Is There Anything Cheap In Thailand Now ?

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Pretty much the only thing that I miss back home these days is the food, but I am probably better off without all the temptations.

yeah I hear you. Alcohol is cheaper like red wine, lots of tempting foods, Medical marijuana.

There are lots of things I like when I go back.

Safe roads, Clean air, fair competition, better parks and recreation choices. real sidewalks and trails. In general better choices for the health conscious. less stinky gross stuff like open sewage canals.

I'm lucky though because I split my time between Lake Tahoe and Palm Springs.. Which are both shiny diamonds compared to CM. What a contrast.

[akspace]

I don't know how people can claim the US is cheap, have they not been back recently?

I'm paying 40,000 baht for a small one bedroom apartment. A cheap lunch runs me 240 baht (nothing to drink, takeout only). A sit down dinner with a couple of drinks runs at least 1,500 baht. Internet/TV are about 6000 baht together. My grocery bill runs 1500 baht a week and that is only for 7 or 8 meals! I got a pizza Saturday night, it cost over 1000 baht and it was only 8 slices!

I can basically live a tourist lifestyle in Thailand for less then it costs me to live in the US...

[banglay]

I retired early 11 yrs ago aged 44.......I took a reduced pension option and lived off that and other investment incomes ...I lived in a nice large 3 bedroom house in a very good location I ran a new 4x4 SUV and ate out a couple of times a week and hit the pud 3 times a week ... and after 4 year living this life style I did not manage save a single penny and even started to break into my nest egg.

Then 5 1/2 years ago I sold up and moved to Thailand I now live in and own(via a company name ) a new 3 bedroom villa with a swimming pool&spa on a large plot with a seaview I run a new SUV, 2 motorbikes I eat out most days and drink when and as much as I want and I can now SAVE 40% of my income every

month so yes for me Thailand is still cheap and I'll remain here for the foreseeable future.

[sprq]

Beer, food and clothes have pretty much stayed the same IMO. I remember paying 70 baht for a bottle of beer down walking street 10 years ago. 45 baht for spicy chicken n rice. The exchange rate has gone crap though.

Where is this enclave in Thailand where prices have stayed the same? What time warp have you dropped into? Food is double the price, or even more, that it was 10 years ago, beer is up by almost the same amount, etc. etc. What wonderland have you found?

[newermonkey]

Q: Is There Anything Cheap In Thailand Now ?

A: LIFE

[meatboy]

I retired early 11 yrs ago aged 44.......I took a reduced pension option and lived off that and other investment incomes ...I lived in a nice large 3 bedroom house in a very good location I ran a new 4x4 SUV and ate out a couple of times a week and hit the pud 3 times a week ... and after 4 year living this life style I did not manage save a single penny and even started to break into my nest egg.

Then 5 1/2 years ago I sold up and moved to Thailand I now live in and own(via a company name ) a new 3 bedroom villa with a swimming pool&spa on a large plot with a seaview I run a new SUV, 2 motorbikes I eat out most days and drink when and as much as I want and I can now SAVE 40% of my income every

month so yes for me Thailand is still cheap and I'll remain here for the foreseeable future.

so you havnt got a th.wf. yet

[pompeyabroad]

NeverSure, on 27 Mar 2013 - 05:53, said:

Thailand has several competing chains. Tesco, which is UK based hasn't made ghost towns out of Thailand. I observe Thailand as have lots of private people with their own businesses, going head to head with Tesco, and of course on a smaller scale.

Have McDonalds or Burger King or KFC ruined the street vendors or the private restaurants? Where do the "rich" eat?

-

Tesco, Makro Big C etc have definitely had a huge impact on the mom & pop retail sector here, are basically kept afloat due to the high cost of transport for very poor who buy day-to-day within walking distance of their home.

The western fast-food chains are completely unaffordable for most Thais, that is where the (younger) rich people eat, definitely a high-end rare special treat for most people supporting the street-food vendors.

Obviously the rich eat wherever they like, probably more in their own homes than everyone else since they have a large household staff doing the shopping cooking etc. and don't care that doing it that way is more expensive than eating out.

Not saying any of this is a bad thing, just pointing out your misconceptions.

Mcdonals meals are cheaper in Singapore and KL now!

[Suradit69]

Air con units are very reasonably priced,and effective.

as long as you dont use them

Move to Australia - we'll show you what a REAL electricity bill looks like. I posted figures showing just how little you pay for electricity in Thailand - a few cents per kw/H compared to 10 times that figure in Oz - but I guess we will all get a shock when the days of the coal-powered electricity plants come to an end.

"...but I guess we will all get a shock when the days of the coal-powered electricity plants come to an end."

