Job Discussion Forums

[fetuskarate]

I live in a small town about 3 hours north of Bangkok. My salary is pretty good for the area, and housing is provided. With my partner we're able to save around 54,000B a month between the two of us.

breakdown:
68,000/month salary
3,000/month accommodation refund (because we share a house, and it's a 3 bedroom place!)

-2,000 bills
-2,000 motorbike rental
-500 gas
-2,000 muay thai
- 10,500 food and incidentals (it's 30B for both of us to eat at the school cafeteria)

[Pauleddy]

You can't live here WELL and SAVE in BKK unless you earn pots in an Intl school, like 60-120,000. Or, you are a banker or exec, and not a teacher at all. I know teacher folk who live fairly well, but can't save, on 40-50k.

In BKK city poorer Thai people live in boxes for 3,500b.

A 'nice' condo in the central area or near will be 25,000 up to infinity. A small studio in a non-central but nice block could be 10,000. If u want internet and cable TV and a phone line, add 3-4,000.

Most of us here like to have wines, beers, cheese, a dinner out, shopping etc. You can't get that on 30,000 salary.

MOD EDIT

White rice and pork ear in gravy for 30b is fine once, but who eats that all day?

Yes, you can live in the boonies very cheap. A whole house for 3000b (80 dollars a month). Maybe a Tesco 20 miles away and one cinema 10 miles away (in Thai). Buffalo outside. No bookshops or pizza. Good if studying religion, bad for fun-times.

Thai teachers in my uni start on about 12,000b-14,000b. There is no comparison whatsoever. Thais live at home with mum, dont booze, dont chase sex, do eat rice and buy cheap stuff for daily dress and daily use. They also have loans, family support networks and a job for life. The whole trip is way different.

If u wanna save, go to Saudi, UAE, Korea or Taiwan. Thailand almost prohibits saving. There's too much going on. Thailand is a machine which takes money from you effortlessly.

The old magic figure of 30,000 as a "possible" to live on is hogwash, unless you are a celibate vegan teetotal hermit who passes time in meditation.

If you are modern, well-dressed, like girls (or guys), enjoy wine or treats, cinema or clubs, buy books, want a decent condo with internet and TV and want to enjoy your young life....don't plan to live here on 30k. Go elsewhere.

Eddy

[fetuskarate]

agreed. you couldn't hold on to money in BKK. we live in the boonies and there's not a whole lot to do, admittedly...

but we've just come from a year+ in seoul, where a combined income of $6k/mo. saw us enjoying many a night out, many bottles of wine, many movies, etc.

living in a small town is nice. no hassles, friendly folk, and life is so laid back it's horizontal. it's a great 180 from the hustle and bustle of seoul, but ultimately i'm a city girl. thankfully we're only here for a few months, otherwise it would definitely get to me.

[sheikxhoni]

I get 34,000 B a month but I'm retired and have a decent pension about three times that much and other savings too. I work with guys who are younger than me and they make the same 34,000 B. I hear them anxiously looking forward to pay day two weeks away. They all have jobs on weekends for the extra cash. I often wonder why they aren't back at "home" in a different kind of career setting aside some money that way before they come here and enjoy life. I like to teach but I have already had a career. People asking about saving money here are asking a very fundamental question that distinquishes this teaching as being either a career decision or an adventure decision. I think it should be an adventure decision for most people - and those people should also have with another plan for the long term. This isn't it!

[Master Shake]

I love how every time I suggest you can have a decent lifestyle on a teachers' 30k/month salary, someone points out that a 'nice' high-rise condo on the river costs 25k/mo.

We are English teachers, not James Bond, for crying out loud.

What it comes down to is that teaching English in Thailand affords you a better lifestyle than a similar teaching position in your own country. This is thanks to: 1) Cheap accommodation that costs a fraction of what it does in the West. 2) Cheap and tasty Thai food. (If you can't stand Thai food, why are you in Thailand?) 3) Cheap transportation (buses, taxis, BTS etc.)

Teaching English in Thailand, you will have a higher percentage of your salary left over every month for 'entertainment' after you are sheltered, fed and clothed. But, and this is a big 'but,' depending on what you need to entertain yourself, that leftover dough could go VERY quickly.

Western food (every day), prostitutes, nights out at expensive clubs, and shopping in designer shops will see you broke VERY fast on 30k/mo. So if this is your idea of teaching in Thailand, forget about it.

But it's unfair to say that you can't do anything but sit in a room and meditate on 30k/mo. It's very do-able and includes things like going to the cinema, plenty of beer, Thai massages, air-con, western food (a few times a week), tailored shirts for work, cable TV, internet, etc.

[Solar Strength]

[Pauleddy]

I was playing D's advocate a bit! 30k will not mean living like Gandhi--but it's a tight budget. If you are in a steady relationship, don't booze a lot, and don't want syrup flapjacks from Villa, you may be OK--but I doubt whether you will save.

My nice condo, 2 bed, in Aree (a nice area, lot of westerners, fairly clean, good links) costs about 25,000 with energy and washing. I add about 3,000 for on-line and cable TV. This condo is not a palace, but it's nice, cosy, old but large as well. That's 28,000 and I haven't even had a beer yet.

Young colleagues stay in studios costing 10-12,000. This is about the cheapest for something "reasonable" (no shared showers, cats, rats, and Thais drinking 3 am). You can find a place for 2,000 a month, but that would be very Thai and rather grim.

Say you earn 30,000b. Take off 500 for Social Security, which your school does. 29,500. Let's say 10,000 the studio and add a bit for light, washing and stuff. 12,000. We are now left with 17,500 before you have even walked out to get a single beer or foodstuffs, let alone find a club, girl, tailored shirt or a nice French wine. OOps--your BTS (metro) ticket will cost 500-600 a mth, I forgot. Now 17,000.

