cost of living for family outside of bkk

[huawei]

I would guess around 30K baht would be enough for everything incl. insurance.

And don't listen to the miserable bastards on this forum about their "worry or care" for your children related to moving to Thailand nor homeschooling, they are just full of faeces.

Based on what assumption. If you can't afford a really good education for your children ( which is expensive) then you shouldn't be here.

I worried so much I use to work 15 hour days to put my child thru international school..

If you haven't got the money, then stop justifying it as faeces..

Many stay here not because it's better for the child, because it is better for them..

[lovelomsak]

It is dirt cheap to live here. If we ddnot have a son at Rangsit university our costs would be very low. Our water is around 300 baht a month.electric 1000. True tv 1500,internet 500. That is the big expenses.So say 4000 a month before food and transportation.Can rent decent accommodation 3500 to 5000 a month.Food is so cheap can eat half your meals with the family in restaurants and eat at home the other half the times .and spend at the most 10,000.A family of four can easily live on 30,000 a month.That takes care of doctor visits car and motorcycle upkeep the whole enchilada.Of course people can spend more but no need to.Sensible people who are in control of their own lives and donot need appearence to make them who they are can live her well and cheap.

[ChrisKC]

This post is nothing to do with the wisdom or otherwise of the OP teaching his own children or about his visa.

Living the low standard, like a Thai family can be managed on B20,000 per month. This will involve rent, electricity (that doesn't necessarily require air con - I don't use it), food and drink from home cooking. Living in a place with public transport will help.

The financial and other circumstances together with desires will determine what extras or levels of comfort are required over the minimum amount.

it's not about the cost of living but the STANDARD of living.

Of course B20,000 doesn't allow for any emergency or unforeseen expenses.

In any event, if I had only B20,000 to spend each month for me and my family, I wouldn't leave the UK and come to Thailand in the first place.

[Autonuaq]

As for everyone else.

250k a month, dont think i could spend that if I tried ???

Car repayments :13000 a month, which would be the biggest cost

Electricity: someone said 4000 a month, dont know how you do that, that would be US $115 a month. Mine comes to 2000B a month, thats for 6 people, plus another 4-6 relos that visit every second week.

Kids school is 30000 a year for a 6 year old, so 2500 a month

Food: if we didnt go out to restaurants, would be sweet FA, she has a few relos with farms in the area, but even with restaurants, it would be under 10000 a month. Food I find to be the most noteable difference between living out in the sticks compared to Bangkok, usually around half price of what it is in Bangkok

Mortgage for me now is pretty much negligable

So, all up, under 30000 a month plus healthcare. Most other families around here are living of under 10000 a month

depending on the nationality is is around 80K to 150K THB per month.

including an good health insurance, car .

for the children it is the best to go to school so the integrate. (an you automatically as well) there are good schools around.

you are expat so most things you have to pay are more expensive then for Thai National.

minimum wage in thaialnd are now 300 THB per day also for the rural area.

In many areas everyone now a days goes to Mc Donalds, KFC, Burger King, Pizza compnay too and seem to have Iphone. ;-)

Edited February 22, 2016 by Autonuaq

[Jonathan Swift]

What's the reason you're moving there?

What visa are you proposing to obtain?

Will you work?

How will you support yourself?

Is this move for you or them?

Are you thinking of them?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Why are you being so aggresive and inappropriately nosey? Not a single one of your unsolicited questions relates to the OPs question.

OP, family of 3 here, outside BKK and we live very nicely in a rented 4 bed detached on around 75k a month - 20k of that is car payments so once that's out the way would be 55. We could live happily enough on 40 I would say.

Why are you making derogatory comments like that? He's neither aggressive nor nosey. he's trying to help with good points. The questioner is asking serious questions that affect his personal life and the welfare of his kids and family. Rocketboy's responses are good and valid questions for anyone to consider about living in Thailand. I am considering moving to Thailand in a few years and I don't consider any sort of personal advice to be an unnecessary intrusion or aggressive whether solicited or not. I have had the same sort of questions posed to me many times from different, and well meaning, people. I have a lot to learn and I welcome advice. I can listen or dismiss, there is no offense if none is intended. Most of the "nosey" questions by rocketboy are things that I think anyone including myself must consider. Just because you yourself live there doesn't make you the ultimate expert. Let him decide what he finds useful.

[KhunG]

It depends on how you want to live. We have two kids as well, and live upcountry. We built our own good sized place, and use a/c all the time, so electric is nearly 7K/mo. Water is from our well, so it's part of the electric bill for the pump. Drinking water is 10B/20L for home delivery. Another 1.1K for internet -ADSL and 3G on my phone takes care of the utilities. Our local private school is about 14K/term including uniforms.

