ...... ask them whats more expensive they say everything ! LOL

[NeverSure]

If I lived exactly the same life in LOS as I do in the US it would cost me more in LOS.

No offense to my friends in other Western countries, but most of the US is by far cheaper to live in than Canada or UK or Australia... There is a handful of very expensive places in the US of course, but goods and services are simply cheaper.

The way to live cheaper in LOS is to at least partly adopt the LOS lifestyle, and to live more rural. It is to do with less.

If someone wants to debate that, go ahead and list some prices for Western type and quality goods in LOS, and I'll post links to the same item for sale in the US. Or, post links to items at typical selling prices in the other Western countries and I'll post back links for the same in the US.

Let's do that 14" laptop computer I posted a day or two ago and asked about comparable prices. I got no response.

TOSHIBA Satellite L745-S4126 Notebook Intel Pentium B960(2.2GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 320GB HDD 5200rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics Windows 7 Home Premium installed.

$US349.99 free shipping. NO sales tax in my state. That's it. $349.99 - 10,750 Baht.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16834214599

Carry on...

Edited October 13, 2012 by NeverSure

[dazk]

bloody hell there's not enough room,well my cider in the uk.costs £10 to £13 a case of 24,here it cost me 2,400bht=about £49.then there's hp sauce,branston pickle,oxo cubes it goes on and on.

all the items you mention are about twice the price here so not too bad when you consider shipping costs, some one has to import the products so they have to make a buck

[chris1dna]

Since I live in the San Francisco bay area the cost of living is hugely higher than most of the US. I currently spend about 7-8k a month. So wouldn't it be safe to say that I would do fairly well on the 3-4k a month budget? One wife and one kid for international school in Chiang Mai. Or am I being completely unrealistic?

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[farang000999]

Since I live in the San Francisco bay area the cost of living is hugely higher than most of the US.

Well SF has a higher GPD than Thailand, so....

[NeverSure]

Since I live in the San Francisco bay area the cost of living is hugely higher than most of the US. I currently spend about 7-8k a month. So wouldn't it be safe to say that I would do fairly well on the 3-4k a month budget? One wife and one kid for international school in Chiang Mai. Or am I being completely unrealistic?

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I think you're being unrealistic, if you expect to maintain the same lifestyle. Check out the cost of the cars you are now driving in LOS. It's shocking. Remember, you can't own land in LOS so that's a dilemma. Build a home or buy one and it's on someone else's land. Sure, homes are expensive in SF, but you can't own real estate at all in LOS.

Private schools you'd want to use aren't cheap. The items your family is used to buying at the grocery store are very much more expensive, or aren't available, or can't be trusted for cleanliness and quality.

Yep, Kalifornicate is very expensive, and SF is among the worst, so you have a bit of advantage in comparing, but not enough. Now, if you had the $7 or 8k US in LOS, maybe you could do it. I say maybe becuase a lot of what you're family is used to simply isn't available and you'd have to import it at great cost.

[true blue]

you are doing a great job,about los being expensive, keep up the good work,shout it out a bit louder,put it on other forums,get it in the press if you can.it will help me immensly in my yearly visa visits, by reducing the number of people coming to los.

[akspace]

Since I live in the San Francisco bay area the cost of living is hugely higher than most of the US. I currently spend about 7-8k a month. So wouldn't it be safe to say that I would do fairly well on the 3-4k a month budget? One wife and one kid for international school in Chiang Mai. Or am I being completely unrealistic?

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I think you're being unrealistic, if you expect to maintain the same lifestyle. Check out the cost of the cars you are now driving in LOS. It's shocking. Remember, you can't own land in LOS so that's a dilemma. Build a home or buy one and it's on someone else's land. Sure, homes are expensive in SF, but you can't own real estate at all in LOS.

Private schools you'd want to use aren't cheap. The items your family is used to buying at the grocery store are very much more expensive, or aren't available, or can't be trusted for cleanliness and quality.

Yep, Kalifornicate is very expensive, and SF is among the worst, so you have a bit of advantage in comparing, but not enough. Now, if you had the $7 or 8k US in LOS, maybe you could do it. I say maybe becuase a lot of what you're family is used to simply isn't available and you'd have to import it at great cost.

