Living and working abroad can be a thrilling adventure, but managing your budget effectively is crucial to ensure a smooth experience. In this first instalment of our eight-part blog series on budgeting when teaching English abroad, we’ll focus on Thailand. Xplore, your expert guide for living and working abroad across Asia, provides insights into creating a budget for a middle-of-the-road lifestyle in Thailand.

1. Visa: Most countries you can enter on a tourist visa exemption for free. This is good for 30 days and then you can extend it for an additional 30 days at a cost of 1,900 Baht.

==> Visa Cost: 0

2. Hotel in Bangkok: When you first arrive, most people come to Bangkok and then they may spend a few days there first thinking about where they want to live and teach. The amount below is for a decent hotel room, not a hostel. Hostels rooms can be half or even a third of that price. You can reduce or remove this price is you arrive and go directly to a long-term rental.

==> Bangkok Hotel Cost: 1,000 THB per night x 4 nights

3. Monthly Rate Apartment + Deposit: When you know where you want to live or where you will be teaching or working, you can then look at securing a monthly rate apartment. Prices vary depending on where you live and what amenities you want. Please note that the vast majority of apartments or homes are already furnished. Try to find an accommodation that has wifi already installed as it does not make sense to install it yourself.

==> Apartment Rental Cost: 3,000 THB (traditional, older or basic) per month and 12,000 THB per month (Modern, Pool and Gym)

Note that there is also a deposit required for most places that is equal to one month’s deposit. 

==> Deposit Cost: 3,000 – 12,000 THB

4. Electricity Cost: Electricity charges vary from apartment to apartment. They can run anywhere from 5 baht to 10 Baht per unit. If you use a moderate amount electricity, you can expect to spend 1,000 – 3,000 Baht per month. Definitely remember to turn off your air conditioning when you leave the accommodation. 

==> Electricity Costs: 1,000 to 3,000 THB per month

5. Mobile Phone

If you’re going to be living in Thailand, get a local SIM card. It’s much cheaper than roaming over a long period of time.

6. Bank Account Set Up: One of the things you should do if you are moving to Thailand is open a local bank account. You pay generally around 1,000 baht to open an account but 500 is for the administrative cost and debit card, and the other 500 baht is actually deposited in your account and can be withdrawn.

==> Bank Account Cost:

500 THB deposit, 500 Baht admin)

7. Start-up Items (toiletries, towel, fan, phone): When you move into your own place, it is possible though unlikely they will have all of the essentials. Towel, toilet paper, drinking water, and possibly a fan are essential.

==> Towel, water and fan Costs: 400 – 1,200 THB.

8. Transportation Costs: People can get a scooter for about 3,500 baht per month. Renting a car is at least 15,000 baht per month for a compact or older vehicle. If you live in a large town or city, you may opt for public transport. Bangkok has a wonderful train network and most medium to large towns have local transport consisting of either scooter taxis, tuktuks or songtaews (local two row trucks that run routes the same as buses). Our budget is based on a middle of the road expense and most teachers rent scooters so we put as a budget 4,000 baht.

==> Transport Costs: 4,000 THB

9. Daily Expenses (Food, laundry): A local meal in Thailand is about 50 – 100 Baht per dish. There are many restaurants that sell western style food, but it is substantially more expensive. Western meals like hamburgers, pizza, etc. range from 200 – 400 Baht and up for a single meal.  There are coin laundry machines (50 Baht per load) and full-service laundry shops (10 Baht per item of clothing) in Thailand. Public transportation on routes in Hua Hin cost 20 Baht per trip. If you are looking to go somewhere specific, or are in a hurry, you can rent a taxi, tuk tuk, or motor taxi. They are very easy to find and will charge you based on the distance you are going to costing around 200 – 500 Baht depending on the distance.

• Local meal: 50 – 100 THB

• Coin laundry: 50 THB per load

• Full-service laundry: 10 THB per item

• Cleaning supplies for accommodation: 200 THB per month

10. Optional Expenses (Nightlife, weekend trips, shopping)

There are many optional expenses that you may incur and that is where things start to vary quite a bit based on someone’s lifestyle. Be mindful of costs when going out. It is easy to kill your budget if you go out too often. There are low-key ways to conserve your budget. See our upcoming blog post on Thailand nightlife money-saving tips.