Job Discussion Forums

waxwing · Joined: 29 Jun 2003 Posts: 719 Location: China

grr peeps please try to follow the OP's instructions, and post the prices in USD! It's a pain in the a$$ trying to convert everything mentally!

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

1000 GBP for rent in HK. Is that correct or a typo?

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

Location: Rural China

Rent - Free
DSL - Free
Commuting fees - Not applicable.
Utilities (telephone, gas, electricity, water) - $40 US
Food - $40 US (I'm not careful about how/when I shop.)
Beer - Not applicable.
Entertainment fees - Varies, but usually not very much. Certainly less than $30/month.

sidjameson · Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 629 Location: osaka

Great to see that this idea has been taken up. Thanks Waxwing for pointing out that by using US$ it is probably the most convenient for all.

May I suggest that people with free rent post what it would cost as the purpose of this post is to give others an idea of the costs of that country. On the same note I think that a description can be useful when describing your social life. Most teachers I know do like to go out but of course how much you drink varies.

Oh and gender and age really is relevant.

Struelle, my health insurance is a great deal but unfortunatly only available in Japan.

Guys in the Dunes, $0, $0, $0, $0 etc wow, but how about your social life what is the cost of fun? Remeber that? Very Happy

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Here goes. My costs are different than yours as this includes my wife and 2 yr old which I support. I'm still 32 for a little while yet and other than going out for dinner, there's not a crazy social life (no such thing as babystters in Japan). We live outside a small city in Japan, so costs are much less than Tokyo.

$1 US=105 yen

Rent for a 3 bed house $250 (school pays about $350 more)
Utilities (phone, heat, water, electricity) $300-400
Internet and long distance phone $55
Groceries $750
Med. insurance $150
Gas $85
Gym $15
TV $0
Restaurants $100
Diapers $30
Tax 5% (love it)
Booze $0
Clothes ??
Trips back home $$$$ (don't ask)

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

I work for a well-known franchise school in Jakarta, Indonesia. My net income after tax is $900 US. I use the school's housing (a shared house), and I pay about $100 US per month for rent and basic utilities (electric, water, cable TV, etc.) All the bedrooms have AC.

Our house has a live-in maid who cooks and cleans. We each pay the maid an additional $40 a month to cook lunch and dinner Monday through Friday.

I have dial-up (can't get broadband where I live) and that's about $1 US per hour. I usually use the local internet cafe for about 50 cents an hour.

I spend maybe another $100 a month on food and drink in the house. I eat well, but don't drink a lot of booze - maybe a few cans of beer a week. In addition I usually blow about say another $100/month on restaurants, music, VCDs, clothes, and western luxuries.

The rest I bank. For first half of my contract I wasted a lot of money but now that I'm nearing the end I'm pinching my pennies so that I have money to move to my next job. I estimate that when I finish the contract I'll have saved up about $5000 US.

yaramaz · Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 5:51 am Post subject:

Middle of nowhere, central Turkey. I earn 600 GBP/month with all taxes taken off before I see it.

1.3 million tl= 1usd

2.2 million tl=1gpb

Shared flat (big, sunny, lots of balconies): free
Utilities: free, except for the bottled gas for stove and hot water (approx 10 million/month, usually less)
Internet in flat and in school: free
Cleaning lady: 12 million tl/month (my half of the cost of her monthly scrub-fest)
Food: varies, but quite cheap--- breakfast approx 50 us cents/day for cheese and potato filled buns and tea; 1.50-2.00 USD for full hot lunch with coke, tea, and pudding; dinner is quite variable because when I eat out I rarely am allowed to pay-- I haven't paid for dinner since Friday in fact... However, as an example, in a nice restaurant you can have a huge, very healthy multi course meal (soup, salads, main course with lots of veggies, rice, lean meats, etc, non-alcoholic drink, endless tea, dessert) for about 5 usd. Food at home is pretty cheap. My grocery bills are rarely more than 100 usd/month and that includes alcohol, laundry soap, cookies, etc.
Alcohol: beer: 500 ml can of Turkish beer: 75cents, bottle of good Turkish wine: 2usd+, bottle of raki: 5 usd (note: I dont drink much, and there are no pubs or clubs or anything fun in this city...)
Weekly Guardian newspaper: 2usd (but savoured- english is rare here)
Transportation costs: none, usually, as I live on campus near the center of the city, on the main commercial drag. If I need to go to the bus station to travel, it costs 3 or 4 usd by taxi.
Bus ticket (single) to Cappadocia: 3 usd; to Ankara: 10usd; Istanbul: 25usd

I tend to travel a lot as we have a lot of holidays- went to Portugal for a week in November, spent 9 days in Paris at Xmas, and spent 10 days in London for winter break. I also travel around Turkey on weekends, stay in pensions and eat out, take taxis, etc. I go home to Canada every summer.

Basically, I rarely spend more than 300 pounds/month and I usually bank the same amount. The only exception was in January when I spent all 600 on my trip to London (well worth it)

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

basiltherat · Joined: 04 Oct 2003 Posts: 952

Irish Blood English Heart · Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 11:05 am Post subject:

Well im not in China yet, but heres an indication of how much it costs to live in a large regional city in Northern England:

UK Pound 1 : 1.9 US Dollar (aprox)

Rent: $600 p/m
Food: $150 p/m
Travel around town: $100 p/m
Internet connection (56k): $20 p/m
Television License: $20 p/m
Pint of beer: $4/5
Night out: $60
Taxi Home: $15
Pair of cheap Jeans: $40
T-Shirt: $20
Petrol: $6 gallon
Car Insurance: $100 p/m
Small car to buy: $10000
Utilities: $150
Starter small Apartment to buy: $300,000

Average wage for someone my age: $1500 p/m

As you can see it is a bloody nightmare trying to make ends meet in the UK, which is one of the reasons i am out of this country come September.

On the Plus side its dead cheap for our Brits to travel abroad when we travel because of the huge exchange rate in our favour. Makes it crap while to save abroad though.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Lanza-Armonia · Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 11:51 am Post subject:

What the hell are you guys getting paid?

Damn it! a grand (UK) a month rent in HK? 200 quid a month on grub (food)? what do you beggers eat?

Everything in my apartment is included.

Grub, heating, lecky, internet, TV, blah blah blah. We've only to pay the phone.

going out - $80
DVDs - $20
Shopping <everything> - $80
Travel - $20

Thats about it! What I wouldn't do to be down in HK right now....