Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand January 2017

Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand January 2017

Welcome to the January 2017 report on my monthly spend in Thailand. To start with check out the about me page to learn a little about me and my circumstances. It will also explain the high accommodation prices below.

Total Income:   70,000 THB

Total Spend:    103,500 THB

Saved:      Loss of 33,500 THB

Breakdown

Accommodation – 30,000 THB

I have a 2 bedroom condo which I bought and am currently paying off. 30,000 Baht a month is a large chunk of what I make but it is manageable. I couldn’t go back to living in a shoe box room and I wanted somewhere to buy so a house was out of the question.

Utility Bills – 3,800 THB

My utility bills include water, electricity, internet, 365 Sport TV subscription , condo maintenance fee, Netflix and mobile phone package.

If I wanted to save some money I could cancel my Netflix and sports subscription and recoup about 1,000 Baht a month but I spend a fair amount of time watching football and movies so they are good value for me.

Transport –   2,500 THB

My new job means I only work 2 days a week so I spend less on traveling to the office than before. It does mean that I have more spare time and visited different places on my days off which gave me a total of around 2,500 baht for vans, buses, taxis and local transport.

Food – 12,000 THB

I end up eating out 3 or 4 times a week either for lunch or dinner. I could probably save 2-4,000 Baht a month on my food bill but it isn’t worth it if I have to eat at home every night.

I eat at mid range places quite frequently and I know many places near where I live where I can spend 80-150 a plate for great food. I rarely eat in fancy restaurants and in the same way I avoid street side dives too.

General Shopping – 5,500 THB

I decided to get some tailor made shirts and trousers this month. I went to a place in MBK which a friend recommended to me (SKD Suit). Overall I thought the quality was OK but not as good as some I got before from another shop in the Landmark hotel (Nickermann’s). They will do me though and it should be the last formal clothes I need to buy this year.

Entertainment – 200 THB

Not a lot of goes into this section as I included a lot of entertainment costs in my food and travel sections.

The one thing I do is to go out to play badminton once or twice a week. It isn’t too expensive and is a good workout. I sometimes have to buy new shuttlecocks but then as a group we cover the cost so each time I play the total cost is around 50-80 Baht per person.

Travel –   47,500 THB

This was a big month of travel and paying for future travel.

As I have just changed jobs I had to leave Thailand and go on a  visa run to Penang to get a new Non-Imm B visa. The idea that you have to leave the country to get a new working visa sounds crazy to me but those are the rules. This meant it was a good chance to travel overseas with my girlfriend so we made it a 4 day vacation.

I decided to fly to Hat Yai and take a van there to Penang. It worked out at around 5,400 Baht in total for the two of us which was half the cost of flying directly to Penang but it was a bit of a slog and I think if the flights were a bit cheaper it is worth paying more to avoid the land border crossing.

Our hotel was a nice place just outside central Georgetown and cost 900 Baht a night. We visited a few local sites and went to a couple of museums. Our total spend for everything, including food and the new visa, was around 19,000 Baht.

I also booked flights to Beijing for a holiday in April over the Songkran break. Flights out of Thailand are generally a bit expensive over this period and it cost 24,000 Baht for the return tickets for 2 people. In terms of spend when we get there I expect we will spend a similar amount on the other costs over 6 days. This cost will be included in my April cost of living article.

Finally I paid 4,500 Baht for 3 nights in a hotel in Rome for a trip we will take in September. The hotel looks reasonable but it made me appreciate how cheap decent hotels are in Asia compared to Europe.

Others – 2,000THB

I have a monthly gym membership at Fitness First which works out at 2,000 Baht a month. My condo doesn’t have a fitness area and to be honest the fact I have to pay makes me go regularly. I have a year long contract so this will be a new monthly cost.

Loss –   33,500 THB

There are a couple of reasons for a loss this month. The first is the cost of travel for my new visa and future travel plans. 47,500 Baht is quite a lot and I wont be spending that much again on travel for a while hopefully! I also hate how you have to leave the country to get a new visa if you change jobs, I feel it is a scam and totally pointless. I am not sure why they just cant change my visa and work permit in the immigration office. I know I made a vacation out of my visa run but even if I kept costs down and went for 2 days I would have spent close to 10K which is still a lot.

The second reason for the loss is down to my change of jobs. This meant I only got 2/3 of my normally salary from the job I left and I wont be paid until next month for my new job. I actually wasn’t counting on not getting paid for the new job and it is really something I should have checked with them. I presumed as I started on the 14th January that I would get at least half a month’s pay but I now know they pay the following month. This means next month I will get a half month’s salary and it wont be until the end of March that I get my first full paycheck.

The positive is that I saved over 49,000 Baht last month so I have that to cover the loss and travel expenses. I am not sure it will cover me for another month in February so I might have to dip into my UK savings to cover my day to day costs next month.

Overview – Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand January 2017

I aim to save money where possible but know it isn’t achievable every month. When I look a the loss I will put it down to travel expenses and it was covered from earlier savings.

Whilst it is annoying to do a visa run I did have a nice trip and enjoyed getting out of Thailand for a few days. I also put down money for future trips and it is nice to have something to look forward to in April and September.

From the start of 2017 it will be interesting to see if costs rise throughout the year. I have noticed a few things such as food increase over the 3 years I have been in Thailand. I feel that the costs are still OK as my salary has also increased by around 15% a year over the same time. This year I feel my earning potential is good although I feel it will stay around the 80-100K mark.

February will be rather frugal as I have to save for upcoming holidays and will only have a small income coming in as I will get just a half month’s pay from my new job.