Monthly cost of living in Thailand May 2017

Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand May 2017

Welcome to the May 2017 report on my monthly spend in Thailand.

Total Earned:  62,500 THB

Total Spend:   55,000 THB

Saved:    7,250 THB

Breakdown

Accommodation – 20,000 THB

I live with my girlfriend in a 2 bedroom condo in Bang Sue, at the end of the MRT line. My girlfriend works near Petchburi MRT whereas I work on Chaengwattana Road so it is a good location for us to be.

We do spend quite a lot on rent but we have a 75 sq meter place which is big enough for us to relax in and we use the second bedroom as an office/music room which is what we need.

I cover the cost of the rent here and my girlfriend pays for her mum’s place.

Utility Bills –   3,300 THB

I spend quite a lot of time at home so use the AC a fair amount of time so my electric bill is around 1,000 Baht a month. I have internet, Netflix and a phone package which makes up the bulk of the remaining amount in this section. Finally my water bill comes in at 180 Baht a month.

Transport –   2,500  THB

Travelling to work costs around 120 Baht a day but I only go in 3 times a week which means in May I spent 1,560  THB in total.

I live near the MRT and use it every few days for short journeys around. I dont use it enough to get a monthly pass but spent 290 Baht in May.

Finally I took a few taxis to get around, normally when public transport is closed for the night. This month I spent in the region of 600 Baht on cabs.

Food –    14,000 THB

This month I spent 2,000 Baht at Tesco Lotus as I tried to eat healthier food and to make use of my kitchen. In the end I feel I saved a bit of money but only really got fruit, vegetables and some things for breakfast. This means lunch and dinner is normally had in a restaurant or market.

Local restaurants cost around 40-80 baht a meal but a couple of times a week we go out to restaurant and spend on average 600 Baht a time.

After this add on about 100 baht a day for snacks and drinks and that brings up my total.

The amount in this section would be higher but often I split the cost with my girlfriend or she chips in when we go out.

General Shopping – 6,200 THB

This month I bought a few new bits and pieces, the most expensive was a pair of wireless headphones which cost 2,500 Baht. The next major purchase was an android box to allow me to watch Netflix on the TV in my bedroom which cost 1,700 Baht.

We also decide to get a new printer and I split the cost with my girlfriend so I chipped in 2,000 Baht.

I’m not really a heavy shopper and only buy things out of necessity rather than for the joy of shopping.

Entertainment –  5,000 THB

My monthly entertainment is a mix between going out and playing sports.

Badminton is my choice of sport here as it is fun to play, a good workout and also cheap. Something I like about playing badminton is that there are lots of courts around Bangkok and it is a sport that you can play with people of all abilities.

In terms of going out I don’t spend a lot, maybe 500 baht per night, and this happens once a week at most. I don’t really ever go out just to drink like I would in the UK, I normally go for a meal which I much prefer.

I also went to the cinema a couple of times but use points from my KTC credit card to get free tickets. A few snacks before the film usually cost around 300 Baht.

Travel –  0 THB

This month there was no travel as I went away last month and have another trip in place for September.

Others –   4,000 THB

I have a membership at Fitness First which costs 2,000 Baht a month and I go there 2 or 3 times a week. In all honesty I probably don’t use it enough to make it good value but I only have 6 months left so I will just keep it going until November and see if they offer a large discount to keep me or look at other options.

I also have to repay my student loan from the UK which works out at roughly 2,000 baht a month. It seems a bit of a lottery as to how much people pay back s I have colleagues on the same salary who pay double what I do whereas others pay less.

Saved –   7,250 THB

I had expected to make a loss this month as I only worked a few hours the previous month at work and I only get paid per hour. However, I was lucky to have a couple of other projects which made around half of my monthly income.

As I said above I am going on holiday in September so this money will go toward that.

Overview – Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand May 2017

Overall a pretty normal month and it shows that again you need to make over 50,000 Baht a month to live to a decent standard here in Bangkok. My job means that I will earn different amounts throughout the year which does leave some uncertainty but I feel I will be able to average between 70-80k a month which leaves some money for saving.

This month showed me that travel is where the majority of my savings go to and although I do enjoy it I want to make other plans to save and invest for the future. I also benefit for sharing costs with my girlfriend when we go out and eat. Granted I do pay our rent but she has responsibilities to her family.

I have also started looking into further education to be eligible for higher paying positions both here or in other locations. I feel that I am getting close to the ceiling of possible earnings in my current job and therefore am looking at plans to break through the 100K a month barrier that there seems to be.

Any questions feel free to leave a comment.