If we lived on Thai food, we'd spend very little on top of that, but I like good steaks and other western foods. We also go restaurants fairly often, so I can't give you a good comparison for those costs. I do know that in the local market I can buy a big bag of fresh veggies for around 200B, local pork is about 140B/kg, and #1 grade rice is 500B for 25kg. We have supermarkets in the area selling various imported food items that go for 2 to 3 times the price I paid in the US.

[Blue Muton]

Rent.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month

Utilities.....(Water, Electric)...3,000 to 4,000 bath a month depending on Air-con use

Food.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month (maybe less)

Transportation....???????

that's on the LOW end....And the bare essential, doesn't include clothes, or other unexpected expenses!

That's a general idea, could be cheaper, could be more expensive???? What visa do you intend on staying?

check out this site for a more specific example of costs

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Thailand

You are way off with the utility cost, just got our electricity bill and it is 1,600 Baht, water about 100.

[yimlitnoy]

I have been living in Thailand for 36 years, married for 23 years and we have only son in University. We live modestly in an apartment in a 40 years old building in Central Bangkok, rent is THB10,000 per month, we have an old car 1997 that we use once a month for shopping, Thai wife allocation is THB20,000/month and I only go out during happy hours, I mostly buy anything only when on sales.

My cost average calculated on the last 20 years with the odd Big Mac is $44,000 per year.

[i claudius]

If you have to ask ,you cant afford it , end of , as for home schooling , what are your children going to do when they grow up and are ready for the workplace , pick rice?

[beachproperty]

Rent.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month

Utilities.....(Water, Electric)...3,000 to 4,000 bath a month depending on Air-con use

Food.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month (maybe less)

Transportation....???????

that's on the LOW end....And the bare essential, doesn't include clothes, or other unexpected expenses!

That's a general idea, could be cheaper, could be more expensive???? What visa do you intend on staying?

check out this site for a more specific example of costs

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Thailand

You are way off with the utility cost, just got our electricity bill and it is 1,600 Baht, water about 100.

Your personal experience with the electric bill and water bill is just that ....YOUR experience with the electric bill and water bill.

As for my Utilities expense ...it includes cable, phone , water, electric, internet etc and is just a ROUGH estimate.

So excuse me if I say ...I don't think I'm that far off

Edited February 22, 2016 by beachproperty

[seancbk]

Rent.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month

Utilities.....(Water, Electric)...3,000 to 4,000 bath a month depending on Air-con use

Food.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month (maybe less)

Transportation....???????

that's on the LOW end....And the bare essential, doesn't include clothes, or other unexpected expenses!

That's a general idea, could be cheaper, could be more expensive???? What visa do you intend on staying?

check out this site for a more specific example of costs

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Thailand

You are way off with the utility cost, just got our electricity bill and it is 1,600 Baht, water about 100.

Why is he way off? Just because you use less, does that mean he has to as well?

I live in a studio in Bangkok and my electric bill comes direct from the Metropolitan Electric Authority (hence no markup by the condo), my bill last month was 2,171.79

[rwdrwdrwd]

What's the reason you're moving there?

What visa are you proposing to obtain?

Will you work?

How will you support yourself?

Is this move for you or them?

Are you thinking of them?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Why are you being so aggresive and inappropriately nosey? Not a single one of your unsolicited questions relates to the OPs question.

OP, family of 3 here, outside BKK and we live very nicely in a rented 4 bed detached on around 75k a month - 20k of that is car payments so once that's out the way would be 55. We could live happily enough on 40 I would say.

Why are you making derogatory comments like that? He's neither aggressive nor nosey. he's trying to help with good points. The questioner is asking serious questions that affect his personal life and the welfare of his kids and family. Rocketboy's responses are good and valid questions for anyone to consider about living in Thailand. I am considering moving to Thailand in a few years and I don't consider any sort of personal advice to be an unnecessary intrusion or aggressive whether solicited or not. I have had the same sort of questions posed to me many times from different, and well meaning, people. I have a lot to learn and I welcome advice. I can listen or dismiss, there is no offense if none is intended. Most of the "nosey" questions by rocketboy are things that I think anyone including myself must consider. Just because you yourself live there doesn't make you the ultimate expert. Let him decide what he finds useful.

The OP is asking a singular question - 'how much it would cost', not whether or not it is a good idea, not for feedback on his personal choices for his family, not what visa he needs, not for opinions on what's good for his children.

Snide asides intimating that:

- The OP is selfish

- That he hasn't thought it through

- That he has made a bad choice to homeschool because the kids won't be socialised (even repeating the accusation when the OP has retorted it)

And finally (without the OP actually responding to any of the off topic queries) stating that the OP has made the 'wrong decision'.

It is aggressive and unsolicited.

Edited February 22, 2016 by rwdrwdrwd

[rwdrwdrwd]

Rent.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month

Utilities.....(Water, Electric)...3,000 to 4,000 bath a month depending on Air-con use

Food.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month (maybe less)

Transportation....???????

that's on the LOW end....And the bare essential, doesn't include clothes, or other unexpected expenses!

