{"id":7387,"date":"2019-05-30T10:17:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T10:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=7387"},"modified":"2019-07-02T19:47:04","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T19:47:04","slug":"money-diary-how-much-do-you-spend-in-a-week-living-in-thailand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/money-diary-how-much-do-you-spend-in-a-week-living-in-thailand\/","title":{"rendered":"Money Diary: How Much Do You Spend in a Week Living in Bangkok, Thailand?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Occupation: PYP Coordinator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industry: International Education <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Age: 50<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Location: Bangkok, Thailand<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salary: $64,000 USD (includes rental allowance and responsibility stipend)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paycheck Amount (Monthly): $3800 USD (I put 15% of my base pre-tax into a retirement fund)
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Monday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I catch the free minibus from the MRT stop near where I live and head to school. Lunch is free and delicious. After school I go to tutor, earning an extra $38 which goes in my jar for weekend trips.  I take a motorbike home for $1.50, buy some street food on the way home for $1:00 and go for a splash in the pool.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am running late so I catch a motorbike at $1:50, I take the bus home. For dinner I have Tom Kha Goong from our local cafe for $6.39. It is delicious. I go to 7-11 to pay my internet bill, $32.20 a month for unlimited phone data and unlimited streaming at home. I could cut that cost but I like this service. They are also very responsive and have English speaking operators.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I catch the bus to work, and tutor after work, another $38 to the extra trips fund.$1.50 again for the bike home.  Wednesday is a long day, I get home at 6, so I have a glass of wine. I am careful with wine here, the best deals I can get on drinkeable wine is $22.48 a bottle,  Dinner is from the local night market and costs $1.20
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bus to work again, after work I have coaching practice down town, so that is $5:30 for the bike to get there in time. I come back on public transport at about $1. The metro stops right at the end of my road so it is really convenient. Sometimes I eat downtown with friends on a Thursday, an Italian with a glass of wine is about $25.00 USD. I am going out tomorrow though so I don\u2019t stay this week. Tonight I decide to fast until lunctime tomorrow, I do intermittent fasting about once a week, it is healthy \ud83d\ude42
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bus to work so no cost there. At lunchtime I order 3 books from Book Depository, books are expensive in Thailand so this is the cheapest way of buying them – $20. I go for a massage after work with a friend who drives. My local place gives a 20 percent discount if you buy a card for 10,000 baht, thats $314 Sounds a lot? That makes my 90 minute Thai massage only $12 so it lasts for ages. It\u2019s an up front investment, I save $60 by paying up front. We have a light dinner in a local restaurant appx $6. Then I head off to wine tasting, this is one of the best deals in the city.  Every week a different region is featured, there are 6 to 7 wines on the list. Three hours of wine tasting with tapas for $31.40 is a bargain. Trouble is we tend to go out afterwards so I end up spending another $15-30. I tend to limit these nights to once a month.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am often out of town on a workshop or travelling for fun, so if I am home, I don\u2019t do much on Saturdays unless I have visitors. I swim, clean house (I could get a cleaner for $16 a week but currently I choose not to as my place is really easy to keep). I take a few pieces of ironing to the local laundry, that will cost about $5.  Lunch is salad made at home and some hot smoked salmon. A friend gets me this for $32 a kilo, It stays frozen in pieces until I want it. A coconut is $1.50. If there is an exhibition or other cultural event I might go there which ranges from free to about $30. I book a trip to Phuket, where I go about once a month, total cost of flight, beach accommodation, sailing and food is about $380. But I love it, that is why I tutor.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catch up work day, and grocery shopping. Because lunch is provided, and I travel 2 weekends out of four, I don\u2019t need a lot. My big monthly shop is about 100 USD, my weekly catch ups $ 20 – 40 depending on the week.  I have lunch at the local mall for $1.50, it is delicious freshly made Thai soup with steamed rice and an omlette. Totally delicious.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monthly Expenses<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

$940\/month rent (my allowance after tax is $630 and I could theoretically find a smaller less convenient place for that, but I love where I live so I bump it up)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$600\/month put away for holiday travel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$380\/month travel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$200\/month groceries <\/p>\n\n\n\n

$200\/month nice restaurants and socialising<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$50\/month local streetfood and markets<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$560\/month retirement fund (comes out of salary pre-tax)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$32\/month Internet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$27\/month electricity<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$6\/month building water<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$14\/month drinking water<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$40\/month public transport<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$10\/month ironing
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Savings potential on my (mid range for Bangkok) salary, and lifestyle is about $1300 a month, I also have my pension fund which my employer contributes an extra 5% to (appx $185 a month), so that is an additional $745 a month in a growth fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was submitted by an ISC member. Why not submit your Money Diary article for your area of the world and earn free premium membership to the ISC website? Contact us <\/em>here<\/em><\/a> if you are interested.\ufeff<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Occupation: PYP Coordinator Industry: International Education Age: 50 Location: Bangkok, Thailand Salary: $64,000 USD (includes rental allowance and responsibility stipend) Paycheck Amount (Monthly): $3800 USD (I put 15% of my base pre-tax into a retirement fund) Monday I catch the free minibus from the MRT stop near where I live and head to school. Lunch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2694],"tags":[370,1383,927,1312,599],"class_list":["post-7387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money-diaries","tag-bangkok","tag-life-living-abroad","tag-life-of-an-expat","tag-living-in-thailand","tag-thailand"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/LQv4ov_JKYegT51tfLm4vvrNBNMaxhc_ImbD1NGaH38dwI89-6gEq2Fz1RxYkZmKRNQT-uZR-UmAf0g0qNh_OZDQWsoc_aSP2QEWjLr4PKuFrjcjw4AMwmJl8fnhSt6_3BFyZPqn.jpg?fit=1024%2C659&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-1V9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":64,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/great-resource-isat-international-schools-association-of-thailand\/","url_meta":{"origin":7387,"position":0},"title":"Great resource: ISAT \u2013 International Schools Association of Thailand","author":"ISCommunity","date":"February 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"If you dream is to work at an international school in Thailand, the ISAT website can be a great resource for you. 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Many times\u00a0there is an American school, a British School, and an international school that uses an international curriculum. Some cities, though, have MANY international schools! \u00a0When that is the case, how do the comments about each school\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comparing the Schools and Comments"","block_context":{"text":"Comparing the Schools and Comments","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/comparing-the-schools-and-comments\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0193.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0193.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0193.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0193.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":131,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/video-highlight-st-stephens-international-school-bangkok-thailand\/","url_meta":{"origin":7387,"position":3},"title":"Video highlight: St. Stephen\u2019s International School (Bangkok, Thailand)","author":"ISCommunity","date":"January 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"St. Stephen\u2019s International School (Bangkok) How great to start off each day with the flag ceremony and the Thai National Anthem! 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