Let be realistic, my friend owns a place in San Francisco (I rent) it ran him $700,000 (so the mortgage payments are around $3700/mo), the rent on a similar sized place (and quality) in Chiang Mai is 15,000 - 30,000 baht ($500 - $1000). So conservatively you are saving 60% on rent alone.

Now the cost of a car, you don't really need one in Chiang Mai, but even if you had one the costs are going to be about the same. You'll pay more in the initial purchase but there is less deprecation and maintenance is cheaper.

Next we have food, it's hard to go out and each for less then $8/pp in the Bay Area, realistically it's a lot more then that. So obviously eating out is cheaper in Chiang Mai. But how about the super market and cooking at home? I'm fairly frugal and it costs me $50/wk in groceries (but I also eat out every day for lunch). Now the costs scale with a family, so lets say $100/wk (most families I know are actually double to triple that). So again you are saving money in Thailand but how much depends entirely on the how much western food you want.

Finally we have the school expenses, this is the one case where Chiang Mai is more expensive then the bay area (assuming you are sending your kids to public school). The top international schools run from 250,000 - 500,000 baht a year, that comes out to ~20,000 - 42,000 a month. In the end this is what determines if it's cheaper in Thailand for a family with children.

Obviously given the budget he is suggesting $3000 - $4000/mo it will be extremely tight with tuition that high, but it will still be possible to have a comfortable lifestyle (just no savings). However with the $8000/mo they are living on at home they would be living very well.

But please, don't let facts ruin a good rant

[NeverSure]

Since I live in the San Francisco bay area the cost of living is hugely higher than most of the US. I currently spend about 7-8k a month. So wouldn't it be safe to say that I would do fairly well on the 3-4k a month budget? One wife and one kid for international school in Chiang Mai. Or am I being completely unrealistic?

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I think you're being unrealistic, if you expect to maintain the same lifestyle. Check out the cost of the cars you are now driving in LOS. It's shocking. Remember, you can't own land in LOS so that's a dilemma. Build a home or buy one and it's on someone else's land. Sure, homes are expensive in SF, but you can't own real estate at all in LOS.

Private schools you'd want to use aren't cheap. The items your family is used to buying at the grocery store are very much more expensive, or aren't available, or can't be trusted for cleanliness and quality.

Yep, Kalifornicate is very expensive, and SF is among the worst, so you have a bit of advantage in comparing, but not enough. Now, if you had the $7 or 8k US in LOS, maybe you could do it. I say maybe becuase a lot of what you're family is used to simply isn't available and you'd have to import it at great cost.

Let be realistic, my friend owns a place in San Francisco (I rent) it ran him $700,000 (so the mortgage payments are around $3700/mo), the rent on a similar sized place (and quality) in Chiang Mai is 15,000 - 30,000 baht ($500 - $1000). So conservatively you are saving 60% on rent alone.

Now the cost of a car, you don't really need one in Chiang Mai, but even if you had one the costs are going to be about the same. You'll pay more in the initial purchase but there is less deprecation and maintenance is cheaper.

Next we have food, it's hard to go out and each for less then $8/pp in the Bay Area, realistically it's a lot more then that. So obviously eating out is cheaper in Chiang Mai. But how about the super market and cooking at home? I'm fairly frugal and it costs me $50/wk in groceries (but I also eat out every day for lunch). Now the costs scale with a family, so lets say $100/wk (most families I know are actually double to triple that). So again you are saving money in Thailand but how much depends entirely on the how much western food you want.

Finally we have the school expenses, this is the one case where Chiang Mai is more expensive then the bay area (assuming you are sending your kids to public school). The top international schools run from 250,000 - 500,000 baht a year, that comes out to ~20,000 - 42,000 a month. In the end this is what determines if it's cheaper in Thailand for a family with children.

Obviously given the budget he is suggesting $3000 - $4000/mo it will be extremely tight with tuition that high, but it will still be possible to have a comfortable lifestyle (just no savings). However with the $8000/mo they are living on at home they would be living very well.

But please, don't let facts ruin a good rant

Well, I agree with most of what you said. I wouldn't just brush over the car thing though. A family from SF isn't going to be happy without a car, and even dropping to one car is lessening the standard of living. The price of cars in LOS is shocking to me, if not to others. Cars and gas are cheaper in the US than in other Western countries, and there's going to be a huge sticker shock.

