Expenses June 2013

[christianpfc]

Expenses June 2013

Some people might wonder why I am sharing this. IтАЩm not doing this for you, IтАЩm doing this for me to know where my money goes. Then I just add some explanations so this might be of use to others (occasionally, people ask how much money you need to live in Thailand), and previous reports about my expenses have shown that this is fantastic material to bitch about.

There seems to be a misunderstanding of my relationship to money, which is aggravated by taking everything I write serious or not getting my jokes. I donтАЩt throw money around like others do, but I happily pay a fair price for goods or services (the contentious point is what I and others think is a fair price). My reluctance to tip is because I think tipping is wrong. Taking bus instead of taxi is a lifestyle choice, I can afford taxi, but I donтАЩt want to. Often there is no other characteristics than price to decide, e.g. my new laptop: I wanted a 15.6тАЭ with Windows 7, all other specifications are of low significance (HDD, memory, processor, graphic car, manufacturer) as it doesnтАЩt make much difference to me. So itтАЩs the price that decides which one I buy.

New structure: grouped together by categories (instead of listing single expenses in chronological order). In order of decreasing amount, with comments, in bracket the single expenses.

Pattaya weekend 6685 (all included)
Rent for room 3000
(If tips for boys were separate, they would be about 3000 Baht, i.e. I pay as much for prostitutes as for my room!)
Chantaburi weekend 2694 (all included)

Foodland and 7/11 (mainly food shopping) 1978.50 (5+20+27+396.25+42+657.50+13+16+801.75)
Taxi 1939 (140+160+235+41+150+153+140+125+150+150+125+60+160 +150)

Splurge out on food (farang food or expensive thai restaurant) 972.75 (360 248 160 204.75)
Lunch 972 (60 30 30 35 80 30 30 90 35 30 30 30 30 70 40 35 35 30 30 85 75 32)

Electricity 949.25
Fruit 783 (20 20 20 20 35 20 20 50 20 20 20 20 60 20 50 8 20 15 20 40 100 25 25 20 95)
(fruits I bought: banana, mango, mangosteen, sala, durian, watermelon, lychee, noina, pomelo)

Hotel room (full night, but use only short time with friend) 650
Sweets (cookies, cake, ice-cream, fried insects, durian chips) 640 (30 28 25 25 50 40 52 120 36 80 70 30 34 20)

Internet in my room 631.25
Drinks in bars 599 (199 300)
Clothes 499 (Sandals 199 T-shirt 170 Underwear 100 Clothes repair 30)

Sauna 320 (160 160)
Friends 180 (40 100 20 20) (tips for friends when they asked me for money)
Cinema 180

Disco (DJ station) 150
Bus 142.50 (6.50 16 13 14 8 8 12 12 12 12 12 17)
Haircut 140 (for me and a friend)

Dinner 110 (40 35 35)
Food (street stall, eat while walking or standing) 100 (20 20 20 10 10 10 10)
Mobile phone 100

Motorcycle 80 (40+40)
Water 61 (running water in my room for toilet, showering)
Laundry 60 (20 20 20)

BTS 42
Tips 40 (20 20) (tips in bars or restaurants)
Van 25
Feed fish 10 (buy fish food for a friend in a wat)

Total 21851.25 Baht
(I was sick one weekend, if I had not been sick the expenses would be about 1000 Baht more.)

The crucial point is working Mon-Fri 9-5. That keeps me occupied during day and provides an income. Without working, I would spend about 40k per month because I would have time to fill. My limiting factor is not money, but time. I don't have time to spend more money because I work.

I could open an additional point in the list, occasional purchase of drinks at 7/11 or at street stalls, this is included in 7/11. One day I found a 100 Baht not, not included. In some cases the numbers include paying for my Thai friends, that amounts to about 5% of the total.

Food is split in тАЬsplurgeтАЭ (farang food or expensive Thai restaurants), тАЬlunchтАЭ and тАЬdinnerтАЭ (midday and evening, in my area, in a place that provides seating and service and cutlery and crookery), and тАЬfoodтАЭ (usually street stall, place without seating, I eat while walking or standing or take back home). тАЬFoodland+7/11тАЭ is mainly food shopping for eating at home. The difference between тАЬlunchтАЭ and тАЬdinnerтАЭ is that I eat lunch every day in the canteen at work or in the foodcourt of a shopping center, whereas dinner is usually fruit and sweets and foodshopping from foodland+7/11 at home. All food combined is 5556.25 Baht.

