How Much Is Enough?

[richard]

As a Floyd freak I guess that sums it up!!

Living in HH and how much will it cost???

As a well travelled expat their a number of factors to consider

Firstly - whatever you spend be prepared to write off and always, always plan an escape route

Secondly - get some good secure accomo - maybe 10000 if furnished and well located

Thirdly - shop around foodwise. Ideally split your diet between Thai and Ferang food. All in all it's a fairly low budget item you are looking at

Fourthly - Women!!!! Beware

Say, I could write a book about this

Seriously my advice would be go for number 2 first, number 3 second and see what's left to play with.

My rent is 10000 (2 aircon bedrooms in a quiet soi close to the beach, 2 kms from the centre)

My overheads, which include a landline, broadband, water and electricity are about 2000

My Thai wife who shops, cleans, clothes herself and provides the FUNDAMENTALS, I give 10000

Meals out I would put down to maybe 5000

So over the month without doing anything over the top costs me 27000

At the end of the day it depends on budget and your choosen lifestyle. If you want to travel, hit the the bars, trawl Bangkok it's going to go up

Welcome to the LOS

Oh, one other thing. One has to consider visa renewal implications and the associated costs. Depends once again on your age, type of visa and that can impact you

Best of luck

[richard]

Hi Getreal,

Hey man depends on what the guy wants!

As for felangs not being here!! Maybe we should all be on the 'dark side of the moon'

But cheers mate

[Pagey]

Khun Richard of Yorkshire (whereabouts?)

So going by your outgoings would you say I could live reasonably well on 50,000 Baht per month ?

I would also be renting a house with a maximum rent of 10,000 per month.

I need assurances before I take the plunge and at 45 its 20 years to live on my savings before my full pension kicks in although I may be able to take a reduced one early.

Probably no chance of any employment either.

What does a visa and associated costs add up to ?

[lomuamart]

Khun Richard of Yorkshire (whereabouts?)

So going by your outgoings would you say I could live reasonably well on 50,000 Baht per month ?

I would also be renting a house with a maximum rent of 10,000 per month.

I need assurances before I take the plunge and at 45 its 20 years to live on my savings before my full pension kicks in although I may be able to take a reduced one early.

Probably no chance of any employment either.

What does a visa and associated costs add up to ?

Assuming you're enquiring about visa costs only, I'll cover that.
Basically, it all depends on what visa you're eligible for. I see you are based in the ME. Depending on your nationality, your best bet to start with is to apply in your home country for a multi-entry Non O on the basis of visiting family and friends. If you find a friendly consulate (note not Embassy), it should be quite painless and will allow you to stay here for up to 15 mths (if you time things right) and exit the country every 90 days. This would be your best bet to start with.
Other long term visas/extensions include marriage/support Thai spouse or retirement. Extensions for a year to Non Imm visas for these reasons are easy to obtain, but unless you are actually married or over 50 for retirement, you won't qualify. You also need to show money, or income. It's when you're in Thailand looking for an extension that these regulations apply - unless you want to go back to your home country every 15 months and apply for another multi-entry. Incidentally, they are much easier to obtain in your home country than in neighbouring counties to Thailand.
Other than the above, there are investment visas (seriously expensive to qualify) and others, such as Non Imm "B" which is necessary, for instance, before a work permit is granted.
If you don't fit into the above categories, you're down to Tourist Visas or 30 day runs, after the initial 15 mths has elapsed.
As a general guide, I'd reckon on about 10-12,000 Baht to get to Penang and apply for a Tourist or Non Imm Visa (incl travel, accom and visa).
A 30 day run to Ranong will set you back about 1,300 and the hassle factor.
Hope that helps. It all depends on what visa you can apply for. I'm sure the current costs can be found on a Thai Embassy web site.

[Guess]

@ blue nose

As I told above! ...around 25k baht/ month...sometimes 26k or 27k...
Maybe I just had good arithmetic teachers???
For today I've to close, mate...it's weekend and I have to go out on the lash again!
Cheers

25,000 baht a month jeez, you will be existing thats all.

If you are coming to live like a backpacker and you are satisfied eating market food atc then listen to these fools.

Going on the lash on 27k a month, probably sits on the side of the road with his bowl of rice and and Chang beer he's bought from 7/11.

Do the mathe mate, decent accomadation will cost 10k a month unless you share in a Soi with Thais.

The majority of farrang should not be here, they usually end up doing something illegal to survive. How many have work permits?

Getreal. Well that’s what you should do (getreal I mean). If you are still reading this forum I would like to take the opportunity to point out a few of your many errors and warped extraterrestial views of life.

I live (with my wife) on less than 28,000 baht per month. It may coast you well over that amount to live. I have seen a trend though that the more stupid people become the more they spend.

Of all the comments on this thread from varying viewpoint for some reason this one stuck out as being the most unrealistic and completely miscalculated. You do the math (correct spelling). My cost for myself (impossible to split them up unfortunately but they are about the same anyway)

Rent 10,000
Utilities 1,000
Truck 8000,
Food 3000, (This is eating in and included other necessaries like cleaning materials and crockery, cutlery etc.)
Entertainment 2,000, (This includes eating out visiting bars and traveling).
Clothing 2,000.

Other bits and pieces seem some how to knock the monthly figure up a bit more.

