Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand January 2018

Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand January 2018

Welcome to the January 2018 report on my monthly spend in Thailand.

Total Earned:  61,000 THB

Total Spend:  52,500 THB   

Saved / Invested: 8,500 THB    

Breakdown

Accommodation – 20,000 THB

I have a 2 bedroom condo which costs 20,000 THB a month. I am planning to move in April to a smaller place closer to my work to save some money. I feel I ca get a good room in the 12-15,000 THB price range.

One thing which is important to me is having somewhere nice to live. It is much better to come home to nice furniture, good facilities and a place you like than the cheapest place you can find.

Utility Bills –    3,500 THB

I use the AC all night and a few hours during the day. My electric bills are always around 1,250 Baht per month. Water is cheap at my condo, it is always between 100-1220 Baht.

My AIS internet connection is 750 Baht a month and works well. To be honest I preferred my old True internet connection in my previous condo but unfortunately AIS are the only company offering internet in my place.

I have the top of the range Netflix package which is 440 Baht a month. It gives me 4K movies and shows which look great on my living room TV. I do also have a yearly pass to Bein Sports which lets me watch all the UK football. This cost 1,599 for the year and I paid in full already.

Finally my mobile phone is through AIS as they gave me a deal for choosing them when I got my internet set-up. To be honest I was with Dtac for 3 years and the difference is minimal.

Transport –    1,500 THB

I cut back on taxis quite a lot this month. I have been taking the bus and subway to work which helps save a bit. I mainly use Uber rather than local taxis as they keep giving me 50/60 Baht discount vouchers which makes it cheap.

There is an air-con bus which runs from outside my office to Mo Chit BTS. It takes around 40 minutes when I travel at night and only costs 21 Baht.

I use the MRT and Airport Link several times a week too and put 500 Baht onto each of the travel cards I use.

Food –   10,000 THB

After an indulgent Christmas I decided that January would be the month to cut back on food. To be honest I still ate a lot of bad things but just didn’t go to fancy places so often.

I have a new restaurant at my condo which is decent. It is indoors, has good furniture and dishes cost between 45-70 Baht each. I eat there at least once a day.

I also used the Tesco Lotus online delivery service to give me enough water, beer and soft drinks to last a couple of months. Overall I wasn’t too impressed with the service (they managed to break a couple of items and there were communication problems). However, it is useful to have everything I need without having to carry it myself, especially heavy bulky items. I think I will do this every few months, order 3-5,000 Baht of basic items I can store.

General Shopping –  1,500 THB

I picked up a few things from Watsons the local Pharmacy here. They have sales on pretty much all the time and a lot of products I use are normally buy 1 get 1 free or 30% off.

Entertainment – 2,500 THB

I did go out a couple of times this month. One night was on Sukhumvit whilst the other was around Bearing. It was interesting to visit a couple of different locations on nights out. I spent around 1,000 Baht each time.

I also went to the cinema and saw Jumanji which was enjoyable. The cinema in Thailand is great value for money, especially if you go on a Wednesday when there are big discounts.

Travel – 0 THB

I had planned to get a trip booked for Songkran but a number of things stopped this. Firstly I cant decide where to go. Lots of people give glowing reports of Taiwan and Sri Lanka. I am also thinking about just hitting the beach in Thailand or perhaps looking at the Philippines.

Hopefully sometime next month I will decide and buy at least the flights (if I go out of Thailand).

Others –  5,000 THB

I decided it was time to invest in a good desktop computer for my work. I purchased a top of the range model which came in at just under 50,000 Baht. Many computers here don’t include Windows operating system or any of the software so the price mentioned includes official versions of everything I’ll need. The added bonus is that by paying with my KTC credit card at IT City I could split the payments interest free over 10 months.

I have also signed up at Joox which is a Thai music streaming service, I wrote this review of it earlier in the month. For the 59 Baht a month I pay it is great value.

Invested –  5,000 THB

I use the site BX.in.th to invest in crypto-currency. It is something I believe in and is a part of my long term investments. I put 5,000 Baht into Ripple as I feel the price is low and has potential to grow over the next few years. I know not everyone believes in this type of investment but I feel it is an interesting idea and currently if I were to withdraw everything I have put in I would have more than doubled my money.

In April I will be able to join my company’s new provident fund which will see my savings matched up to 7,500 Baht a month. I feel this will be the backbone of my savings portfolio and a good way to get decent savings. I also feel there is more that I could do so I’ll keep researching options.

Saved – 3,500 THB

A little cash put away towards holidays. I have probably neglected my cash savings a little recently and I will aim to save 25,000 Baht over the next 3 months to fund my Songkran trip.

Overview – Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand January 2018

My income was probably the lowest it has been in almost a year. This month I had planned to do a few extra projects to boost my income but they didn’t materialize. One of my projects has been pushed back into March and the other I will complete early next month so that money will be added then.  I also got taxed a lot more than normal, maybe something to do with the tax system here at the start of a new calendar year?

I spent less than normal too which was mainly due to cutting back on the fancy dining and just doing a lot of work at home rather than going out.

I’m not sure what February holds. I hope it will be an interesting month and a chance to do more. I want to get back into playing golf again. I played a little in the UK over Christmas and have the bug. If anyone fancies a game midweek let me know!