Korean Job Discussion Forums

[juliajohansen]

I live in the heart of Seoul. I work on Gangnam, one of the more expensive neighborhoods, filled with plastic surgery clinics and high end cosmetics galore. I wanted to share my living expenses along with specific details.

***disclaimer--none of this is intended to be bragging--just sharing some exact figures for the OP. Many people here were talking a bit more generally and I wanted to share more in depth.

My monthly take home (after taxes) is 2.5 million per month. Every month I send home between $1100 and $1300, roughly half (or more) of my paycheck. So I live on between 1-1.2 million per month AFTER sending home money. Some months (like DECEMBER!) I have overspent and shook out loose cushions for won to buy kimbap and some months I end up with a 300,000 surplus (last month). I am neither super frugal nor superspendy. Here are my cost breakdowns.

TRANSPORTATION
Every month I spend 40,000 on Metro fees. I have a commuter card which saves me money over paying full T-Money fees. This is worth getting if you ride the metro every day to work in Seoul.

FITNESS/NUTRITION
Every month I spend 100,000 on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I try to go 5x per week. I spend around $60 every month on high quality fish oil (I take 1.5 times the recommended dosage). I also go in with a friend on orders from Swansons for my vitamin/supplement needs, such as glucosamine and the like. Vitamins and protein powder are much more expensive here.

CAT
I spend anywhere from 40,000 to 70,000 on my cat. Her food costs 10,000 per 1 lb bag--this is more specialty food that is grain free, and litter is around 20,000. Cat toys are around 5000. 6 months of heartworm medication costs 50,000. Large cat trees run between 70,000 to 100,000. Vet bills tend to be fairly cheap--around 10 or 20,000.

MEDICAL
I'm getting dental work done. Fillings cost me around 100,000 and I THINK that my inlays are around 120 or 150,000. Doctors are SO CHEAP here. You can get acupuncture for around 2000. You pay around 3000 to see a regular doctor when you are sick with the flu, and you pay around 4000 for the pills afterward. Very reasonable even in the expensive neighborhood I work in.

PRODUCTS
I don't tend to spend loads here, but there's a LUSH near my work and it's hard to pass up some of their products. I usually get a shampoo bar for 18,000 and it lasts for 3-4 months. My work often gives gifts of shampoo, soap and toothpaste for holidays like Chuseok. I like to buy Dr Bronner's Pure Castile soap and I think that can run up to 30,000 for a large bottle. It lasts a long time, though. In a year I've gone through 2 total bottles.

FREE TIME
I don't generally drink--maybe just 2 times per month. When I drink I usually get beer and only 2 at that. I don't go dancing. I don't go out much. I prefer to spend my evenings at home. I'm a happy-to-be-single woman who is NOT into the dating scene, in the interest of budgetary disclosure. I like to go to jiu jitsu 5 times per week, 2 classes per day. This is a good 3-4 hour chunk of each evening, plus travel time.

My schedule consists of mostly going to work, jiu jitsu, and home. Last month I went out twice. Once with my students and once for a friend's birthday.

FOOD
I buy a combination of fresh veggies/fruits/meats to some canned meats--mostly tuna. I also eat out a few times every week, usually once per day, 3-5x per week.

Some food prices from my neighborhood, & what I'm willing to pay:
Bananas--2,000 for a bunch
Strawberries--4-5,000 for a box
Asian pears--1-2000 per
Chicken--5000 for 2 breasts
Chicken--2000 for a can of chicken meat
Tuna--1800 for a can
Broccoli--1000 per head
Sweet potatoes--2500 per bag
Spinach--2000 for a bunch
Buckwheat--4000 for a bag
Frozen blueberries--22000 at Foreign Food Market
Ice cream--7000
Yogurt--2600
Milk--2500
Eggs--6000 for 30? 25?
Bulgogi at the supermarket--5000 (lasts me 2 meals)

I rarely make rice or noodles. Maybe 2 or 3 times in a month.