Transportation is split into taxi, bus, motorcycle, van, BTS (no use of MRT in June).

Electricity, internet, water are for the previous month, rent is for the following month, but the numbers donтАЩt vary much from month to month.

In England and France, my expenses were about 60% rent, 35% food, 5% others.
Now they are 15% rent, 30% food, 55% others (mainly entertainment).

[MiniMee]

I was sick one weekend, if I had not been sick the expenses would be about 1000 Baht more.

Perhaps you should consider getting sick more often. Think how much more you would save.

[gra46]

When i went to school 100+399 = 499
so where did that other 100 go ,so that another 100 you saved ,i hope it dont take you long to find it

[adman5000]

Thanks for the information Christian. Although I watched my baht closely when I first started visiting Thailand, I now just pace myself according to how frequently I go to the ATM to replenish.
I hope that in the future as you stay in Thailand longer, you will be able to relax your budgetary oversight as well. Maybe you can divert your focus to survey of Thai underwear? (joking, but just a bit)
Take care and enjoy your life there. :party

[frequentflier]

last of the big spenders..

[scottish-guy]

[youtube:1gz3wmpl]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8gJHFPyWxI[/youtube:1gz3wmpl]

[Surfcrest]

I'm sure there's as many on the other end of the spectrum, who come to Thailand to live as big as they can for a few weeks...and then go home and spend all that time between trips paying down their debt, paying off their cards. People who, while in Thailand, get up each morning in a hung over fog with no idea how many baht they still have in their wallet. It makes tremendous sense to have at least a rough budget......no matter how much money you have. Certainly, a big factor why we come here is because it's cheap.

Surfcrest

[bucknaway]

I don't know if it is cheap. I know it is affordable and there is something about being in a place far away from home, but still being able to communicate and get around with little difficulty.

Cheap? Ummmmm :dontknow:

But I do relate to what you are saying :salute:

[Nirish guy]

It makes tremendous sense to have at least a rough budget......no matter how much money you have. Certainly, a big factor why we come here is because it's cheap. Surfcrest

Why does it necessarily make sense to have even a rough budget ( assuming you know you've enough to do you and you don't HAVE to budget ) - what's wrong with just going hell for leather and having a damn good time and worrying about it later ( or not worrying about it later if you're lucky enough to be able to do that) Short of people genuinely having to budget to ensure they don't physically run out of money I don't get peoples need to think about money all the time and ensure they're not spending to much ( again assuming they are in that fortunate position) - if you dont have to budget then why do it - just live for the moment and party and do whatever makes you feel happy and have a damn good time as there's plenty of time to think / worry about what it cost you some other time when you're back home - that to me is half the pleasure of being on holiday.

And as for Thailand being "cheap" I'm not sure I would necessarily concur with that statement automatically - some things maybe yes but more and more there's very little difference with European prices for things such as beer etc. I think "cheap" is a thing we've all heard about re Thailand ( and yes maybe experienced in the past) but short of the usual regurgitated stories about how you can sleep in a beech hut for ┬г7 a day and eat for ┬г2 a day ( which Christian has certainly showed you can if you wish) speaking personally I don't know ANY of my friends who have come home after having a fairly normal holiday who have said it was a "cheap" holiday and some quite the opposite - myself included there by the way, personally I don't think Thailand is that cheap anymore if you're living it up a bit while you're there and not watching the pennies.

[joe552]

There's a big difference between normal living expenses - which is what christian detailed - and holiday spending. I've no idea if his spending is high or low for someone living in Bangkok, so won't comment.

I have a fixed amount I can spend on my holidays, so it makes sense to me to keep a loose track of my spending (without getting too anal or detailed about it). I may have to cut back a bit towards the end of my stay, but I have enough to enjoy myself for the 2 weeks or so that I'm there, and that's what matters. To me, it's not necessary to spend huge amounts of money to have a good time in Thailand.

