Cost of living in Thailand

Personally, I think it is expensive. We werejust talking about that tonight. We are American, we do not like Thai food, we didn't back in the States, and we definately do not now. So Every trip to the store is a small fortune for us. We use as many Thai brands of things as we can, it is still very expensvie for us. Things here are never on sale like they are at home. You have to get used to the grocery stores here. They are a far cry from Kroger!
Going to the movies is very cheap. At home, for our family of four it would cost upwars of 40 dollars with tickets, drinks and a box of popcorn. For a family of four to go to the IMAX at Siam Paragon, you will pay a quarter of that. Internet and Cable are about the same. We have the minimum package and it runs around 45 dollars a month. Hot brewed coffee is expensive here. Almost everyone here drinks instant, Yuck! So a half a Kilo of your cheaper coffee will run you around 10 US dollars. I am a coffee junkie, so I have cut back quite a bit. The best coffee here is Suzuki, it is the better Thai brand of coffee. It is pretty good really. Still a lot to spend for us. Starbucks prices are the same here as they are in the States.
Electricity is a touchy subject. you have a lot of people who will steal you electricity, you also have a corrupt electric company who will pad the bills if you choose to live in a nice are. If you are from Europe or the states, you will want this. There seems to be very little middle income homes here.
Gas is about the same right now anyway....
The best asian beer here is Sinha. It will run you about 70 baht in any pub. That is a little over 2 US dollars. The Phone bill runs us about 10 US a month. There is usually not a gas bill here. Our stove runs on bottled gas, it usually lasts us about 6 months. It actually just ran out during dinner tonight. If you like traditional Thai food, you are good on the restaurants. You can eat very well here for about 5 US dollars, that is three meals.... I do not like thai food, so I have not been in any restaurants here. Mostly they are open air places set up on the sidewalks. 10 dollars US will buy you enough fresh local fruit to eat for a week at least.  If you are an ex pat, you will need to find housing close to an international school. The tuition is not too horribly bad. We have two young children, we pay about 8 thousand US per semester per child. You also have to pay for uniforms, transportaion, etc. I live right next to the school, so my transportation is my two feet, they are free. I had my own vehicle in the States, and since I have been here, we only have one car, my husband uses it for work. I can honestly say, I have not missed the car too much. It really gets you out and about when you rely on a bike and walking. A lot healthier too. We live in Nonthaburi, which is a suburb of Bangkok. It is pretty pricy, but there is not much choice when you have school aged children. If you live downtown, your children will get on the bus at around 5 am and it will take them roughly two hours to ride the bus to school.
I hope this helps you. This is only my opionion, and I have only been here six months.

Not sure if we can do links to articles we've written on other websites (feel free to delete this post if not) but I've got an article on Associated Content about this subject. I've lived in Bangkok for 5 years and it's CHEAP here.  Many Americans tend to think it's more expensive because many of them won't eat Thai food (why IS that?) but it's not.  I live very very well on $1,200 a month (and manage to save another $1,000 a month easily), much better than I did in the US.

And I'm sorry but the above poster is giving a lot of bad information about Thailand.  Grocery stores here have sales all the time and the grocery stores are HUGE (we have enormous Carrefour's, Tesco's, Big C supermarkets that sell everything a US supermarket would sell and more. 

And what is she saying "Mostly the restaurants are open air set up on the sidewalks?" have you been into Bangkok?  There's every American restaurant you could possibly want plus thousands of indoor air conditioned Thai, Indian, Malaysian, Japanese, Chinese etc. restaurants everywhere.

Here's my article on cost of living in Thailand, and this is in Bangkok - other cities in Thailand are much cheaper:

Cost of Living in Thailand as Oppose To the USA

I am clearly living in a different country to "gratefullmom" well I'm not actually as I live in Prachuap Khiri Khan.  I own my own bungalow in a rural hamlet, it cost me a little over £12,000 has three bedrooms and all mod cons. Prices have fluctuated a little this year, mostly caused by the price of oil. I live with a Thai lady and our household expenditure for a month is around 30,000 Baht, just over a $1000 US and £500 UK. We live very well, run aircon all the time, have a 3 litre Nissan truck, eat out when we want to etc etc.  Life is good, the Thai people locally are generous and helpful despite my poor Thai! My largest supermarket is 90km away in Hau Hin, but we only visit there maybe 3 times a year.  I eat great Thai food cooked in the main by my partner, SINGHA beer costs me 40 Baht a large bottle from the local shop-no Bangkok/Tourist prices here! I have written many articles about my life here on my blog  While I am sure Thailand is not everyones cup of tea (well I am English)it is important to provide a balanced view. The first article is not a balanced view in my opinion.

I agree with the Thetefldon.

I'd also like to add that even though my ID is 'Brit' in Bangkok, I am also American and have lived in the US for 20 years, so I'm very familiar with Kroger (local supermarket) and other things she is mentioning about the US.  Thailand has everything you could get in the US and more (we have a LOT of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Indian, etc. food at the supermarkets in Bangkok that you can only get at specialty shops in the US) (obviously that won't be the case in most places outside Bangkok, but that's normal in any country - however, she IS in a suburb of Bangkok so she does have access to all of this stuff if she just took a bus, taxi or van).

I do find, though, that Americans seem to have a different view of Thailand than every other expat in Thailand.  So many of them harp on about how things are 'better' in the US and, honestly, if that's so, why aren't they living there?

And yes, as I said, I am also American but it annoys me sometimes the 'American' attitude I see outside the US.

Oh and no, if you're an expat, you're children DON'T have to go to an international school.

There are many bi-lingual schools in Bangkok that give a good education for a fraction of the cost of an international school ($8,000 PER CHILD PER SEMESTER, that's insane!).  I worked at an excellent bi-lingual school in northern Bangkok for 3 years (easily accessible from where the first poster lives) and tuition per child was just over $3,000 PER YEAR.

But, yes, if you live like a high-society expat in Bangkok, then, yes, things are expensive.  However, if you live like a 'normal' middle-class person, things are much, much cheaper in Thailand.

Things are changing fast right now, mind you! The dollar buys a lot more than a month back, and as for the Brits and Euros, their currencies including mine buy a lot less since the current financial crisis really got going!

we dont have everything in udon thani but things are on the up and up costs are a lot less then other thai hot spots and the life is much less hassle
mix that with a great crowd of expats
www.udonthani.co.uk local website

Just a quick update. The £GBP now buys about 52 Baht compared to 65 three months ago. This obviously effects people like myself bringing money into the country each month.

Locally costs related to the oil price have dropped for example diesel for the truck is now 19 Baht a litre compared to 40 baht earlier this year.
Swings and roundabouts I guess.

thetefldon wrote:

Just a quick update. The £GBP now buys about 52 Baht compared to 65 three months ago. This obviously effects people like myself bringing money into the country each month.

Locally costs related to the oil price have dropped for example diesel for the truck is now 19 Baht a litre compared to 40 baht earlier this year.
Swings and roundabouts I guess.

Don't know about you, but although the swings have dropped in price, I seem to end up spending most of my time on the roundabouts...