Meal prices in a restaurant near my work are usually 5000-6000. That's for bibimbap or bulgogi or jjajjangmyun or fried rice or a chicken dish. If I'm going for galbi it's anywhere from 9000 to 12000. When we go out with our BJJ group it's upwards of 50,000 for the evening. A burrito near my work costs 8,500.

VICE
I indulge in cappuccinos regularly and they range in price from 2500 to 5000. 6500 if I'm in a nice place near my work. There are some days when I'm grading papers that I order 3 cappuccinos. It's not unheard of for me to spend 10,000 in a day on coffee. I probably get them 3 or 4 times per week.

UTILITIES
My utility bills have been on occasion up to 67,000. Usually they're around 35,000. I run my washing machine nearly every night. I also tend to leave the air conditioner on during summer time because my apartment gets THICK in the air and I have a cat. My phone bill is usually around 45,000

CLOTHES
Clothes--I get my shirts dry cleaned for 4000 apiece (they charge me a little more because I have a cat and occasionally they'll be covered in hair). Shirts--you can spend 30,000 to 50,000 (or more) getting a tailored shirt in Itaewon. I plan to get a few new shirts this year and replace some of my older ones. I don't buy shoes or many clothes here, and when I need hemming or mending I give it to my dry cleaner. She's hemmed specialty clothes for me and usually only charges 5000.

EXTRAS
Pedicures run 30,000 in my work neighborhood. Not sure about manicure prices--I think around 20,000 maybe less. The spa is only 8,000 and you can go all day.

It would be easy live on 1 million per month, even in Seoul. Last month I spent around 1.1 million without being strict whatsoever. But things like Dental work and buying presents often push that up. If I wanted to be more frugal I would cut out my cappuccinos and prepare more of my own meals. I would also cut out my vitamins and fish oil.

Overall my lifestyle is cushy. I don't go out, but that's not because I'm TRYING to save money. When I do buy things I try to get quality things that will last. My lifestyle is not luxurious, but not scrimping. I spent 2 years in Peace Corps stressing about money and I don't want to live like a Peace Corps volunteer any more, so I don't. I am very happy right now. I think my second year in Korea I will end up saving more money, as I find that the longer I live somewhere the more ways I find to save.

So there you go. More information than you probably wanted about me, but a detailed idea of how much things cost if you are living in a fairly expensive neighborhood in Seoul.

[earthquakez]

I hear you Julia. I've said since I came to Korea that living outside Seoul can be more expensive than living there because you have so many attractions there and a cheap subway to go to them that you don't have to spend the kind of money those in a backwater or even another so called 'big city' do.

I lived in a backwater my first job in Korea - it was a small city, not really rural, but it had no Costco (that was 2 plus hours away by express), no variety of stores, aggressive locals who I wanted to get away from every weekend, and dingy housing whereby officetels are horrid, claustrophobic one rooms where you pay a 'management' fee for zilch service, not real officetels which can be decent acommodation. I spent far more living in a backwater including travelling expenses than I did later and do now. However, I still spend too much compared to what I would be spending in Seoul.

In Seoul I can have a cheap time becaus one of my things is exploring cities by the transportation. I envy people who could get gigs in Seoul because there's so much to see and do by hopping on the subway. You can go restaurant exploring from the foreigner ones to some amazing little hole in the wall shops with incredibly good tasting food. Your accommodation is usually better in public schools in Seoul - every public school I've worked at put me in one room 'apartments'. My hagwon jobs have had better accommodation. Access to Incheon - easy and quick plus cheap.

Outside Seoul it can frustrating if you want to do something interesting and do it cheaply. None of the cities outside Seoul have things to do that you'd expect of the third and fourth cities in a country for example, only Busan really comes into the category of a big city. I would have saved a hell of a lot more money in Korea if I had lived in Seoul.

[Draz]

[the_curious]

if this includes rent, in seoul, doubtful.

if this excludes rent or is out in the country, u should be fine.