family of 3 living in thai island on £1000pcm

[Clive]

Good evening.
I was wondering if it is possible to live in ko phang ngan renting a 2 bed bungalow food utilities etc for 43,000thb pcm
I used to live in Thailand many years ago when the exchange rate was better so testing the water at this stage.
Many thanks

[samuijimmy]

I would say you'll get the same sort of answers as posted in the CM forum.

 

Phangan is more expensive than Koh Samui.

 

What about schooling? that is not cheap here.

 

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/985200-family-of-3-living-in-cm-on-£1000pcm/

[evadgib]

With a Thai spouse & child you might manage it in their home district but not a chance here.

[khunPer]

I'll agree with SamuiJimmy, it's basically a question about age of child and if school is needed. Furthermore to take into consideration is Health-insurance – of course depending of length of stay, if it's for example is six month only and can be covered by travel insurance. Neighboring Samui will have better options.

 

I'm living here (at Samui) as family of three – i.e. my girlfriend, our child (in school) and me – and I will based on this say, that if you live a fairly simple life it can be done for 40,000 baht a month; but excluding costly health insurance with a good coverage, and excluding tuition fees for schooling; however, if the child is born in Thailand and one parent is Thai, then public school is free up to the age of 13 (source). I'm not familiar with school options at Phangan, but most private schools at Samui, apart from one, are quite expensive (relative) and will hardly fit into a 40k/month budget.

 

A 2-bed bungalow can be long-term rented in the area 10,000 baht/month; plus-minus, depending of location, quality, aircon(s) etc.

Food and daily needs will probably cost not less than 500 baht a day for three, i.e. 15,000 baht/month; but it's like a rubber band, depending of life-style.

Some level of transportation will be in the range 5,000 baht/month, depending of location and kind of transportation.

Heath insurance, if counting the cheapest Bupa, will be around 3,000 baht/month for the family.

Other needs of all various kinds will easily sum up the balance of some 7,000-10,000 baht a month.

 

One important thing to remember, when staying in Thailand, is to have some cash available in a "Rainy day account" for emergency – a bank account, preferable with a ATM, will do it – the amount is relative to what one can afford, just little extra is a lot more than nothing, but never stay as foreigner in Thailand without some level of extra cash.

 

Wish you good luck with your plans...

[samuijimmy]

You'd be hard pressed to find a house with two bedrooms anywhere on KP for 10,000 baht a month.. especially with any furniture, fridge etc.

[wasas]

it sounds like the answer is NO

[Rhys]

Well, sadly paradise is lost...

[carmine]

Unrealistic amount of money to live on here.  Its not particularly cheap anymore, then theres school fees, potential medical bills that are getting more and more costly, utility bills and basically anything else the locals can rip you off for.  

 

In short you'd be living on the bread line and whats the point in that?

[Kerryd]

Back between 2003-05 when I was working in Kabul the topic of Thailand came up now and then. Three different times, after people found out I was living in Thailand, I had people  tell me that they "knew a guy" that used to live in Thailand, had a house on the beach, had one woman doing the cooking and one woman doing the cleaning and was sleeping with both of them, all for $75 a month. 

 

I'd tell them that the Vietnam war ended 30 years ago and they'd look at me with a idiot expression on their faces. They didn't have a clue that the "guy they knew" was actually a someone that knew a guy who worked with a guy that had a sister who was going out with a guy that knew someone who overheard another guy in a bar talking about his cousin that had a buddy who went to school with a kid that had a friend whose uncle knew a guy that used to drink with a guy that knew someone that had went to Thailand on R&R once.

(In other words, it's a myth that has been getting passed around for over 30 years.)

 

Then you'd have to explain to them, slowly, that things were a lot different, and cheaper, 30 years ago and there was no way someone was living in a beachfront house with 2 women for a mere $75 a month nowadays. 

 

Just like how during my first trip to Thailand the exchange rate was like 5-1 (Thai to Canadian $). 10 years ago it was almost 35-1 ! Now it's like 26-1.

 

Prices change. Exchange rates change. Rarely do things stay the same and it's even more rare for things to get cheaper (i.e. living expenses). One thing you do not want to do is be living on so thin a string that the slightest change in exchange rates or a minor crisis leaves you unable to make ends meet. There are a lot of expats in Thailand already that watch the exchange rates closer than the soccer scores, as the slightest change in the rates could mean the difference between living on som tam and rice for the next month or maybe being able to spring for a beer once in awhile.

 

Not the conditions you want to be trying to raise a family in.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Kerryd
"stuff" !

[robertson468]

If you pm me I might be able to help you, if Samui is an option.  David.

[samuijimmy]

one troll post removed...

 

It is possible to find lower cost housing on Samui more so than KP...It  just takes some searching! Try the poster above^

[Tony125]

It might help if you tell us ages of all parties, your nationality and if wife/child  is Thai or foreigner. Are you planing on retiring here?  Are you or wife planing on working here say as teacher to suppliment that 43,000 baht? You said you were in Thailand before ---during Vietnam War? That was a long time ago and Thailand is no longer the cheap place to live it used to be. 

Do you know the visa requirements to live here?  43---45.000 baht is not enough to get a retirement visa and you would have to be married to a Thai to qualify to stay due to married to a Thai at 40,000 baht per month or400,000 in a Thai bank.

[bangkokairportlink]

Of course you can. As if all Thai on KPG were living with 40000 a month...

 

 

[Tony125]

2 minutes ago, bangkokairportlink said:

Of course you can. As if all Thai on KPG were living with 40000 a month...

 

 

But he can't even get a retirement visa on 43,000 baht a month . If his wife is Thai which he hasn't stated then he could get extension of stay due to marriage with a Thai but just barely.

[TheLobster]

1 hour ago, bangkokairportlink said:

Of course you can. As if all Thai on KPG were living with 40000 a month..

Of course, it would help if you read the previous posts particularly the OP. 2 Bedroom Bungalow ....

 

As if all the Thai's on KPG are living in a 2 Bedroom Bungalow.

[mugwhy1]

Have a misses and Thai son on phangan they need 30 thousand baht  a month minimum. It doubles or more when I am there :) 

[samuijimmy]

OP has not returned to give feed back....  this will just go around in circles, unless he does~!

[carmine]

Just now, samuijimmy said:

OP has not returned to give feed back....  this will just go around in circles, unless he does~!

Done its course hasn't it?  You could live here all things going as planned but the slightest of problems and you're in the sh1t!!!!!

[samuijimmy]

3 minutes ago, carmine said:

Done its course hasn't it?  You could live here all things going as planned but the slightest of problems and you're in the sh1t!!!!!

 

He's not responded on Chang Mai forum where he asked the same question.... yep time to close! 

 

Unless he requests by PM to reopen!

 

Closed//