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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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mdsb87
Joined: 16 Aug 2010
Location: Gyeongsangnam do
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 Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:43 am Post subject: Living on 1.2m a month. |
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Hi all,
How realistic is living on 1.2m for an esl teacher a month. Looking to save some cash without foregoing a bit of fun living!
Any comments appreciated ! |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:46 am Post subject: Re: Living on 1.2m a month. |
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| mdsb87 wrote: |
Hi all,
How realistic is living on 1.2m for an ESL teacher a month. Looking to save some cash without foregoing a bit of fun living!
Any comments appreciated ! |
If you plan to live on that (1.2mil) and save/send the rest of your salary it is very do-able.
If that is the gross salary you are offered you won't save anything.
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Even Hotter
Joined: 13 Oct 2010
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:46 am Post subject: |
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More than realisitc!
That's 300,000 a week.
Food = 50,000 a week.
Utilities = about 25,000 a week.
Leaving you with 225,000 to spend freely!
I spend 700,000 a month and do not feel the pinch in any way at all! |
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Radius
Joined: 20 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:32 am Post subject: |
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| Even Hotter wrote: |
More than realisitc!
That's 300,000 a week.
Food = 50,000 a week.
Utilities = about 25,000 a week.
Leaving you with 225,000 to spend freely!
I spend 700,000 a month and do not feel the pinch in any way at all! |
lol how in the world can you eat on 50 bucks a day? thats only about 4-5 days for me (getting pizza one of those days) |
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Even Hotter
Joined: 13 Oct 2010
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:40 am Post subject: |
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I shop at Homeplus.
I usually buy pasta, decent cuts of meat, fish and veggies plus sauces (Italian, curry, hoi sin etc) that I have for dinners and lunches and I eat some toast with eggs or jam and coffee for breakfast.
The 50,000 also includes a few snacks and treats too and usually around 2 litres of beer or a cpl of bottles of house wine also depending what deals are on offer.
Sometimes I have change from the 50,000.
I don't see why this is so shocking. |
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mdsb87
Joined: 16 Aug 2010
Location: Gyeongsangnam do
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| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 12:04 pm Post subject: Re: Living on 1.2m a month. |
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| ttompatz wrote: |
| mdsb87 wrote: |
Hi all,
How realistic is living on 1.2m for an ESL teacher a month. Looking to save some cash without foregoing a bit of fun living!
Any comments appreciated ! |
If you plan to live on that (1.2mil) and save/send the rest of your salary it is very do-able.
If that is the gross salary you are offered you won't save anything.
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No 2.1m gross so hoping to balance sending some home with spending some travelling around Korea, Japna etc etc. I hear that it very cheap to live there but it's hard to judge before experiencing it first hand. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm essentially a drunken sailor and frequently cab back to Anyang from Seoul (30,000+) and that's about what I spend. |
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lubastowiezc
Joined: 07 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 5:31 pm Post subject: Re: Living on 1.2m a month. |
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| mdsb87 wrote: |
| Come home with spending some travelling around Korea, Japna etc etc. I hear that it very cheap to live there but it's hard to judge before experiencing it first hand. |
I wouldn't say it's "very" cheap here....some things are cheap, and some things aren't, just like at home. There will be some things or activities here that are so crazy expensive that you'll never buy or do them, for example playing golf is around $100/round and up.
The reason that it's so easy to save money here has less to do with the general cost of living, and more to do with the choices that most people tend to make here. Of course rent is free and utilities are low, so that helps greatly.
At home I would NEVER pull used furniture out of the recycling pile at an apartment building, I would buy new furniture from a store. At home I would NEVER drive the piece of crap car we've got here. At home I would buy more clothes and shoes (they don't sell my size here), go to more concerts, professional sports games, and other events. At home I would be spending a LOT more money on gifts for family and friends. At home I would play golf....and so on.
Most everything that you buy here you buy the cheapest version available because you are here temporarily. From your dishes and kitchen appliances to your home decor, you tend to buy crappier stuff here, which gives the illusion that it is cheaper.
If you like Korean food, then going out will seem cheap compared to home....if you only eat western or international food, then you will find that eating out is expensive. Same goes for alcohol, if you drink Korean alcohol then it will be relatively cheap (soju is dirt cheap but really is a horrible poison, and beer is relatively expensive at the shop, but relatively cheap at a bar), but if you want to go out and drink Jameson and cokes all night, then you'll be bankrupt before you know it.
