Saving Money In Thailand (Bangkok) Tips?

[TheSpade]

Hey,

So in a couple of weeks time I'll move to BKK for 6 or more months.

I've been before and spent a good amount of time in both the country as a whole and specifically BKK (months on end just in BKK for eg) but always as a tourist with a decent enough budget to live well enough.

This time I'm on a fairly tight budget of no more than 48,000B per month (preferably less) and looking for some money saving tips.

I'll be getting an apartment under 10,000B a month, trying not to use the aircon too much to save on bills, sticking to Thai food as much as possible and trying to limit the drinking (always my biggest expense) and night outs.

What else can I do to save money? Any good money saving tips that you have?

[jcgodber]

Don't live in Bangkok way too expensive for your budget. Look up country.

good luck.

[TheSpade]

Don't live in Bangkok way too expensive for your budget. Look up country.

good luck.

I'm 100% staying in BKK.

[Stradavarius37]

Stay away from alcohol and hookers...

[TheSpade]

Stay away from alcohol and hookers...

I've got no interest in hookers though I do like to drink, party and will be doing a fair bit of dating but I'll just need to limit how often.

Edited June 16, 2013 by TheSpade

[balo]

So after rent it will leave you with 38k , more than enough to have a good life in BKK:

How to save money ?

Use the local bus instead of BTS / MRT , cost 8 to 13 baht per trip. . Eat thai food , try to avoid Thai women and enjoy life.

[GooEng]

Takes me back to my early days in bangers this - drink at home before you go out to get a head on then just have a couple in the pub. Don't squander money on western food. live near BTS/MRT and avoid taxis. I think for 10k a month you should be able to get a decent small but clean studio (a room basically) including paying all your bills with an Internet line if there no wifi in the building.

[boosta]

Note that if you think you can afford B48K, your initial setup costs are going to be a big chunk, so better to limit yourself to say B36.

Most important is to reduce as much as possible the mandatory every-month fixed costs. For example, why B10,000 when you can find a decent clean place with air for B4,000? Your B10K place most likely won't have a decent kitchen and isn't going to impress the ladies anyway. Look for a place with good ventilation and get a swinging floor fan, so you only need to run the air in particularly hot periods.

If you want to eat healthy cook yourself, get a decent fridge, microwave and hotplate and head down to Klong Toei to buy basics there - lots of fruit and veg, fish pork chicken all very very cheap, in fact for a single person you'll need to take the bus there or your car fare will be more than you can spend on 3-4 days worth of food.

If you don't mind the salt/fat/msg of street food, then don't even get a fridge, a decent-sized cooler and 7B per day for a bag of ice will suffice.

Get a stand for those big water bottles and arrange for weekly delivery service, should be <B25 per bottle all up.

Unless you're addicted to watching sports or current shows, skip having a TV or cable service, rots your brain anyway you can get all you need via the net, 3MB service is fine if you use a good downloader overnight, pause/resume features etc.

Get to know the bus system - Google Maps is excellent. Time your trips when you can to avoid the worst traffic. Actually best IMO is to live along the river, cheaper than the inner BTS/MRT areas but you still have access by river ferry to most of the city, via Saphan Taksin to the BTS as well. Definitely avoid areas with lots of farang and start seriously learning Thai as quickly as possible.

Talk to the locals about pricing, for the first few years I lived here I cut my expenses by 20-30% every six months. One of the biggest pains is figuring out where to buy stuff, TV.com is good for advice, google first of course.

IMO dating nice girls is more expensive than the alternatives but of course that's up to you.

[TheSpade]

So after rent it will leave you with 38k , more than enough to have a good life in BKK:

How to save money ?

Use the local bus instead of BTS / MRT , cost 8 to 13 baht per trip. . Eat thai food , try to avoid Thai women and enjoy life.

Yeah it seems like it should be doable. I mean someone on the minimum wage in the UK only makes around £900 or 43,000B per month and whilst they will struggle they can live off it so in BKK it's definitely doable.

Takes me back to my early days in bangers this - drink at home before you go out to get a head on then just have a couple in the pub. Don't squander money on western food. live near BTS/MRT and avoid taxis. I think for 10k a month you should be able to get a decent small but clean studio (a room basically) including paying all your bills with an Internet line if there no wifi in the building.

Yeah I looked back at what I spent a lot of money on last time in BKK and sitting in bars drinking single beers all night despite how cheap most of them are eats up a lot of money. Where as if I grab a cheap bottle of whisky, some ice and mixers and pre-drink in the apartment before going out later on should save a fortune.

