Korean Job Discussion Forums

[driftingfocus]

(I've looked at the FAQ answer, but it's rather outdated now, so I'm asking here.)

My question is: how much do you save per month, on average? Let me know what your eating/drinking/entertaining/etc habits are.

It really does seem that most people end up eating and drinking away a lot of their paycheck. I don't really drink (I have maybe one beer a week, and usually at home), and I mostly cook for myself. Can anyone give me an estimate on how much groceries generally cost?

Also, are there really any other expenses that I should be taking into consideration?

[aarontendo]

I got some dental work done last year, might do the same this year. Everyone says that it's cheaper here so if you need some work on your teeth then you might wanna consider that too.

[driftingfocus]

[Easter Clark]

OP--

You'll likely get responses like "If you can't bank a minimum of $2,500 / month then you suck," or "I wouldn't get out of bed unless I were able to save two grand a month."

I think the reality is that you can save half of your paycheck and still manage to live pretty comfortably. I spend roughly 60,000 / week on groceries. Buy fruit and vegetables from street vendors for a better deal. I live on a million won / month and I'm always able to go shopping for something "nice," like carpeting for my apartment, computer stuff, Xbox games, clothes, go on good dates with the girlfriend, etc. I also have a *healthy* drinking habit, but I don't go to bars.

If you live like a monk you should be able to scrape by on 5 or 600,000 / month, but then you have to ask yourself why you want to be here. I for one like to enjoy myself in my free time.

[thatwhitegirl]

My husband and I save quite a bit. We don't drink, and don't eat out hardly ever. Cook our own food. We buy a lot of good groceries from places like Costco.
I would say that on average (very rough guess here) we spend under $1,000 a month on groceries, utilities and bills, and whatever else. And we don't skimp on grocery purchases. So that is our total expenditure for a month (2 people).
We save all of one of our salaries, and keep the other in the bank here for emergencies.
But if you're on your own, I reckon you could reasonably save $1,000 or more a month, depending on how you spend.

[driftingfocus]

[Harpeau]

I think it depends on which city your living in and if you're paying for your own place or not. Seoul is more expensive. Are you a frugal person or not? Do you drink much? All of these need to be calculated into the equation.

[maingman]

driftingfocus wrote :

was it good quality work

[majolica]

i easily saved over half my yearly salary, that's including going on 2 long vacations, a couple short ones, and being quite active on the weekends. i don't eat meat, so i eat out very rarely (and korea is one of the few areas where the "veggie" option costs considerably less)... and i usually only drink at friends' houses... going out for BBQ and to the bar everynight will really eat up your savings.

also, it depends on what kind of food you're buying in the grocery store... if you buy a lot of western foods, that costs more than buying a bag of rice and in season veggies from the ajummas. my expenses for this area vary wildly... in the beginning especially, i was buying a lot of expensive items, but as i got more used to korea ingredients and less attached to western foods, it went down.

i even bought a fair number of clothes, housewares, books and hobby stuff... but i did try to limit what i bought to a certain extent (not wanting to be loaded down with a lot of extra stuff at the end of the year is a good incentive). i certainly made fewer esecially large or expensive purchases than i might have if i were at home.

anyway, if you are really interested in saving money, it's easy to save over half your salary. if you're interested in experiencing everything and not limiting yourself, you can still walk away with a lot. of course, remember that if you're working a hagwon, you'll save more because you never have time to spend it, if you're working a PS, not only are you making less, you will have to exercise more discipline not to spend it all during your 2 month winter vacation.

[driftingfocus]

[Flash Ipanema]

I didn't go out much before I went to Korea because of my work schedule, but I ended up going out almost every weekend once I was there so I spent more than I expected. I didn't feel like I spent that much when I went out, but a weekend in Seoul often included western food (more expensive), clubs that might have a cover, drinks and taxis. I didn't save as much as I expected, but I had a great time and met some great people, so I consider it money well spent.

A lot of people say if you make about 2.1 you can easily save 1 million. I wouldn't say it's that easy after you deduct pension, medical, taxes, cell phones, electric, gas, and cable. A lot of stuff wasn't as cheap as I'd heard, like electronics. Seriously, the cheapest microwave was $80? Cheapest coffee maker was $35? Stand-up fans up to 100?

[driftingfocus]

[driftingfocus]

[Harpeau]

Well, you might save quite a bit of money.

BTW, do you sew clothes that are special orders?

[DCJames]

It's not that easy to save in Korea.

Prices have gone up considerable within the last 3-4 years. Prior to that it was much easier to save and your money went much further.

Food is quite expensive if you want to eat healthy. Fresh fruits and vegetables costs quite a bit more than back home. The cost of meat, especially beef is very expeensive.

If you drink at all, the cost of drinking will destroy any savings plan you have.

If you live the lifestyle of a monk you'll save money here, but most people aren't like that.