Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand May 2018

Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand May 2018

Welcome to the May 2018 report on my monthly spend in Thailand.

Total Earned:  64,000 THB

Total Spend:  63,349 THB   

Saved / Invested:  651 THB    

Breakdown

Accommodation – 13,000 THB

I moved into my new condo last month and am really loving in my new area on La Salle road, just next to Bearing BTS. There are some fantastic restaurants and great places to hang out, I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a new place. 

My condo is 41 sq meters and ticks all the boxes for me. It is around five minutes to the BTS and there are always plenty of taxis around too. I have a great kitchen and have been eating at home more often this month.

There’s a small pool and gym which I’ve used a few times but, like most expats, I’ll probably grow tired of them after a few months.

Utility Bills –     3149 THB

Electricty 1,250 baht, Water 60 baht, Netflix 440 baht, Internet 849 baht, phone 550 baht.

This month the promotional year on my AIS phone contract finished and the bill jumped a lot. I will go speak to them and check this as it seems that I’m paying almost double. I was also considering dropping to the mid level Netflix package but the saving is only 70 baht per month and I would lose the 4K shows so I probably wont bother to change.

Whenever I am home the AC is on. I put it on a timer at night but usually I’ll wake up and turn it back on anyway. I’m sure I could save 500 baht per month by using a fan but it isn’t worth it for the comfort I get out of being cool at home.

Transport –    4,000 THB

A taxi to my workplace costs 80 baht. I can sometimes split the cost with  colleague who lives a few minutes from my place but he has been off work a lot recently. I use motorcycle taxis to make short journeys to restaurants and other places in the neighborhood at a cost of 10-20 baht per time.

I also took a couple of taxis around town and topped up 2,000 baht in total on BTS and MRT travel.

Food –     12,000 THB

As I mentioned above I have started cooking more at home. This meant I spent more at the supermarket than I have in a long time. I have a local Tesco Express which is great as they sell meat and fresh vegetables which you cant find in a 7/11. I also stop by at Villa Market which is a couple of minutes walk from my office once a week to pick up some items.

The restaurants near my condo are all reasonably priced, nothing is too fancy or expensive. I usually eat out once a day and on average spend around 70 baht for a single dish and a drink.

General Shopping –    8,200 THB

I had to buy a new golf bag and the cheapest I could find was 6,600 Baht. I wasn’t expecting to pay so much but its a good Callaway model so should last a very long time I hope!

My other expense here was buying a fragrance dispenser to keep my place smelling nice. At 1,600 baht it seems quite expensive but my place smells good now which means it is working!

Entertainment – 15,000 THB

The first 10 days of the month were the end of my Songkran holiday so I went out and did a lot. It meant I ended up spending more in this section than usual.

I played golf around eight times in May which was the highest cost in this section. I also went out for beers and food a few times with friends too.

Travel – 0 THB

I had planned to go on a little beach trip in May but didn’t get around to it in the end. I have a 10 day break from work in July so might do a trip then but at the moment nothing is planned for June.

Others –   8,000 THB

I have a maid who comes in once a week for three hours. She does the cleaning and also ironing too. It costs 2,250 per month and I’m really happy with the service from BKK Maids.

I have the last few months paying off my new computer via my credit card. It comes to around 5,000 baht per month.

After this a few extras such as a haircut make up the rest of this section.

Invested –  0 THB

I’ve grown tired of waiting for my company’s investment scheme to be launched and have actually seen they offer a second shorter term, five year provident fund which I will sign up for in the next couple of weeks. This will allow me to invest up to 15% of my salary and my company will add an extra 9%. There are other benefits to the scheme in that I will get a small tax refund at the end of the year. If I leave the scheme early I will be hit with a large tax bill. However, the longer term option is over 30 years so feel the five year option will offer more flexibility and it can be extended after maturity.

Saved –   651 THB

The last few days of my holiday meant I spent a lot of money going out and seeing friends and as such not a lot was saved. As I said above I will be investing 15% of my salary from next month which is around 9,000 baht on average so I need to really focus on that for the next month.

Some of my outside earnings and overtime seem to have dropped off this year compared to last so I’m not making as much. My rent has decreased by 7,000 baht per month but I hope I can increase my income to at least 70,000 baht a month from now on. This means after rent, bills and food I should have around 1,000 baht per day to live on average and still have enough left over for my investment.

Overview – Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand May 2018

The first ten days of the month were holiday and then I got back into the swing of working. I’m really lucky in that I get around 11 paid weeks of vacation in my job. However, the downside to that is there is a large potential to spend a lot of money whilst I am off. I suspect that next month I will spend less as the majority of the time I’ll be working. Also I had a couple of expensive buys this month such as a new golf bag which I don’t think I’ll have in the upcoming month.

I’ve enjoyed working a lot more now that I live only 15 minutes away compared to almost an hour and a half previously. I feel like I have more energy and have felt more sociable because of this. I had to wait a long time before moving closer to wok but I’m really happy with that choice now.