Budgets

Hi All,.

Just wanted to get some feedback on a ballpark figure for living the village life. I support my wife and newborn comfortably on a monthly budget of 30,000 baht. Am I a 'cheap charlie' ?????

Two things:
firstly, 30k in a village should do the trick
secondly, you would be better off with a 100k budget or more and live where there is electric and a toilet.

OT........wisdom....

LOL......got a toilet, air con, internet, cable tv, heated shower...what else do u need......

firsttimebangkok wrote:LOL......got a toilet, air con, internet, cable tv, heated shower...what else do u need......

WFB's.


OT.......

WFB's ???

Def not a cheap charlie OP, especially in a village. What do you find to spend your 30K bht on apart from pampers, milk and the occasional bottle of Lao Kao, oh and of course something for the wife and breadsnapper

firsttimebangkok wrote:WFB's ???

well fit birds

OT..........

or stuck out in the sticks in a village....Well F***ing Bored

Well if i had a budget of one hundred thousand a month I'm sure I could have a few, as well as the wife.....We go into Udon once a week to get my city life fix.

firsttimebangkok wrote:Well if i had a budget of one hundred thousand a month I'm sure I could have a few, as well as the wife.....We go into Udon once a week to get my city life fix.

OT has often wanted to ask someone who I don't know, what do you do living out in the sticks all day ?
The people I do know who live in the rice fields always give me the same answer .."it's relaxing" "it suits me"or the most laughable answer is "I like it". There are many westerners that hook up with issan girlfrields/wifes and put up with all sorts of unpaid hardships to keep their teeluks pleased.
Even when I am a pensioner i doubt if I could handle village life for more than a day or two, money doesn't even come into it.

OT...........

Well I've been living the village life for just over one year now. What I am surprised at, is how fast the day can pass given there are no deadlines. My average day, before my son was born 4 months ago, was spent bike riding for a couple hours a day for exercise, chores around the house, surfing the net and chatting with friends from the homeland, watching some tv, reading and hanging with the wife. Now that I have a child obviously a lot of my time is consumed. I am not of retirement age and will be going back to work at some point. Do I miss work...YES.. I have had a taste of retirement life and the grass is not always greener. It can be boring at times, if I didn't have my internet connection we would have to move into the city, period. I would rather be working eight hours a day. I miss feeling productive.

So for me its not the living in the sticks, I just miss employment and the non financial rewards that come with it.

"The people I do know who live in the rice fields always give me the same answer .."it's relaxing" "it suits me"or the most laughable answer is "I like it"."

We live in the jungle.......not a rice field, mind you, but away from civilization. No offense to anyone who chooses to do so, but my wife and I usually laugh when we drive into town and pass the roof-to-roof subdivisions, wondering how people can live like that (actually, we know because we lived in the city for two years). In the 12 we've lived in the countryside, I'd doubt there have been a handful of times that I've thought to myself, "I'm bored." Quite the opposite. Have bike, have catfish pond, 3 dogs, trees, garden, peace and quiet, I can take outdoor showers if I so please (and I do), we have mongoose, squirrels, 20 or so variety of birds, lightning bugs, and a sky full of stars when the weather cooperates. We have a limitless supply of drinkable well water, UBC, ADSL, and TOT phone. Civilization is a mere 18km away.....and sometimes I think that's too near. We considered this lifestyle in the US, until we found out how much it would cost to drill a 200' well in Texas. If you're bored, tart studying Thai. If you don't fry your brain doing so, at least you won't be bored.
The beauty of living in Thailand is most falangs can live a wide variety of lifestyles (city, countryside, buy, rent, big, small, modern, or not) depending on the quantity/quality of Thoreau genes they may possess. If I encountered a falang living in the middle of a rice field in a tiny bamboo hut, using his aircard to keep in touch with the world, ubc dish to maintain his sanity, eating grubs with the neighbors.......if he was rich and could afford much more.......if he was happy, I'd have the deepest respect for him.

Totally agree Mr Parrot, I live pretty much the same as yourself, in the sticks 30k from the city on a decent size plot with all the electronic gadgets I need, Sat TV, ADSL etc and my fish pond, dogs, ducks, gardening, bike riding and recently started baking I don't think I've ever said "I'm bored".
Been out here in the village for 7 years, spent 3 in the city in a 65TW plot and I know where I feel better off.
To answer the OP 30K is enough to live as I mention above.

30k a month... What about your kid's education in the future?

Planning on having my child educated in the home country. I just choose to put myself on a disciplined budget, could spend more, but I am old school, never want to spend more than I make.