Welcome to my August 2020 cost of living. I’m a 32 year old teacher from the UK who has lived and worked in Bangkok for seven years. I live in the outskirts of the city with my Thai girlfriend.
I had a super busy month and only just found the time to write this report, a few days later than normal.
Income: 79,000 baht
I work at a language school and teach English five days a week from Wednesday-Sunday. In total I teach around 20 hours per week and have other admin duties.
I also make a little money from my book, Settling in Thailand, and a few other projects here and there. Over 90% of my income comes from my teaching job.
Spent: 93,000 baht
Accommodation: 18,000 baht
I just moved into a three-bedroom house, which is why I’m a bit late writing this report as the internet was only installed this morning. The place is on the outskirts of Bangkok, around thirty minutes drive to my school.
It’s partially furnished and we will add more to it over time. It’s located between the city and the airport which means there are some open spaces which makes a nice change. The other major benefit is that there are a lot of great outdoor restaurants, cheaper malls, and golf courses out this way.
After seven years of living in condos, it felt like time to get a house to live in. We considered buying but thought that renting gives us a lot more flexibility, and fewer responsibilities!
Utility Bills: 4,000
My last month in the condo I spent 4,000 on my bills. Electric is the main one at just under 1,500 baht for the month. With Netflix, water bills, phone and the internet making up the rest, I think utilities are pretty reasonable in Thailand compared to the UK.
Food: 18,000
I usually order out a couple of times a week and eat out another few times. It’s only really breakfast that I’ll make something myself. I eat roughly 50/50 Thai and international food but avoid most of the touristy restaurants which charge 200 baht plus a meal. However, I rarely eat street food. I prefer finding somewhere with some AC which charges 80-100 baht per dish.
Entertainment: 4,000 baht
A few rounds of golf and beers out made up my entertainment for the month. Apart from sport and going out with friends, I normally watch movies which is something I’ve not done for a while, perhaps next month if anything interesting comes out!
Travel: 0 baht
No August trips but September looks nailed on to include at least a few days away during my week off from work.
Investments: 0
I put my investments on hold this month as I knew I would be spending a lot on moving and didn’t want to dip too far into my savings to do so. These will be back next month.
Other: 49,000 baht
Moving to a new place comes with all kinds of costs. Moving fees, furniture, replacing old items, and settling the balances of old services I’ll no longer require.
I use my KTC credit card to spread out large payments on furniture over 6-10 months at 0% which helped a lot. A new dining table, a couple of computer desks, some kitchen utensils, and a water heater came to almost 30,000 baht. The actual moving fees and other associated costs were 3,000 baht.
I have a maid which costs around 3,000 baht for the month but am still trying to organize one for the new place. Another monthly fee is my gym membership and student loan.
Next month I’ll be starting repayments on the car I bought last month. I was given several thousand baht of gas vouchers for buying the car so haven’t had to actually pay yet for fuel either.
Saved: 0
I was never planning on actually saving money this month, it would have been a miracle what with moving house!
It’ll be interesting to see what my utility bills and transport costs will be next month. I was previously paying pennies to get to work via bus from my old place so I will look at adding a new section to the cost of living net month to reflect transportation.
Overview
Covid-19 seems to have taken a backseat in my life. Wearing a mask seems natural now and this month has been focused on moving house.
I actually feel exhausted after the move, and that’s with hiring two extra helpers to do most of the heavy lifting! I have a week break at the end of the month and I’m looking forward to spending some time relaxing in the new place and then getting away for a few nights.
I’m enjoying this new style of living and it feels good to have a garden and lots of trees. I also have much more space and a decent pool and fitness center to use too, although I haven’t had time to use them yet. One area I need to work on is being better planned at going out. Where I am means I need to use the car pretty much any time I leave my house. I’ve spent the last couple of days going in and out, I’ll need to stop that as it’s driving me crazy when I could do all my tasks in one go.
