Living in Thailand on $20 a Day
You can find several guides and websites online claiming that it’s possible to be living in Thailand on just $20 a day. Is this really possible or are these just the dreams of deluded individuals? Can you live in Thailand on $600 (currently 20,000 baht) a month? Or has the past few years inflation made Thailand too expensive for such a frugal lifestyle?
I suppose anything is possible and if you live in northeast Thailand or some remote area of the north or deep south of Thailand then it’s quite possible you can do this. It depends too on what type of lifestyle you expect to have. On $600 a month I can’t imagine there will be much cash available for travel or entertainment. And there is no way I can imagine living in Bangkok on that paltry amount, although I have read accounts of those who know someone that is doing just that.
I’m honestly not completely sure if it’s possible or not, but I am hoping to get a discussion going here to find out what others think, especially those that currently are living in Thailand. Let’s make this clear once and for all.
So, with that in mind if you have experience currently living in Thailand we would all be greatly appreciative if you could chime in below in the comments. Let us know what YOU think about the possibilities of living in Thailand on just 20,000 baht per month.
If possible, please include the town or province in Thailand where you live, current rental rates for apartments/condos, food costs (both Thai and Western would be great), prices for services such as electric, cable and internet, entertainment costs and anything else you think is relevant.
Personally I don’t think I could live in Thailand on anything less than 50,000 baht a month and I feel I would be depriving myself of opportunities at that. I’m really hoping to get some good comments though so we all know what the current cost of living is like in various parts of Thailand and whether or not it’s possible to get by on just $20 a day in Thailand.
Check out these similar posts:
Hi, I’m throwing this out to anyone who lives in a green, rural area, if there is such a thing in Thailand.
There are potentially redundancies at work and because I am over 55 if I’m made redundant, I will be entitled to a small works pension of about £3.5k per annum.
I had intended to retire to France, but it’s not possible on such a small pension. I would need to be fairly rural, as I have dogs, cats, horse etc and I’d prefer to buy if possible, something with a couple of acres of land. Is any of this possible in Thailand?
I suugest every one check out retire cheap asia on You tube for starters, you will be amazed at the options advailable through his videos. I am a member on his website also, Retire cheap asia has a wealth of knowledge for those who are consindering living in South East Asia. Start by watching the over 200 You Tube videos and if you want more information you can join the website for $10.00 dollars a month. Hope this helps out. Take care everyone!
Yes, it is very possible. Find good Thai girl and live on $499.
15,500THB per month? Definitely not in Bangkok! Let me rephrase that…definitely not in Bangkok for me!
I’ve been living off of about $20 – $30 a day for a while now. I never really attempted to get my expenses that low, it just kind of happened on it’s own. I am sick of the bar scene and we only going out on rare occasions, so that saves me a ton of cash. Considering alcohol is quite expensive here compared to everything else, at one point it was about 25-50% of my monthly expense. The question is whether that amount of money is sustainable. Either way, it sure beats the stress of living month to month hoping to have enough money to cover all your bills.
I agree with your comment 100%.I don’t live on a budget and,i have a very good life style.However,my monthly and sometimes daily expenses are much more then 20 – 30 dollars a day.The part of your comment about the bar scene and the cost of alcohol is dead on.I save a vast amount monthly and i mean hundred’s by cutting out the bar scene.I find that the bar’s here that are operated by the expat’s are the same price if not a bit more expensive then back home,same with the restaurant’s.Seems they all want to get rich quick.I now go to thai restaurant’s most time’s and have a beer the odd time,way,way cheaper.All depends on where you eat and drink if you go out!Stay away from bar scene too often and when going out to dine,eat at thai restaurant’s.Many have a foreign menu and charge thai price’s.
You can rent a apt for 75 to 180 a month US $ your living there so you can stay home 5 days go out on the weekend and you will be fine on 600 a month go fishing on your down time. It’s free.
I’m 44, living in California and I work in real estate, which means I have no income at the moment. I also only have a few college credits, but not a degree. Assuming I don’t find more consistent work with a regular income in the next year or so (been over two years since I started looking for that), I figure I have about 4 years of sustenance remaining before the well runs dry assuming no major financial emergencies arise. Pretty dreary to consider.
If I cashed out everything I owned and took it all to Thailand would I be able to live a reasonable lifestyle knowing I may not be able to find work for a while, if at all? I’m guessing I’m in the neighborhood of 3+/- million baht of savings. I should mention that I do have a Thai girlfriend that has a 14 year old son. She was a bar girl for one month before leaving because she felt shame. She tries to find odd jobs here and there to earn some income, but it’s very little when she does find it. Her friends and family have supported her enough to keep a roof over her head and food in her stomach, but she’s not living the best life. She won’t let me send her money, but if I were to move to Thailand I would be able to provide a better lifestyle we all could benefit from.
I just don’t know if a move like this can work. 3 million baht seems like a lot when you consider the cost of living, but it’s got to last a long time. I don’t mind being frugal and living with less. I mainly want clean and safe housing, along with a sense of comfort.
