Cost of Living March 2019 - Life In A New Country

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Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand March 2019

Welcome to the March 2019 report on my monthly spend in Thailand.

Total Earned: 72,000 THB

Total Spend: 62,000 THB

Invested: 10,000 THB

Saved: 0 THB

Breakdown

Accommodation – 17,000 THB

The first full month in my new place close to Hua Mak airport link. It costs 17,000 baht for an 81sq meter place. There’s a great living area, a large bathroom, big bedroom and a walk-in wardrobe. I could have found a cheaper place but I find it fits the requirements I have for size vs quality vs location.

Utility Bills – 5,000 THB

The first full month in my new place and I had an electric bill of 3,600 baht. It shocked me in all honesty but I guess having two big AC units running will do that. I’ll certainly aim to cut back a little on it from now on.

Other bills are pretty constant. I get internet from True, my mobile phone contract with AIS and TV from Netflix.

Transport – 2,000 THB

With only two weeks of the month spent at work I was able to save on the transport costs a little. The bus to my office costs around 10 baht per journey on average. Previously I’d been taking taxis to work from my old condo.

There is also a bus that goes from outside my place directly to Victory Monument on the expressway which costs 19 baht. I use it a couple of times a week when I need to get into the city center.

Food – 11,000 THB

For the last six weeks I’ve been using a couple of food delivery companies. They are based on LINE and send weekly menus through to choose from. They work out at around 65 baht per meal on average. I try to eat these at least once, if not twice a day. I’ll be trying one more company next month and will write up a review of them to give some information for anyone wanting to try this out.

I also eat out in restaurants a few times a week and, on average, spend around 500 baht per meal. There’s a MaxValu supermarket a few minutes walk from my place and they offer good discounts on deli food after 7pm so I go there once a week to get something pre-cooked for dinner.

General Shopping – 4,000 THB

I still had to buy a few bits and pieces for my new condo including a new fan.

Also, with summer coming up I decided to update my wardrobe a little. I spent around 2,500 baht on some new shorts and t-shirts.

Entertainment – 5,500 THB

With it being the end of the school year I went out for a couple of end of year celebrations. A few drinks, food and the like cost around 2,000 baht.

I played golf a couple of times this month too, costing around 1,250 baht per time.

Finally I went along to Siam Park City and purchased their yearly membership which was a bargain at around 800 baht.

Travel – 0 THB

Despite having a couple of weeks off at the end of the month I didn’t go away. The plan is to do a little trip in the second week of April then another at the beginning of May before I go back to work. The eight weeks I have off now might seem good but there are a number of problems I have with this as I wrote about in this article on Ajarn.com.

Others – 13,000 THB

I’m paying off the cost of a few pieces of furniture and a new TV, the total comes to just over 6,500 per month for the next couple of months. Having a credit card is really useful for this type of thing with many shops offering interest free payment over 3/6/9 months.

I had to buy a couple of gifts this month for people’s birthdays and mother’s day as well this month.

Invested – 10,000 THB

I put in 10,000 baht a month into a savings account which my company matches. I plan to change this a little bit in April or May to invest in a different product and to have a little more spare cash in the bank every month.

Saved – 0 THB

Overall I came out even this month. Having time off work meant I actually spent more on little bits and pieces to keep myself entertained.

It’s hard looking at my lifestyle and seeing what I can do to bring in meaningful savings. Of course I could cut down in certain areas but I am investing over 10% of my income, and do have a bit of spare cash in the bank most months. My main focus will be to try get closer to 100,000 baht per month income. I also know that in a couple of months I wont be paying out for furniture repayments which will help too.

Overview – Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand March 2019

The first two weeks of the month were super busy at work, the second two were pretty chilled out.

Not having work meant spending a fair amount of time so I really appreciate that my new place is comfortable and has a good pool area to relax in.

When it comes to next month I’ll be getting away for at least a few days so it’ll be nice to hit the beach or somewhere else to get a change of scenery.

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