Make that 17,000 last 30 days 'til payday. About 550b a day to live on. Thats 10 pounds GB, about 16 USD (?).

Wanna nice novel? 600b. Urgent doctor visit? 600-1000 plus meds. Nice trip to beach town, drinks and hotel? 3000b at least. Nice whisky? Over 1000b.

Meet nice girl/boy, take her/him to dinner and then a nice club, taxis home: 5000b cheap, 10,000b in style but not Onassis style. Top dining and bubbly would be more.

All the people I know who survive like this are broke and borrowing from me two weeks before payday.

Most people here wanna do fun things. Thailand is a hedonism paradise, but you will pay. American kids who watched Di Caprio in The Beach think that you can live on 5 USD a day and then find a desert island where you will smoke free weed and get free girls. All hogwash. Doesn't exist. Trendy beaches which have happenings, girls and stuff (Koh Samui, Samet etc) are expensive places.

I have cheese, wines and Armani because I can afford to. On 30,000 I couldn't last at all. Mind you, I'm not a teenage gap-year babe.

eddy

[Master Shake]

There is cheaper accom. available if you look around. One of the great things about Thailand is the deals you can find if you keep your eyes peeled and are ready to haggle.

My flat in Thonburi (Bangkok) cost about 5,500 a month after bills. This was for a brand new furnished studio with a balcony, hot water, cable, TV, internet and a fridge. There was a good inexpensive Thai restaurant in the building and a shopping center with a Big C (aka 'Thai Wal-Mart') was less than a 5 min walk away. It did take a while to get downtown (up to an hour in heavy traffic) but it was hardly the boonies and near the Mall Bangkae. There was little need to go downtown except on the weekends or to go to immigration.

So add another 5k to your 17,500, pauleddy, and things are starting to look a little brighter.

Honestly, I didn't make 30k/month in Thailand. I made more. And by the time I left I was making 50k/month. But I did save a good chunk of change every month and used it on some fantastic holidays visiting the islands, Eastern Europe, and seeing Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

For me, the one serious disadvantage to a 30k salary is that you can't travel much during the many holidays Thailand has. But as for making ends meet on 30k? No problem. Every teacher I asked in my area was in agreement about that, and many of them were earning 30,XXX/month.

You keep citing the most expensive examples of booze and clubs available, pauleddy. There are much cheaper western clubs out there! You just want to keep the 'DiCaprio wannabes' out of Thailand.

[Pauleddy]

I cited no booze brand names or types (I mentioned wine in passing), and I cited no clubs (I am 54, settled, and haven't been to a club in years).

MOD EDIT

People can go where they please. I have no interest, at 54, one way or the other. My sole intention is to clarify, as I have received many private messages which have asked for my advice, both as a senior academic and as a resident here. In terms of the latter, younger folk in their teens and twenties seem to harbour certain mistaken notions about Thailand (that it's cheap, that it's always friendly, that everywhere is beautiful, that "free love" is everywhere, and so on).

I am sure that you could find a studio in Thonburi at a cheap rent. A friend found a tiny studio there for 5,000b. Some people may not be aware that a studio here averages about 25-30 sq.m. About the size of a child's bedroom.

Thonburi would not appeal to most "diCaprios". It's a large district on the OTHER side of the huge Bangkok river. Like any district in London or NYC, it has diners and supermarkets, but it doesn't throb with hedonism. The problem is, as you say, that it's quite far. Over an hour stuck in traffic, perhaps more, at certain times of day. While it may suit someone who is settled or married, it may not suit action junkies. One friend moved back across the river here because the cab fares were averaging 200-300b a trip, and it wasn't viable to pay and pay (just to get out) every time you wanted to hit the town.

MOD EDIT

pauleddy

[Master Shake]

MOD EDIT

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

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[Pauleddy]

MOD EDIT, a young western teacher was tasked to live on 30,000b for a month, as a fun experiment, and to write a blog about it. It was amusing and entertaining.
This guy managed it, but after day 20, he admitted that things were getting tight. In the blog, there were a lot of anecdotes about needing to eat street noodles and pass time by window shopping...to save money. In conclusion, this young, typical western guy decided that it can be done, TRUE (on 30,000b a month)--just as you could live in LA on 15 USD a day by really scraping--but MOD EDIT

[sheikxhoni]

MOD EDITI'm 62 and I haven't been to a club since - lets see - yesterday, yes it was yesterday. But that's part of the magic of Thailand. I felt welcome.

My room is very large and cost 3,000 B (6,116 B with electric, water, and internet - I use a lot of electric) I painted it is quite nice really. It is about 30 minutes by bus beyond the end of the Sky Train but it is also about 300 yards from the school where I work. The other three guys I work with seem to get along okay on 34,000 B less taxes per month. Thank goodness I have an extra 80,000 B coming in every month so I don't have to even think about cash. But I think I could get along on 30,000 too.

I can't imagine making a serious career out of that kind of pay but, if a person works on a CELTA and a DELTA, is a good teacher and tries hard, he/she can make a good career in international ESL teaching. ESL teaching is what I call a "gypsy profession" like a lot of other jobs that are easy to enter, have high turn over, and some adventure too. Every certificate, diploma, or experience you have helps you graduate from "gypsy status" into a real career state. Most never do that and either go home or continue bouncing around from one low paying job to the next. The other guys I work with have no diplomas and therefore no work permits. I have a diploma and I am well on my way to getting the legal permit to work. You should think about these kind of things when you ask if 30,000 is enough. Does that much simply feed you for another day or can it also stimulate real career ambitions? It is a curious question, don't you think?