[ceejay]

think "cheap" is a thing we've all heard about re Thailand ( and yes maybe experienced in the past) but short of the usual regurgitated stories about how you can sleep in a beech hut for ┬г7 a day and eat for ┬г2 a day ( which Christian has certainly showed you can if you wish) speaking personally I don't know ANY of my friends who have come home after having a fairly normal holiday who have said it was a "cheap" holiday and some quite the opposite - myself included there by the way, personally I don't think Thailand is that cheap anymore if you're living it up a bit while you're there and not watching the pennies.
It depends on what you are doing. 4 years in a row, I went to one of the big Isaan festivals, and didn't do it on the cheap. Flying out to, and back from, Kohon Kaen or Ubon, being met there by a car and driver who I had hired for 6 or 7 days, staying in a decent hotel visiting the festival (everyone should see a big Isaan festival at least once in their lives) and travelling around the surrounding countryside. Total budget around 5000 baht/day, and I would call that a "fairly normal" holiday. You wouldn't get a car and driver for that in Europe, let alone the rest thrown in.
But, go to Pattaya and it is much, much more expensive. It's a tourist town, and they are, the world over, designed to suck money from tourists. What it isn't is representative of Thailand. Love it or hate it (and it does tend to polarise people one way or the other) there's nowhere like it elsewhere in Thailand (or anywhere on earth that I am aware of).

[anonone]

Thanks Christian...for posting this complete list. I find it interesting and it is helpful to get an idea of regular costs for someone living in Bangkok.
I think I would have a very similar spend pattern if I was actually living in Thailand instead of on a week long party bender. When I am at home, I am not hitting the bars every night. I cook dinner at home most nights, surf the net, watch TV...all the things that you do in the course of the day. Occasionally go out for a dinner "splurge"...but not a $50 dinner. And so on. I would be taking the bus (cheap, and get to meet people) instead of a taxi...grabbing a bite to eat at the food stands (just like the Thai people), etc.

Thailand can be a cheap vacation....or a really expensive one. I always thought it was pretty cheap until I met my BF and fell in love. Now it seems to have gotten very expensive :sign5: Just kidding...

Anyway, the one thing that always strikes me is how inexpensive hotels are in Thailand. You can get a very comfortable, clean, air conditioned room for $15 or $20 USD per night

[gaymandenmark]

"Fruit 783 (20 20 20 20 35 20 20 50 20 20 20 20 60 20 50 8 20 15 20 40 100 25 25 20 95)"

I am interested in your method, do you get a receipt everytime you buy a piece of fruit in the street, is it from memory or do you write any piece down at the same time you are buying it?

Taxis?! Taxis!! Un-fucking-believable. What's wrong with buses?

[jinks]

Buses Buses Un-fucking-believable. What's wrong with walking?

[scottish-guy]

Walking, jinks?

Luxury!

When I were a lad, oor Dad made us crawl on all fours to pit at 5 o'clock e'vry mornin - wi nay breakfast apart from an 'andful o' gravel and a lump o' freezin' cold porridge!!

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But, back on-topic, whether Thailand is "cheap" or not surely depends upon how one wishes to spend one's time.

For a tourist - if your idea of a good time is taking buses instead of taxis, if you are content/happy to eat from foodstalls, if you find sufficient comfort in non-airconditioned small guesthouses, if you have little interest in go-go bars or drinking alcohol or in picking up boys - then, yes, you can holiday very cheaply (once you have paid your ┬г600 air ticket from London or ┬г800 fare from your regional airport).

If on the other hand you don't want to travel from A to B whilst sweating like a pig on local buses, if you don't wish to spend sleepless nights sweating like the same pig in an insect-friendly hotel room, if you don't want to take your chances from the foodstall, or if your idea of a "night out" involves several drinks over several go-go bars and picking out a suitable bed-fellow (or bedfellows!) for the night followed by a trip to a late night club or karaoke bar - then I'm sorry but "cheap" goes out the window!

