Another month, and our spending is up yet again. Last month we spent just over 53,000 baht. Read on to find out how much we spent this month.
Accommodation
We still live at the same condo in Hua Hin, so if you want to see what it’s like, take a look at our Hua Hin Cost of Living April 2020 post. We’ll likely be moving in September, so our costs will change.
We’re thinking of either moving to a bigger place or buying a condo. Property prices are coming down in Hua Hin, so now might be a good time to grab a bargain. We’ve seen lots of properties put up for sale, an many agents are saying that it’s because the owners can no longer afford to keep them, due to the economic problems caused by covid.
This month’s expense also includes laundry costs.
Total accommodation cost: 10,300 baht
Utility Bills (Electricity, Water, Internet, Phone)
This month our electricity bill was 757 baht. This is lower than usual because I think we got some kind of discount due to the pandemic.
Water cost 155 baht.
Internet and multi-channel TV (AIS Play) is included in the rent.
Mobile phone cost was 912 baht.
Total utility bills cost: 1,824 baht
Food
We ate out for lunch every day this month, but only a few times in the evenings. Our food costs therefore went up a little.
We also bought a little more Western food at the supermarket than usual.
Other people’s food bills always seem to be much lower than ours, but I’m wondering whether they’re actually genuine costs. I don’t see how a couple can survive on under 10,000 baht a month for food, as some people claim to do. That’s around 165 baht per person per day for three meals plus snacks. It doesn’t sound like much fun.
Total food costs: 27,963 baht
Tea & Coffee
Tea and coffee will always be something that we can’t really cut down on, as we both love spending time in cafes.
This month month we found a fantastic new cafe on Soi 6 – 25 Monday Cafe. Coffee and food are very good, and prices are very reasonable. Highly recommended.
Total coffee cost: 4,005 baht
Travel Expenses
This month we had an extra expense, as the stabilizing ball sockets on the back wheels of our car needed to be replaced, This cost 4,250 baht. It was less than I was expecting it to be, and it only took an hour. It would be much more expensive in the UK and probably take all day.
It’s this kind of service that makes me feel so fortunate that I live in Thailand.
We also spent 1,860 baht on petrol.
Total travel costs: 6,110 baht
Massage
I’ve added a new category for massage this month, as this is a regular expense for us. I haven’t included it previously because the massage shops were closed because of Covid. Now that they’re open again, it will bump up our spending a bit.
This month we had one Thai massage. We usually have 1.5 hour massages. Cost includes tips.
Total massage costs: 970 baht
Miscellaneous
We had a new expense this month – 40 baht to feed the pigs at a local temple.
Miscellaneous costs this month included hair salon visits for my wife, clothes, supplements, laundry, a Kindle book, cat food for some stray cats and food for the pigs.
Total miscellaneous costs: 7,986 baht
Overview
So, we spent a total of 59,158 baht this month. For April, May and June our monthly spending was 41,599, 45,306 and 53,457, respectively.
So this month’s spending is up over 10% compared to last month, and up a whopping 42% compared to the lockdown month of April.
So average monthly spending over the last four months is just under 50,000 baht a month,
Let’s see if we can reverse this upward trend in August.
Annual Spending
I looked back over our spending for the last 12 months, and figured out that we’ve spent roughly 807,000 baht, so that’s an average of around 67,000 baht a month. That also includes time living in Bangkok, where we had a more expensive condo.
The reason I mention this is that someone on facebook commented that our monthly expenses didn’t include everything. In fact, they do include everything. So I was interested to see how much we’d actually spent over an entire year.
Our Bangkok condo was 16,000 baht a month more expensive than our current condo, so our spending has been pretty consistent. It has also included a trip to Malaysia and Singapore via train.
The person on facebook also mentioned that we didn’t include visa expenses and trips home. But my visa renewal cost here is only 1,900 baht a year. I can’t take trips ‘home’, because I’m already home. This is where I live. I’ve only been back to my birth country twice in over 10 years. I don’t plan on going again any time soon, but would include the costs here if I did.