I've found plenty of places online aimed at tourists for 10k and under so there will be hundreds more without a web presence for similar prices and much lower. Also had a Thai I know scout some places out and she's found some seemingly good places.

Note that if you think you can afford B48K, your initial setup costs are going to be a big chunk, so better to limit yourself to say B36.

Most important is to reduce as much as possible the mandatory every-month fixed costs. For example, why B10,000 when you can find a decent clean place with air for B4,000? Your B10K place most likely won't have a decent kitchen and isn't going to impress the ladies anyway. Look for a place with good ventilation and get a swinging floor fan, so you only need to run the air in particularly hot periods.

If you want to eat healthy cook yourself, get a decent fridge, microwave and hotplate and head down to Klong Toei to buy basics there - lots of fruit and veg, fish pork chicken all very very cheap, in fact for a single person you'll need to take the bus there or your car fare will be more than you can spend on 3-4 days worth of food.

If you don't mind the salt/fat/msg of street food, then don't even get a fridge, a decent-sized cooler and 7B per day for a bag of ice will suffice.

Get a stand for those big water bottles and arrange for weekly delivery service, should be <B25 per bottle all up.

Unless you're addicted to watching sports or current shows, skip having a TV or cable service, rots your brain anyway you can get all you need via the net, 3MB service is fine if you use a good downloader overnight, pause/resume features etc.

Get to know the bus system - Google Maps is excellent. Time your trips when you can to avoid the worst traffic. Actually best IMO is to live along the river, cheaper than the inner BTS/MRT areas but you still have access by river ferry to most of the city, via Saphan Taksin to the BTS as well. Definitely avoid areas with lots of farang and start seriously learning Thai as quickly as possible.

Talk to the locals about pricing, for the first few years I lived here I cut my expenses by 20-30% every six months. One of the biggest pains is figuring out where to buy stuff, TV.com is good for advice, google first of course.

IMO dating nice girls is more expensive than the alternatives but of course that's up to you.

What initial set up costs? I don't think there will be many. I'm finding plenty of pre-furnished apartments online for under 10k a month that have all mod cons, i.e. air con, wifi, fridge and so on.

I'm not bothered about impressing the ladies but I want somewhere that is decent for myself and I don't think I'll find that for 4k but I could be wrong.

Kitchen is a consideration but obviously that increases rent whilst in theory decreasing food bills. I guess I need to tall up how much kitchen + food shopping will compare with no kitchen and thai food every night.

Don't even watch TV here so that's not of a concern.

Speak a bit of basic Thai already.

Dating is definitely not more expensive for me. I don't partake in the P4P scene but I know from what I read online about the costs (bar fines, lady drinks + the girls fee you'd be talking easily 3,000B, right?) and last year when I was in BKK I'd usually spend about 1-2k on dates depending if my date chipped in for the bill.

Thanks fore the advice guys.

Edited June 16, 2013 by TheSpade

[samran]

Health insurance hasn't been mentioned...

[Mighty Mouse]

It seems that you intend to live a very basic existence whilst in Bangers, so if you're already in the habit of being careful with your money, you should be OK.

You need to keep in mind that you are NOT a tourist. That way should you go out partying with your touristy mates, you won't try to match their holiday fun drinking habits. That means, if you want to go out at night to the bright light areas, buying your alcohol in the least expensive beer bars.

Do your own laundry, walk to your destinations as much as possible and I suggest that finding some good, Thai food outlets, is cheaper than buying your food and cooking at home.

[boosta]

What initial set up costs? I don't think there will be many. I'm finding plenty of pre-furnished apartments online for under 10k a month that have all mod cons, i.e. air con, wifi, fridge and so on.

I'm not bothered about impressing the ladies but I want somewhere that is decent for myself and I don't think I'll find that for 4k but I could be wrong.

Kitchen is a consideration but obviously that increases rent whilst in theory decreasing food bills. I guess I need to tall up how much kitchen + food shopping will compare with no kitchen and thai food every night.

-

As I pointed out, the key factor with food is the degree you're conscious of health issues, eating commercially prepared food is IMO not that great more than a few times a week. The cost part is up to you, in our house seven+ people get by on B150-200 per day.

You didn't mention the time factor though, are you working? If so what kind of schedule?

And how long are you intending to stay? Lowering your rent and buying appliances is IMO a worthwhile tradeoff, to the point that I've bought my own air-conditioners since my second year here.

Don't rely on their wi-fi if internet is important to you, confirm you can have your own dedicated wired account brought in, ideally by the vendor of your choice.