That's a general idea, could be cheaper, could be more expensive???? What visa do you intend on staying?

check out this site for a more specific example of costs

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Thailand

You are way off with the utility cost, just got our electricity bill and it is 1,600 Baht, water about 100.

Our electric bill has averaged 4000 - 5000 across three different properties.

[torpedo1970]

This post is nothing to do with the wisdom or otherwise of the OP teaching his own children or about his visa.

He simply asked about others view on cost of living......

Silverado did get it very close to reality

My answer is that it is not what cost, but what standard you want? A little how long is a piece of string.

You can live on 20.000 Baht a month in a rural village, eating Thai food for 30 Baht a "pop", it is tried and tested. and it included my rent at 3500.

But that does not include very much of luxuries and no car.

as you add these on the price piles up too....

Good luck

[bearpolar]

Rent.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month

Utilities.....(Water, Electric)...3,000 to 4,000 bath a month depending on Air-con use

Food.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month (maybe less)

Transportation....???????

that's on the LOW end....And the bare essential, doesn't include clothes, or other unexpected expenses!

That's a general idea, could be cheaper, could be more expensive???? What visa do you intend on staying?

check out this site for a more specific example of costs

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Thailand

You are way off with the utility cost, just got our electricity bill and it is 1,600 Baht, water about 100.

Our electric bill has averaged 4000 - 5000 across three different properties.

The last time a genius came in and argued that everyone was getting scammed on air con cost.. turns out he used the AC at 28-29 (basically drying the room only)

It's just like those geniuses telling us were getting scammed on food because im not eating tesco khao pat gai everyday at 20b/meal

[impulse]

It is dirt cheap to live here.

It can be. Or it can be extremely expensive.

If you love rice and pineapple and dried fish, chasing women, the beach, watching Muay Thai matches, and sweating a lot, you can be in heaven for next to nothing.

If you need to take a ski vacation every winter, send your kids to a world class university, pack the family of 5 off to visit grandma in Cleveland every Christmas, attend an occasional ML baseball game, and drive a car with an engine over 5 liters, it's going to hurt. A lot.

Some folks thrive in Thailand on peanuts. Others spend out the wazoo and still can't make it work for them. I've met both types, and they're all great people.

It's not a morality, or a money management thing. And there's no need to make anyone out to be an abject failure at life if they come to find out their preferences don't mesh with what's available here. Or simply not available on their budget.

[mcfish]

After reading the thread I can confirm 20k - 500k is easily doable

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

[mihalis]

Depends where outside bkk..

[ChangMaiSausage]

Plenty of crap posted but also some interesting observations. Keep them coming I find it interesting.

[PaDavid]

There are 2 of us, me and my Thai gf. We live an hour SSE of Loei in a small village in a house with a fabulous view, which I paid 500,000 for. I give her 25,000 per month out of which she pays for food (including the occasional meal out), all the household bills, plus car repaynents and other running expenses (petrol, tax, servicing, etc). She is very happy, as am I

[BuriramDevelopers]

depends where, In Isaan in any city it is a comfy life with anything starting from 50 K thb a month. I have a descent house on a 1/2 rai plot in the city, private school, health insurance for the whole family, 2 motorbikes, no car and but that would be optional, this is more out of choice.

Guess i spent about 30 K for the living expences, so from 50 K on you should be fine in Isan

Edited February 22, 2016 by BuriramDevelopers

[Asheron]

I would guess around 30K baht would be enough for everything incl. insurance.

And don't listen to the miserable bastards on this forum about their "worry or care" for your children related to moving to Thailand nor homeschooling, they are just full of faeces.

Based on what assumption. If you can't afford a really good education for your children ( which is expensive) then you shouldn't be here.

I worried so much I use to work 15 hour days to put my child thru international school..

If you haven't got the money, then stop justifying it as faeces..

Many stay here not because it's better for the child, because it is better for them..

Because they are full of faeces as they have no idea what they are on about when talking about homeschooling.

[uthaithanirules]

There are 2 of us, me and my Thai gf. We live an hour SSE of Loei in a small village in a house with a fabulous view, which I paid 500,000 for. I give her 25,000 per month out of which she pays for food (including the occasional meal out), all the household bills, plus car repaynents and other running expenses (petrol, tax, servicing, etc). She is very happy, as am I

loei,sounds awesome

similar with me, 700000 in uthaithai, and the view still knocks me out

[bearpolar]

There are 2 of us, me and my Thai gf. We live an hour SSE of Loei in a small village in a house with a fabulous view, which I paid 500,000 for. I give her 25,000 per month out of which she pays for food (including the occasional meal out), all the household bills, plus car repaynents and other running expenses (petrol, tax, servicing, etc). She is very happy, as am I

loei,sounds awesome

similar with me, 700000 in uthaithai, and the view still knocks me out

yeah but do you have colored toilet tiles as walls?