$20 a day works out to about 17 years based on my savings. Doesn’t seem very possible looking at it like that, especially since I’d have three mouths to feed. I guess the hope would be that we’d get by for a few years and as I learn the language I’d be able to start earning some kind of income.
Anyone have any thoughts? Am I missing anything besides the obvious Visa (don’t have any idea about these) issues? I’m trying to figure out all of my options and this one sounds intriguing to me.
Thanks!
Hi ,you could always do a TESOL course and teach english ,,,huge demand
I don’t know what people are talking about here as my mum in England only gets £400 English pound sterling a month pension and manages to live in the UK with extortionate utility charges and council taxes to pay. If you can’t live on the same here then there’s something wrong. I live in a house on the beach in phuket for 5000 baht a month, electric bill 600 baht, water bill 30 baht, internet & phone 800 baht. Cooking yourself is cheap, eating out is cheap. Beer in girlie bars is the only thing that isn’t cheap, but also driving around in tuk tuks paying bar fines and being leglessly drunk isn’t always the reason that some of us live here.
Its very possible to live off B20,000/month in Bangkok though you just won’t be taking lunch at Kuppa or hanging out in lower Suk much at all.
I was staying walking distance from two MRT (Huay Kwang/Thailand Cultural Centre) stations:
- Studio Apartment, 8,000
- Bills inc internet 2000
That leaves 330B/day:
- food on average day, 100B
The money left can go on public transport if needed and going out…..if you don’t go out every night then you can have a bigger chunk to spend when you do.
How can this work?
- I chose a relatively expensive apartment that had a gym and pool – this gives me some free entertainment daily.
- Renting in a condo meant I pay electricity etc direct to elec company, not to the “front desk” who add a horrendous markup ie staying in a B3000 horrible apartment doesn’t look so clever when you pay B2000 on electricity.
- make local friends who are Thai, this way you can socialise with other people who are working on similar budgets
- going out to cinema is only 100B, local style restaurants and plenty of beer is B300 and mainly less, massage 250B
I did this for a long stint when times were less good – I had also been living off 40K/month before which gives a lot more options, that said i loved doing it both ways.
This was very helpful.
If nothing else, it stokes my excitement for an upcoming extended stay.
I’m a grapohic designer and I intend to continue tow work online with my clients after I arrive.
Thanks very much
check out the rates now steve.for 3000 a month now you get 90.000 thai baht.Better off staying in the us,especially if you own your home.Thing’s are getting more expensive here even in chiang mai every month and fuel is quite expensive.I know people living in my condo building and in the summer their electric bill is 6000 a month.And,i am sure you will need air con everyday as we do during the summer months.Bangkok and area plus Isaan is even hotter so,take it from there.The cost of living has changed a lot since you were living here last.Quite difficult to live off 500 usd a month even here in chiang mai unless you can live like a thai.I know a friend from the us here and he is broke before month end on 500 us dollars a month.In my thinking one comes here because it should be cheaper to live as one of the reasons.Why move here if one must budget 20,000 a month thb to live on.Me,i have income of 3400 dollars monthly so no problem.I own my condo and don’t have a car so,can save.But,i live good and really don’t budget.But,i could not live comfortably off of 500 usd a month or the 20.00 dollars a day not for sure.
I know what the rates are now and I fully expect them to get worse before they get better. The post was written to see if reports of living in Thailand on $500 a month was possible. I don’t think I personally could do it and the closing paragraph of the post says 50k a month would be my expected budget.
I assure you that $3000 a month isn’t gonna get you any great lifestyle in the U.S. now, especially if you live in or near any major city.
hi,
My name is Paige I live on a small island off the west coast of Canada. I have a socials project comming up and I have to study Thai currency. So I decided to take 100 dollars canadian and spend it in thailand to compare what i can get there for that amount to what I can get here for $100. I have a few questions to get a sense of what things cost over there.
What does it cost for an average meal?
What does it cost for a night at a simple hotel?
What are the costs of some things you could buy at a local market?
Thank you so much.
Paige
average meal in a bar in bangkok costs around 250-350baht.if you eat off stalls on the street it only costs on average 50-60baht and the food is delicious .simple hotel costs 500-600baht.markets are cheap too but the objective is to haggle.
I’ve lived in sweden on 2900 SEK (roughly about 450 dollars/month) per month for a whole year with my own appartment. So i think it’s quite possible to live on much less than 600 dollars a month in thailand…
I lived in Patong Phuket for 7 months and budgeted about $40,000 baht a month. However I had a view villa with daily maid service, internet, cable and all utilities incld. Phuket is the richest and most expensive area in Thailand save some high end parts of Bangkok. I recommend Phuket because there is so much extra to do if you don’t want to spend money. There are 17 beaches you can spend the day at and I frequently loved my motorbike rides around the rolling hills. You could easily live comfortable on $20,000, but I would make sure I had health insurance. Accidents happen ALL the time not to mention mosquitos and other vector and invisible hazards and even though hospitals are good and also cheap that could cost you $20,000 alone depending.
I got up in the morning took the motorbike to a different beach every day slept had an afternoon drink and swim and then continued drinking into the night. Some days I’d take off and stay home and watch movies on the internet (for me this is essential, I theathered my cell phone with a $1000 a month unlimited, but you can get it wired to your place for a hookup fee and maybe only $500 a month).