Nothing is "the same." That's OK for those of us who really love LOS, but it's not for everyone. The wife and kids might want to go home after about a month. A lot of expats are single and even loners and answer to themselves only. I just can't agree that you can get the same housing for less than SF. The same housing doesn't exist because the infrastructure doesn't exist nor does the building type. I have yet to hear of a house for rent that's truly Western for 30k baht. Does it have central air conditioning and a double garage with garage door openers? When the humidity level number passes the temperature F number at about 99 degrees F, LOL he'll be wanting that central cooling. His wife and kid will think they need it. I can hear the grumbling now.

I sure wouldn't plan a budget with no savings. I don't like to live on the edge. Chit happens.

There's all of that money now, but how much of it gets spent getting visas and traveling and moving in and getting furniture and a car and a house and a scooter and... ?? My budget for all of that is $US60k and that's renting a house, not buying. I figure I'll drop $45k on a car and a bike and they won't be as nice as what I drive and ride in the US right now. It's just the truth.

I think there will have to be a significant reduction in lifestyle, or both he and his wife will need to teach English if they qualify.

[barefoot1988]

Since I live in the San Francisco bay area the cost of living is hugely higher than most of the US. I currently spend about 7-8k a month. So wouldn't it be safe to say that I would do fairly well on the 3-4k a month budget? One wife and one kid for international school in Chiang Mai. Or am I being completely unrealistic?

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if your 3-4k budget is inclusive of fees for your child education and rental, maybe doable but not fairly well imo. just car rental, house rental, international school fees could easily blown off your budget. of course if you already owned a car and house here, it should be very doable

[BabyJebus]

Since I live in the San Francisco bay area the cost of living is hugely higher than most of the US. I currently spend about 7-8k a month. So wouldn't it be safe to say that I would do fairly well on the 3-4k a month budget? One wife and one kid for international school in Chiang Mai. Or am I being completely unrealistic?

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I think you're being unrealistic, if you expect to maintain the same lifestyle. Check out the cost of the cars you are now driving in LOS. It's shocking. Remember, you can't own land in LOS so that's a dilemma. Build a home or buy one and it's on someone else's land. Sure, homes are expensive in SF, but you can't own real estate at all in LOS.

Private schools you'd want to use aren't cheap. The items your family is used to buying at the grocery store are very much more expensive, or aren't available, or can't be trusted for cleanliness and quality.

Yep, Kalifornicate is very expensive, and SF is among the worst, so you have a bit of advantage in comparing, but not enough. Now, if you had the $7 or 8k US in LOS, maybe you could do it. I say maybe becuase a lot of what you're family is used to simply isn't available and you'd have to import it at great cost.

Let be realistic, my friend owns a place in San Francisco (I rent) it ran him $700,000 (so the mortgage payments are around $3700/mo), the rent on a similar sized place (and quality) in Chiang Mai is 15,000 - 30,000 baht ($500 - $1000). So conservatively you are saving 60% on rent alone.

Now the cost of a car, you don't really need one in Chiang Mai, but even if you had one the costs are going to be about the same. You'll pay more in the initial purchase but there is less deprecation and maintenance is cheaper.

Next we have food, it's hard to go out and each for less then $8/pp in the Bay Area, realistically it's a lot more then that. So obviously eating out is cheaper in Chiang Mai. But how about the super market and cooking at home? I'm fairly frugal and it costs me $50/wk in groceries (but I also eat out every day for lunch). Now the costs scale with a family, so lets say $100/wk (most families I know are actually double to triple that). So again you are saving money in Thailand but how much depends entirely on the how much western food you want.

Finally we have the school expenses, this is the one case where Chiang Mai is more expensive then the bay area (assuming you are sending your kids to public school). The top international schools run from 250,000 - 500,000 baht a year, that comes out to ~20,000 - 42,000 a month. In the end this is what determines if it's cheaper in Thailand for a family with children.

Obviously given the budget he is suggesting $3000 - $4000/mo it will be extremely tight with tuition that high, but it will still be possible to have a comfortable lifestyle (just no savings). However with the $8000/mo they are living on at home they would be living very well.

But please, don't let facts ruin a good rant

Now change all of this and compare the bay area with living in the most expensive parts of bangkok and you got an accurate portrayal of the difference as chiang mai is the cheapest and smallest of the big cities in thailand.