All that being said....if you can't live comfortably off 1.2 million won then you're a complete and utter moron. Anyone who tells you that you need more than that is an idiot. 900,000/month is plenty for all of your basic needs and going out on the weekends where you live, and then if you stick 300,000 aside for travel you will be able to get all around Korea (Japan is a different world, though.) |
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mdsb87
Joined: 16 Aug 2010
Location: Gyeongsangnam do
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| Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:25 am Post subject: Re: Living on 1.2m a month. |
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| lubastowiezc wrote: |
| mdsb87 wrote: |
| Come home with spending some travelling around Korea, Japna etc etc. I hear that it very cheap to live there but it's hard to judge before experiencing it first hand. |
I wouldn't say it's "very" cheap here....some things are cheap, and some things aren't, just like at home. There will be some things or activities here that are so crazy expensive that you'll never buy or do them, for example playing golf is around $100/round and up.
The reason that it's so easy to save money here has less to do with the general cost of living, and more to do with the choices that most people tend to make here. Of course rent is free and utilities are low, so that helps greatly.
At home I would NEVER pull used furniture out of the recycling pile at an apartment building, I would buy new furniture from a store. At home I would NEVER drive the piece of crap car we've got here. At home I would buy more clothes and shoes (they don't sell my size here), go to more concerts, professional sports games, and other events. At home I would be spending a LOT more money on gifts for family and friends. At home I would play golf....and so on.
Most everything that you buy here you buy the cheapest version available because you are here temporarily. From your dishes and kitchen appliances to your home decor, you tend to buy crappier stuff here, which gives the illusion that it is cheaper.
If you like Korean food, then going out will seem cheap compared to home....if you only eat western or international food, then you will find that eating out is expensive. Same goes for alcohol, if you drink Korean alcohol then it will be relatively cheap (soju is dirt cheap but really is a horrible poison, and beer is relatively expensive at the shop, but relatively cheap at a bar), but if you want to go out and drink Jameson and cokes all night, then you'll be bankrupt before you know it.
All that being said....if you can't live comfortably off 1.2 million won then you're a complete and utter moron. Anyone who tells you that you need more than that is an idiot. 900,000/month is plenty for all of your basic needs and going out on the weekends where you live, and then if you stick 300,000 aside for travel you will be able to get all around Korea (Japan is a different world, though.) |
Thanks for the info. Ya even at home I don't like buying the more expensive stuff. I've had soju before; it's not the nicest thing I've ever drank! I believe that the local beer is reasonably priced but Heineken and Bud are quite expensive. I generally drink the cheapest piss water happily so once the Korean beer isn't complete crap I'll be drinking that!
It's great to hear that you would have to be completely squandering your cash to need more than 1.2M. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:40 am Post subject: |
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| Bud is actually quite cheap, as it's produced in country. A six pack is cheaper here than it is at home, as low as 1,000/bottle. |
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Illysook
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:55 am Post subject: |
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| 1.2 is a pretty comfortable life. I can spend that much in a month, but I don't do it every month. I don't drink a lot and I cook at home most of the time. In some places you can eat in restaurants pretty cheaply, but I stopped in a Korean place the other night and it was 6,000 won. I can make really good pasta to eat 3 or more nights for that much. School lunch is cheap or free for most of us, and breakfast cereal is also cheap. Make your own coffee with beans from Costco. I live this way during the week and if I want to party it up on the weekend, I can afford to do so...or I can buy extra shoes that I don't really need! |
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Globutron
Joined: 13 Feb 2010
Location: England/Anyang
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| Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 4:14 am Post subject: |
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| I spend less than 50k a week on food, I'm sure of it. I eat like a horse. Albeit not always frequently. Sometimes just once a day, but food is cheap - At least arah'nd my here parts. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:34 am Post subject: |
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| Illysook wrote: |
| 1.2 is a pretty comfortable life. I can spend that much in a month, but I don't do it every month. I don't drink a lot and I cook at home most of the time. In some places you can eat in restaurants pretty cheaply, but I stopped in a Korean place the other night and it was 6,000 won. I can make really good pasta to eat 3 or more nights for that much. School lunch is cheap or free for most of us, and breakfast cereal is also cheap. Make your own coffee with beans from Costco. I live this way during the week and if I want to party it up on the weekend, I can afford to do so...or I can buy extra shoes that I don't really need! |
I drink a ton and I still think 1.2 is reasonable. It's shopping sprees that will kill you. |
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Illysook
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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| I agree about shopping sprees, but unless you enjoy soju, drinking is expensive. It can also become a problem depending on how you use it and expat culture carries a higher risk of alcoholism, so don't let yourself become a statistic. |
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Slowmotion
Joined: 15 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2010 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Globutron wrote: |
| I spend less than 50k a week on food, I'm sure of it. I eat like a horse. Albeit not always frequently. Sometimes just once a day, but food is cheap - At least arah'nd my here parts. |
Perfect example of why people should take everything they read on dave's with a grain of salt. Unless of course he doesn't live in Seoul. |
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