How much do we spend in Bangkok - average budget for a family

By tradition, I will write our monthly expenses in the next city, this time, this is Bangkok. We haven't lived here before. Despite the fact that this is the capital, you can live here on a more budgetary basis than in resorts, just as usual, everything depends on the preferences of a particular person. In this winter, we do not live on a budget at all, so this mini-financial report should not be considered as a living wage for Bangkok, it is rather an average standard of living.

To make it more objective and understandable, let's set «initial conditions». We rented a two-bedroom apartment in the city center (Apartment 1, apartment 2), moved around the city mainly only by taxi, ate at home and in nearby cafes, not spending much time looking for cheap ones. It is also worth considering that my mother came to us, and there are already three of us adults.

The content of the article

Our spending in Bangkok

We lived in Bangkok for 3 months, so we went through a period of arrangement (which is different for everyone in price), and therefore there will be some average costs already without taking into account the first purchases such as a multicooker, all sorts of basins, pots and other.

For example, how much did we spend for two in Chiang Mai and in Phuket, and for three with a child on Koh Samui.

Lodging

  • Two-bedroom apartment (essentially a three-room apartment) 22,000-25,000 baht.
  • Electricity: 2000-2500 baht, air conditioning worked 12-14 hours a day, plus an electric stove.
  • Water: 250-300 baht.
  • Internet: 700 baht.
  • Purchase of household goods: 1000-2000 baht. Basically, large spending only at the beginning, then on little things at all.
Receipts for payment of electricity, water and internet

Receipts for payment of electricity, water and internet

Food

For food, we spent somewhere between 19,000-23,000 baht, that is, less than it was on Koh Samui, although one adult was added. The reason is that they began to cook more at home, or rather, my grandmother began to cook for us. For this amount, about the following alignment (here it is too long to write for each month):

  • Supermarkets: 9000-13000 baht.
  • 7/11: 500-2500 baht.
  • Thai cafes and street food: 4000-5000 baht.
  • Freshly squeezed juice to Egor: 500-1500 baht. Egor the only thing that he drank with pleasure was pomegranate juice, in the BKK he is on the street 40-50 baht bottle. If a bottle is a day, then that's 1500 baht.
  • Water: 200-1000 baht. At one time we bought water, then we switched to water pumps.
  • Market: 1500-3500 baht.

Movements

  • Taxi and metro: 3000 baht. Basically, this is a taxi, because it is fast, convenient and cheap. We had at least 4 trips a week.

Internet and communication

  • 3G internet: 700 baht.
  • Mobile connection: 500 baht.

Other

  • Baby: 1000-4000 baht (diapers, toys, clothes). The bulk went to toys and clothes in the first month.
  • Daria's clothes: 1500-3000 baht. As much as it is difficult for me to understand, but we have this constant item of expenses.
  • Massage: 800-1000 baht (4 sessions 200-250 baht each).

Total

As a result, it turns out about 53,000-65,000 baht per month. This is slightly smaller than on Koh Samui due to the fact that we did not rent a car in Bangkok, although our apartment was more expensive.

Of course, we have other expenses, for example, on Yegor's classes, but it makes no sense to write them into such a budget at all. Even this simplistic layout is very subjective..

How much money do you need in Bangkok and how to reduce spending

To make the post more useful, I will add my own considerations for those who want to save money. In my opinion, to live in Bangkok, you need about 20-25 thousand baht minimum, well, and the upper threshold is infinity 🙂

I already wrote, how to rent an apartment in Bangkok, where he gave examples of different housing at different prices. So if you do not need the city center (although you can live here for 5-10 thousand baht), and also do not need a large area and several rooms, then you can easily keep within 5-15 thousand baht. And on the outskirts for 15 thousand there will be a fairly large apartment. If suddenly you need to find a hotel in Bangkok, search and choose conveniently on RoomGuru, it is a service where you can compare hotel prices in different booking systems. I have stayed in Bangkok many times and in different hotels. I will not provide links to all my reviews, I will give only a few. Nasa vegas - convenient for stopping near the airport and metro, Rajata - good place to spend the night near Khaosan, S3 Residense located in the center next to the park.

With food, everything is the same as in the rest of Thailand. If you mainly shop at markets and supermarkets, and cook at home, then a family of three will be able to eat for 10-20 thousand a month. Naturally, we are not talking about buying expensive European products. Or, alternatively, you will need to look for cheap cafes with a price per serving no more than 50 baht, or even less. It is worth considering that there are few markets in the center, and cafes are often expensive, while cheap ones should be looked at in small alleys, and not on the main street..

You can move around Bangkok by metro / buses, or you can take a taxi (taxi in Bangkok). Moreover, if there are two or three of you, then it is already cheaper by taxi, but only by the meter. For this I love Bangkok, here you can not have your own car, nor a rented one, public transport is very developed (buses generally cost a penny). Well, and if you have time, you can walk a lot.

Probably the most embarrassing moment is Visaran to Cambodia, because it takes a whole day. But this procedure is unpleasant and long in almost all cities, because you will not live right next to the border. That is, it is possible, but it suits everyone. In Bangkok, there are several companies that carry to the visa to the border and back, it costs 2000 baht per person. Depending on the scheme chosen (stamp every month or life on tourist visas), there will be different costs.

P.S. The main thing seems to be told, the rest is all individually.