I do not live the life of a backpacker as you have stated must be the case. Being a backpacker is not such a cheap life as some would make out anyway. Think of what their travel costs must be and how much their arrogant attitudes bump up there accommodation costs.

Also eating in the market is often shows wisdom. In the market or at small food stalls dotted around Thailand you can eat good, tasty, healthy, substantial food at around 20 - 30 baht per head. Then you could always go to a farang cafe and eat fried bacon, fried eggs, fried fatty sausages, toast with butter costing about 120 baht. Who is the fool? You can go out at night to a nice restaurant and have the odd glass of beer for no more than 300 baht per night. You could however visit many bars, take a girl home and wake up feeling like shit for 2500 baht and spend the next day alone. Who is the fool?

BTW, If you are reading this and now posing under yet another of your many pseudonyms I suggest you learn to write and to spell. The same spelling mistakes, your extremely poor writing of English along with foot in the mouth spontaneous comments without any thinking have been seen a number of times on this forum. I can not believe there are so many of you in on small town. It is obvious to me and many other more educated and intelligent people that you are the same person. I.e. a troll.

My advice to all the sensible posters on this site is to ignore post like this and maybe the trolls will get fed up and wander off down to Soi Binthabat and get pissed instead and wander back to their sad and lonely fools life with nothing but an abnormally high cost of existence.

[Pagey]

Lomumart

I am from the capital of England.....................Yorkshire.

Only working in Saudi to save the cash to retire early.

Not been back to the UK for nearly 4 years as have no ties there so will not go there for visas renewals. (I'm from Hull incidentally which I notice from other posts is the speediest place to get a visa).

I have capital in the bank offshore which I can move to LOS if necessary but no visible income apart from interest on my capital.

[russ]

me and my wife have lived in cha-am for 18 months and we get by on about 40.000 per month we play golf 3 or 4 times per week and eat out at thai food shops maybee 3 times per week and shop at local market which is a lot cheaper than the supermarkets

[packie]

hi all,
i am sitting in heat wave hit ireland and it makes me think of LOS.

I want to throw in my budget info, to see if it helps.

Please note i normally stay about 1 and half 2 months, getting longer each year.

I am a tight git, but spend foolishly when i am enjoying it.

Firstly, accomodation is available as described in other posts, 5k to 15k but really 10 plus at first until you find a bargain.
Ifyou are coming with cash in hand to spend a few years, buy a cheap house somewhere outside hua hin, we bouught two hours south in prachuap khiri khan for under 250 k baht a=nd spent 70 - 80 k redecorating, a site will cost from 120 k (small, thai area) , but you sound like you could afford something better, but rent a year first, then when you know the score buy or biuld.

I can live in hua hin for 1500 -2000 a day, this includes 500 -600 for accom (guesthouse by sea, but even good hotel room from 800 ish), breakfast 90 to 200 (three eggs and the works, english bar, cross roads, near sugar kane), swim, doss about, lunch 200, (sandwiches, goulash, burger or like) herself thai food 100 -200 evening buy dinner some bar 200 -800 inc my beer her mai tai for us both plus tip(tip well and then they do not need to cheat you)).
Sometimes spend more, e.g. deciding when drunk the band are really god and instructing her to tip them well , 1000 baht, ouch.

In prachuap, i pay no accomodation, but beer for 380 box(12 large chang local shop, cheaper in town and choice but i like to support the local woman in her wee shop,), two visits chese sandwiches with english tea (85 baht each time) in richard farang cafe (cafe luka?) there are twaofarang aimed places, the other is nice for chicken/ pork/ chips, 100 baht, fillet steak in the hadthong hotel is the dearest at about 180 baht.
Taxi saling 50 baht 2 koilometre, motorbike taxis around town 10-20-30 baht.

Overall in prachaup i budget for 1000 per day but find it diifficult to spend it especially if we didnt drink all yesterdays box of beer, if i am lazy to go town, or too hot , i just walk, cycle to 7/11 and eat sausages, bread and get coffee next door, sometimes if i go crazy and have her nephews with me i can spend 500.

Sometimes at the end of a week i realise i havent spent eneough, especially in prachuap, so i go back to hua hin and drink guinness in road hole or crawfords or ciider in irish mexican style place and go mad with tips, etc. can get through a few thousand but in general once you have a bed you can live as heaply as you may wish.

but do note that a wife/ girlfriend may have concerns about social status and expect a certain minium of spending.

wish i could afford to retire :-)
maybe if i stop spending....

[lomuamart]

Thought you said you were a tight git?

[JimmyGreaves]

me and my wife have lived in cha-am for 18 months and we get by on about 40.000 per month we play golf 3 or 4 times per week and eat out at thai food shops maybee 3 times per week and shop at local market which is a lot cheaper than the supermarkets

That sounds cheap with the golf. have you already paid for memberships (How much/where) or how much do you pay a round.

[Onlyme]

Unless you're a member of a golf club or society, you would have to be pretty wealthy to afford the prices in this neck of the woods. A round at any of the local courses will set you back in excess of 2,000 baht.
I shelled out for a membership and think that I've just about saved the cost of it in the last 18 months. I play golf for free but buy a caddy ticket for 200 baht and tip 200 baht, my annual green fee (at the moment) is 3000 baht.
Go a bit further afield and there are some reasonably priced courses in Ratchaburi ( no tourists) so no big rip-offs!
Onlyme.