Minimalist living in Pattaya

[georgegeorgia]

Actually funny you talk about water because I have a friend Moshe who lives over on the Flybird Condo who used to buy from the water machine but now swears by boiling the tap water and uses that for tea and coffee !

[paddyjenkins]

Do you need brand name leather wallets?

How many of us see tourists particularly Russian grovelling over buying wallets.

I had a friend today try to show me his real leather brand name wallet he bought for over 30,000 baht and I showed no interest so he stopped showing me.

Now im middleaged im not interested in carrying a expensive wallet around when a 50 baht wallet can do the job.

Why would I need a 30,000 baht genuine leather brand name wallet??

The trouble with debating anything in this forum is most of you people are unable to understand nuances. In this case you see an ultra cheap skate existence at one end of the spectrum and vulgar flaunting and wasting of wealth at the other. I keep stressing the middle ground, and that seems to go right over your heads. Ive missed nothing of what you've said, i just think its largely nonsensical. You celebrate this cheaper is always better life, which you called minimalism, even if it means damaging your health and quality of life and acting as parasites within your communities. I have stressed time and time again that there is a balance, a grey zone, where you don't want or need to buy status symbols, but at the same time you want a good quality of life, and not to be an obnoxious parasite. I know many of you claim you choose this minimalist lifestyle...living in a small, bare room, eating bowls of white rice, not using aircon, drinking beer Chang and all the rest. But there is a difference between choosing to live a simple but high quality lifestyle and living like a convict in a prison. I say convict because the truth is many of you are prisoners of your limited financial resources, but afraid to lose face by admitting it. I think the truth though is you didn't have good, high paying jobs in your younger years and/or didn't save properly for your futures and are now desperately worried about money and count every penny. The truth is you have cut back to the bone because you have no choice but pretend its a life you chose in order to mask what would otherwise be viewed as failure in life. Edited February 4, 2015 by paddyjenkins

[AnotherOneAmerican]

The trouble with debating anything in this forum is most of you people are unable to understand nuances. In this case you see an ultra cheap skate existence at one end of the spectrum and vulgar flaunting and wasting of wealth at the other. I keep stressing the middle ground, and that seems to go right over your heads. Ive missed nothing of what you've said, i just think its largely nonsensical. You celebrate this cheaper is always better life, which you called minimalism, even if it means damaging your health and quality of life and acting as parasites within your communities. I have stressed time and time again that there is a balance, a grey zone, where you don't want or need to buy status symbols, but at the same time you want a good quality of life, and not to be an obnoxious parasite. I know many of you claim you choose this minimalist lifestyle...living in a small, bare room, eating bowls of white rice, not using aircon, drinking beer Chang and all the rest. But there is a difference between choosing to live a simple but high quality lifestyle and living like a convict in a prison. I say convict because the truth is many of you are prisoners of your limited financial resources, but afraid to lose face by admitting it. I think the truth though is you didn't have good, high paying jobs in your younger years and/or didn't save properly for your futures and are now desperately worried about money and count every penny. The truth is you have cut back to the bone because you have no choice but pretend its a life you chose in order to mask what would otherwise be viewed as failure in life.

This is just silly talk,

In reality the stuff you own, owns you.

I probably eat better than you, difference being I have the ability to make most of it myself.

I probably live a healthier life than you, exercise 2 hours or more most days. (yesterday was 6 hours exercise, so rest day today)

What is it you have that's so wonderful?

Is it us that are desperately worried or you that is desperately boastful?

[paddyjenkins]

The trouble with debating anything in this forum is most of you people are unable to understand nuances. In this case you see an ultra cheap skate existence at one end of the spectrum and vulgar flaunting and wasting of wealth at the other. I keep stressing the middle ground, and that seems to go right over your heads. Ive missed nothing of what you've said, i just think its largely nonsensical. You celebrate this cheaper is always better life, which you called minimalism, even if it means damaging your health and quality of life and acting as parasites within your communities. I have stressed time and time again that there is a balance, a grey zone, where you don't want or need to buy status symbols, but at the same time you want a good quality of life, and not to be an obnoxious parasite. I know many of you claim you choose this minimalist lifestyle...living in a small, bare room, eating bowls of white rice, not using aircon, drinking beer Chang and all the rest. But there is a difference between choosing to live a simple but high quality lifestyle and living like a convict in a prison. I say convict because the truth is many of you are prisoners of your limited financial resources, but afraid to lose face by admitting it. I think the truth though is you didn't have good, high paying jobs in your younger years and/or didn't save properly for your futures and are now desperately worried about money and count every penny. The truth is you have cut back to the bone because you have no choice but pretend its a life you chose in order to mask what would otherwise be viewed as failure in life.