I was browsing the issaan houses for sale the other day online and most farang houses look like giant toilets. Yeah nice area but it seems every room was built like an ugly toilet from the thai 50's and the furniture was all bought in tesco.

Yeah you live a cheap lifestyle and its fine but don't go on putting that it's the regular price for a person raised in the west and used to not barfing everytime they open their eyes indoor.

700k furnished.. just basic decent quality mattress is 50-100k, plus basic kitchen/dining furniture an other 50-100k and 20-25k for a tv and 30-50k for a decent couch.. can't source much more than toilet tiles at homepro after that

2mb you can have something really decent if you build it yourself. Which is still really cheap.

Edited February 22, 2016 by bearpolar

[bazza40]

250k p/m.

Very helpful, presumably you also assist old ladies crossing the road.

Depending how far out in the sticks the OP wants to be, house rent will be 10K - 20K baht per month. He would need some capital investment in a scooter and car, recommend buying low mileage secondhand. Budget about 400K baht for those items.

All up for a family, I would suggest a budget of about 75K baht/month. It depends on how well or modestly the OP wants to live. Good luck.

[bazza40]

Actually socialisation is the greatest misconception whenever homeschooling is mentioned.

My children get 4 hours study a day 1-1 and generally at least 2 hours play/ social activities with other homeschool groups. Far more than they would ever get in a shool setting and way ahead of their school friends

Do they speak Thai?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Most of the Thai kids I see in my condo are studying English, so perhaps it is not the potential problem implied by the question.

[Blue Muton]

Rent.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month

Utilities.....(Water, Electric)...3,000 to 4,000 bath a month depending on Air-con use

Food.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month (maybe less)

Transportation....???????

that's on the LOW end....And the bare essential, doesn't include clothes, or other unexpected expenses!

That's a general idea, could be cheaper, could be more expensive???? What visa do you intend on staying?

check out this site for a more specific example of costs

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Thailand

You are way off with the utility cost, just got our electricity bill and it is 1,600 Baht, water about 100.

Our electric bill has averaged 4000 - 5000 across three different properties.

The last time a genius came in and argued that everyone was getting scammed on air con cost.. turns out he used the AC at 28-29 (basically drying the room only)

It's just like those geniuses telling us were getting scammed on food because im not eating tesco khao pat gai everyday at 20b/meal

I didn't say that everyone has a bill of 1,600 Baht, I just pointed out that I did - in response to a post advising that twice that amount is "on the LOW end". My bills may be on the "LOW end" because I seldom have the need to use the aircon during the day, I generally find that a fan is comfortable.

Perhaps you could point to where I suggested that anyone was getting scammed, or where I suggested that everyone's bills must be the same as mine?

[Blue Muton]

Rent.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month

Utilities.....(Water, Electric)...3,000 to 4,000 bath a month depending on Air-con use

Food.......10,000 to 15,000 baht a month (maybe less)

Transportation....???????

that's on the LOW end....And the bare essential, doesn't include clothes, or other unexpected expenses!

That's a general idea, could be cheaper, could be more expensive???? What visa do you intend on staying?

check out this site for a more specific example of costs

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Thailand

You are way off with the utility cost, just got our electricity bill and it is 1,600 Baht, water about 100.

Your personal experience with the electric bill and water bill is just that ....YOUR experience with the electric bill and water bill.

As for my Utilities expense ...it includes cable, phone , water, electric, internet etc and is just a ROUGH estimate.

So excuse me if I say ...I don't think I'm that far off

If you say you don't think you're far off, with the additional info (inclusion of internet, cable, phone etc), then I'd have to agree with you. I looked at the part where you originally just mentioned electricity and water, coupled with the low end bit, so it seems that we may be in violent agreement (to quote a Brent type cretin boss that I had in a previous life). Yes, I am fully aware that my bills are unique to me.

[flossiebear]

In my opinion decide how much a month you can afford. Then that's how much it will cost.

[willyumiii]

To address your question, as so many others are not doing.

My wife, 8 year old daughter and I live north of Bangkok, within 20 Km of all large city where anything we might need available.

We rent a nice, brand new 3 bedroom, two story air conditioned house with a good sized fenced ( walled ) yard and garden.

We also have wifi and satellite TV with western programs.

Our electric bill runs about 1000 thb per month.

Our water is about 400 Thb per month, but I am an avid gardener and irrigate almost every day when it is not raining.

We eat well, both Thai and western food and go out to eat a couple of times per week.

We are also making payments on a new car.

We do this on an income of about 60,000 Thb per month,

and have money to spare ( put away) every month.

Choke Dee ( good luck ) !

Edited February 22, 2016 by willyumiii