Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand November 2018
Welcome to the November 2018 report on my monthly spend in Thailand.
Total Earned: 75,000 THB
Total Spend: 58,500 THB
Invested: 10,000 THB
Saved: 6,500 THB
Breakdown
Accommodation – 13,000 THB
I’ve got a nice one-bedroom condo just a few hundred meters from Bearing BTS. I mainly work in a shopping mall on the edge of Bangkok but also go into Siam once a week to work. Where I am means both journeys take around 25-30 minutes.
The room itself is 41sq meters and has four decent sized rooms. Over the past month I’ve had a problem with my neighbors. As such I may be changing to a new place at the end of January which is a shame as I’m really happy in this room.
I’ve been looking around at where to move and nothing really jumps out. I’ve seen a few houses which look decent near where I work which are around 17,000 baht per month. I quite like the idea of the extra space so I may consider that.
Utility Bills – 3,330 THB
I blast the AC when I’m home but have had a few days with the windows wide open as it’s been cooler. I spend around 1,500 baht a month on electric and although I could save 500 baht by being a bit more reserved with the AC I don’t really care.
I dropped Joox as my music provider this month. I decided to get onto Spotfiy. It wasn’t really anything against Joox but just I was offered a free trial with Spotify and they seem to have a wider selection of songs. After the trial it’ll cost 129 baht a month.
I had been debating whether to change mobile providers as my AIS 4G connection had gotten slower. I went into the shop to tell them I was thinking of leaving and they couldn’t have moved any faster to upgrade my 4G limit from 3GB a month to 20GB for the same price and gave me 800 minutes of calls compared to the 50 a month I was previously getting. They said this deal only lasts a year then will go to 845 baht (rather than 425 that I pay now) but I guess in around a years time I’ll probably go back to them and say that I’m feeling the urge to change providers again…..
My internet comes via True and costs 805 baht a month. I never have any problems with them and their customer service is pretty good whenever I do need to speak to them.
Next is Netflix which costs 440 baht a month for their top package. I use it everyday. I have a mixture of shows which I watch and I can’t believe some people pay much more than me to get cable TV here in Thailand. Online providers like Netflix aren’t the future, they are what you should be using now.
Finally my water bill is 160 baht a month.
Transport – 4,000 THB
I take taxis to work which, due to the new BTS transport construction, now costs roughly 85 baht per journey. I sometimes split the cost with another teacher.
When I’m going around to restaurants or local places I’ll take a taxi from the street or use Grab. This comes to around 1,000 baht per month.
I also use the BTS and put around 1,2000 baht worth of rides and credit onto my Rabbit card.
I’ll also use the odd bus or van if I need to go somewhere and I’m not in a rush.
Food – 17,000 THB
I went out to eat a lot this month. I spent a fair amount on going to nice places. I see some people who spend 5,000 baht a month on food and I don’t know how they can do it. It would mean eating street food pretty much every day and not going out to decent restaurants often.
This figure includes going out with friends for beers and food too. Most times I go out to eat with friends I’ll spend around 500 baht.
I also spent 2,500 baht shopping online at Tesco Lotus. There are other services from other supermarkets but I like this one from Tesco and I’ve never had a problem with them.
General Shopping – 5,420 THB
I decided to bulk purchase a load of cleaning products and did the same at the pharmacy. All of this came to just under 3,000 baht.
I also hit the mall to pick up some new socks and a pair of trainers as most of my current pairs are too embarrassing to wear out of the house now after a few year’s use. Total for these 2,500 baht.
Entertainment – 2,750 THB
My main form of entertainment is probably going out for beers with friends. This is included in the food section as it’s normally linked to going out to eat too.
A trip to the cinema to see the new Fantastic Beasts movie at the Imax cost just under 1,000 baht.
I also played golf and went to the driving range a few times.
Travel – 0 THB
I didn’t go anywhere this month. I have been pretty lazy when it’s come to travel this year. 2019 will hopefully change that.
I previously went to Nepal and I have the plan of going back again in March and doing the trek to Mount Everest Base Camp. I’ll start looking into the costs of it soon but I imagine it’ll be over 100,000 baht.
Others – 13,000 THB
I use my credit card to finance a couple of purchases. The first is my flight back home to the UK over Christmas. I pay 2,500 baht a month and have two month’s payments left. The second is my gym membership which comes to 1,800 baht a month.
I also have a maid who comes in once a week. It comes to 2,250 a month for the month. The maid washes, irons and puts everything in order. It’s worth paying for someone to come in as previously I was spending a small fortune on washing and ironing services anyway.
My VPN came up for renewal this month. I use Express VPN which works fine for me. It costs $99 a year which is worth it for me, they also seem to give me a free month or two every year and have special discounts sometimes too.
I also picked up a couple of Christmas presents for people.
Invested – 10,000 THB
I invest 10,000 baht of my salary into a LTF here in Thailand and my company add an extra 6,500 or so on top of that. At around 16,500 a month going into the fund for at least the next five years I hope to have a nice lump sum saved. After five years I’ll be able to withdraw or keep the savings going. Based on historic performance I should be looking at just over a million baht in 2023.
I do also have a fair amount invested in Crypto but based on current performance it won’t be worth a million baht by 2023!
Saved – 6,500 THB
It’s good to get some cash savings. These will go towards my Christmas trip to the UK. As 10,000 baht of my salary is automatically invested it has become more difficult to save cash than perhaps a year ago.
One area this will impact is when it comes to travel. Unless I can get my monthly income closer to 80/85,000 baht a month I’ll struggle to go on longer distance trips. Going back to the UK isn’t too bad as with free accommodation I probably only need 40,000 baht which is pretty simple to do. As I said I have plans to go to Nepal and that will mean I’ll need to save 10-15,000 baht a month for the first four months of the year and rely on my credit card for the rest. My investments are worthwhile but they are limiting my disposable income somewhat.
Overview – Monthly Cost of Living in Thailand November 2018
I actually spent 58,500 baht this month. Some people will say that’s a lot, some will say it seems a fair level and others will wonder how I only spend that little. That’s the interesting part of these cost of living surveys. I decided to convert that money to GBP and it came to roughly £1,400 which was about what I used to spend when living in London. I then thought I would compare my standard of living from the UK to that in Thailand.
I lived in a shared house in London which was fun but it was on the edge of the city and now I have a much bigger place all to myself. I reckon I spent less on food in London because, to be honest, it cost too much to eat out. I used to ride my bike to work in London which I really miss and it also meant my transport bill was lower in London, unless I was visiting family and got shafted by 50 quid train tickets. I spent a lot more on entertainment in London. My golf membership was a bargain in London at £40 a month but beers, movie tickets and football tickets meant I spent a small fortune having fun.
My salary in Thailand is pretty similar to what I made in London. My costs are pretty similar but my quality of life is better here and I can do a wider range of activities. If I had to live on a lower budget then of course Bangkok is easier to do that on but it’s perhaps more tempting to spend money here than in the UK which is why I now spend a lot more than the 34,000 baht per month I lived on for my first five months here.
I use my credit card as much as possible in Thailand. It means that I get bonus points (free cinema tickets, discounts at shops etc) but also that I can pay in installments for large purchases, sometimes interest free. To be honest I’ve relied on my credit card in the last few months when I had a number of large outgoings. If I hadn’t had a credit card I would have been struggling big time without raiding savings in the UK.
Next month means that I’ll spend only 18 days in Thailand. It also means I’ll get my end of year bonus which I think is either 20 or 25,000 baht. Either way it’ll cover the cost of my flight back home and spending money.