Dating is definitely not more expensive for me. I don't partake in the P4P scene but I know from what I read online about the costs (bar fines, lady drinks + the girls fee you'd be talking easily 3,000B, right?) and last year when I was in BKK I'd usually spend about 1-2k on dates depending if my date chipped in for the bill.

-

The P4P scene here doesn't have hard-line boundaries, lots of grey areas part of Thai culture they don't consider prostitution but judgmental farang might.

The extra costs you cite are 100% avoidable, and once you learn Thai, just covering a girl's rent 4-5K/mo should be plenty if you're not too old, fat, ugle and/or obnoxious 8-). A bit more for live-in but then of course it gets more complicated.

However if you're young and hansum you may well want to play it straight, might be productive I wouldn't know. Just realize you're pretty darn poor relative to your competition for the good ones these days, and that factor is a lot more blatantly important here than it would be back home.

Edited June 17, 2013 by boosta

[nottocus]

Stay away from alcohol and hookers...

I've got no interest in hookers though I do like to drink, party and will be doing a fair bit of dating but I'll just need to limit how often.

Dating will cost you more than hookers.

[jackr]

Buy a Kindle and read read read if you're a thumb-twiddler and usually spend spare time in the boozer. Eat a big meal before you go out drinking (buy a rice cooker with steamer tray and steam chicken/veggies-10 mins ), and avoid going out with a raging thirst... drink a gallon of water and you'll be too bloated to guzzle flagons of beer.

As you say, last place I'd scrimp on too much is the digs... one needs to be at least semi-comfortable in a semi-decent area with as few undesirables around as possible that a cheapo place would typically attract, or what's the point.

Edited June 17, 2013 by jackr

[robblok]

Stay away from alcohol and hookers...

I've got no interest in hookers though I do like to drink, party and will be doing a fair bit of dating but I'll just need to limit how often.

Dating will cost you more than hookers.

Kinda depends who you date and how desirable you are yourself. If your 60 and you want to date 20 year olds you better bring money. If your in the same age group and look nice its a whole lot cheaper. One of my friends is 20 and goes to uni.. he dates real cuties and they pay too. I always had girls that paid too.. else just take hookers.

[mr3cho]

Yes I agree, you can find a nice studio in BKK for 5-7000 baht.

Learn to order Thai food and explore the restaurant stalls. Moo, gai, neua...kao pad, pad grapow kai daow, moo pad gratieum, pad see ew, tom yum lek, yen thafo and of course...pad thai.

I have my regular spots near my place, excellent food and a dish is 30-35 baht.

[Nana Cowboy]

What I do or would do is take half the time so 3 months and double the budget so 96K/month. This is because I don't want to live on a shoestring. I don't drink period or spend for ladies. If any money is left each month it can be saved. With rent, utility, food, transport and visa costs alone it adds up over a long month. Add beers and going out occasionally will send costs up a lot also. Samran mentioned health insurance too which is important to factor in

[danielwhite532]

Don't squander money on western food. live near BTS/MRT and avoid taxis. I think for 10k a month you should be able to get a decent small but clean a room basically including paying all your bills with an Internet line if there no wifi in the building.

[boosta]

last place I'd scrimp on too much is the digs... one needs to be at least semi-comfortable in a semi-decent area with as few undesirables around as possible that a cheapo place would typically attract, or what's the point.

-

Opposite to me, get away from all and any farang areas, don't interact with the neighbors much, save money on that to have more fun in other ways.

I'm perfectly happy living like a monk in every way but that big one, and of course the Internet's a must, anything a Kindle can do can use a regular PC for, I hope you don't spend any money stocking that thing with ebooks.

Otherwise agree on the rest, eating and drinking up before heading out. I don't drink alcohol at all, that saves a heap for sure, not just in bar bills but the consequences of stupid decisions made under the influence.

[boosta]

Don't squander money on western food. live near BTS/MRT and avoid taxis. I think for 10k a month you should be able to get a decent small but clean a room basically including paying all your bills with an Internet line if there no wifi in the building.

BTS and MRT are much more expensive than the buses, and even Thai street food is more expensive than cooking at home, at least the way I do it (plus the health issue mentioned already).

All depends on your priorities, I couldn't stand sharing a wifi for example and B3,200 gets me a room I'm happy with.

[balo]

Its not that hard to find a condo in Bangkok for 10k a month with western kitchen, swimming pool and 24h security .

I lived near Udomsok BTS (bangna area) for a year and I can recommend a nice condo there. I paid around 1200 for electricity and water, 590 for internet 3BB 10mb

To save money on transportation I stopped using the BTS and took the buses up sukhumvit to Ekkamai, Asoke or Siam Just avoid the rush hours.

