Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thunderbird]

like in one week, what would you usually spend on food, a few beers, toiletries, whatever...

how would it relate to Canada or a western country? are most things alot cheaper?

thanx!

[wylies99]

A lot depends on where you live and if you can cook. You can budget and eat on about 500,000 (or less) per month. Drinking? That's up to you, but limit yourself when in bars/pubs otherwise you'll spend all of your pay every month.

I recommend wiring money home as the first thing you do every month- so it's gone and you can't spend it- and shopping at Costco or other stores second. THEN spend money having fun. You'll be glad you did things in that order.

[wylies99]

Remember- if you're moving into an apartment, you'll have to spend money the first month- probably most of your first check.

[blackjack]

Cost varies where you shop

if you only shop at supermarkets then your bill will be higher esp for fruit and veges, if you shop at the markets it will be less.

If you eat korean food (or korean ingredients) then it will be much less than if you try to eat the same stuff as back home. Eating beef is very expensive, pork and chicken less so but still a little pricey. Seafood can be cheap.

toiletries, I would say the same if slightly cheaper (NZ prices). The tend to sell in bulk ie five tubes of toothpaste, ten toothbrushes, 24-30 rolls of TP

alcohol can be cheap or expensive, a beer in a bar (tap domestic) is between 2000 and 5000 won import between 5000 and 10000won (bottle)
Soju around 3-4000 won.

In total I spend 300,000 won on food/toiletries on a cheap month and a million on an expensive month. Drinking between 50,000 and a 500,000 won a month.

You can live very cheaply here if you want, you can also blow over 2 million a day if you want.

Expect to pay more for the first couple of months till you work out where the markets and cheap places are

[runthegauntlet]

I average about 130,000 won a week. Plus another 150k won per month for utils. Plus any trips or spending sprees.

Normally spend around 900k a month.

[trish91198]

The most I spend in a typical week is about 100,000 won...I have survived on much less though. I usually eat lunch at school, so that saves some bucks. I also cook dinner at home on most nights. It's all going to depend on your lifestyle here. If you go out to eat and drink regularly, you're obviously going to spend more money. I have no problem saving at least half of my paycheck every month.

[crossmr]

You guys spend a lot.

I can make a chicken stir-fry every night for around 15,000W a week for ingredients (frozen chicken breasts at emart, various veggies like mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, etc), I can either make rice or buy the instant rice when its on sale for like 500 won a meal.

I can eat cereal or toast every morning for around 1,000 in ingredients. Lunch is the wild card but I can eat out for 5000 or less. I can also make food to take with me for less.

If I don't get lazy and stay out of the restaurants I can easily eat for around 50,000 a week. That's 3 meals a day. I can toss some fruit on that for another 5,000 a week. Snacking beyond that and going out a lot and the price starts to go way up. Realistically I spend a little more than that about 50% of the time as I usually hit a reasonable restaurant every now and then.

Toiletries don't factor in highly for me, toilet paper, razor blades, soap, etc all last a long time, so they're not a weekly or even monthly expense.
I get deodorant from back home, 5 pack of clear gel lasts me a year as long as I don't slop it on.

Don't drink, so I can't comment on the cost of that.

270,000 base cost for food in a month, toiletries..we'll say 10,000
utils are around 50,000-60,000

shouldn't be hard to budget and get a little crazy after that if you want.

[jahson4]

I've been meaning to list my expenses and follow a budget, but it's really not necessary here. I eat breakfast at home, lunch at school, and eat out nearly every night. I don't hit the bars every weekend, but I manage to spend a decent amount of money on alcohol at least a few nights out of the week. At the end of the month, I save at least half of my paycheck without trying.

If I really wanted to pinch pennies, I could save extremely well. It all depends on the lifestyle you choose. In general, it's easy to live and save well with minimal effort.

[WendyRose]

There are two of us and we cook almost all of our meals. We go out to eat perhaps 2-4 times a month.

We almost never go over 80,000 a week on groceries and that includes alcohol (usually only wine), kitty litter/food and all our basic toiletries. That's about 240,000 a month.

Together we rarely spend over 500,000 a month. That includes Korean bills, public travel and non-necessary expenditures (like eating out, movies, etc.).

[DCJames]

If you want to eat a fairly healthy diet here with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables you will spend ALOT of money.

[Yesterday]

[pullmydaisy]

whoa...wait a second...where are you getting cottage cheese? i've been here for awhile, and not been able to locate it.

[Yesterday]

[wakingup]

For food, toiletries, drinks, and incidentals (which includes just about anything 'fun' I do, any taxis I take, subway money, and money to recharge my phone), I usually pull out about 100,000 for the week and 100,000 for the weekend, so a max of 200,000 a week. I rarely spend it all, and I go to Starbucks at least once a day, eat out for lunch every day (usually not Korean food), buy groceries including items from Western shops and plenty of fresh fruit - though I do get the fruit from the trucks, mostly - and go do whatever I want basically.

I do often skip dinner or just get a snack on weekdays because there's usually something to eat at the school, and I do tend to know where the cheaper groceries are (meaning where to get what I want for the lowest price), but I really don't feel like I sacrifice anything. I live in an area with plenty of Western food to tempt me, too. I will say that I'm a teetotaler, so spending a lot on drinks just isn't going to happen... I think that's where a lot of folks spend their money if they spend a lot.

There have been weeks I've spent as little as 80,000 all week and weekend and weeks I've spend the full 200,000 if I do a lot on the weekend. (This doesn't count any weekends I travel, which is a different story, though.)

[runthegauntlet]