In Thailand? I thought they were mostly gas-powered, which is why Burma cutting us off in April was getting everyone's knickers in a knot about electricity shortages. Or was that a reference for worse things to come in Oz?

for what it's worth:

Consumer Prices in Thailand are 4.77% lower than in Cambodia

Consumer Prices Including Rent in Thailand are 10.13% higher than in Cambodia

Rent Prices in Thailand are 95.57% higher than in Cambodia

Restaurant Prices in Thailand are 0.89% higher than in Cambodia

Groceries Prices in Thailand are 7.70% lower than in Cambodia

Local Purchasing Power in Thailand is 132.23% higher than in Cambodia

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Cambodia&country2=Thailand

Consumer Prices in Thailand are 46.78% lower than in United Kingdom

Consumer Prices Including Rent in Thailand are 47.32% lower than in United Kingdom

Rent Prices in Thailand are 48.79% lower than in United Kingdom

Restaurant Prices in Thailand are 71.68% lower than in United Kingdom

Groceries Prices in Thailand are 33.94% lower than in United Kingdom

Local Purchasing Power in Thailand is 59.94% lower than in United Kingdom

Indexes Difference

Consumer Prices in Thailand are 34.68% lower than in United States

Consumer Prices Including Rent in Thailand are 37.90% lower than in United States

Rent Prices in Thailand are 45.42% lower than in United States

Restaurant Prices in Thailand are 62.01% lower than in United States

Groceries Prices in Thailand are 26.81% lower than in United States

Local Purchasing Power in Thailand is 73.97% lower than in United States

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

it's less of a deal than it used to be.

I am looking at a house outside Merced which is in the central valley of California and not far from Stockton which is cheaper than my condo in CM.

Not exactly a top shelf area but it's not all NYC and SF prices there.

And the buyers are really snapping up properties. Just saw a MSNBC story about how hedge funds are buying properties in the US and outbidding many regular buyers.

Edited March 27, 2013 by CobraSnakeNecktie

[FunFon]

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The western fast-food chains are completely unaffordable for most Thais, that is where the (younger) rich people eat, definitely a high-end rare special treat for most people supporting the street-food vendors.

-

Funny because when I walk in to McD's seems full of Thais to me. And what of the massive line ups for Fuji? Do we think that no Thai's can afford to eat there? I am quite sure the people I sit in line with are all speaking Thai and seem to be Thai. What an absurd statement, bold and with out facts

-

You've heard of the word "most" right? Nothing I said has anything to do with foreigners, we are totally insignificant statistically when talking about the population of the entire country.

Most Thais make well under 15,000 a month.

I reckon 99% of the Thais you see paying for meals at fast food places (or their family member giving them pocket money) make well over that.

Maybe 20% of the population make double that, say 30,000 a month, and I'd say that's the floor for occasionally eating out at places like Fuji.

Over 100K per month, now you're probably in the 1-2% range. And keep in mind that every truly wealthy person is probably sponsoring several dozen people besides employees, in those top-spending brackets.

However note that may well be a million families, so plenty of Thai customers for the high end.

All of this WAGs of course, but if anything I think I'm being conservative, percentages above being high, income quoted actually lower.

People who live in Bangkok and the resort areas will always have a skewed impression of the nation as a whole, not to mention working professionals who hardly ever socialize with the average common people (as defined above, IOW dirt poor).

Edited March 27, 2013 by FunFon

[BlueSmurf]

The OP was not comparing living here with the UK but asking where else in Thailand is cheaper or cheapest to live. The pound is virtually at an all time low. Rent and property has gone up. So whete in Thailand can you still get a good deal fun place and no Smog!!

[Chicken George]

Yes up here in the North its still a fun place to be. Prices are a lot more expensive for property and a good rental property is hard to find unless you move out of the city a fair way.. I know some still have a good deal but not many.. The pound and Euro are dead compared to before and nothing we can do other than cut down on the beer and eating out and travelling.. But the worst thing is the Smog! So where else in Thailand and has an airport no smog and simular to Chiang Rai? Even my chickens look ill now..

[NeverSure]

Shaving foam, gillette blades, and also deodorant strike me as being out of proportion with other goods when it comes to price.

For the price of 4 Mach 3 blades you can have an hour of loving with a hot Asian girl.

I'm pretty sure they're not on parity in Western countries.

I haven't bought that there - always take enough to last. But here's a couple of prices in USD. 12 blades for 557 baht, US$18.99 Link

How does that compare? Fortunately for me they last a long time.

[FunFon]

"...but I guess we will all get a shock when the days of the coal-powered electricity plants come to an end."

In Thailand? I thought they were mostly gas-powered, which is why Burma cutting us off in April was getting everyone's knickers in a knot about electricity shortages. Or was that a reference for worse things to come in Oz?

