How much money does a thai family need minimum a month to pay the bills?

[benalibina]

Living in a central northern provincial city in thailand.

2 adults and, lets say, 2 young kids of 4 and 5 years old

Renting a house of 4 k

Owning a car

Thanks for the input of your calculations and thoughts.

Extra info:car paid off, so NO finance

Gov school.

30 bth scheme regarding health insurance.

2 aircon units for bedrooms.

Internet; yes

Cable tv.

Hope all complete now.

Thanks again.

[boosta]

OK so again, two people working at the low end is B14,000, lots of Thais living on that but likely without the car, rent is less than a third.

Nothing special for kids education or health care issues, check.

So make it B20K, should cover insurance maintenance and reasonable petrol costs, but not replacement costs in the future, B25 if you want to account for that.

Not a comfortable life, potentially dangerous and little hope for the kids' future, but you asked for minimum.

[jackinbkk]

Look at Thai wages. If they are working they should have enough to live on. That's how an economy works.

[balo]

OK so again, two people working at the low end is B14,000, lots of Thais living on that but likely without the car, rent is less than a third.

Nothing special for kids education or health care issues, check.

So make it B20K, should cover insurance maintenance and reasonable petrol costs, but not replacement costs in the future, B25 if you want to account for that.

Not a comfortable life, potentially dangerous and little hope for the kids' future, but you asked for minimum.

Thais do not need a health insurance , as long as they are thai citizens they are entitled to free healthcare at the local government hospitals and health stations.

99.5% of the population have health protection coverage according to the latest survey.

[boosta]

Well if these were people I truly cared about and I could afford to, I'd want to ensure the possibility of a better standard of quality care than would usually be available out in the countryside, particularly wrt to the kids and a major emergency like head injury requiring CAT scans and an experienced neurologist.

Would probably cost less per month than half what my cable service would back home.

But that's just me.

[kikoman]

My guess was 30,00 baht per month, 12,000 for the car payment, upkeep and operation, 4000 for monthly rent, which leaves 14,000 baht for the rest of the months expenses!

No 1000 baht for month for satellite TV, no air conditioning, utilize internet cafe, buying all your groceries and cooking at home, eating out at Thai 30- 50 baht street food. Cable TV in the city cheap for Thai programs or buying a 4000 baht satellite dish with no monthly payments.

Living in a Thai provincial city is not living in a village with the lower cost of living and getting by on minimum use of electricity, and having one small fridge.

Many of use were not asked or pay a bride price to the family or make monthly payments to the wife's family.

In the 8 years I have been married to my wife my in-laws have never asked me for anything, and now if my MIL asked me for something I would do all that is possible to get it for her, but she has never asked.

Cheers:

[AnotherOneAmerican]

I give an elderly relative 3k a month to live on, she gets another 500bht from the government.

She is considered one of the wealthiest persons in her village.

(has her own house (shed) and farmland)

[boosta]

Nothing about sin sot, in fact no relationship at all mentioned here, completely hypothetical abstract question about cost of living. And provincial cities while more than the rice-shack villages, are far cheaper than BKK or the farang-infested resort areas.

Since there is no car payment involved, closer to 20K than 30 is sufficient as a "decent minimum", little comfort and no extras as you point out.

[boosta]

I give an elderly relative 3k a month to live on.

She is considered one of the wealthiest persons in her village.

(has her own house (shed) and farmland)

-

Sure, B100 per day for food and electric is plenty for any single person living that sort of lifestyle.

But we're talking about full expenses for a family living in the city, owns their own car free and clear, so getting up into what Thailand would call middle class, and raising two kids.

Without the car they'd be getting by on two people earning minimum wage, around B14,000. But barely.

[benalibina]

Nothing about sin sot, in fact no relationship at all mentioned here, completely hypothetical abstract question about cost of living. And provincial cities while more than the rice-shack villages, are far cheaper than BKK or the farang-infested resort areas.Since there is no car payment involved, closer to 20K than 30 is sufficient as a "decent minimum", little comfort and no extras as you point out.

Thank you for staying at the topic.

[tezzainoz]

My best friend gives his wife 15,000 baht a month

she has 2 children and help her mother

Lives in Udon Thani and has a motor bike

she has internet and Tv

and she lives a good life

[ihunnieibee]

Whatever you give will never be enough.

How about go there, spend some time there buying things and seeing what a typical day is like then figure in some extras, find out about all of the family's personal needs etc.

This should help you get an idea of what that particular family NEEDS and the extras that they desire to make their lives more comfortable.

All families are different and you need to see where they are and what they need to get them to where you/they want to be.

Give them a certain amount but also have some on reserve in the case that they end up needed more.

I wish someone was willing to give me money every month :/

*edit spelling error

[Rooo]

Deleted several nonsensical posts & responses quoting them.

[soi41]

You better factor in the sick buffalo, sick auntie, uncle, brother, motorbike accident etc, etc I am guessing the OP is about to start sending money

Wrong, would appreciate if you have a proper and motivated answer to the question. Thanks.

If you ask a question, like the one in the OP, on an expatforum, I guess, you will have to expect answers from a farang POV!!

[benalibina]

You better factor in the sick buffalo, sick auntie, uncle, brother, motorbike accident etc, etc I am guessing the OP is about to start sending money

Wrong, would appreciate if you have a proper and motivated answer to the question. Thanks.

If you ask a question, like the one in the OP, on an expatforum, I guess, you will have to expect answers from a farang POV!!

Life is a test !