Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Triple007]

Hello all,

I am a daily viewer here at Dave's Esl Cafe. This place is by far the best place for advice for teaching English in Korea. My girlfriend and I finished our contracts at our first school in March and we are going back in December.

I was wondering if it is possible for us to live on 1.2million won per month(total). Our housing is taken care of. We live close enough to walk to school. We don't live in Seoul. We don't have to eat out but would be nice maybe once or twice a week. If there are any frugal couples out there, (but still like to travel maybe once or twice a month to a different city) please let me know if you think we could do this.

Thanks

[kardisa]

My boyfriend and I spend about that much, and we have nice smart phones, satellite TV, and go out most weekends with friends. We mostly eat at home, but we follow the paleo diet, so it's not exactly cheap.

1.2 million won is completely doable, especially if you're not the type who likes to frequent western bars.

[Weigookin74]

What do you mean? Take a new job for 1.2 million a month? Are you joking? If you do, you're an idiot! I know wages have stagnated but not like that. You should at least demand 2.2 if not higher. Good luck to you sir.

[Daelim]

Yes, in fact we do exactly that! Easy peasy! We could save more too but prefer to have some enjoyment!

[Modernist]

Not to be obvious, but I would ASSUME they mean they want to save a big block of cash and have calculated that they would need to save approximately 3 million a month as a couple to meet their goal after a year. With two salaries of 2.2 million a month, and saving 3, then you've got 1.2 for two people to live on.

I think you could do it, yeah. I'm not very frugal myself but some lifestyle choices I make do tend to add up. The major thing is not soaking in booze at the local western bar or chugging down soju in a tent in front of a GS25. Alcohol eats up more disposable income here than just about anything else.

Other factors are: are you willing to slum it with vile and revolting Korean food on a regular basis [like, at least twice a day]? Anything not Korean, even Chinese, will spike your food bill significantly. Lotteria is cheaper than Burger King. Mr. Pizza is cheaper than Pizza Hut. Both of them are DISGUSTING, comparatively, but then they ARE Korean. Thus, cheaper.

Cooking at home is MUCH cheaper than eating out unless you plan to be on the kimbap diet. But you have to consider the issues with tiny Korean kitchens and the lack of space for supplies and utensils. I couldn't cook in my so-called 'kitchen' even if wanted to.

Obviously traveling abroad is basically out. Traveling in Korea is quite cheap, of course, because there's nothing to see and nothing to do here. I would pencil in the so-called national parks, a few of the lakes, some islands and an occasional weekend in Seoul to keep your sanity intact, though. Can't buy that back once it's gone.

Pirated DVDs and torrents are cheaper than sat TV and the selection's better. A used game system can be had from various places and a few well-chosen titles can keep you busy for weeks or longer, MUCH cheaper than any by-the-month MMORPG. Big, 5 or 600 page novels and nonfiction cost about the same on a Kindle as little 150 or 200 page jobs but last quite a bit longer.

Also consider that in at least one area, both you and your SO should choose something on which to splurge. Really good soaps, or quality coffee, or a new movie out every couple of weeks, or a subscription to an NFL package. Frugality is hard enough to sustain, so allowing for 'treats' in an area that is meaningful for each of you will keep up your willpower when you're trying to resist temptation to spend.

[nautilus]

Life is too short to live on 600.000W a month.

[ontheway]

[Triple007]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

@Modernist. Absolutely correct with the living on 1.2 million won per month but we will be making 2.5 each to save a total of about $3000 per month. We put in our time at an awful school for the first year and decided to do our research for the second time around. We tend to cook a lot at home so eating out will be more of a treat than a regular occurrence.

Will be doing a blog on financials and living on a budget when we go back (to Korea).

Thanks again!

[nero]

[MigukCowboy]

I've gotten by on 300 per month. No problem.

[Daelim]

For any couples out there interested in how we save 3m + a month, I'll show you the budget we stick to when we get paid:

Bills: 100,000 for the month (Gas & Elec)
Weekdays: 70,000 a week X 4 weeks -> 280,000
Weekends: 150,000 a week X 4 weeks -> 600,000
Groceries: 150,000 for the month

Total Expenditure: 1.13m

Joint Income: 4.4m

Total Saved: 3.27m

Those are estimates as some months we save a little less or a little more. As you can see, we rarely do without anything and eat in nice restaurants, go out drinking once a week, go to the movies, have social lives in general...

Oh, cell phones... we both have pay as you go and top up 5,000 a week from our "weekday budget" No other bills I can think of at the moment.

I hope this helps anyone looking to save money whilst working here As a couple, there aren't many places where you can save as much that's for sure.

[jennykwon]

"Weekdays: 70,000 a week"

70,000 for 2 people?! that's 5,000 won per person per day!! "we rarely do without anything"!! yeah right!!

"groceries: 150,000 for the month" for 2 people?! that's 2,500 won per person per day. pleaaaaase... keep it REAL!

[nautilus]

[byrddogs]

[NQ]

There's no way you can spend only 150k won a month on groceries for two people, let alone one.

I only get 2 million won, after taxes and school lunch fees etc. it's only about 1.7-1.8 Million won.

I can send home 1 million won easily, but that works out to around 850 CDN. I dunno, my buidling costs are high, around 160 K won a month...i have a parking spot that I have to pay for, even though I don't have a car, for like 20K won a month. But I dunno, my place is the two level loft stlye of officetel, so maybe my situation is not comparable. Some other people I"ve talked to personally have lower building costs but their places are a lot smaller than mine