family of 3 living in CM on £1000pcm

[Clive]

Good evening.
I was wondering if it would be possible to support a family in Chaing mai on about 45,000thb per month (not including schooling costs) 
Looking at rent of a 2 bed condo plus food utility etc
Thank you
I lived in Thaland many years ago when the exchange rate was much better so trying to test the water at this stage.
Many thanks

[cyberfarang]

The exchange rate went down yesterday, now you will only get 43590 for your £1000 and it`s forecast to decrease further as the £ weakens.

 

With renting a two bedroom condo and supporting a family of three, I would say; NO, on what will probably be about 43000 baht by the end of the week. Unless you want to live on the absolute breadline, counting every penny or baht every time you spend.

 

You could possibly swing it by renting a cheap one room apartment on the outskirts of town, no air con, just using a fan and buying cheap food at the local markets. Good luck.

[heybruce]

Two bedroom condos are hard to find, and will use up at least a third, and probably half, of the 45,000.  Three people can survive on the remainder (Thai people get by on much less), but won't be able to do much, and had better stay in good health.

[swissie]

......and don't forget, depending on your age, a decent health insurance will cost you between 3000 and 9000 Bht per month. Again, depending on your age.
Cheers.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

A townhouse will give you the most space at a decent location for the least money.  However, single people get ridiculed hers all the time for saying they can live on 750 us, which would be about 585 GBP.  There really isn't much savings in a group, or economy of scale.  Eating out is frequently less than cooking at home.  For condos, a one bedroom is just two studios put together, and a two bedroom is three....it is all about square meters.  Expenses for kids can easily be more than adults...especially, when you add in a lot of school activities and clothes.  I am going to say no, since you had to ask.  And that would be a no even without health insurance or even a few pints of Guineas per week.  There is also a big difference in living on a relatively small budget check to check, than living on that same budget with several million THB in savings.  Median household income is about 28000 per month here but very few from the nanny states are prepared to live like that.

[mesquite]

I, too, would have to say "no."  I rented a two bedroom 100 sqm condo for 25000 per month at Floral Condo and  two years ago the rent was the same.  So that wipes out over half your budget.  Not sure how big your family is, but I would want at least 150 sqm for a famil of 4.  Those go for about 35k in that building.

Edited May 28, 2017 by mesquite

[Thailand]

If a condo is not essential then there are plenty of good 2/3 bed bungalows around in the close to town moo baans for around 10K leaving 30K plus for other expenses.

[CMKiwi]

Agree, bungalows or townhouses would be the way to go.  However with a lot of those you may have to get your own furniture.

 

If it's fully furnished then the rent may/can increase.

 

In Mae Rim plaza there area lot of empty townhouses/shops that rent for around 10k each.  Some are better fitted out than others so it pays to shop around.

 

IMHO I think it's not a bad deal. 10k will get you 3 floors with either 2 or 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a lot of floor space.  Some will even come with A/C in the bedrooms.

 

But overall it could be hard living on 45k once you take into account other costs.  It is doable but you wouldn't want any emergencies to happen.

[evenstevens]

far better   rental options available in the Maerim District, and other districts,   then Maerim Plazas  ,    oven/ quadriplecic stairs,   dogboxs,    etc etc ,  at 10.000 baht a month

as for your  approx  45.000 baht a month  question  ,    for two,    you are in the ball park,   but family of three perhaps a very tight number

good luck

 

[CNXBKKMAN]

I would say yes if you can live like a local Thai but to be able to live like a local you need to have spent some time here and adapted. Find a cheap place on the edges of the city pretty straightforward. Someone above mentioned it may be unfurnished. A local may just have a mattress on the floor or even a roll up mat. Can you survive without aircon. Hot season with just a fan? Curry noodles for breakfast. Happy with three on a motorcycle and the danger?  3 x immigration form filling, fees and ballache. You might be able live like a local but what about the other two? So I would say yes it's possible but for many people it would be a no. If you have somewhere to return back home if it doesn't work out maybe come over and give it a whirl. 