This is just silly talk,

In reality the stuff you own, owns you.

I probably eat better than you, difference being I have the ability to make most of it myself.

I probably live a healthier life than you, exercise 2 hours or more most days. (yesterday was 6 hours exercise, so rest day today)

What is it you have that's so wonderful?

Is it us that are desperately worried or you that is desperately boastful?

Boastful about what, I've said almost nothing about myself. As for food, i buy good ingredients and cook most days, i eat very well. I choose that, but it isn't the cheapest choice and that isn't the purpose, i could eat a lot cheaper, but good quality can cost. What i don't do is spend money needlessly, on stupid status symbols, or to impress others. I seek value and quality. The minimum, subject to the constraint of a good quality and comfortable existence, including socializing and traveling etc. As for exercise, i exercise most days. But i don't spend my days worrying about money and i am perfectly happy to spend money in bars and cafes. In fact, i like to support local businesses. If everyone saw everything in terms of price, and lived like cheap skates, these nice places i like to visit would shut down. And i would not want to live in a small room in the cheapest condo around. As far as I'm concerned if you live in a small room in the cheapest possible condo around, eating bowls of white rice, and ditto for everything else in your lives, then you are probably just prisoners of your very limited financial means, not some kinds of heroes for choosing to lead a minimalist lifestyle that you then boast about, like you are pioneering some new, alternative lifestyle. Edited February 4, 2015 by paddyjenkins

[micmichd]

You're not really a prisoner if you save 20kb every month, you're a prisoner if you don't know how to use an ATM.

[paddyjenkins]

I saved my cash by making meals at home, and by not letting commercialism create my needs. Then I had X In the bank. I took X and brought a nice used car from a guy who realy needed cash. Now I had reliable wheels, and - of greater importance - had developed a great budgeting habit. Time goes on; I now have 9X in the bank; I have a wealthy - 160+ IQ - acquaintance, and he gives me a detailed explanation about the impending rise in gold prices. I take his advice and buy 8X worth of Canadian Maple leaf coins for approx' $350 USD a piece. They soon increased in value, and I made a profit of over 500%. I have been living in Thailand ever since, and the budgeting habit is still intact.

500% eh? So you bought, what, 40 odd years ago?

[umbanda]

A Thai teacher or nurse with 10 years in the job, living alone, and about 30 years old, making an average salary of about 20.000 THB/month. can have the same kind of life of the same in the US with 5 times more money...

I do not think its are having "minimalist living"... and with that money any farang can have the same life here....it is not have the option to have some luxuries with its extra money.

And everything is relative about "luxuries". For some people a luxury life is to be willing to be inside home under AC all day eating salmon and drinking whiskey, in front of a 50' TV, and for others to be willing to ride its loved bikes all day countryside, and eating fruits and salads.

I believe that the most common reasons why foreigners come to live in Thailand are its finances. Poor living in its country, can have a better living here, or average living in its country, can have a rich living here...and both are very good reasons. Nothing wrong with that. Nice and friendly women around is just a plus, not so important to everyone.

One case or another, the goal is to be less worry about money, and to enjoy life more....minimalist or not

Edited February 4, 2015 by umbanda

[micmichd]

Yes, of course, my pensions would just be enough to keep me alive in Europe, and it would be a poor life in an ice-cold country. In Thailand, especially in Pattaya, everything is much cheaper, and it's still possible to keep your lifestyle with half of what you have in Europe.

I've met many Farangs who think or simply tell that they are rich.

In fact, many live in houses that belong to their parents. Most live in houses that actually belong to a bank. And when they find out about this, they start moaning "We were scammed by prostitutes"

No, dear Farangs, you were the ones that scammed, by making false promises. Maybe you were scammed by your Farang families or banks. Be rest-assured they'll do anything to keep you from claiming your rights.

If you're lucky, you have an insurance for legal protection, in case you have to go to court and need a lawyer.

[paddyjenkins]

I saved my cash by making meals at home, and by not letting commercialism create my needs. Then I had X In the bank. I took X and brought a nice used car from a guy who realy needed cash. Now I had reliable wheels, and - of greater importance - had developed a great budgeting habit. Time goes on; I now have 9X in the bank; I have a wealthy - 160+ IQ - acquaintance, and he gives me a detailed explanation about the impending rise in gold prices. I take his advice and buy 8X worth of Canadian Maple leaf coins for approx' $350 USD a piece. They soon increased in value, and I made a profit of over 500%. I have been living in Thailand ever since, and the budgeting habit is still intact.

