I know this topic has been beaten to death and the amount required to live in Bangkok is anywhere from 5000THB/month to 500000THB/day. However, I propose a slightly upside down thought experiment. What if you had a set budget and you HAD to spend it every month? What would you do with the dough?

Restrictions:

Single expat with a typical 9-5, Mon-Fri job.

140,000THB/month

Have to live in lower Sukumvit (soi 1-24)

2BR apartment

NO SAVING (assume that there is already an invisible portion put aside for that purpose)

What sort of breakdown would you have for food, rent, entertainment, etc?

Again, this is a thought experiment - if you don't want to participate, please just leave the thread alone. I'd love the perspective of the you folks who live in Bangkok to let me know what sort of lifestyle you'd lead spending that much money every month.

Well I don't want to do a detailed breakdown of what I would spend, but I would eat a better restaurants (western food) everyday and go to pubs and bars more, and massage.

A typical "single expat with a typical 9-5, Mon-Fri job" doesn't earn only 140,000 baht a month. As an expat, you should expect to be earning at least 200,000 baht, plus a package of allowances including up to 50,000 baht to cover your rental costs. I think you need to ask for a raise, or look around for a better job...

140k for food and drinks?......I suppose I could survive....less five star dinners and cocktails for my gf though.....she wouldn't be happy!

In fact I'd say 25k for rent and move from there....on that kind of cash I'd look the cheaper side of Ekkamai for an apartment.

The rest would go mostly on having fun.

Rent a rat hole room for 3k a month and spend the rest on gogo girls and booze

Yeah, I guess it is sort of a dumb question. If you're the type of person that needs a new phone/computer/entertainment center every three months, this goes out the window.

I was just wondering mostly about how much, percentage wise, people spend on rent/utilities in Bkk and thought the rest of the thought experiment might be fun.

I wouldn't spend it all just to spend it all. you have enough to buy what you want and not worry too much about money. Utilites for me are 1600 cable (ripoff), 1060 for DSL internet (all my supposedly ultra-modern building is capable of). Electricty, not sure yet, only around 4 months. It was cold for a while so never had the air on for a long stretch. When I do turn it on, I keep it at 25c, its mostly to keep the humidity out. The highest bill I got so far is 500.10 for electric (I live in a one-bedroom). Water has cost between 9-39 a month. Ride my bike to work to get through protesters and adapt each day, so no transport costs. Food, i get by on 100-150 baht most days. sometimes I go wild and spend 300 or 400 in a day. But I don't live in sukhumwit area so there aren't many options to blow a lot of money on food. I am too lazy to go out that way and deal with it all.