Now, I'm not knocking anybody who chooses to have a more sedate experience in Thailand, or who like to travel on buses rather than taxis - that's their choice and I respect it. What I have some difficulty with is coming back from 2 weeks in Pattaya during which I've lived the way I want to live it, having dropped ┬г5K, and having people telling me how cheap it must have been because you can buy chicken skewers from a cart for 20B.

:occasion9:

[Surfcrest]

Cheap? Ummmmm :dontknow:

Comparatively, with other destinations in the worldтАжand especially with rent boysтАж.if thatтАЩs your thing.



Why does it necessarily make sense to have even a rough budget

A budget ensures you keep the proper focus. YouтАЩre not in Thailand to spend money; youтАЩre here to be happy (I hope!). A budget keeps you focused on the тАЬhappyтАЭ part, so you donтАЩt get steered into any gold shops or motor cycle dealershipsтАжor set yourself up with some support payments from back home.

Surfcrest

[Nirish guy]

A budget ensures you keep the proper focus. YouтАЩre not in Thailand to spend money; youтАЩre here to be happy (I hope!). A budget keeps you focused on the тАЬhappyтАЭ part, so you donтАЩt get steered into any gold shops or motor cycle dealerships

I'm afraid I couldn't disagree more - a budget doesn't keep me focused on fun in ANY way a it bores the ass of me and depresses me even thinking about it and not ending up in a gold shop isn't about working to or on a budget it's just about not being thick - and if I decided I wanted a Harley ( and knew I could afford it - which I can't by the way) then why the hell not - again working to a budget wouldn't stop me doing that if that's what I wanted to do, if would just depress me as that's what I wanted and then was denying myself it.

And as for the youre here to have fun part I literally laughed as it reminded me of an old TV comedy sketch where a father was shouting at his kid who he'd taken out for the day and grabbed him for a stern telling off whilst shaking him saying "LOOK, you're here to have fun and you damned well will have fun if its the last time I do now ( as he smacked him round the legs causing the kid to cry) get away over to those damned swings over there and have fun NOW and don't bloody well come back here until you do ! ) :-)

And I fully concur with SG's point about, yes chicken skewers might be 20 baht on a food cart but a typical couple of weeks break doing fairly typical things ( for me anyway and obviously SG and others too) resulting in a final bill of several thousand pounds usually is NOT a "cheap" break and perhaps with the exception of the boys cost there's not a huge difference between Thailand and many other places now - and when you add back the "extras" that the boys tend to squeeze out of you one way or the other even their "cheap" cost tends to balance out a bit too !

[adman5000]

We all have different perspectives and finances.
When I first started visiting and a bit thereafter, I kept close track of expenses.
Now I am happy with hotel I use and have my favorite places to eat and prefer to pay for exactly what I want at the gogo venues. I am content with this approach and pace myself by when I have to visit the ATM. I do not consider it a cheap vacation but I feel I get value and most importantly, I feel I can easily partake in what is not so easily in my home country. I also enjoy the people most of the time. I am frugal with most things when I am home, so I can afford to consider my Thai trips as splurging.
To some it is interesting to track the detail, I prefer to save my time for other things and not do it.

[Jellybean]

As someone who lives in Bangkok for only part of the year (the duration varies from year to year) I really do need to keep a close eye on my expenditure. I plan to be out for longer than usual this forthcoming trip, around 6 months. Clearly then I could not spend at the same rate as if I was on a 2 week holiday, no matter how much I would like to do so. :-)

In previous years I would arrange for my Thai bank account to be topped up to the 800,000 Baht required to secure a 1 year retirement visa. When I arrived in Thailand I would draw on my bank account for my day-to-day living expenses and repeat the process in subsequent visits.

But over the last 5-7 years, as the British Pound faired increasingly badly against the Thai Baht, I found it progressively more difficult to find the funds to top up my Thai bank account to the required 800,000 Baht level. ThatтАЩs what led me to take the alternative route in January 2013 to obtain a retirement visa based on my UK income rather than my Thai bank account balance.

So yes, I find trying to live within a limited, but flexible budget more of a challenge today than I did in previous years. I certainly donтАЩt have to watch every Baht I spend, oh my God, what a depressing prospect that would be! And if ever I reached such a low ebb, I think I would just return to the UK.

