Cost of Living Information - Udon Thani

jackspratt wrote:The thing to bear in mind is that generally, in the mind of a Thai wife/GF, the spending will always expand to the size of the budget.

Fully agree, that's why it is often a bit useless to worry yourselves too much about cost of living here, most important is to check what budget you can afford and then live by that budget. If you give you're wife 8000/day she will spend it, if you give her 100 000 / day she will also spend it, I've never tried how far you can go up but Thai are amazing in finding ways to spend money .

I'm living here now for almost 5 years with wife and two kids (8 years and 1.5 years) and a dog, car, motorcycle, and house+airco and we find we can live very comfortable with 30 000 bht per month budget but once in a while when time's are hard we can also easily go down to half that amount and still survive without too much hardship. However 'saving money' is wasted on Thai, if you set a budget, that's what is being spend, my wife has her own bankaccount on her name for 'daily living expenses' with a fixed budget per month and all other accounts are on my name only, not becourse I don't trust her but simply becourse we found out over the years that this works out best and we are both happy with it. As long as she stays within the budget I'm not asking were the money goes, if she thinks she needs extra money she has to show the books and each and every bill, that's a clear and easy rule and it works perfect.

From the latest posts, prices must have gone up a lot this year! Last november, lived quite happily on 1,000 baht a day, single status (most of the time). In just under 5 weeks, spent under 10,000 baht on accomodation (cost for 2 would be the same), 5,000 baht for in-thailand travel (lots of trains; petrol for TGF and tuk-tuks), food 7000 baht (mainly eating out, some meals for 2), drinks about 4,000 baht and probably less than 4,000 baht on entertainment and incidentials(days out, tips, fishing and presents for family back home). Does not include cost of gifts brought with me on the holiday and emergency money (due to PAD Airport closures, inevitable TGF gifts, but still only a few thousand extra).

The travel costs were a bit high due to 2 round trips Bangkok-Udon and more tuk-tuks than normal. Food costs could be cut by 2,000 if needed and drinks also, as drink little most days. Accomodation savings also possible. Gifts depend on needs; could have said no, but requests were reasonable (if your wondering, not a per night fee, just a few shopping trips, no strings attached either side).

Could i have had more fun? Yes, but even if i was not on a budget, spending more than 3,000 a day would be totally unnecessary.

Still hope to make the next trip on the same 1,000 a day budget.....

TW, new baby and me are coming over in August.

I have told TW that she will be getting 1000 Baht/day. I will have 500 Baht a day.

She asked what if she need more than 1000 baht on a particular day?

I told her she does not have to spend the 1000Baht/Day all in 1 day. If she only spends 200 baht the day before she would have 1800Baht the next day. I know this is a lot, specially when I get 500Baht too. But we are on holiday and it is only for 5 weeks. And she is paying for the baby stuff. And I want to play some golf while I am this time.

That reminds me who are the golfers on the forum and is there any chance of catching up for a game????
(Maybe I will start a new thread on for this, closer to auguast)

8000 a day, wow! to spend that much a day we'd have to get up much earlier -- ain't happening. We struggle to spend 1500 a day;o)

Looks like I am going about it the wrong way of trying to find my livable budget in Udon. The wife knows the amount which I put away each month into different accounts for each stay. None of them are in my name I use her accounts and the kids. I guess that is mistake number 1 and 2. Now just have to find someway around this without telling the wife a Thai story.

I still have about another 10 years before we move full time to Udon should have my sh*t sorted out by then. It will still be baby steps maybe 3 Months each time then 6 Months, 9 Months I should be dead by then, or can I book a Liver in advance.

The only other place I have tried to live in Thailand was Phuket nice place visit could not live there 6 months was enough.

