This video is just a brief summary to give you an idea as to how much living in Thailand costs. Specifically, how much I am spending.
I am using myself as an example because anything else would be very general, and perhaps not helpful.
When it comes to myself, I can at least give you all the specifics not only regards to the spending but also the lifestyle.
I’ll be talking about these categories of spending:
Accomondation, Food, Going out, Gym, Health Insurance, Various
Alright, let’s get started.
1. ACCOMONDATION ($333 USD)
Currently, I am spending around 12,000 Thai Baht for my accomondation per month. I say “around” because the water & electrity costs always fluctuate a bit. This allows me to stay in a nice one room apartment 2 stops from Asok – everything close-by: BTS, Villa Market, 7-Eleven.
Most importantly, it’s very quiet, no noise disturbance from the outside, or from neighbours.
If you wish to stay even closer to Asok, you can rent a room at one of those fancy high-rise buildings for around $500-800 USD per month. Obviously, if you rent long-term (6 months, or 1 year), those rates will go down significantly.
2. FOOD (~ $200 USD)
Food costs are tricky to estimate because I have never actually tracked how much I spend per day, but my guess would be around 250 Baht (or $7 USD) per day.
Most of you visiting Thailand will probably eat out a lot and spend significantly more than that on food per day. Although, if you eat at food courts, you can get by on less than 200 Baht as most meals are 50-70 Thai Baht.
What do I get for the 250 Baht I spend on food per day? Well, I am a bit hesitant to say because I’m sure I’ll get bashed in the comment section …
These days, I’m trying to get in better shape, so I am tracking calories and eat the majority of my meals from 7-Eleven. This means protein shakes, chicken & rice meals, bananas after working out, etc.
The issue with food courts for me is that I can’t track calories and most meals are low-protein.
3. GOING OUT ($80 USD)
Again, almost impossible to track. I tend to go out 1-2 times per week, usually not to venues that have cover fee. So, entrance is free – and I tend not to drink out much. Usually I get my vodka mixer at home and then get another 1-2 drinks while I am out.
Add to that the taxi costs because when I go out after midnight, public transportation doesn’t operate anymore.
Say, a typical night out (not at a paid venues, i.e. gogo bar) would be 2 drinks totalling 200 Baht ($6 USD) + 150 Baht taxi ($4 USD). Doing that twice per week would amount to roughly 2800 Thai Baht ($80 USD) per month.
4. GYM ($45 USD)
The gym membership is 1600 Thai Baht ($45 USD) per month. 24 hour access at any of the branches in Bangkok. I do mostly weights and a few sessions of cardio per week.
The gym is a first-world gym, not one of those small ghetto gyms. So, it has all the equipment I need.
5. HEALTH INSURANCE
Health insurance is around $40 USD per month. I use SafetyWing. Not required but kinda silly not to get one given how inexpensive it is.
6. VARIOUS (~$28)
Various other costs such as taking the BTS, random trips somewhere, ATM withdrawal fees, massages, etc. probably less than 1,000 Thai Baht ($28 USD) per month.
These days, I don’t withdraw much from the ATM as I use Google pay for most in-store purchases such as 7-Eleven. For water drinking, I use the water filter machine that my apartment has.
This is MUCH cheaper than buying bottled water at the store. One 1.5 liter bottle of water would be 15 Baht at the store, while using the water filter machine is only 1 Baht. Given that I drink 3-4 liters per day, the savings are quite substantial.
Some other minor costs in the range of $40 per month would be for health supplements, i.e. magnesium, zinc, B12 and folate, etc.
Lastly, keep in mind that this cost of living video doesn’t include other costs such as the visa, flights, etc. – just the basics.
Hope you found this video somewhat helpful. If you haven’t already, check out the bonus videos and regular updates I offer at KINGEPIC.COM/INSIDER – I send out updates for Thailand and new videos regularly. Completely for free.