-

Thailand is currently very heavily committed to gas, but coal's still a huge source, and they're going to have to go back to that over the next decade as their domestic gas supplies are running out and won't want to be dependent on their much-mutually-beloved neighbors.

Can't see electric prices going up here any slower than back home. . .

Edited March 27, 2013 by FunFon

[drdoom6996]

i live 35 minutes from pattaya, we have one townhouse and one single house we rent out for 4000/5000 baht a month . if you leave pattaya and look at the other surrounding areas you will find cheap rent. you can also get cheap meals from the locals.

I live in Banglamung, even closer to Pattaya, in a 2 BR/Bath Condo on the beach.13K, ready to go. Been here 2 years now.

[MrWorldwide]

Where does the 'middle class' start in Thailand ? My guess is that it's somewhere around the 100K baht combined household income per month - before dismissing that figure, feel free to provide your own. It's not that long ago that 100K per month was considered quite a good expat salary in BKK - again, feel free to laugh, but that figure was routinely thrown around on another board in 2002. You could double that now and some would still mock you - seems that BKK is full of expat zillionaires !

Yes, I know there are Western-style billionaires in Bangkok - I read the same lists you do - but for the 'average' Thai 100K a month must seem like a complete fantasy. Happy to hear otherwise.

(btw, I consider anyone who can afford to buy a BMW outright in Thailand 'rich' - if that is where your middle-class starts, then clearly 100K just isnt going to cut it ...)

[HerbalEd]

Wanna live a lot cheaper in Thailand? Then get out of BKK, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui and all other big cities and tourist places, and get out into the countryside. Even so ... Thailand is still a bargain when compared to USA, Oz/NZ, Europe. Yeah there are places significantly cheaper than Thailand but you don't generally get the same quality of life.

What I find amusing is all the Thai bashers on TV who constantly complain about Thais, Thai culture, and the prices .... and yet still freely choose to be here. I'm guessing that these people would bitch and be unhappy where ever they are, so it's not really Thailand they're complaining about ... it's themselves and their life they really hate.

[srn89]

I'm still living in UK, I was in Thailand a few weeks ago, it is still a LOT cheaper than the UK and a much better lifestyle. I'm paying £75 a month for gas and electric and that's with the cheapest company. The prices are rising every six months. The Winters are getting colder and longer. It's Easter this coming weekend and the temperature today is 3C with windchill factor feels like -1C. Therefore my heating is on higher, longer and costing me more money. Petrol is £1.40 plus per gallon and rising. Wages are not going up, people are losing their jobs and benefits are being cut. The Government are slowly privatising the NHS so we will have to start paying for elements of that too before long. Pension payouts are getting smaller whilst we have to pay more and work longer to get this reduced amount. Pensioners are getting poorer. The weekly shopping bill is rising too plus council tax goes up every year. Interest rates are flat, banks are paying themselves huge bonuses with tax payers' bailout money but not loaning businesses anything. Are you sure you would be better off here? I've only skimmed the surface of what's happening to the average person in the UK. It is not good

I think you meant to say ''Petrol is 1.40 ( One Pound Forty a LITRE )

[Wossnext]

^^ A pint of real beer on par with a UK beer is more like 200-300 baht here, so £4-£6, and you're comparing London prices don't forget, plus those prices have typically always been in that region. While stuff has gone up the world over, it has gone up exponentially here, currency anomalies notwithstanding. Fuel, as an example, is 3-500% from 10 years ago. Only things that are still cheap is food (on the street), rent and cheap plastic tat from China.

well if you consider rent to be cheap then there is your answer, rent in western countries is the outgoing that most working people struggle with more than anything else. It is astronomical in the UK! So if you have cheap rent then you are 90% sorted.

[MrWorldwide]

The OP was not comparing living here with the UK but asking where else in Thailand is cheaper or cheapest to live. The pound is virtually at an all time low. Rent and property has gone up. So whete in Thailand can you still get a good deal fun place and no Smog!!

That depends on your definition of a 'fun place'. I'm told Saphan Kwai is *much* cheaper than the Farang bar areas - both in terms of drinks and company - but nothing I've read about the place has ever motivated me to go there. Also not a fan of hanging out in dark karaoke bars drinking Thai whiskey with an almost 100% Thai crowd, but I could definitely save some serious cash by doing exactly that - even in a tourist trap like Hua Hin. Most Thais simply wont - and in many cases, can't - pay the prices we pay.

[MrWorldwide]

Wanna live a lot cheaper in Thailand? Then get out of BKK, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui and all other big cities and tourist places, and get out into the countryside. Even so ... Thailand is still a bargain when compared to USA, Oz/NZ, Europe. Yeah there are places significantly cheaper than Thailand but you don't generally get the same quality of life.

