Korean Job Discussion Forums

[amemorylost]

I'm just curious what the average seems to be for monthly bills.

I'll post what I'm paying in a few days when I have all the bills in front of me, but I think with internet and phone included it comes to around 150k a month.

[runthegauntlet]

Last year I maxed out at 60k in July and January, the rest were around 50. I only had to pay a 10k maintenance fee. That's house phone, electricity, house fee, and gas. No internet except the wifi I "borrowed" from neighbors.

This year I'm in an office tel. With apartment fee, cell, internet, gas, and electricity, it runs about 110-150k.

[Robot_Teacher]

20k water
190K electric
44K internet
60K gas
40K phone
100K public transportation
300K to 600K food and drink

Bills vary enormously as I know a couple teachers in my town don't have utility bills other than phone and internet as they're included with the apartment so they're paying less than 100K while mine run 250K to 350K more. It is quite a bit more I than expected, but it's not a tiny 1 room box like the free utilities place I would had got if one was available. I'd take the small efficiency studio over a 2 room place with utility bills consuming 20% of take home just to save money, but you don't get a choice. Some get really lucky while other not so lucky teachers get stuck with a crapload of utility bills in their mailbox. Some jobs offer easy street while other jobs offer a more difficult way to go. It's like rolling dice when taking one of these jobs.

[egrog1717]

50k for maintance (includes cable and internet... Really really good deal)
10k for hydro
10 - 20k for gas
30k for phone (on a contract... less if I use it less... 180k if I accidently drunk dial my girlfriend in Canada 4 or 5 times in a month )
50k for transportation

Groceries usually run me 200 - 250k (I do a lot of my own cooking)... Probably spend 300k on drink and entertainment... (Go out 2-3 times a week, plus a couple of special nights out - saw Jump last week, it was 50k plus 22k for dinner...)
I live well for around 850k a month... But I also have massive student loans I'm trying to pay down so I don't have the option of going crazy like some people, lol...

[coffeeandmilk]

I would love to pay what you guys are paying! My gas bills alone this cold season have been 300,000+won!
some basic info:
Our place is FREEZING. My wife has a constant cold, and we have had to use our space heater to keep the bedroom even remotely habitable.
My (public)school and landlord refuse to do anything about it, they claim I just "don't understand Korean culture..." I hired a boiler tech to look at it and he says without a doubt the boiler is bad, leaking gas and possibly water somewhere. The landlord claims he has no budget to replace it and the schools advice is "...just wait a bit, it's getting warmer..."

I live in Jeollanamdo, if anyone wants to know. The "other" Korea. The "Rebel Province". The regular racism and elitist attitudes you might encounter in other parts of Korea are multiplied one thousand fold here, Gwangju being a bright exception, though I have witnessed foreigners being spit on there too(literally).

With this and the plummeting won, I have saved exactly zero. I am almost paying out of pocket to stay here.

Korea Sparkling?

[WendyRose]

My school pays my utillities for me, so I'm lucky! My gas fluctuates from 30-80k won and I have no idea about electricity/water since the bill goes straight to the school (at least I hope so cause I never see it anymore!)

Internet/cable - 38k
350k - food
200k - misc. including travel

The rest goes toward USA bills and savings.

[Ukon]

30k-50K electricity
30k-80k for gas
sporadic maintenance fee: 50k Includes cable

Internet:30k however I never paid this bill but nevertheless I still have internet...I assume the school pays it.

Phone: 60k.....SK telecom is wallet rape

[cruisemonkey]

My utility bills (water, electricity, LPG, phone, internet and digital cable TV) average about 150k/mo. I have no 'aparta' maintenance fee.

[johnny_larue]

Most of the bills for me are quite reasonable save for one.

Power: 13K
Phone: 17K
Internet: 40K

None of these are particularly bad, but the gas bill is huge. Last month it came to 92K! What the hell?!

[bobbybigfoot]

Last year, in bundang, my apt bills hit a low of 100,000 and a high of 180,000 in winter. No phone or internet.

This year my apt bills hit a low of 66,000 and a high of 141,000 (January). Gangnam. Plus I have Internet/cable 38,000.

Cell phone, KTF, prepay averages 10,000 a month. I'm a strict texter.

[Robot_Teacher]

Wow, I'm paying the most! Also paying more to get to a larger city to see a doctor and go shopping. People, reconsider before taking a rural assignment. I should had stated to the recruiter; "nothing smalller than 250,000 people please." It really doesn't pay even though you get 100,000 won more, becuase there's nothing for us and the bills can run quite expensive on that large apartment you'll probably get in that small town as well as long bus trips to the cities for services. While smalltowns in the West have bars you can sit down to meet locals, a big Wal-Mart or other big box retailer, variety of restaurants, variety of entertainment, people to be friends with, and a big hospital staffed with doctors and all the state of the art things, a small Korean town is roughing it to say the least. Need I elaborate any more than that?

[mnhnhyouh]

100,000 maintainence, includes electricity
8 - 50k for gas
50k for phone and internet (in K gf's name)

h

[losing_touch]

Let's see. Here is last month:

Cell Phone: 30,000 KRW (+/- 10,000 usually)
Internet and Cable: 30,500 KRW
Gas: 50,000 KRW (Dec. / Jan. pretty high - The rest of the year is around 10-15K)
Electricity: 10,000 KRW
Maintenance: 60,000 KRW (includes water)

[losing_touch]

I should have mentioned that my figures are for two people. My wife stays home all day, so our bills are a little higher than they would be for a single person in the apartment.

[Teelo]

Cellphone: $40
Landline phone: $30
Power: $60
Internet: $20
Transportation: $200
Tap water I can drink: Priceless