Approximate cost of living...

chimes wrote:

... I'm thinking of moving to Bangkok in the future, and have no idea how much money I would need.
Please tell me how much it would cost to-

1. Rent a good quality apartment (2 beds/ 1 bed and office)
It will depend on location. If close to skytrain or subway it will cost more.  I would say 24k baht per month and up.  If you move away from rapid mass transit price will be lower but your transportation cost will be higher.

2. Pay for services / utilities there
Electric will be major cost and it will depend on how much you run air con. I have a 40 sq. meter studio and worse case for me is 2k baht per month. Water should be at most a few hundred baht a month.

3. Buy decent gym/spa membership
Depending on what your looking for many apartment buildings have fitness rooms.  If fitness center it will depend on branch and company but I think you will be looking at 1k to 1.5k baht a month if signed up for year.

4. Get my monthly groceries
Difficult to answer because everyone eats different.

5. Have a reasonable social life - eat out a few times a week?
Another difficult question to answer not knowing your lifestyle.

6. Operate my iphone and/ or Blackberry
Google search for AIS Thailand to get idea for cost.

7. Have internet acces
It will depend on speed but will be able to get something for under 1k baht a month.  Careful when renting apartment because some have LAN and slow service and  will not allow you to get private ADSL installed.

8. Any other things I've forgotten!
Don't forget health insurance, currency exchange rate fluctuations and inflation.

Thanks!

Ok, how does this sound?

All per month.

1. Rent a good quality apartment (2 beds/ 1 bed and office) 40k
2. Pay for services / utilities there              1.5k
3. Buy decent gym/spa membership           1.5k
4. Get my monthly groceries                         1.5k
5. Have a reasonable social life - eat out a few times a week? 1.5k
6. Operate my iphone and/ or Blackberry 1k
7. Have internet access 1k
8. Any other things I've forgotten! 2k

Total - 50k

chimes wrote:

Ok, how does this sound?

All per month.

1. Rent a good quality apartment (2 beds/ 1 bed and office) 40k
Not a problem but cheaper can be found. If you want example Google search for: baan saran nuch

2. Pay for services / utilities there              1.5k
If you use air con very little maybe

3. Buy decent gym/spa membership           1.5k
Should be possible

4. Get my monthly groceries                         1.5k
I know local fresh markets are cheap but this might be low depending what you buy. 

5. Have a reasonable social life - eat out a few times a week? 1.5k
Not this cheap unless you eat Thai food only.

6. Operate my iphone and/ or Blackberry 1k
Probably okay

7. Have internet access 1k
okay

8. Any other things I've forgotten! 2k
Not sure if 2k will cover all and I forgot to mention transportation cost unless you plan on walking everywhere

Total - 50k

I agree on most of the stuff that straydog says however;

chimes wrote:

... I'm thinking of moving to Bangkok in the future, and have no idea how much money I would need.
Please tell me how much it would cost to-

1. Rent a good quality apartment (2 beds/ 1 bed and office)

Normally all condos in Bangkok are quite new, some even furnished quite nicely. have a look at: www.mrroomfinder.com/
Here is where I found my current condo ( 47 sqm) New and fully furnished. Very near to the BTS.

Price depends of the area that you would like to live in. But id say in between 25k and 30k

2. Pay for services / utilities there

As straydog said, electricity will be your most costly bill. It all depends not also in your air-con but the electric fires and microwave. Thats were the trick is.
If you cook at home, your bill will fly high. If for example you eat thai food on the little street "restaurants" ( if you even can call them that) Bill will go to around 700-800 thb.

Water will not be really an expense that you need to be too concerned about, just a few hundred bath a month. 

All the bills can be paid in any 7/11 at any time of the day.

3. Buy decent gym/spa membership

Normally the condo apartments will have a pool and a gym available for all residents, but if you are keen on a more diverse gym. Check out "California wow"

4. Get my monthly groceries

Here you have three options: You can go to a normal Tescos/carrefour were you can find mostly products from the land and not so many imported.