Just a good school for 1 kid will run you 60-100k baht per month. A similar type of accomodation around 80-130k and the restaurants are gonna be around the same price.

[NeverSure]

Since I live in the San Francisco bay area the cost of living is hugely higher than most of the US. I currently spend about 7-8k a month. So wouldn't it be safe to say that I would do fairly well on the 3-4k a month budget? One wife and one kid for international school in Chiang Mai. Or am I being completely unrealistic?

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I think you're being unrealistic, if you expect to maintain the same lifestyle. Check out the cost of the cars you are now driving in LOS. It's shocking. Remember, you can't own land in LOS so that's a dilemma. Build a home or buy one and it's on someone else's land. Sure, homes are expensive in SF, but you can't own real estate at all in LOS.

Private schools you'd want to use aren't cheap. The items your family is used to buying at the grocery store are very much more expensive, or aren't available, or can't be trusted for cleanliness and quality.

Yep, Kalifornicate is very expensive, and SF is among the worst, so you have a bit of advantage in comparing, but not enough. Now, if you had the $7 or 8k US in LOS, maybe you could do it. I say maybe becuase a lot of what you're family is used to simply isn't available and you'd have to import it at great cost.

Let be realistic, my friend owns a place in San Francisco (I rent) it ran him $700,000 (so the mortgage payments are around $3700/mo), the rent on a similar sized place (and quality) in Chiang Mai is 15,000 - 30,000 baht ($500 - $1000). So conservatively you are saving 60% on rent alone.

Now the cost of a car, you don't really need one in Chiang Mai, but even if you had one the costs are going to be about the same. You'll pay more in the initial purchase but there is less deprecation and maintenance is cheaper.

Next we have food, it's hard to go out and each for less then $8/pp in the Bay Area, realistically it's a lot more then that. So obviously eating out is cheaper in Chiang Mai. But how about the super market and cooking at home? I'm fairly frugal and it costs me $50/wk in groceries (but I also eat out every day for lunch). Now the costs scale with a family, so lets say $100/wk (most families I know are actually double to triple that). So again you are saving money in Thailand but how much depends entirely on the how much western food you want.

Finally we have the school expenses, this is the one case where Chiang Mai is more expensive then the bay area (assuming you are sending your kids to public school). The top international schools run from 250,000 - 500,000 baht a year, that comes out to ~20,000 - 42,000 a month. In the end this is what determines if it's cheaper in Thailand for a family with children.

Obviously given the budget he is suggesting $3000 - $4000/mo it will be extremely tight with tuition that high, but it will still be possible to have a comfortable lifestyle (just no savings). However with the $8000/mo they are living on at home they would be living very well.

But please, don't let facts ruin a good rant

Now change all of this and compare the bay area with living in the most expensive parts of bangkok and you got an accurate portrayal of the difference as chiang mai is the cheapest and smallest of the big cities in thailand.

Just a good school for 1 kid will run you 60-100k baht per month. A similar type of accomodation around 80-130k and the restaurants are gonna be around the same price.

I agree. Many Californians actually retire to Oregon. If living off retirement funds, having no sales tax is a huge plus. Homes are about 1/2 price in most areas, maybe less. Schools are good and they're free as in paid by property taxes. I don't have kids in school but I still pay those taxes, so everyone chips in for school.

A new car? No sales tax, and license and registration is $160 for 4 years no matter the value of the car. Buy a new car for invoice when there's a great factory rebate, and you get it way back of invoice. No California emissions junk either.

For your groceries and sundries you still have Costco and Wal Mart and you catch the sales at Safeway etc. Gas is still under $4 US gallon here too.

I'm absolutely conviced that I can't even find this lifestyle in Thailand because it's a third world country. That doesn't mean it's bad or that I don't want it, it's just not for everyone especially maybe your wife and kid.

Oh, and you can actually work in the US. Don't kid yourself. Economically, moving to Thailand isn't all about saving any money. You could move to a very small and rural Oregon town and live cheaply if you were willing to do without a car and and cable TV full of English language channels and...

[isawasnake]

I was thinking about buying a nice watch recently, which I decided against. But it blew me away that the difference in cost between buying here vs the US would have been about the same as a RT plane ticket to the US.