        

[Clive]

Thank you very much for all your replies. I thought that it might be tight and you have all confirmed this. Thank you for your informative replies.
Can you please be so kind as to advise on roughly how many thai baht per month would be an Ideal figure to live comfortably in a 3 bed house in a nice part of the city and live comfortably, not extravagantly but not on the breadline either as this will be something to save towards.
Many thanks   

[elektrified]

7 hours ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

A townhouse will give you the most space at a decent location for the least money.  However, single people get ridiculed hers all the time for saying they can live on 750 us, which would be about 585 GBP.  There really isn't much savings in a group, or economy of scale.  Eating out is frequently less than cooking at home.  For condos, a one bedroom is just two studios put together, and a two bedroom is three....it is all about square meters.  Expenses for kids can easily be more than adults...especially, when you add in a lot of school activities and clothes.  I am going to say no, since you had to ask.  And that would be a no even without health insurance or even a few pints of Guineas per week.  There is also a big difference in living on a relatively small budget check to check, than living on that same budget with several million THB in savings.  Median household income is about 28000 per month here but very few from the nanny states are prepared to live like that.

I rarely agree with this poster, but in this case I agree with everything. The only exception being what he believes Thai families live on per month. I don't think he knows too many and thinks they make less than they do.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

There are just too many variables that you haven't answered.  A nice modern TH in a cool, walkable area where you don't need car or motorbike, is 25k....what about visas?  what about health insurance?  what about steak, wine, cheese, and other high excise items?  Are you prepared to go carless?  Will you need western style mattresses and box springs?  How much space do you need?  Home much land?  Think 60k per month and you will still be making compromises.

[cardinalblue]

You can find a 3 bedroom house in the Mae Jo or Mae rim area for 15k now as the market is flooded with rental homes...terrible the # of  new moobaans....

 

will need private transport though as song thaews are inadequate and CM public transport is extremely poor..

[KhonKaenKowboy]

15k on rent with the barking dogs and another 15k for vehicle expenses....or spend 25k and go carless, and avoid hellish trips into town.  Up to you.  There are gluts of rentals in the exurbs for a reason.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

32 minutes ago, elektrified said:

I rarely agree with this poster, but in this case I agree with everything. The only exception being what he believes Thai families live on per month. I don't think he knows too many and thinks they make less than they do.

I took a chance and read your post, even though you are on my ignore list.  Wages and household incomes are published all over the place, and you still want to dispute it.  Or is it that you don't know what median is?

[NancyL]

Take a look at the Numbeo page for Chiang Mai:  https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Chiang-Mai  They say a family of four needs nearly 62,000 baht/month without rent and a single person nearly 17,000 baht, again without rent.  As KKK pointed out, there really aren't big savings by living in a group (OK maybe a little on things like aircon costs).  

 

As for the cost of rent, well as we've proven in other threads, asking how much does housing cost here is like asking how long is a piece of thread.  It's possible to live in a very basic three-bedroom townhouse, with a Thai-style kitchen in the city center for less than 12,000 baht/month.  Transportation would be low because nearly everything is within walking distance.  

 

And, of course, no contribution of mine to a thread of this nature wouldn't be complete without pointing out the need for health insurance or a large savings to cover medical costs.  It's easy to be lulled into thinking that health care is cheap after a couple low-cost outpatient visits at a shiny international hospital, but the bill can climb to several million baht after a major accident.

[heybruce]

16 minutes ago, NancyL said:

Take a look at the Numbeo page for Chiang Mai:  https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Chiang-Mai  They say a family of four needs nearly 62,000 baht/month without rent and a single person nearly 17,000 baht, again without rent.  As KKK pointed out, there really aren't big savings by living in a group (OK maybe a little on things like aircon costs).  

 

As for the cost of rent, well as we've proven in other threads, asking how much does housing cost here is like asking how long is a piece of thread.  It's possible to live in a very basic three-bedroom townhouse, with a Thai-style kitchen in the city center for less than 12,000 baht/month.  Transportation would be low because nearly everything is within walking distance.  

