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choudoufu
Joined: 25 May 2010
Posts: 3325
Location: Mao-berry, PRC
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 Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:20 am Post subject: |
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as i recall from living in kunming, 150 rmb would be more than fair.
no ac required in the summers, maybe use a space heater for a couple
weeks in january. or wear a sweater.
150 should cover electric and gas and water and phone and bottled
water.
guess it all depends on the location. |
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dean_a_jones
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 1151
Location: Wuhan, China
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:44 am Post subject: |
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| The Great Wall of Whiner wrote: |
| 1. I use well over 200RMB a month, and I do my best to save. I'm with Kev on this one; 150RMB in not, in my opinion, more than fair. |
I will throw in my two cents on this one. I don't get an allowance, I pay everything myself. I don't know what the climate is like where the school is, but here in Wuhan the summer is really hot and the winters really cold. I don't really use the AC at all, maybe for 20 minutes occasionally to cool down the bedroom in the summer, and usually for 10 or 15 minutes before I have a shower in the dead of winter. I usually use a fan in the summer, which is a lot cheaper to run and keeps me happy.
My electricity bill is usually 70 - 120RMB a month (more in winter as use the lights for longer). Plenty of teachers here who cannot cope with the climate spend more, usually around 150 - 700RMB a month (that highest one is usually in the winter for using the aircon to heat their rooms pretty much all the time). The water tank for the hot water is heated by electricity. I usually don't leave it plugged in all the time (as it works like a kettle to stay hot), instead usually pop it on for 10 or 15 minutes in the summer before I have a shower, or for an hour or so in the winter (or the night before). If you leave it on all the time you will always have hot water, but to me it is a waste of electricity (which is not just a money concern).
Gas is cheap--I usually put about 50RMB on the card and it lasts me 6-9 months, and we cook one meal at home at least 5 or 6 days a week.
Drinking water is cheap, I pay 100RMB for 12x 20 litre bottles that get delivered (one at a time). You can pay more or less, it depends on the particular water you want.
So I think 150RMB is pretty fair, and it would easily cover my electricity bill every month. But it really does depend on how much you use, in particular how well you deal with heat or cold. A lot of the reason I don't like running the AC all the time is not just to save money, but I just don't like to waste electricity. I am the kind of person who would rather have a cold drink and an electric fan in the summer, or a hot drink, hot water bottle and a few extra layers in the winter. Others want a perfectly comfortable climate and don't care what the costs are (financially or otherwise).
What I find most funny is that the FTs who complain the most about the cold in the winter time here end up making their rooms absolutely freezing in the summer, and vice versa. So it is often about security, control and perceived comfort rather than the environment being impossible to deal with.
Other things mentioned: Internet--some places pay, some don't, but you should be able to get decent broadband for around 800-1,000RMB a year, which really isn't much. Paying for your groceries is normal (obviously) and while free meals in the canteen can be nice (common at public schools rather than private I think), the food is often repetitive, bland and low quality. Even if you have to pay, it is usually really cheap for lunch or dinner in a school canteen if that is what you want. As for buying food taking a large part of your income--it shouldn't if you shop sensibly and don't require a decent cheeseboard and a few glasses of port after every meal.
Things like TV, DVD, kitchen supplies, ask other teachers, ask to see pictures. Often places will have a separate housing contract which you sign after you arrive. If so, ask to see that, it might have an inventory. You will have to buy cleaning supplies and will no doubt need to stock up on some comforts. Some places there won't even be a bowl, others there may be quite a bit (especially if you are moving into a room a former FT left).
At the end of the day, you ask 15 FTs what they need, what they use, what they expect and are comfortable with, you get 10-15 different answers. I live basically, but don't feel discomfort. Back home I didn't have aircon, or leave the heat going all the time either. Here I get provided with stuff I don't use like a microwave (it is in a closet so I have more space in the kitchen) and a TV (never once watched it). Other teachers use their microwave all the time and watch DVDs on their TV everyday.
You know yourself best. The key thing you can do is get your head around the situation, what you get from the school, what the environment is like etc. and then decide if you think it is a fair deal or not. Don't expect the school to give you too much info on this stuff, and assume what they do say to be on the optimistic and positive side. Speak to other FTs at the school, and also ones in the same city if there is an expat forum or website and see what they say about this kind of thing. |
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kev7161
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 5880
Location: Suzhou, China
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:15 am Post subject: |
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Trying not to get personal towards any posters . . . but:
I was giving advice based on unknown variables (unknown to us at least). In my opinion only, I feel those that say 150 is A-OK are those that either choose to or have to work on a tighter budget. Right now in Suzhou it is still warmish most days. On the nicer days I open my windows and hope for a good breeze to come through. Sadly, it still gets stuffy (for me) and I need to run my A/C during the warmest part of the day. Others may find the warm days tolerable (notice I did not say HOT days due to the inferno-which-is-summer has passed us by for another year), while yet even others may feel like I do.
One can make themselves be "comfortable" in any manner they see fit: wearing fewer articles of clothing in the hot months or layering in the colder months, taking 2 or 3 cool showers every day in the warm months, running a space heater near their toes in the colder months, etc. Once you live in a certain climate for several years, one learns to adapt. However, I've lived in basically the same area for 8 years now and it is still sweltering here in the summer and bone-chilling in the winter. No amount of clothing tricks or strategically placed fans can be 100% (for me - - want to make that clear again).
None of us know the OP and I feel that it is a bit wrong to advise that 150 a month is PLENTY of money for most anyone. I don't drink any more or less water than anyone else or my internet is probably not much more or less than the next person's but I know that my personal electric consumption + internet + drinking water + propane (have a gas water heater, by the way, that comes on only when I run the hot water) + regular water + land line phone runs somewhere in the hundreds every month, depending on the time of year. My school allows up to 1000 rmb a month for me. I know that if they were only allowing 150, that I may try to conserve more, but I truly believe I would still be out of pocket every month.
And it's not just electric heat or A/C. There are lights, microwave, TV, water bottle heater, fans, charging the mobile phone (and other gadgets), running the computer, and more. We all SHOULD be doing our best to conserve, but that's not what this posting is about. What should be vs what actually is are not always the same.
Yes, of course we all have to pay our way "back home" when it comes to monthly utilities and if the OP is fine with picking up the excess once that 150 has been used up, then who am I to argue? If the OP wants to hope (based on the advice she is given here) that the 150 is more than ample, that's fine too. But my reality is different than others here so surely we have to agree that the OP's reality may actually fall somewhere in between.
Also, none of us can ASSUME the living quarters are going to be fully furnished and stocked ADEQUATELY enough (not talking about cheese graters and corkscrews here). She should at least ask for a rudimentary checklist to cover her bases before she arrives.
The reason I'm posting this rebuttal is that all of us have read so many horror stories here about new teachers showing up and having dismal living quarters and conditions. What if her apartment is drafty? We all know insulation has not yet been discovered in China. We just don't know, so please be careful of the kind of cavalier advice you throw out.
I am always going out and buying kitchen gadgets or new bedding or small home decor items or whatever. I visit the supermarket at least once a week because I mostly cook at home (although the school offers three squares a day for free) and I also can afford big ticket items from time to time (just bought my first flat screen TV). I certainly don't grouse about these things and I would never expect the school to offer assistance in any aspect of my personal shopping life. But, just like schools all across China, they are expected to offer basic standards by decree of the Education Bureau or whomever. Luckily, I am well-compensated by my school so I don't have to worry about whether or not I am staying cool enough in the summer or warm enough in the winter. I just don't think 150 rmb is enough no matter where one lives. |
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