Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand February 2019

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

Total Earned:   75,000 THB

Total Spend:   61,500 THB 

Invested:  10,000 THB    

Saved: 3,500 THB

Breakdown

Accommodation – 15,000 THB

Midway through the month I moved to a new condo. My new place will cost 17,000 baht a month and I’ve signed a two year contract.

I decided to move for a couple of reasons. Firstly I had a problem with my neighbor and they didn’t want to talk face to face to solve the problem. I saw that they would just complain to the condo management and we would find ourselves in a constant cycle of complaining about each other without ever fixing the problem.

Secondly, work on the new BTS trains meant my commute to work was taking longer, up to around 45 minutes on occasions.

The new place, near Hua Mak airport link, is around double the size of my old condo. I’ve still got a one bedroom condo but, with 82sq meters, it’s much more spread out and it actually feels like a mini house. On average it takes around 15 minutes to get to my office.

Talking of houses, I actually did seriously consider renting a small townhouse as the rent would have been around 15-20,000 baht in the area I chose. There were a couple of reasons I didn’t go down that route. Firstly, I just didn’t need all that room. Sure it’s nice to have two or three bedrooms, a large living room and a little garden but it’s overkill for my needs. I also wouldn’t want the hassle of cleaning it. Secondly it’s hard to find a house with easy access to public transport. As I don’t drive, and have no intention to in Bangkok, I ruled out a house.

Utility Bills –   3,500 THB

As I spent two weeks in my old condo and another two in my new place it’s not easy to work out the bills this month.

Switching the internet with True was much easier than I expected (in and out of the shop withing five minutes!) and with the MEA Smart Life app I was able to pay my old electric bill without having the paper copy.

My new place has two, rather large, air conditioning units which look a few years old. It’ll be interesting to see what I’m charged next month on my first electric bill as I tend to have the AC on whenever I’m home.

Netflix, mobile phone, internet and water are a pretty consistent cost each month.

Transport –  2,500 THB

One of the key factors in choosing my new place was getting to work faster. I’m lucky now that I can go door to door in 15 minutes or so. I can also travel in an AC bus which costs just 13 baht each way. Previously I was traveling in a taxi which, with the BTS construction, was costing close to 100 baht each way. Hopefully this cost saving will even out the higher rent I’m paying now.

I used to live five minutes from the BTS but now the airport link and buses will be my go-to transport methods. The airport link can get me to the MRT in 10 minutes and the BTS in 15. I work in Siam a few days a month so hopefully it won’t take too much longer to get there than before.

I still use taxis sometimes though. However, in the past few months I used them automatically but will try to cut back a little.

Food –   10,500 THB

Something which I did this month was start using a clean food delivery company. For 950 baht a week I get 16 meals delivered to my place. These stay in the fridge or freezer and are eaten over the week. The idea was firstly to save a bit of money and secondly to eat better food. I’m already feeling better for it and will write up a review of the service in the next few days.

With these food orders I’ll be eating out less which means my food costs should decrease. I was getting into the habit of eating out too often. This would also lead to me drinking too much as well. I certainly won’t completely stop going out, eating and enjoying a beer or two but I’ll cut back a little.

General Shopping –  6,500 THB

With the move came the shopping trip for all those little bits and pieces I needed. A trip to Mega Bangna covered everything I needed. New cutlery, tableware and cleaning equipment were the main items.

Entertainment –  3,000 THB

A couple of times playing golf this month at Bangna Navy Club and Uncio Grande were my main entertainment outlets. I also got back onto the badminton court after a long absence and my body was in agony for the following three days….

Travel – 0 THB

I didn’t travel in the past month. I actually have a 6 week break from work starting in the middle of next month. I’m not really sure what I’ll do as I have to go back to England in July so probably need the best part of 40,000 for that trip.

I imagine I’ll do a couple of little trips in Thailand and perhaps visit a neighboring country over Songkran.

Others –  20,500  THB

I paid the last installment towards my yearly gym membership. I go there three times a week on average as it’s about a two-minute walk from my office. It’s a good little place and is usually quiet during the day when I go.

I had a maid come to my place twice over the month. It’ll be back to a weekly visit come March. The maid will stay for six hours to do cleaning, washing and ironing. I’m being charged around 800 baht per visit by the agency I go through.

The new condo I moved to came partially furnished. The main items were included but I decided to add a few more units and a new TV. I’m using my credit card to split the payments over four months. The total amount for all the new furniture and the TV was 26,000 baht which comes to 6,500 baht per month.

To get all my stuff to the new place I used the app Deliveree which cost around 800 baht for a guy with a small van.

Finally, as my new rent is 4,000 baht per month more than my old place I had to add an extra 8,000 baht to the security deposit.

Invested –   10,000 THB

10,000 baht is automatically taken out of my account every month to be matched by my company and invested in an LTF (long term fund) here in Thailand.

I found out that the value of my investment had fallen by 2% in 2018 but this is more than made up by my company paying in. I also have a lower tax bill because of the LTF. I probably pay 2,000 baht per month less tax now than previously.

This fund will mature in around 4 years time when I can either withdraw a lump sum or leave it in to continue investing.

I actually have a meeting with tax advisers today and will chat with them to see if I should look at starting an RMF (retirement mutual fund) which could further lower my tax bill.

Saved –   3,500 THB

I actually had to triple check my costs this month as I thought I’d lost money. However in the end I did actually save 3,500 baht this month.

What happened was that I had a really tight few days between moving places as I’d had to pay out 34,000 baht for a security deposit whilst waiting for the old security deposit to be returned to me when I moved out of my old place. For around 10 days I had around 250 baht per day to get by on. That feeling made me think the whole month had been a struggle.

I’ve mentioned before that the money I invest through my work’s provident fund does make cash in hand harder to come by and this is an example of when I was struggling a little. In reality I did have some other money to fall back on if needed but I manged to avoid doing that.

Although my rent is now higher I think I will save money through a reduced transport bill and using this new food delivery service.

Overview – Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand February 2019

Moving to a new place always comes with costs. I’ve got a two year contract so hopefully it’ll be a while before I have to pay for a van to transfer my stuff to a new place. I also had to spend quite a lot to get the furniture and equipment I wanted for the new place but I actually think it’ll look great when everything’s in place.

In all honesty I’m looking at the 75,000 baht I make, which has been around the same for the past six months, and thinking I wouldn’t want to be making any less than that, living in Bangkok.

I live comfortably and can go out and do lots of things but I do have to cut back on certain aspects. I’d love to travel more but it’s not in my budget to have a mini trip every month. The 5-10,000 baht this would cost is what I invest every month. Sure I could stop investing but I get the impression that I’d regret that big time in the future.

I’d say that the 75,000 a month I make now gives me a similar lifestyle to the 65,000 I was making three years ago. When I first arrived here I thought it must be a millionaire’s lifestyle making 100,000 baht a month but these days I think it would give you enough to do what you want without having to worry too much. It certainly wouldn’t be an extravagant lifestyle these days on 100,000 baht per month.