 

And, of course, no contribution of mine to a thread of this nature wouldn't be complete without pointing out the need for health insurance or a large savings to cover medical costs.  It's easy to be lulled into thinking that health care is cheap after a couple low-cost outpatient visits at a shiny international hospital, but the bill can climb to several million baht after a major accident.

Good post.  I'll just add that a very basic Thai-style townhouse is very basic, typically with a lot of steep stairs and a kitchen that only works for Thai cooking, and maybe an English fry-up.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

And you won't even know if it has a western toilet until you open the bathroom door, assuming it is in the house.  Nancy's col numbers are interesting.  Average wages are about 13,500 per month for members of the workforce.  Total disposable income for the country is close to 7,500,000,000,000 THB....so divide that by the population of 68,000,000 and you get about 110,000 THB per capita, multiply by an average household size of 3.....and as previously stated....about 28,000 per month-median.   But, the website selling 47 million THB townhouses yet to be built, has gotten 18 whole visitors...this year.

[NancyL]

I think that Numbeo uses input from residents to come up with their numbers on what things cost in each city.  They ask you to report costs for specific items in the city where you live.  As such, it's going to be skewed with input from English-speakers who use computers.  This is probably a better approximation of what the living costs would be for the OP and his family, then looking at the costs for an "average Thai family", if you consider a rice-farming family in Isaan to be "average".

[naboo]

Two bed bungalow -8000B (4000B if you go really basic 10km+ from the city.

 

Food - 500B/day (50B per person per meal, home cooked, buy in local markets where possible) = 15,000B/month

 

Bills - water 200B, internet 700B, electric 1100B/month = 2000B/month

 

That is 25,000B/month. Assuming you have funds to buy a car/are happy to cycle, that leaves 4500B/week for clothing, health cover, fuel and non-essentials. Its tight, but possible. Probably not enjoyable.

[cyberfarang]

3 hours ago, naboo said:

Two bed bungalow -8000B (4000B if you go really basic 10km+ from the city.

 

Food - 500B/day (50B per person per meal, home cooked, buy in local markets where possible) = 15,000B/month

 

Bills - water 200B, internet 700B, electric 1100B/month = 2000B/month

 

That is 25,000B/month. Assuming you have funds to buy a car/are happy to cycle, that leaves 4500B/week for clothing, health cover, fuel and non-essentials. Its tight, but possible. Probably not enjoyable.

I would say you are about spot on once all the initial setup expenses have been completed.

 

This is about what it costs me per month, but I have found at times the money just runs away and each month always something crops up that occurs some expense to lay out. And although the costs you mention are similar to mine, I still manage to spend at least 50000 baht a month and even for that we are not living the high life.

 

If the OP could lower his sights he might be able to scrap through on 43000 baht a month, but its really going to be hard going. Estimating on what the OP desires, I think 60000 to 70000 baht a month would be a more realistic figure.

[landtrout]

10 hours ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

I took a chance and read your post, even though you are on my ignore list.  Wages and household incomes are published all over the place, and you still want to dispute it.  Or is it that you don't know what median is?

 

   I took a chance and read your post, even though you are on my ignore list.

 

   On a median basis, that's 15 seconds of my life that I'll never manage to recover!

 

[jobin]

As far as i know the Thai government requires a minimum of 65000 Thai baht each month for retirees.  Of course the govt does not care if the retiree is single/married/healthy/sickly/has kids...etc.

Works out OK at 65000 for me, except when golf is more than 3x per week.  

[smotherb]

On 5/28/2017 at 2:06 AM, cyberfarang said:

The exchange rate went down yesterday, now you will only get 43590 for your £1000 and it`s forecast to decrease further as the £ weakens.

 

With renting a two bedroom condo and supporting a family of three, I would say; NO, on what will probably be about 43000 baht by the end of the week. Unless you want to live on the absolute breadline, counting every penny or baht every time you spend.