But I do keep Excel spreadsheets covering the income and expenditure relating to my Thai property, mainly for tax purposes, but it does have the added benefit of letting me monitor major items of expenditure.

Looking back on my last trip, I wish a greater proportion of my expenditure had related to entertainment and the fun stuff, but occasionally reality kicks in and money is required for large and hugely annoying things like house repairs and maintenance. Then there is the mundane things like House & Land Tax, Car Tax and insurance, pool and garden maintenance, neighbourhood communal funds, legal and accountancy fees and so the list goes on and on etc., etc.

DonтАЩt get me wrong, I still managed a great time, but on a marginally smaller scale than in the past and certainly better than I could hope for back in my home country.

These days I now think twice about larger items of expenditure, but sometimes I have no choice, as when IтАЩm told I need a new pool chlorinator or other such items. :-(

But thereтАЩs nowhere I would rather be, than out in Thailand, during the winter months. And I shall just have to do some judicious pruning and belt tightening, as and when required, to ensure I continue to have as much fun as possible while out in Thailand.

And I think anyone thinking of living in Thailand permanently or semi-permanently will, amongst other things, have to give serious consideration to their budget requirements. But looking back on the period when I was on holiday I honestly don't think I gave much thought to my expenditure and certainly not to a budget. I тАШm sure I just used my Visa card very liberally and dealt with the consequences when I got back to reality.

[latintopxxx]

wow jellybean...one of the more sensble down to earth opinions I've read in ages....thanks.

[Zebedee]

wow jellybean...one of the more sensble down to earth opinions I've read in ages....thanks.

Yes Latin....straight from the horse's mouth..... Ahem!
I agree a very sensible post jellybean , thank you.

[aot871]

Unless some of these reports are just abit of fun I don't know how any one can spend so littile in pattaya My cash seems to go like water , I never know where it all goes. I reckon , on a 14 day holiday , not including hotel/condo I tend to spend about $120-150 aday.

[Nirish guy]

Whilst not wanting to sound like its a competition but I'm just adding it as an example of what we do all spend on our "cheap" holidays, my figure was also between 140-150 a day - but unfortunately that was in ┬г STG and not dollars :-((

Although I have to say that was higher than my norm which tends no matter where I am in any country to average out around the ┬г100- ┬г110 a day mark usually unless to go the theatre or a good restaurant and stuff where that then rises on a pro rata basis of course. Mind you the exchange rate had dropped by over 10% my last trip too so that didn't help either.

But as I see its just improved again I took that as a sign from god that I should go back again so "cheap" or not I've just booked my flights for a month over Christmas and New Years there this week so i guess its time to start getting out here and selling my ass again to get some spending money together again ( oh if ONLY it was that easy !! Lol)

[christianpfc]

"Fruit 783 (20 20 20 20 35 20 20 50 20 20 20 20 60 20 50 8 20 15 20 40 100 25 25 20 95)"

I am interested in your method, do you get a receipt everytime you buy a piece of fruit in the street, is it from memory or do you write any piece down at the same time you are buying it?

Sometimes I write down immediately after purchase, sometimes when I am back home. I might even forget to write down the one or other expense.

Is Thailand cheap? 40 Baht for a full meal. Bus from 6.5 Baht. 20 km by taxi for less than 200 Baht. Decent hotel for one night 600 Baht. Compare that to your home country.

Thailand accommodates everyone. You can spend as little or as much as you want. The lower end is in my op. For the upper end, we would have to get number from Beachlover (but he comes here for holiday, whereas I live and work here).

[a447]

Nirish guy wrote:
i guess its time to start getting out here and selling my ass again

"again??"

Mmm...care to elaborate? hehe

[Nirish guy]

ha I think you must have missed the "oh if only it was that easy" part at the end ! :-) I was of course joking and merely stating oh to be young,hung and 20 something and fucking all day AND getting paid for it would be fun and profitable - sure would beat working for a living - well depending on the customers I suppose, although walking round Sunee I think I'd have to give that career option some serious thought ! No, in hind sight I think i'll have to be a bit choosey and will only go with customers for 600 baht and over - sorry Christian that's you out of the equation it seems ! :-( lol