What I find amusing is all the Thai bashers on TV who constantly complain about Thais, Thai culture, and the prices .... and yet still freely choose to be here. I'm guessing that these people would bitch and be unhappy where ever they are, so it's not really Thailand they're complaining about ... it's themselves and their life they really hate.

Yep - Naam, myself and a few others have made exactly that point in several threads. Might as well run headlong at brick walls for all the good it will do.

[JSixpack]

Shaving foam, gillette blades, and also deodorant strike me as being out of proportion with other goods when it comes to price.

For the price of 4 Mach 3 blades you can have an hour of loving with a hot Asian girl.

I'm pretty sure they're not on parity in Western countries.

I haven't bought that there - always take enough to last. But here's a couple of prices in USD. 12 blades for 557 baht, US$18.99 Link

How does that compare? Fortunately for me they last a long time.

How about 100 DE blades for 200 baht from a Thai beauty supply?

Good info in these topics on the whole question:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/447351-gillette-fusion/page-6?hl=%2Bgillette+%2Bfusion#entry5987616

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/561529-quality-budget-disposable-razors-anti-perspirant-that-works/page-5?hl=%2Bgillette+%2Bfusion#entry5517238

[super22k]

I think it is hilarious that a bottle of beer has become the central judging point for comparing currencies and the cost of living.Its enough to turn you to drink.

[Naam]

"...but I guess we will all get a shock when the days of the coal-powered electricity plants come to an end."

In Thailand? I thought they were mostly gas-powered, which is why Burma cutting us off in April was getting everyone's knickers in a knot about electricity shortages. Or was that a reference for worse things to come in Oz?

-

Thailand is currently very heavily committed to gas, but coal's still a huge source, and they're going to have to go back to that over the next decade as their domestic gas supplies are running out and won't want to be dependent on their much-mutually-beloved neighbors.

Can't see electric prices going up here any slower than back home. . .

i am here since 8½ years. till a year ago electricity did not increase. but then in my case (heavy consumer) total cost per kWh went from 4.05 Baht to 4.71 Baht, an increase of ~16% or linear of ~2% per annum.

in my home country Germany, during the same period, the price for one kWh increased from € 0.118 to € 0.234, an increase of ~102% !

[Phronesis]

Where does the 'middle class' start in Thailand ? My guess is that it's somewhere around the 100K baht combined household income per month - before dismissing that figure, feel free to provide your own. It's not that long ago that 100K per month was considered quite a good expat salary in BKK - again, feel free to laugh, but that figure was routinely thrown around on another board in 2002. You could double that now and some would still mock you - seems that BKK is full of expat zillionaires !

Yes, I know there are Western-style billionaires in Bangkok - I read the same lists you do - but for the 'average' Thai 100K a month must seem like a complete fantasy. Happy to hear otherwise.

(btw, I consider anyone who can afford to buy a BMW outright in Thailand 'rich' - if that is where your middle-class starts, then clearly 100K just isnt going to cut it ...)

In view of the fact that you neither live nor work here...I will ignore your comments on the Thai middle class entirely...

[how241]

Air con units are very reasonably priced,and effective.

as long as you dont use them

+1

[metaben]

Dating is cheap.

Movies 400B

Diner 200B

Taxi home 60B

Bottle of Spy 30B

In Paris : 3000B at the very least and no guaranties

I made a spread sheet once and compared my expenses here and what it would cost me in Paris, it's exactly 35% of the price, for the same quality of life, in Bangkok.

[FunFon]

Where does the 'middle class' start in Thailand ?

-

Totally arbitrary.

Myself I'd say where a family thinks they can afford a car, often as low as 25K or so for singles.

100K is a very small percentage of the population, IMO very much upper middle if not lower upper.

This is assuming the international use of "class" meaning monetary and job status only, not the British version which includes family background, "breeding", manners whatever other BS.

[jinners]

Everything is dirt cheap here compared to UK! Except for imported goods...

I came over from london.

Rent is now £200 per month compared to £900.

Meal with drinks in a restaurant £10 compared to £30.

Taxi £1-2 compared with £5-10.

Pint of Beer is £1.40 compared to £4.50.

I think people forget who have been here a while that UK prices rocket too...

Agreed, 100% having just been visiting for a couple of weeks I honestly understand why everyone is moaning over there. It still must be very hard here now, with a fixed income (pension) I saw exactly the same thing happen in Spain with the Euro rate. Aussies OK for now but who knows what the future will bring?!!

[LburtonL]

Everything is dirt cheap here compared to UK! Except for imported goods...

I came over from london.

Rent is now £200 per month compared to £900.

Meal with drinks in a restaurant £10 compared to £30.

Taxi £1-2 compared with £5-10.

Pint of Beer is £1.40 compared to £4.50.

I think people forget who have been here a while that UK prices rocket too...

it's bcz most people on TV are 60+, like to complain with alzheimer disease