I don't think Thais know how to think personally. I guess it is all corruption and ineffable BS, but my synthesis is that Thais focus on short term dollars, and have no concept of what it takes to truly run a successful business, economy or anything. Why is there nothing like a "globalized" Thai version of say Ikea? Because they don't think right. It is all about the short term, how can I make more money right now. In a couple hundred years hopefully they will realize that actually satisfying customers, as opposed to robbing them, is the way to make real money.

Edited October 13, 2012 by isawasnake

[jackspratt]

Dont forget the schools and hospitals. 800$ per month for an average school no where near as good as any small free school in my city. Shitty hospitals filled with people who cheated on their exams that charge a lot.

Thailand is expensive. Some people have said it already they are here for the lifestyle. Those who keep trying to argue that thailand is still cheaper than most countries are just sexpats trying to cover up subconciously.

What judgmental, bigoted nonsense.

BTW, how much does it cost to send your kid to a private school in Canada - particularly a Thai one?

edit - spelling.

Edited October 13, 2012 by jackspratt

[NeverSure]

Did anyone mention buying health insurance for a family? Sure it's cheaper than the US, but it all adds up.

[guzzi850m2]

Dont forget the schools and hospitals. 800$ per month for an average school no where near as good as any small free school in my city. Shitty hospitals filled with people who cheated on their exams that charge a lot.

Thailand is expensive. Some people have said it already they are here for the lifestyle. Those who keep trying to argue that thailand is still cheaper than most countries are just sexpats trying to cover up subconciously.

What judgemental, bigoted nonsense.

BTW, how much does it cost to send your kid private school in Canada - particularly a Thai one?

Correct this guy is only talking bullshit, don't know if he live in Thailand or not. If he do I fell sorry for him.

I have medical insurance for the 3 of us(wife-boy-me) cost me 60K bath pr year, 30mill bath coverage.

School for the boy (pre-kindergarten) 5000 bath pr month, will go up to app. 10K bath pr month when start in grade 1, why use

in international school? Can not attend most universities in Thailand if you go on an international school.

[BabyJebus]

Dont forget the schools and hospitals. 800$ per month for an average school no where near as good as any small free school in my city. Shitty hospitals filled with people who cheated on their exams that charge a lot.

Thailand is expensive. Some people have said it already they are here for the lifestyle. Those who keep trying to argue that thailand is still cheaper than most countries are just sexpats trying to cover up subconciously.

What judgmental, bigoted nonsense.

BTW, how much does it cost to send your kid to a private school in Canada - particularly a Thai one?

edit - spelling.

It would cost you going to prison as the curriculum from thai schools would be deemed child abuse. You would know that if you had kids.

A regular private school will only set you back 65-100k baht per year in canada. Thats the price per month for most private school in thailand for a 3year old child in pre-school. A full on boarding school in Canada will set you back a little more but it will definately be worth it if you chose to go that route. The governement instead of spending their tax on a new ferarri or condo in phuket use the money to help parents save money on private schooling.

I love all those sexpats calling me names when all it is asked from you is to give an exact item and its price to prove that thailand is cheaper for even quality products.

[Heng]

For me, all of the higher material costs (whether it's wine, cheese, or X6's) are insignificant compared to what I can buy/utilize labor wise and thus create much more value/wealth through tasks delegated to employees. In fact it's the whole system here that allows me not to have to feel too strongly one way or the other about here (home) or there (also home). If my kids want to go to school here, great. If they want to study abroad, fine.

Edited October 13, 2012 by Heng

[BabyJebus]

Thai doctors outside of surgery are not anywhere close to the bottom 10% of doctors from western countries. That's just like thinking a burmese laborer can give good advices to a contractor of 50 years for luxury projects in the west.

Almost every thai doctors i have dealt with had very little knowledge without looking through a bunch of books or FAQ lists. Those that did were spewing nonsense. Only met a few good ones in bangkok but they werent educated in thailand.

Edited October 13, 2012 by BabyJebus

[Rob8891]

Thai doctors outside of surgery are not anywhere close to the bottom 10% of doctors from western countries. That's just like thinking a burmese laborer can give good advices to a contractor of 50 years for luxury projects in the west.

Almost every thai doctors i have dealt with had very little knowledge without looking through a bunch of books or FAQ lists. Those that did were spewing nonsense. Only met a few good ones in bangkok but they werent educated in thailand.

better go and see one of them ASAP.... it seems your bilious attack isn't clearing up.