Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sheba]

tax, internet, electricity, gas, apt maintenance.....
What else? and how much should I expect to be paying?

(we arent paying pension)

Ive got my first bills arriving soon and was wondering how much I will have to fork out!

[Ya-ta Boy]

It's hard to say how much each of them costs, especially things like electricity because it depends on size of apartment and how many electrical gadgets you use. Air con?

But if you add everything together, plus food and entertainment expenses, it should be around W1 million. Any more than that and you should see if Life of the Rich and Famous wants to feature you in a future episode.

[Kimchieluver]

I live in the sticks but this is what I pay.

Tax: Ask your employer, roughly 3 -5 %, it should never exceed that.

Gas: in the summer somewhere between 6,000 to 10,000 won. Depends on shower time and how much you cook. In the winter 50,-100k won.

Electricity: My wife and I pay roughly 53,000 won all year round.

Cable: I get 90 channels and five English movie channels for 6,600 won.

Internet : 37,000 won.

Phone: 13,000 won base: Long distance can kill.

Hand phone: Only Korean calls made at anytime when you want and talk as long as you want. 60,000 won.

Apt. maintenance: I got suckered into paying that my first year, 30,000 won.

Try to get out of apt. maintainence, it really is not your responsibility.

Anyother deductions, like unemployment insurance are bogus, don't let them deduct that from your pay.

Medical: 35,000 or a wee bit more. Make sure you get it as soon as possible because if you don't and wait three months they charge you since you got your Arc card anyways. I paid three months for no coverage because my boss didn't take the time. I was stuck buying cold symptom relief when I had a sinus infection for a month and a half.

[pollyplummer]

I have a lot more expenses than I thought I would living here. I've been here three months and my apartment maintenance fee/electricity/water is all lumped together. I've never paid less than 82,000 won. I'm wondering if that's because one side of my apartment is all glass? I rarely run the air conditioning. The water part of the bill is suprisingly cheap. I think it's the electricity that does me in. How much you spend on food is something that nobody can calculate or estimate for you. Transportation can be another big one, depending on where you live and what you like to do on the weekends. I forgot to factor all of these things in when looking at the advertisements for jobs from my home in America. I was thinking that I'd be saving way more than if I were working at home. I am saving some, but it's not nearly as lucrative as it appears to be when you're job-hunting. That's what I've found anyway, and I'm not a huge spender. In fact, I'm a bit of a Scrooge!!

[The Chewbacca Defense]

In my old apartment I use to pay about 100,000 for all utilities.

In my new apartment I pay about 40,000.

I don't do anything different or have any less expenses.

I guess is it's just where you live!

[pollyplummer]

Wow, you guys are awake early this morning. I thought I was the only one who got up before 7 on a saturday

[The Chewbacca Defense]

Early Saturday mornings.......from the childhood routine to wake early to watch Saturday morning cartoons and eating bowls of sugar covered cereal!

[Hollywoodaction]

Kimchieluver sums it up pretty good. I pay a tad more because we have a fairly big apt., but that's roughly what you can expect to pay if your home is a 15 to 25 pyong apt. You might want to add a bit of money to that if there are connections fees.

[sheba]

Hmmm, thanks everyone.... looks like it might be quite costly!

I have a mobile (made several short calls home), internet, gas, electricity, health insurance, renting my computer, paying apartment maintenace (trying to get out of it), and 5% tax (no pension though).

Judging by everyones figures, I should be paying about 300,000 won per month!! I will have to clear a few figures with my director though - my mobile is provided by the school so maybe I only pay for calls? and if I can get out of apt maintenace...

will see

[winnie]

I am interested to know...how do you get out of apt. maintenance fees?

My apt landlord keeps harrassing me to pay up, but I don't feel like I should. They also have monthly meetings to talk about apt issues, but I am never invited b/c I cannot understand what is happening, and apparently, if I don't attend, they want an extra 5,000 won from me a month.

I am living in a teacher's residence, BTW, and I never see any maintenance of the building. If something breaks, and I am told to call a repair man and pay for that myself. So, how can I tell them I don't need to pay it?

[kprrok]

my bills for the month of May:

Electricity: 2.500 ��
Gas: 15.600 ��
Internet: 12.880 ��
Cell Phone: 32.480 ��

Total: 63.460 ��

Of course, I don't live in Seoul. So I may get better deals than anyone. Plus, I was out of town for part of the month so my phone didn't get used. For full usage, I never pay over 50.000 ��. But the other bills are normal for the month.

So if you are paying more than 100.000 �� for the month, you need to figure out what's going on. That being said, I do have a rather small 12 pyoung apartment, so my costs might be less than someone with a larger place.

KPRROK

[Gord]

[peppermint]

It's my understanding that the maintenance fees are for things like lightbulbs in the hallways, the security guard, if you have one, etc.

[JongnoGuru]

[Kimchieluver]

Good academy owner perspective. Where did it say in the contract "We will provide you an apartment rent free but you have to pay for the maintenance fees." I have yet to see one.