Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand – May 2016
Welcome to the May 2016 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: 74,400 THB
Total Spend: 61,000 THB
Saved: 13,400 THB
Breakdown
Accommodation – 30,000 THB
My standard monthly repayment towards my 2 bedroom 64 sq metre condo. This money is from the UK, not a Thai bank.
If you’re thinking of moving to Thailand then in all likelihood you will rent rather than buy. Buying gives me the benefit of having somewhere here that I can call my own. I have a top floor, corner room which is what I really wanted. I’m in an area within 400 metres of a future BTS station so I might even make some money off it in the future….
Utility Bills – 2,700 THB
As I live with my girlfriend we have an agreement that she covers the electricity bill every month and I pay for the other utilities and the monthly repayment.
My bills include my internet (700THB), water (200THB),phone (300 THB), Condo maintenance (900THB) and Sports 365 Bill (600 THB).
My condo maintenance is a monthly amount that I have to pay after buying my condo. It covers things such as building insurance, communal cleaning, and staff costs. It is quite good considering I can get the handyman into fix any problems I have or if I need to replace anything.
Just for records my electricity bill for this month was 1,800 Baht which is mainly due to it being the hottest month of the year.
Food – 10,250 THB
My main form of entertainment is going out for some food and drinks so this section always includes my beer bill too so it is higher than many other people’s.
I went to Central Eastville and ate at Fat Gut’z (picture left). It cost around 1,000 Baht for everything you see. Not cheap but really good food and a nice atmosphere. The one thing I don’t like about this place is this whole price++ where they don’t include tax in the price and then automatically add on a service charge. In the end the service was ok but normally tipping in Thailand is at 20-40 Baht so when they add 10% it is a lot higher than normal and to be honest I doubt it goes to the waitress.
Our favorite restaurant in Bangkok is BonChon – a Korean chicken joint. For around 500 Baht you can get what you see in the picture to the right. This is more than enough for 2 people and we actually went twice this month. Again they do the ++ pricing – I guess it’s a thing for most restaurants in shopping malls. BonChon has restaurants in the main shopping malls across Bangkok but we always go to the Promenade.
I went to a few different train markets through the month to eat. Eating out in BKK is great and so cheap. My local Essan place is dirt cheap and sells great grilled food and somtam. Normally a few dishes and a beer is about 200 baht a head.
The monthly supermarket trip involves buying enough beers, water and snacks to last a month. I top this up by visiting 7/11 to get cleaning supplies and anything else I need. This month I spent 3,000 Baht at the supermarkets.
General Shopping – 3,000THB
I decided to add some new items to my wardrobe and hit AIIZ which is a good mid level store. 1,00 Baht got me a few T-shirts.
I also had to replace a couple of fittings in my bathroom. A new tap and pipe cost me 1,000 Baht. Doing this also meant I needed a few new tools so I decided to buy a few from Homepro which cost another 1,000 Baht.
Entertainment – 4,700 THB
I bought two tickets for Shrek The Musical which shows in July. At a total cost of 3,600 Baht I guess I am getting a good deal compared to the price in the UK or US but it is still a significant amount of money – I hope it’s as good as the movie!
Carrying on the movie theme I went and saw Captain America 3 – it was alright and as I went midweek I got the slightly cheaper price for a ticket. For the tickets, some popcorn and drinks the total cost was 550 Baht.
I still play badminton every week. It’s such a great way to stay healthy and in Thailand it is so cheap to rent a court. My total monthly badminton cost was 350 Baht which included buying shuttlecocks as well as renting the court.
Travel – 0 THB
No travel this month and I didn’t book any hotels / flights etc. I am currently saving for a tip back home in September and might buy a few tickets for attractions before I go.
Others – 10,350 THB
My monthly payment of 9,733THB towards my second condo is the largest cost in this section. In around a year it will be completed and rented out. The payment will remain at around 9,000 Baht but rental income should be around 7-8K per month so in the long term this wont be a large cost to me. As I have said before I plan to overpay on the deposit towards the end to keep the mortgage cost down.
My monthly haircut and tip is 250 Baht from a salon in Fashion Island shopping mall.
I get my clothes washed, dried and ironed at the local laundry shop – it works out at around 350 Baht a month on average. I could do it for less myself but I really cant be bothered to and it saves me a lot of time.
Saved 13,400 THB
All my savings are going towards my trip to the UK in October. Saving 13K is good but the problem is that wont go a long way in the UK.
I don’t really have to try too hard to save money here. In the last couple of years I have cut back a lot on going out and buying unnecessary things. Being in a relationship really helps – my single friends tell me how expensive it is to date here, especially when there is always a new Tinder girl to meet up with.
If you consider my accommodation cost I think you could get by in Bangkok on about 50,000 Baht a month but I certainly wouldn’t want to be making less than that.
Overview – Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand – May 2016
Chatting with my friends recently we all agreed that Thailand is generally very cheap to live in until you need to buy something important. Electronics, clothes and luxury items are not any cheaper than in the UK/US and in many cases are more expensive. Every month there is normally something expensive that pops up that I need or chose to buy (theater tickets this month) and luckily I can normally buy it but I know some people have great difficulties when they need a new laptop etc.
Next month is a short month and with the Euro 2016 football tournament on I expect I’ll be staying at home watching games so want have too many high costs.
I noticed your condominium fees are rather low considering the size of the apartment. It appears to be around THB 15 per square meter which is a lot lower to what I’ve seen elsewhere. If you don’t mind me asking – how old is the building you’re living in? Are there any ‘expensive’ facilities (e.g. pool, sauna, cardio equipment)?
Reason I’m asking is that some condominium companies start out with very low overhead fees (to sell apartments) that later on have to be hiked to cover all the costs. If you attend owner meetings, you could also look at the financial statements of the building to see if they are collecting money for long-term maintenance issues that’ll crop up in a few years (e.g. elevator maintenance which is often a big item for condos every 7 years).
Might not be worth making a fuzz over, but if you’re putting all the money into a condo that’s dependent on the quality of the building management, that’s one area you can influence that affect resell-value and quality of life in 5 years from now.
Hi Karsten good points to bring up there. My building is 11 years old and doesn’t have a gym or pool (both are owned by the condo but located 100 metres away and charged per time used). I’m lucky with the costs as to be honest I never used them when I had them in my old condo.
Although the building is old, the top floor where I live wasn’t developed until 2 years ago so the room is as good as new. As I am the only foreigner here in the building everything is done in Thai so my girlfriend looks after it. Having seen the accounts all things are in good order and the elevators checked every year etc. 900 Baht a month is dirt cheap for a maintenance fee and to be honest if they doubled it I wouldn’t mind. At the moment everything is fine and they still have a few more rooms to sell to cover costs and get more fees.
In the end if things went totally tits up I could walk away and still be ok – just a bit bit pissed off perhaps!
I head to Ratchada sometimes – probably some time later this month – will let you know , be good to grab a beer!
Good to hear. Sounds like you found a pretty good deal there then! Looking forward to your next visit to Rachada 🙂
Oh, by the way, if you head up to the Rachadaphisek train market, drop me a line. Happy to meet for a drink 🙂