500% eh? So you bought, what, 40 odd years ago?

http://www.kitco.com/scripts/hist_charts/yearly_graphs.plx

500% of 350 = 1750.

A lesser person would suggest that you would be wise to invest your copious funds in scholastic endeavors! However, I will suffice to recommended Google.

Well, my semi educated little friend, gold is about 1260 now, in USD, so if you made about 500% then you either got very lucky about 2001 plus or minus a year, or about a decade before that or all the way back to the late 1970s because those are the only periods Gold was that low unless you go back longer. Either way, and even if FX is factored in, 5 times the value of 8 used cars in Canada from those times is probably insufficient to be worth enough to retire now, even to live a minimalist lifestyle, which means what, you teach english for 15k a month? You need to invent more impressive stories. Edited February 4, 2015 by paddyjenkins

[SheungWan]

Some guys are really organised and are professional balloon chasers. One friend was reported to have attended a birthday party, ate all the food going, ordered just one bottle of water and when the birthday girl circulated with notes pinned to her dress etc., wished her happy birthday and shook her hand. Respect! Only topped I think by that guy who hangs out in the Central Festival Food Court and devours any leftovers going. Minimalist superstars both of them.

[micmichd]

And who took the birthday girl home to undress her?

[Spaniel]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/04/vermont-frugal-man-bequaeths-millions/22880041/

Here's another frugal guy.

[georgegeorgia]

Yes he was a classic case of a minimalist.

There he was in the picture dressed just in everyday clothes..Quiet lifestyle and never boasting of his wealth.

[koo wallety tourist]

[jpinx]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/04/vermont-frugal-man-bequaeths-millions/22880041/

Here's another frugal guy.

...... and many, many more with the same mind-set.

[paddyjenkins]

Yes, there is a very frugal chap who visits Starbucks, what a fantastic minimalist. He goes in with a plastic cup, visits the toilet, fills the cup with tap water and uses a tea bag from home. He says cold tea is more minimalist. He then sits in Starbucks and enjoys his tea, leafing through the free and discarded newspapers, his gnarled and filthy feet up on the table, occasionally lifting himself slightly to let out a loud burst of gas from his bloated and protruding gut. He scans the papers for vouchers or freebies that catch his beady little eyes, close together, magnified by thick plastic lenses that don't quite fit because its cheaper to pick up some frames from the market than visiting an opticians, the frames sitting high and clumsily on the bridge of his huge, pitted and bulbous nose. Wow, what an inspiring figure. And he watches other customers like a hawk, wearing his cheap nylon shirt and shorts and 50 baht slippers from the second hand market. His whole outfit cost less than 100 baht. Yes, to save on washing he wears them a month without changing, and so some people will notice the acrid smell of stale sweat, urine and drying excrement, but they are just superficial consumers, brainwashed by the norms of society, not enlightened minimalists. As soon as customers leave he is up like a shot and collects the uneaten crusts and whatnot and a cup. A cup. Why a cup? Because after a few hours of this the staff finally get tired and politely ask if he is going to order a drink, as the seats are for customers. But he points to his cup and aggressively screams back that he already did and that he knows his rights and he will write to the CEO about them. And so they leave him be, just discretely spraying the area around him with air freshener and disinfectant. What a man, what a minimalist.

Edited February 5, 2015 by paddyjenkins

[georgegeorgia]

Nothing to do with being a minimilist ,sounds like he has psychiatric issues.

Edited February 5, 2015 by georgegeorgia

[mike2011]

Paddy, any reasonable reader has understood your point and I trust most will agree with you. At least for my part, I do. No need to get so fired up about these homeless guys. As for the person at starbucks: If you are so upset it is only fair to complain to the branch manager about him. This way you will help the staff and get the situation resolved. No doubt other customers will benefit from your action as well.

To be fair, however, the old guy in the original post does not seem to fall into the same category as the person you mentioned. On the contrary, the old man does all to avoid coming into a situation like the person at Starbucks. Thus, there are variations and important differences and we should keep them in mind.

Many of us, as also mentioned during the discussion, come from families where the parents had experienced bad poverty in their youth.This marked them for life and it also left an impact on us. I appreciate my parents input and it helped me. it also made me sympathetic to people who have less and taught me not to judge people by their wealth but character. Your posting shows a person of bad character and equally bad conduct. That is his own fault and he does not stand for anyone but himself. So let's not generalize too much and take each and every one as one person at a time.

[anto]

As to why an adult man would share a room with a 75 year old man ---for 150 baht per night--- is a mystery to me.