 

You could possibly swing it by renting a cheap one room apartment on the outskirts of town, no air con, just using a fan and buying cheap food at the local markets. Good luck.

Although it can be done if you forget your Western ideas of living, but you certainly are not going to be able to live well on that little money. I know several retired Brits and Americans who try to live on approximately that amount of money; they are all single, have no private transport, rarely party except to drink a few of the cheapest beers, and spend most of their time at home without air con and eating street food. One recently had to go to hospital and had to rely on the goodness of friends to pay the bills. His medications now run him about B4k/mo, not including the check-ups he needs. 

[robertson468]

I have a large 2 bedroom 3 bathroom Town House (with air con) for rent on Koh Samui, that is well within your price range, if you are not hell bent on living in "Smokey" Chiang Mai.  Please pm me if interested.

[smotherb]

On 5/28/2017 at 7:28 AM, mesquite said:

I, too, would have to say "no."  I rented a two bedroom 100 sqm condo for 25000 per month at Floral Condo and  two years ago the rent was the same.  So that wipes out over half your budget.  Not sure how big your family is, but I would want at least 150 sqm for a famil of 4.  Those go for about 35k in that building.

Well, he said a family of three. I would consider going away from the farang tourist traps to live, especially on that little money. One of your more expensive items will be housing. Housing is much cheaper in areas with few farangs. A nice two bedroom condo in a high rise building here in a city in the South costs B10-20k/mo; however, a nice two story 2bdr/2bth row house in a nice neighborhood is more like B4-7k/mo. Living in the boondocks would be even cheaper, but I need a city. Another great cost will be food and utilities--learn to eat Thai street food and cut-out a/c and the expensive internet and cable options to save more. Stay healthy; a hospital stay of just a few days can blow all your income. And, forget about imported goods; they are quite expensive here. However, I would not suggest that life-style unless you are used to living on the cheap

[KhonKaenKowboy]

2 hours ago, smotherb said:

Although it can be done if you forget your Western ideas of living, but you certainly are not going to be able to live well on that little money. I know several retired Brits and Americans who try to live on approximately that amount of money; they are all single, have no private transport, rarely party except to drink a few of the cheapest beers, and spend most of their time at home without air con and eating street food. One recently had to go to hospital and had to rely on the goodness of friends to pay the bills. His medications now run him about B4k/mo, not including the check-ups he needs. 

Your numbers don't add up.  They easily have 1000 per day to live on....unless they are just paying stupid rent.  I know a guy on about 50k, and his total apartment bill inc!uding laundry is right at 5000, and he has a car, and slides the woman half his age 8000 per month.  I don't think you will see him at Limp Rock, on a  bender, he does go to Makro twice per month.

Edited May 29, 2017 by KhonKaenKowboy

[heybruce]

22 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

Your numbers don't add up.  They easily have 1000 per day to live on....unless they are just paying stupid rent.  I know a guy on about 50k, and his total apartment bill inc!uding laundry is right at 5000, and he has a car, and slides the woman half his age 8000 per month.  I don't think you will see him at Limp Rock, on a  bender, he does go to Makro twice per month.

A woman for 8k a month?  I assume she has other things (boyfriends) going, or this is a woman with very little going for her.

[smotherb]

13 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

Your numbers don't add up.  They easily have 1000 per day to live on....unless they are just paying stupid rent.  I know a guy on about 50k, and his total apartment bill inc!uding laundry is right at 5000, and he has a car, and slides the woman half his age 8000 per month.  I don't think you will see him at Limp Rock, on a  bender, he does go to Makro twice per month.

Again you run your fingers over the keys and know not what you write. I said it can be done.  One of my oldest and best friends is living here in that situation, so I know his spending habits well.  He lives alone and spends every bit of his monthly income.  He doesn't live the way he would like; he can't afford it.

 

Of course, people have different ideas of what living well amounts to. One of the Brits who used to stay here on about that much income moved to Cambodia to be able to live without teaching. Several others teach to help support themselves here.