Moving to Pattaya

[Owen` 2]

Guys,

 

There just has to be a better way to do this. Here's a suggestion:

 

Forget Pattaya specifics. Add up the things you want to spend on that are not subject to variability depending on what lifestyle you want in Pattaya.

 

Start with healthcare expense. There are threads on this. BUPA is widely talked of. Pick a plan and that's your health care number.

 

Now increase that number by about 9%/yr. That's right, this exercise in "what does it cost to live in Pattaya" should be a 5 yr estimate, minimum. Not one or two months. If it were one or two months you would use the word "visit", not "live".

 

Next is transportation. I see debates here on the board. My read on this is that the question is not one of quality of lifestyle. Buying a motorbike or using biketaxis all the time may not be more extravagant than walking or bahtbus. The reason is it is so dangerous. The bahtbus is conceivably the pinnacle of transport lifestyle in Pattaya. I kind of suspect a typical day of getting about on the bahtbus will be well south of 100 baht. Ramp up a year's transport by 3% per year.

 

Next is food. People eat what they want. They don't eat what is luxurious. Luxury in food happens once in a while. Not every day. Make your guess on this but this total looks south of 300 baht to me. Ramp up a year's food by 3% per year.

 

Anyway, that's my suggestion. Do all your living expense estimates over 5 years and do housing last. I suspect you will find it is not the #1 expenditure in your budget in Pattaya -- at least not if you want to travel or chase women a great deal.

[Emil 0]

Owen,

 

For me I've found that I'm spending less now than when I first visited Pattaya 4 1/2 years ago. It's not that I've cut back on what I do, it's that I've discovered where the best values are located.

 

Also some things like how much shagging to budget for will likely decrease when your in your 60's compared to what you've been doing on a holiday when your 50.

 

Another item that you have entirely no control over is the exchange rate, about a year back I only got 37 to 1. Last week it was 41 to 1 or about a 10 % increase in my spending power.

 

The key to keeping your food cost low is to eat food that is grown or raised in LOS. Some examples eggs @ 2 baht each, bread @ 1 baht a slice, so 3 eggs and 2 pieces of toast will cost you 20 cents. The first time I went shopping at Carrefour I was pretty excited when I saw oranges @ 20 baht per unit thinking 50 cent for a pound, then I remembered a unit was a kilo so the oranges were less than a quarter a pound.

Edited December 22, 2005 by Emil

[Larryst 7]

It also depends on who is doing the shopping at the markets for food. It might be cheaper for a thai, than a farang.

[JohnnyK 28]

Judging from their postings, the successful, happy guys have also adapted well.

They aren't trying to live samesame as in the west.

They don't insist on falang food every day, compared to local food its expensive whether its from Tesco or in a resto.

If you have cold beer in the fridge from the mini-mart there's less need to drink 10-12 a day @60-80 each in bars.

 

If you're in the candy store you don't need or even want candy every day.

It will be there tomorrow. A live-in can be found or a telephone roster built up of good performers thus avoiding the cost of LDs and barfines just to have a quick one.

 

Forget Starbucks, buy a thermos and take a nice jug of hot or ice coffee on your walk or to the beach or pool. And why take transport along Beach Rd from soi 2 to Walking St? Unless you're in a hurry or its very late, enjoy the walk under the trees and get some exercise.

 

Yadayada, but small stuff adds up.

I know when I look at my wallet the end of the day I can account for most except about 250-300 that shrinks away on bahtbuses and such. Over a month that's

7-8000 baht for nothing I can remember.

[madwizard 0]

If you're in the candy store you don't need or even want candy every day.

It will be there tomorrow. A live-in can be found or a telephone roster built up of good performers thus avoiding the cost of LDs and barfines just to have a quick one.

Thats very true, I just built up a list, call them when I need them. I walk alot. If a bar or girl screws me over I don't go back, especially during low season. When I first moved here I lived off 100,000 baht a month, now its about 70000 a month, I save the rest. I live quite well.

 

 

cheers

madwizard

[Eneukman 1]

I've been here 6 months now and I reckon I'm spending around 80,000 baht per month - though this does not allow for holidays etc. Everyone's expenditure will be different but my essentials are -

 

Rent (a one-bedroom condo in View Talay 2) - 20,000

Water - 250 baht

Electricity - from about 850 baht to 1,200 baht plus depending on how much you use the aircon. I only have an aircon unit in the living room, which has hardly been on this month so this month's bill should be close to the lower figure. As my condo was originally 2 rooms, I get seperate bills for each room. The bedroom has a ceiling fan, which is generally on for 9 hours or so per day and even with this the bill for the bedroom is usually around 240 or so baht. There have been a few days recently when I haven't used the fan but the daily cost of using the fan is a bit under 8 baht per day.

 

Food - Most days I have a sandwich, a yoghurt and a packet of crisps for lunch (bought from Carrefour). Cost around 50 baht per day. Dinner - I eat out every night, mainly Thai food but with maybe 1 Western dinner perk. The Thai food costs from around 135 baht to 200 baht. A pizza from the Italian restaurant in the Jomtien complex costs around 260 baht. I always have a small bottle of singha with my dinner and that is included in my costings.

 

Transport - I only ever use the baht bus and my expenditure here can vary from nil to occasionally over 100 baht.

 

Laundry - I reckon my bill here for this month will be about 1,500 baht. A major cost is getting the bed linen washed which comes in at 130 baht a time.

 

On top of regular expenditure, it is important to allow for one off expenditure such as repairs to your PC, trips to other parts of Thailand etc. I was pleasantly surprised when I was charged a mere 835 baht for reformatting my hard drive, including backing up and restoring all my data, a job that took over a full day to complete.

 

Alan

[Bazle 1,485]

Laundry - I reckon my bill here for this month will be about 1,500 baht. A major cost is getting the bed linen washed which comes in at 130 baht a time.

I guess it would be rude to ask why the bed-linen gets so dirty

 

Seriously though, doesn't your condo have a washing machine? If not, is that usual?

 

I find your posts on moving to Patters very interesting. I get a vicarious pleasure reading them. If it were not for family circumstances, I think I would be doing exactly the same as you.

 

Merry Xmas.

 

Bazle

[Eneukman 1]

I guess it would be rude to ask why the bed-linen gets so dirty

 

Seriously though, doesn't your condo have a washing machine? If not, is that usual?

 

I find your posts on moving to Patters very interesting. I get a vicarious pleasure reading them. If it were not for family circumstances, I think I would be doing exactly the same as you.

 

Merry Xmas.

 

Bazle

Thanks for your comments.

 

Unfortunately, my condo didn't come equipped with a washing machine, which I think is normal. The balcony is quite small so drying clothes would also be a bit of a problem though I do hang towels over the balcony rail to dry though they have been known to blow off when it's a tad breezy.

 

My lease expires at the end of June so I may move to another condo, hopefully in the same area if not the same building.

 

Alan