Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rowdie3]

I was reading the threads on how to live cheaply in Korea. Good tips. Some of them made me laugh. I remember in my first year in Korea, I made a goal of living on 80,000W a week and was able to do it. Mind you, this was in 2003 and I was living outside of Seoul.

Anyways, I thought a counter-thread was in order. Despite my best efforts to pay off my student loans and save a bundle in five years, I still manage to waste ridiculous amounts of money. I'd love to see how you other wasters out there are blowing the bank.

Here's a start:

-daily Starbucks vanilla latte
-almost nightly games of poker in Haebungchon. I win maybe once every three times, and this keeps me going. Good fun too of course.
-taxis to work every Tuesday and Thursday (8000W). If I don't take the taxi, I don't get my 1 hour nap in between classes (gasp!)
-pedicures, manicures, massages
-bimonthly ordering of clothes, books, etc, from Canada and the US.

These are all things that make me happy here. Though they do add up, I wouldn't dream of cutting them out. I guess I'll just have to save on the other end by filling up water bottles at school and making my own bibimbap at home...

[ciccone_youth]

I'm trying to save up money, so I'm not shopping much anymore, but my biggest money-"wasters" are:

-A few Starbucks or Coffee Bean lattes per week
-Expensive brunches in Apkujeong
-Imported foods from foreign markets

Other than that, I'm pretty good. I barely ever drink alcohol, I cook at home and if I shop, I go to Uniqlo.

[EzeWong]

Same here,

The goal of mine was 10 million won at end of year.

Looks more like 5 million right now.

I have a similar pattern that involves the dreaded starbucks:

1) Vallina fraps (used to be lattes) at Kyobo Bookstore.

2) Books, god they are so expensive here... jesus chirst

3) GimGiBan. $9 a spa is EXCELLENTE price. But do it every week and that monkey crap adds up.

4) Clothes, as a man I've never been partial to clothes, especially not Korean ones. But god shirts and ties are only $10 so like pokemon, I gotta catch em all...

5) Cream soda. Every time I got to PC bang I splurge on the stuff. Only 700 won each but by 6-7 it adds up.

[KYC]

haha I love this thread

1) my daily caramel machiatto
2) my weekly/sometimes biweekly shopping (usually 200,000 each time)
3) my weekly western dinner with my friend who only likes western food
4) buying western/imported food from the markets
5) monthly manis/pedis

Life's too short to give the above up. Sure, I'd like to save oodles...but these things are what makes my life half-sane in Korea. They're worth every penny

[Ultimo Hombre]

Beer.
T-shirts.

[wanderingross]

Soju. A liter a day.

[chevro1et]

Playing darts. Dropped 60 000won on my darts to start with, shafts are ~4000won a set to replace (every 2 weeks or so), flights the same price and frequency, ~3000won a week for tips. Haven't even factored in the cost of playing yet... 1000won a round for cricket adds up pretty quick if you play a few nights a week. Oh yea, and the dart machines are located at a bar, so then refereshments on top of it all. Really fun though.

[Draz]

I have a confession. I post in the cheapskate threads all the time but I spent 1 million won this month. And 1.6 million in September.

Where did it go?

- vacation (aka visa run) in Japan (600k)
- expenses for changing jobs (about 300k)
- going out. A lot. I'm in Seoul, wooo! (I don't even want to think about it)
- ordering take-out at work (not sure)
- buying furniture (around 400k (so far))
- COSTCO. Fucking COSTCO! I'd never recommend going there "to save money" in the cheap bastard threads (160k)
- upgrading computer (140k and counting)

[sojourner1]

Spending 40,000 Won round trip to go buy a heavy backpack full of OeTTINGER Super Forte 8.9% beer at Emart in the city.

Spending 40,000 won on fresh raw baby back ribs at Emart on the barbie.

Fresh legume bean mixes at a 5 day market. Believe me, these colorful purple, white, black, striped, polka dotted, and pink beans are not cheap at 5,000 per cup. I do ham and beans by getting those tiny hams at Emart. They're really good.

Buying overpriced gray market goods when in Seoul.

A small loaf of wheat whole grain bread for 5,000 every 3 days.

2 bottles of juice and 2 bottles of water per day. Hey, I drink the shit out those.

Coffee grounds; not Starducks unless on vacation or a trip where there's that familiar coffee shop. I prefer Hikoko from Homeplus at 9,000 for 200 grams, but I get 15 cups of very high quality supremo out of that.

Taking really nice extended vacations where I fly really high and far from home to exotic destinations most people at home could only day dream about. That's why I'm here and what keeps me coming back for more besides the fact I've still saved money after living it up a bit. Dang, I need to go home and tend to my goshdarned mail is what's nagging me to death.

[maddog]

I was pretty disciplined for a while. I got my drinking under control and I prepared almost all of my meals at home. This last month has been bad. I've been back on the beer. I've been downing two pitchers each night, and hitting the town at the weekend. All because I'm leaving, so I don't care anymore. A few goals have been shot cos of drinking. Namely saving and fitness. Because of the drinking, I miss workouts. Also, I can't be bothered to cook, so I spend more money in restaurants.

MD

[xCustomx]

Eating out on the weekends with my girlfriend
A trip to Costco once every two months or so
An occasional night out drinking

I ride the bus and subway to work every day, rarely take taxis, I usually eat out only on the weekends, I never buy clothes here, and yet I always seem to spend about 800-1 million a month. I don't know where my money goes sometimes

[Suwon23]

Your sister is proving to be remarkably high-maintenance. Other than that, my main problem is dates. It's a lot cheaper here than in the states to go out and drink, but it still costs you. Plus getting back to Suwon at night is a drag and usually involves several transfers and at least one taxi ride to fill in the gaps between bus routes.

Coffee, tremendous amounts of food, girls. These are all little things compared to the biggest, stupidest thing I ever did to waste money:

Live here after September. You ever drink a latte that stole 1/3 of your savings?

[Ginormousaurus]

My first few years in Korea I was quite frugal and saved a lot of money while denying myself a lot of comforts. Not any more though. Despite making double what I used to make I only save the same amount. My money disappears in many ways.

FOOD - I eat at Subway several times a week so that really adds up. I never cook at home so I usually spend around 20 000 a day on food during the week, more on weekends.

Coffee - I go to Starbucks almost daily as well as buying the Starbucks Double Shot canned coffee in between classes if I'm feeling tired. I'm always tired.

BOOKS - I estimate I spend about 100 000 a month at least on books.

WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT - Although I've had some success at cutting back on all the weekend partying, when I do go out I usually spend nearly 100k a night. I like buying rounds of shots and whatnot for my friends.

MY GIRLFRIEND - This is the big one. She never asks for anything and she helps pay for things when she can but for the most part I pay for everything. She's a student and has very little income so I don't really mind. Also, I am very generous with gifts for her.

[nolegirl]

This whole saving money thing is BS. I haven't saved a dime. And I am actually falling more into debt, wtf????

I hate doing laundry so I send out (30,000 won bi-weekly)
Alterations (I am losing weight) (150,000 won)
Food and Drink (1 million a month) weekend I do non-korean food and I get expnesive cheeses.
Pedi/mani and hair upkeep (200,000)

I actually made a budget the other day 15,000 won a day and then 200,000 won on weekend. Thats only 1,100. I bought a coffee maker so I will save money on coffee in morning, yeah!!!

[IlIlNine]

Don't get a car if you want to save money.

Don't get an imported motorcycle if you want to save money.

Those two, combined with drinking, eating, and dating really do a number on my bank account.