Tops market, were its more imported stuff than anything else ( also quite expensive)

Or just buy groceries from a Thai market, which is very cheap stuff there.

5. Have a reasonable social life - eat out a few times a week?

Eat out you can do that almost 24/7. If you refer to go out to party and get smashed ( like i do) it depends on how much you really drink and what kind of "entertainment" you are looking for.

You can go out with 2k and have quite a fun night ( if you dont invite anyone) But its all at your "kind of entertainment" liking.

6. Operate my iphone and/ or Blackberry

There is no problems with that, you will see most of the people here with their BB's and iphones completely hooked to them. However i got no idea of the cost of that. Hate texting.

7. Have internet acces

Youve got two mayor companies here for that:

TOT/3BB or True Move. Both are around the 700 thai bath  per month for connections of 4mbps. They have plans up till 20mbps.

8. Any other things I've forgotten!

Transport: Youve got BTS, (aka: skytrain) MRT (aka= underground) Taxis, moto taxis, buses, taxi boats and tuktuks

BTS & MRT are the most comfortable ( except in rush hour) modes of transport. Depending were you wanna go, it will never pass of the 40 thai baht.

Taxis are the second most expensive transport ( if not the first if you dont get fooled with tuk tuk drivers) Taxis are a commodity but if you take a taxi in rush hour you might die of boredom stuck in traffic for hours. Anywho, it starts at 35thb to round 100thb for middle distances.

With moto taxis you can negotiate a price, they are little ninjas around the city and will get you faster to places even with traffic jams on. However if you are tall, keep your nee's as near as posible to the bike or youll take some mirrors off the cars and smash terribly your nee ( it happened to me)
And please, always ask for a helmet, not because you might get your head run over, but because policeman will try and pin you down for it, and make you pay on the spot a few thousand bath.
Anywho, motos are cheaper than taxis and faster round the city.

Buses, Well i havent taken many but i know some are free and some are around 5 bath for a non aircon bus and 10 for an aircon bus. There are quite fun though.

Taxi boats are very nice, much faster than anything else hence no traffic. But if you dont jump out quick enough or jump in, you might get soaked with repulsive water. The only downside is the smell. ( note: if you fall in the water they will take you immediately to a hospital cos you might get all known diseases know to man in a couple of splashes..)

TukTuks, quite fun little vehicles, very nice and not very expensive for the short distances if there isnt a bike around. But dont get fooled, they normally will ask for astronomical prices if you arent careful.

And well, cant think of anything else now. Hope it helps, patriota, que veo que estas en Barcelona.

LuisF

Thanks!

Ok, thanks so much all -now,  how does this sound?

All per month.

1. Rent a good quality apartment (2 beds/ 1 bed and office) 40k
2. Pay for services / utilities there              5k
3. Buy decent gym/spa membership          2k
4. Get my monthly groceries                         5k
5. Have a reasonable social life - eat out a few times a week? 15k
6. Operate my iphone and/ or Blackberry 1k
7. Have internet access 1k
8. Any other things I've forgotten! 11k

Total - 80k

Hello,
      I'm Peter fr Malaysia. Lived here for abt 2 yrs. As for ur req,  i can guessed hw much u need to spend per month according to ur given list. It'll be cost abt THB25,000/month. I think it's very cheaper expenses compare to other region. You can hv wonderful n peace life ovr here. TC

Chimes I think 80k will be enough to live a good live.

I spend 65k a month on all the basics and enjoy my life but that amount does not cover holiday trips, health insurance, car insurance/upkeep or new clothing purchases.

Jolly good. See you next year!

Does all this still seem about right, people?!?

If you intend on enjoying the bar girl scene you will not have enough. If you do not intend to engage in that scene you should be ok.

Ok, that's not the plan, so therefore I should have enough. Good.