My Monthly Spend in Thailand – October 2015

My Monthly Spend in Thailand – October 2015

Welcome to the October 2015 report on my monthly spend in Thailand. To start with check out the about me page to learn a little about me and my circumstances. It will also explain the high accommodation prices below.

Total Income: 61,000 THB 

Total Spend:  58,755 THB

Saved: 2,245 THB

Breakdown

Accommodation – 30,000 THB

My standard monthly repayment towards my  2 bedroom 64 sq metre condo. This money is from the UK, not a Thai bank.

Utility Bills –  2,650 THB

Electricity 850, Internet and cable TV 750, Sports365 package 600 , Mobile phone 300, Water 150.

I was away for the last week of the month so my electricity bill was a bit lower than last months. I have started using the air-con a bit more frequently now as it has gotten hotter the last few weeks.

My water bill was higher than normal, I think I have a leaking tap so I will get the maintenance team to come fix it for me.

Transport –  530 THB

This month I spent 385 baht on buses and songthaews to get me to and from work. I took a few other bus trips to go shopping or meet my girlfriend which adds another 70 Baht.

I only had one taxi ride this month which I think is a record for me – it was 75 Baht to get back to my condo from a night out with friends.

Food –    8,400THB

As I knew I was going away on holiday at the end of the month I tried to cut back on my food spend. I still went out with friends and a few times with my girlfriend but just to local places, nowhere special. Restaurant spend was 2,400 Baht for the month.

For breakfast I mainly had a couple of yogurts and a few croissants on the weekend. I have a chicken farm at the end of my soi which sells pieces of chicken for around 3 Baht a piece so I had lots of chicken sandwiches and chicken salads for lunch. For dinner I had somtam, grilled chicken or fried rice most nights. Total spend 4,000 Baht

I also stopped by the supermarket for beers, vegetables and other snacks which added around 2,000 Baht.

I will include the spend for holiday food in the travel section below.

General Shopping –  840 THB

Again, as I knew I was going away I didn’t spend too much this month on general shopping.

I bought a new T-shirt for my holiday ( 250 Baht ) from “The Export Shop” in Fashion Island which tends to have some famous brand clothes at reduced prices ( 120 Baht + ).

I stocked up on toiletries before remembering that there is a 100ml rule on products going on the plane. Therefore I have a good supply of toothpaste, toothbrushes, gel and deodorant to last me a while – total cost 590 Baht.

Entertainment –  2,335 THB

I went to Safari World at the start of the month as it is only 5 minutes walk from my girlfriends house and was somewhere I had never been to. I’ll write a report about it but with my Thai driving licence I got the local price of 780THB, which covered entry to everything – including the water ride. I paid for my girlfriend and with lunch and snacks added on the total was 1,850 Baht.

The other day out I had was to go to Koh Kret, an island in the Chao Phaya River. It was a nice place to walk around and very good value. Van travel, river crossing, lunch, snacks and souvenirs came to 485 Baht for the 2 of us.

Travel –  14,000 THB

This month I had a holiday with my girlfriend to Krabi. We had 2 days on Rai Ley, 2 days in Ao Nang and 3 days on Phi Phi. Again a full report will come but here I’ll focus on the spending. To be honest I had budgeted about 20,000 Baht for the trip and ended up spending about 75% of that. I was surprised at how cheap some things were.

I had already paid for the hotels and flights and included the cost on my August cost of living. This report will just include the cost of transfers, trips, activities and food.

There is a van from opposite my road to the airport so it only cost 20 Baht each to get to Don Muang. From Krabi airport it is 150 Baht to Ao Nang and a further 100 Baht for the boat to Rai Ley. The Ferry from Ao Nang to Phi Phi is 400 Baht ( 350 baht on the return leg for some reason … ).

Food at all 3 locations was around 80-100 Baht for a Thai Dish and 150 for Burgers, pasta etc. Seafood was priced from 150THB+. I was very disappointed by the seafood in Krabi and thought seafood in Bang Saen was much better. Beers were 60 Baht for a small bottle and 100 baht for a large bottle. Fruit shakes were great and at 50-80 Baht good value too.

We did a one day snorkel tour around Phi Phi which was 500Baht each ( plus 200 extra national park fee – no discount with work permit ) Other tours were very reasonable I thought and much cheaper than expected.

The final day meant a Thai massage was needed and in the end 250 Baht was a fair price.

Others – 0THB

There were no extra spends last month.

Saved   2,245THB

This month I was surprised at being able to save anything. I was expecting to be negative by around 5-8k after my holiday but things there were much cheaper than expected. I guess being prudent before going away helped a lot and in the end this is like bonus money that I might put towards a future trip over Songkran.

Overview

I was surprised but happy with an overall saving this month. I had a great holiday, didn’t hold back on spending and still managed to have a little money left over at the end.

I guess Thailand can still be quite a cheap place to go on vacation if you know what you want and prepare before travelling.