Its quare all right .

[georgegeorgia]

Minimalists have their own small group in Pattaya..most of us are of Jewish background so we know each other and share things and help each other.

Sometimes if you put 2 single beds or bunk beds in your studio there are a lot of backpackers etc wanting cheap bed for short term accomodation.

Before I had German,Israeli etc even blonde girls share my room.

Of course you have to make sure your things are locked up etc if you dont know them,but i had 2 bunk beds on either side of the room before and always got short term backpackers staying.

Edited February 5, 2015 by georgegeorgia

[smotherb]

If you suddenly inherited some money....lets say enough to spend 250,000 baht a month forever, would you be happier and then be able to live the life you would really want, or does this minimalist lifestyle provide all you want anyway?

I'm already living the life I want on 40k/month.

If I didn't have a gf, would be living the same life I want on 20k/month.

Not sure the gf is worth the expense .............. thinking her days are numbered.

Having money doesn't mean you need to spend it.

I am happy for you, if indeed you are living the life you want. I know several farangs who live here on a teacher's pittance. They rarely reject my wife's offer of a dinner invitation or my shout of another beer--and even more rarely do they reciprocate. No one I know is content with less, unless their lifestyle expectations have diminished to an existence. Perhaps, I simply do not travel in minimalist circles.

[smotherb]

Minimalists have their own small group in Pattaya..most of us are of Jewish background so we know each other and share things and help each other.

Sometimes if you put 2 single beds or bunk beds in your studio there are a lot of backpackers etc wanting cheap bed for short term accomodation.

Before I had German,Israeli etc even blonde girls share my room.

Of course you have to make sure your things are locked up etc if you dont know them,but i had 2 bunk beds on either side of the room before and always got short term backpackers staying.

Did you charge them?

[georgegeorgia]

Yes I did charge them.

Usually girls will come in pairs for safety reasons i guess but you can barter massage with them like I did with the 2 Swedish girls i had that stayed a few nights.

I always get things much cheaper by haggling friendly rather than aggressively and not only talking about stall or market stall holders but big Companies too.

And

I just had a lovely fish dinner.

Got the fish from a local fisherman for free after stopping and talking to him.

Sometimes it pays to be friendly and have a smile rather than go into bartering or haggling with a aggressive attitude.

I always see people make that mistake of using aggression when haggling over prices,far better to smile and be friendly,it doesnt always work but some even give you the item at cost price or even free.

I always get things much cheaper by haggling friendly rather than aggressively and not only talking about stall or market stall holders but big Companies too.

And if your haggling with a big Company such as a Airline or car rental company remember it pays to be polite because the employee can usually give you a discount and really they dont care if you buy or use their service anyway so always be polite and friendly when haggling.

Edited February 5, 2015 by georgegeorgia

[Subpar]

After reading a lot of posts in this thread, I'm not sure whether to burst out in laughter or burst into tears!. One things 100% for sure though, I will keep working and investing till I have the means to live well for a very long time to come after retiring. And that will include not sharing a studio with Backpackers on bunk beds

[Jingthing]

I've got a bigger condo than that and won't be renting out my floor space to backpackers ... on the other hand ... if they're super cute we can talk!

[anto]

I used see some very poor looking Farang eating in TOPS ,Pattaya Klang .That was 6 years ago ,maybe they are still there ?

[Hostile]

why at 75 you need to save? what for? instead enjoy

you wont take it with you when you pass away, u know what I mean...

[Jingthing]

why at 75 you need to save? what for? instead enjoy

you wont take it with you when you pass away, u know what I mean...

I posted before about such expenses. The thing is when you're 75 unless you have a terminal disease you don't really know how much longer you have so as long as you're alive it is prudent to have a cash reserve for expected and even unexpected future expenses. Another thing a lot of people don't know is that statistically if you reach a certain older age, say 60 for example, there is a bigger chance than many realize to live REALLY LONG.

Ideally everyone 75 is set up to live in comfort and security to 100 moneywise but that is probably rather unusual.

Edited February 5, 2015 by Jingthing

[mike2011]

Maybe we should stop the discussion? It is getting absurd and when fiction takes over there is nothing left to debate.

[Don Mega]

I always get things much cheaper by haggling friendly rather than aggressively and not only talking about stall or market stall holders but big Companies too.

I was at Numchai yesterday and they had this TV I liked. unfortunately it was priced at Bt999,990.00.

I'll give you half of every baht you can haggle them down to, but the most I will pay for the TV is Bt.750,000.00 including your cut.

Deal ?