Edited June 17, 2013 by balo

[TheSpade]

I've got health insurance.

It seems that you intend to live a very basic existence whilst in Bangers, so if you're already in the habit of being careful with your money, you should be OK.

You need to keep in mind that you are NOT a tourist. That way should you go out partying with your touristy mates, you won't try to match their holiday fun drinking habits. That means, if you want to go out at night to the bright light areas, buying your alcohol in the least expensive beer bars.

Do your own laundry, walk to your destinations as much as possible and I suggest that finding some good, Thai food outlets, is cheaper than buying your food and cooking at home.

I don't intend to live that basic and whilst my budget could be healthier it isn't that low IMO. I mean I've spent a fair bit of time in Bangkok (including 3+ months about a year ago) and my spending was higher but I was in tourist mode and going out drinking every night. I've factored in the extra spending I did last time and think I can get it down to my budget.

Your advice about remembering I'm not a tourist is good though, it will need to be kept in mind. No partying and drinking every night.

Is eating out really cheaper than cooking? It doesn't seem like it should be but I've never went food shopping in Thailand.

You didn't mention the time factor though, are you working? If so what kind of schedule?

And how long are you intending to stay? Lowering your rent and buying appliances is IMO a worthwhile tradeoff, to the point that I've bought my own air-conditioners since my second year here.

I plan to stay around 5-6 months but possibly longer depending on a few factors. I won't be working.

I'm not keen to buy appliances.

The P4P scene here doesn't have hard-line boundaries, lots of grey areas part of Thai culture they don't consider prostitution but judgmental farang might.

The extra costs you cite are 100% avoidable, and once you learn Thai, just covering a girl's rent 4-5K/mo should be plenty if you're not too old, fat, ugle and/or obnoxious 8-). A bit more for live-in but then of course it gets more complicated.

However if you're young and hansum you may well want to play it straight, might be productive I wouldn't know. Just realize you're pretty darn poor relative to your competition for the good ones these days, and that factor is a lot more blatantly important here than it would be back home

I'm not planning on banging hookers or sponsoring girls or paying rent or anything else that involves paying for anything other than date costs and if the girl is too tight fisted to contribute in even a small way to a date she won't be seeing date 2 anyway. And before anyone tells me this will never happen it happened frequently the last time I was in BKK so there's no reason it won't this time.

I'm 28, have dated plenty of Thai girls in the past when I've been in Bangkok and I've never had to sponsor or pay them for the privilege and have no plans to do it any time soon.

My financial situation hasn't changed that much since I was last in the country and it didn't hamper me then so shouldn't be a problem now.

[TheSpade]

Dating will cost you more than hookers.

It won't. Last year when I was in BKK a date would usually cost around 1,000B or up to 2,000B max and would get me what I wanted.

A night out trawling gogos and beer bars spending money on drinks, lady drinks, bar fines and payment to girls will cost more than 2k I am sure of it.

I don't do fancy dates and it was never a problem. Few drinks in a few Thai bars, maybe a cheap bite to eat then "let's go back to mines and watch a movie" rarely failed.

One of my friends is 20 and goes to uni.. he dates real cuties and they pay too. I always had girls that paid too.. else just take hookers.

I found that some split the bill, some paid for a few drinks as a token gesture and some didn't put their hand in their pocket in the past. Mixed bag. I'm always prepared to pay if need be and as I don't have expensive dates it's not an issue.

Don't squander money on western food. live near BTS/MRT and avoid taxis. I think for 10k a month you should be able to get a decent small but clean a room basically including paying all your bills with an Internet line if there no wifi in the building.

Sounds perfect.

[TheSpade]

I have my regular spots near my place, excellent food and a dish is 30-35 baht.

Yeah this is the sort of stuff I ate last time and I'm happy to do so again.

What I do or would do is take half the time so 3 months and double the budget so 96K/month

Then I just end up spending money for the sake of spending money. 5-6 months is the plan at first so I'm sticking with that.

and even Thai street food is more expensive than cooking at home, at least the way I do it

How much do you spend a month on food shopping to cook at home?

Its not that hard to find a condo in Bangkok for 10k a month with western kitchen, swimming pool and 24h security .

Yeah I've seen a couple of places online so far that have all this for around that price. One place has came well recommended by a few people and has rooms from 4k to 10k with all of that. It seems doable.

What can I expect my monthly bills for electricity and water to be btw?