Looks like my budget of 15000 is going right out the window for the month

MONTHLY EXPENSES....(2 adults)....AUGUST 2009

FOOD
dining out...........................8614 (see below for unusual alcohol expenses)
groceries............................5976
TTL FOOD/ALCOHOL.............14590

household..........................2613
petrol....c/all mb/0.............2155

electric.............................1853
water.very sad......................416
hotel (ny b/g grand opening)......350
legal/no seat belt...................200
internet and phone.................378
telephone, long distance card....100
dvd rental.............................30

CONSTANTS
rent.................................4000
vehicle insurance.................1666
medical............................1666
TTL MONTHLY EXPENSES.......30433

unusual monthly expense/dining out, my usual 2 nights of - three large leos was surpassed,
652, 3 visits, one usual/380, one all dayer/540, one celebratory 1500/picked up all tabs at end
of night, 1300 for tabs, shy of 200 for tips. an excellent stock day.

had a medical procedure done, falls under yearly check up, 2700 for barium, but included in
monthly medical, as i usually don't break 20 K for the year for both of us on yearly check ups.
so i average that, along with my vehicle insurance, which is under 20 k a year.

water bill, an extra this month, since someone left the water tank overflow all night, so broke 30 k liter a month, by a mere 1 k liters. wish the neighbor would of shut it off just a bit earlier. usual bill is between 200-300 baht which means......free, anything under 30 k liters, oops.

dining/drinking out, 31 occasions, besides 652, most expensive food meal Irish Clock, 500, hmm, must of had a pint or two. probably 20 lunches, the rest diner, most NM or street vendor/market take away.

doesn't not include Ree's pocket money, as surely a variable for most, from -0- to those ridiculous figures/quite non believable from the other thread. household is anything non food, usually soaps, paper products, toiletries, though seem well stocked up for a while.

Thank you very much for the update!!

macduff wrote:I would love to move to Thailand with my thai wife and baby and live a peacfull village life,but i don't want to severe ties in the UK,yet i need to finance my stay in Thailand which means selling my assets in UK.Can any ex pat members point me in the right direction through your own experiance's and give me a straight answer into why i should or should'nt make the move.I'm 45 years old married and have an 18 month old son.

For your son you have also got to think about his education.

part timer. if i was u i would do what i have done. give ur kid a decent education. stick it out till u get ur pension. yes its sounds like a long time. i have never regretted it. i think i would if i had retired early. malc

For tertiary education our son is at University in Bangkok. The fees are 23,000 per semestre (x3), his accommodation, food, travel, books etc are running at about 15,000 per month.

Which University,is he boarding there and are reasonably satisfied with the school?

Ok, budget for Sept 2009

Dining out………..3785
Groceries…………3517
TTL…………..……7302

Petrol…………….....2435
Household………...…632
Phone/internet…...688
Video rental………...120

Tea money………..…100
LA treat…………...…..89
Car maintenance….1357
Car reg/tax…..……1768

Accommodation…..1600
Clothing….……...….1750

Constants
rent.................................4000
vehicle insurance.................1666
medical............................1666

Total monthly expenses 25173, inexpensive month, with couple extras.

No sure why food is half the usual, again, trying to use up all in house stock, though not really much, had a sore throat most of month, some loss appetite, but nothing major. Treated myself to a new pair of oaklieys 89 baht

Extras for the month were accommodations and clothes, inexpensive. Had some pharmacy purchased, buy unless a major medical expense, include in constants.

Dining out/beers, only 18 outings, mostly lunches, 4 w/beers.

out and about this month, so not sure if i'll keep track or not.

Mmmm DVD/video rental up on previous month(August) LA..........more time spent at home maybe.........or just fed up of Thai Soaps in September.......

saved yourself 5000....so you can have a few blow-outs this month to make it up....!!!

we watch no tv, don't even have an antenna or cable plugged in. dvd's, have too many, though check for current stuff at shop, and bunch of movies on the computer, haven't even watched yet. not the best luck buying here, i wait till i get to BKK, consistently better, plus get lucky and get music dvds once in a while.