The most common question we usually get is “how much does it cost to live in Thailand for 4-person family”. No reason to hide, so let’s share our monthly budget:
-House rent in Thailand, Ao Nang: 2 bedroom simple, but spacious house cost us 10 000 Thb (~250 Eur) /month. The main advantage of the house is a convenient location. It is located in the city centre, 1,5 km. to the sea, built on the hill and has a fascinating scenery that everyone who visited us can confirm it. In less touristic places the price can be lower, in more popular ones – higher. In our neighborhood, one bedroom house costs 8000 Thb. A house with a pool in Thailand can cost double of that price. In Phuket or Chiang Mai or other non touristic places you can get more housing advantages for the same price. We live simpler here than in Lithuania, however we also have more advantages here than in Lithuania. More about that here: “House rent in Thailand”; nuoroda
-For public utilities (water, electricity) around 550-110 Thb (~14-28 Eur) a month. Here are no expenses for heating 🙂 The lowest price for everything is without an air conditioner, the higher – with an air conditioner every evening for a few hours. Additionally we buy gas, but it lasts for a long time, the internet is for free unless it is not included in the house price and costs around 500 Thb;
– International children nursery is probably the most expensive in the budget, and when the kids will start going to school, the expenses will become even higher. At the moment we pay 13800 Thb / ~350 Eur a month (the amount is for two kids with a discount);
– Visa (when we had a touristic visa, it cost 32 Eur. a month for me and Tomas. Kids do not need visa to stay in Thailand, only to enter. We all now have a non touristic visa, but I have not counted the expenses yet;
– Health insurance (depending on your choice). Before we had Lithuanian insurance, currently we use international scuba divers insurance for the whole family, around 18 Eur / month. For the first three months in Thailand we were happy with the insurance provided by our credit card, so before travelling to Thailand check if you already do not have one;
– Other expenses. Clothes are cheap here, and you do not need a lot. The main apparel are shorts and t-shirts. We have not bought loads of clothes so far, we wore everything we brought from Lithuania, and we had a lot of stuff 🙂 The main footwear in Thailand are flip flops that cost 2-5 Eur. for a pair, in total that is 15 Eur. a month for a family. Our most common purchases are swimwear, flip flops and sunglasses 🙂
– Food. I would need to calculate everything we buy for at least a week, but I know that we spend less a week in Thailand than in Lithuania. For 12-15 Eur. I come back from a supermarket with 3 full bags of food. Thai style dinners at the restaurant cost around 230 THB / 6,5 Eur. for everyone. If we eat at the restaurants 4 times a week, the amount in total for a month comes to around 100 Eur. Of course we sometimes enjoy western cuisine, but if we have a chance we cook at home. Thai food is not that fascinating for us anymore 🙂 Tomas and kids eat dinners and fruit at home, also they eat at home on weekends. I believe, that with some extra expenses for food and household goods we spend no more than 250-300 Eur. I will try to calculate and update this later.
– Renting scooter costs around 2000-3000 THB, but if you decide to stay in Thailand for more than 3 months, it is cheaper to by it and to sell it later, that is what we do now. Average expenses for a scooter a month are around 5 Eur. + around 15 Eur. for fuel. If you are interested in renting a scooter in Ao Nang or Koh Phangan, drop us a message.
– Entertainment, massages cost around 30-50 Eur. a month (for me massages at least once a week, same for my kids; Tomas rarely gets massages).
To sum everything up, the total amount we spend a month is 1039 Eur. If you do not have Thai bank card, add 3% for taking cash out.
Fo 1039 Euros we live rather simply and economically, but without restricting ourselves. We also do not drink alcohol, at the restaurants we usually drink water.
These are our average monthly expenses, meaning one month we can spend less and the other more if we need it.
p.s. If we travel, some of the expenses are higher, however we do not pay for children nursery then, so in the end the expenses equals. If we travel locally and have guests, children attend the nursery for half a day, so the fee is half lower.
p.p.s. We keep our minimal, we do not invest or buy much what it is not necessary as we tend to think that this period in our lives is temporary.
p.p.s. Without any restrictions our family could easily live on 2000 Eur. a month.
About other prices in Thailand, read here (nuoroda). Have any questions? Write us here.
If you have any particular questions about budgeting in Thailand, or you notice something that we forgot to mention, write in comments, share your own experiences.
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