Monthly BKK budget....

[MikeJaah]

I am planning to relocate to Thailand (BKK) sometime during the next 6 months. I am looking to hit a reasonable standard of living, and have drawn up the following budget. I know that everytime I have drawn up a financial budget for myself in the past, I have under-estimated...so I welcome any critical comments. I will be arriving single (my current J-girl is cute but I ain't the settling down type. She has to go back to Tokyo). I want to struggle to remain single (!). Well, at least for a while...

 

 

 

OK, here we go, all prices in BHT per month!

 

 

 

 

 

Apartment: 20-30k (somewhere near a BTS stop, 2 beds, balcony)

 

 

 

Internet 2,000 (I need ADSL)

 

 

 

Food 12k (sometimes western restaurant, sometimes Issan food stall)

 

 

 

"Entertainment" 15k (one or two big nights out a week, odd BF or MP here and there)

 

 

 

Health Insurance 2-5,000

 

 

 

Utilities (elec, water) 2,000

 

 

 

Travel in BKK 3,000 (Skytrain/taxis)

 

 

 

Spending money 13,000

 

 

 

"Stuff that needs buying" 6,000

 

 

 

Thai lessons 3,000 (to me, it's a MUST that I learn the language as quickly and well as possible)

 

 

 

Gym 2,500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What did I miss?? Thanks guys!

 

 

[Guest lazyphil]

Sounds very comfortable indeed, are you taking it by any chance?

[spirit_of_town_hall]

That seems a comfortable budget, anything less than 70 000 baht a month a thiok would be a struggle, IF you are a big drinker and like to go out as I do.

 

 

 

Everything in LOS is cheap apart from beer, if you go out ever day its very easy to spend 1000 baht per night on beer alone.

 

 

 

STH

[Guest]

You're in the 80K - 95K range which should be nice for you. But if you run the air conditioner at all, particularly in a 2BR apartment, you'll quickly be at or above 5K baht for electricity. Water is trivially cheap. And you didn't budget for cable TV.

[Guest]

Don't forget the expenses involved in keeping your immigration status legal. I.e., visa runs or (if working) visa fees, work permit fees, etc.

 

 

 

Also, don't forget telephone expenses, especially if you plan to keep in telephone contact with loved ones back home.

 

 

 

 

[Tiger Moth]

There was a similar post that I participated in some time ago. After considering what everyone had to say, I created a planning budget for myself (hoping to move to LOS next year). My results were similar to yours. However, depending upon the final use of the baht you have allocated to Entertainment (which could be low) and Spending (not specifically allocated) you might be off a bit. That is, your Ent. is only 15,000 and includes the odd bf or mp. But, if your odd bf or mp comes out to one per week and runs 2500 baht, you have already used 10,000 of your 15,000. Thus you would only have 5,000 left for the entire month for other entertainment, unless you dipped into Spending.

[frogpatrol]

Although you can find foreigners here on virtually every budget, it sounds like you won't be going much below 70-80,000 per month, which is where many "mid level earning" foreigners are here.

 

 

 

If you can pull in around 120,000 and spend 80,000, then that gives you almost 500,000 per year in savings, which is okay for many people.

 

 

 

You will live just fine here on 70-80,000.

 

 

 

froggo

[spirit_of_town_hall]

Whats the lowest budget you have ever encountered a farang getting by on?

 

 

 

STH

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

 

 

During my first stay in BKK I survived (would not want to call it live) on 15K a month.

 

 

 

Sanuk!

 

 

[spirit_of_town_hall]

That is low, although saying that if you didnt drink or sanuk, you wouldnt exactly go without anything. For more than a few months though one could become dispondent.

 

 

 

STH