Obviously it depends on the rate they charge and the amount of time used but a ballpark figure....I'd spend a lot of time in my apartment on my computer (using the internet) so aircon would be on a fair bit but I've always found sticking it on for an hour on really cold then turning it off the room will stay cold for hours.

Thanks for all the advice. Appreciated.

Sorry for the 3 posts once after another but wouldn't let me post as one due to too many replies quoted...

Edited June 17, 2013 by TheSpade

[boosta]

Seems you've got a handle on most stuff. To clarify the food issue:

Most expensive is Western restaurants, next most is western-style grocery shopping, in descending order of sources - Makro, Tesco Big C then the supermarkets Foodland Villa etc

Next cheapest is Thai food from street stalls, but subsisting on that is IMO not healthy - salt, fats and MSG abound, often quality of ingredients not so great, some risk of pollutants in the food.

What I do is most unusual but both as cheap as possible and healthiest.

Go to the wholesale fresh market - in Bangkok Klong Toei, south of BTS Pra Kanong station near where Rama IV approaches Sukhumvit. If you can live in or near that area so a tuk-tuk back is 20-30 baht that would be ideal, shopping for fruit and veg, a little fish chicken pork every few days.

A single person could eat like a king shopping there spending no more than B100 per day - my household of seven gets by on well under double that including milk and eggs occasional treat like fruit juice or sandwiches. You would need to be able to cook in your room, which not all places allow, a hot plate and microwave will suffice.

I agree that buying your own appliances is not worthwhile if you know you'll only be staying less than a year, so your 10K budget is realistic, hard-part criteria besides the kitchen will also be the freedom to get your own internet connection in, IMO don't rely on shared condo connections get a direct account with e.g. True, B400 a month. This may not be important to you if you just do occasional web browsing and email though, things can just get very slow afternoon up to midnight.

Electric depends on the condo markup - don't go over 7 baht per unit, size of your fridge & computer usage, and of course how much you run the air, say B1000-1500, water usually just a few hundred.

Edited June 18, 2013 by boosta

[watcharacters]

Stay away from alcohol and hookers...

I've got no interest in hookers though I do like to drink, party and will be doing a fair bit of dating but I'll just need to limit how often.

.

"money's for nothing and your chick's for free".

[Jasun]

Pay for your flights with a card that offers free insurance. Walk around and ask about accommodation, it'll be cheaper than anything advertised. Buy a floor fan and live on a high floor, but never the highest. Shop at the markets. Buy a rice cooker and sacks of brown rice - too much white stuff'll kill you. Look out for pre-paid sim deals that include lots of data. Live close to where you party - it's ok to scrimp on buses and PT during the day, but you'll blow it getting taxis home late at night. Find a rich girlfriend.

[boosta]

Pay for your flights with a card that offers free insurance. Walk around and ask about accommodation, it'll be cheaper than anything advertised. Buy a floor fan and live on a high floor, but never the highest. Shop at the markets. Buy a rice cooker and sacks of brown rice - too much white stuff'll kill you. Look out for pre-paid sim deals that include lots of data. Live close to where you party - it's ok to scrimp on buses and PT during the day, but you'll blow it getting taxis home late at night. Find a rich girlfriend.

-

In general great tips; some caveats. Free travel insurance usually doesn't cover for long and often excludes anything actually likely to happen, if you want to be properly insured you have to pay for it.

Don't even use mobile data, do your surfing from your fixed-monthly-cost unlimited GB from home. Unless you're such a high-powered business type you need email while out and about, SMS works fine, emails can wait until you get in front of a computer.

Don't party so much you need to live near there - live next to your work, ideally walking distance, have to go there every day. Go out to party maybe once or twice a week, maybe more frequently at first maybe but work to set things up so the party comes to you.

[arthurwait]

Become a rich mans - mia nois - gig.

[YeahSiam]

Dating is definitely not more expensive for me. I don't partake in the P4P scene but I know from what I read online about the costs (bar fines, lady drinks + the girls fee you'd be talking easily 3,000B, right?) and last year when I was in BKK I'd usually spend about 1-2k on dates depending if my date chipped in for the bill.

The extra costs you cite are 100% avoidable, and once you learn Thai, just covering a girl's rent 4-5K/mo should be plenty if you're not too old, fat, ugle and/or obnoxious 8-). A bit more for live-in but then of course it gets more complicated.

However if you're young and hansum you may well want to play it straight, might be productive I wouldn't know. Just realize you're pretty darn poor relative to your competition for the good ones these days, and that factor is a lot more blatantly important here than it would be back home.

So the more money you have (or are willing to spend), the better your chance of finding "the good ones"?