Some things to cut your expenses when you get there is to buy a motorbike the first week. You should be able to get a second hand one for 15,000-20 easy. It will have to be in a Thai friends name or you will have to do some extra embassy legwork, paperwork and have a longer visa to own it straight away. That saved me a lot of money on cabs and also no rental for the entire time was there… loved it.
I paid $8,000 a month for my villa but If you get a cheap room in the 3,000-5,000 range you can figure it will not have anything in it. Some are furnished, some are not. At the very least you’ll have to spend 1,500 on a fan which is necessary.. I never needed more than that while I was there.
If you buy some electric cookers (ie. a hot plate with saute pan, rice cooker and water boiler) your thai girlfriend will often cook for you costing you next to nothing. I don’t like adopted families and the suddeness of needing to take care of them because I am a foreigner and hence should be rich, so I didn’t have a girlfriend and ate out every meal which has been said before is about the same… in Patong, cheap food was 40-50 but it’s cheaper if you are in Phuket Town or altogether somewhere farther out, even Bangkok is cheaper than Phuket.
One thing most people forget when budgeting like this each month is what type of visa you will be living on. If you have a year long visa that’s better but many expats just cross the border every 90 days which is going to cost you quite a bit depending on the always changing laws and the area you live in. Be aware if you ask advice from Visa run companies some of them are just trying to send you out farther than you need to go so they make more money and blame it on a new law. It’s really hard to know since the law does change so often, but I’d call a few places and compare their law explanations or Thaivisa.com has some resources. But don’t forget to budget this in, I had to fly to Kuala Lumpur once when I thought I could just take the bus to Penang and that meant I had to stay home for a week (this is where internet comes in handy).
So, obviously the answer is yes, it is completely viable to have a good time sustaining yourself in Thailand for 20,000. I would realistically have a good time with budgeting 30,000 to 40,000. I learned to read Thai in a month studying 1 hour a day and I think you could speak and communicate very well in a matter of 4-6 months with the same frequency (faster if you are living there). If you speak thai you are instantly not taken advantage of and ultimately you could find yourself making money there being a dual language speaker.
Well hope some of this might have helped.
This was a very helpful rundown.
Sounds like it’s mostly a matter of what sort of lifestyle you’re comfortable with.
Great tip on the Visa renewal. I had planned to jump the border at 90 days. I wasn’t aware that you could get a year long visa.
(I’m American)
I didn’t ever add up exactly add up what I was spending during my recent two months in Bangkok, but a figure of about 30,000 – 40,000 feels about right.
My rent was 12,000bh per month. I know people who were renting for as little as 3,000.
Someone recently asked my about food costs and I gave this as a reply:
Street Stalls -> 20 – 50 baht per dish
Food Courts -> 40 – 60 baht per dish
Cheap Restaurants -> pretty similar to food courts, maybe a touch higher 45 – 70 baht per dish
Smarter restaurants (e.g. the chains you see in the shopping centres) -> I normally spend 150 – 200 baht per meal.
Really smart places can obviously go as high as Western prices
I paid 6,700bh for my month long language course.
I reckon I was only spending about 250bh per day on incidental expenses (including food). Some days it was more, and others less, but I reckon that was about the average.
i think it is possible because i do know of people who stay at the north of BKK ie at Pan Mi who only spend $300/mth.
aloha, my stepson lives in chiang mai, he makes 18,000 baht a month. He just moved into a brand new 3 bedroom house, has a 2 yr. old Toyota truck, but does not have much money left a the end of the month. His girlfriend lives with him and she makes about 8000 baht a month.
I think that 20,000 would be an amazing hardship, but for some, where there is a will, there may be a way. I live in Bangkok and I can live just fine on 50,000, but I own my condo and live in Pattanakarn on the way to the airport. Now that the BTS will open the new airport run in August, I will have access to the BTS and will not have to use a cab all the time. I am also fortunate that I have a Thai partner who works and makes a good income. So for all of my expenses it may come to 20,000, but if I had to pay rent, a room in Pattanakarn goes for 5,500 per month, plus electric, telephone, cable, and internet. That alone would be about 12,000 bht and add food and transport you would already be at around 20,000. No money for anything, but the basic existence. 40,000 bht would work fairly well in my neighborhood. Lot’s of cheap food at the food stalls, and very few westerners, which always makes it cheaper.
All of that being said, if you live in Chiang Rai, or in Issan region you can live much more cheaply. That is provided you don’t have an adopted family and have to buy a water buffalo!!! I think a person can do well in the north for around 35,000-40,000. This is all relative and depends on your expectation of what a life should be. In Chiang Rai you can rent a place for 5000-8000 bht per month for a room. Add all of the lliving stuff and you could make it on probably 25,000 with a little to spare for the occassional cheap beer and maybe a cheap date will add another 5,000 bht.
Get a girlfriend or boyfriend that works and you will do a whole lot better, unless mom and dad, and brothers and sisters move in. If the water buffalo dies you are then going to be asked for help.
Hey Vern,
Good to hear from you man. Yeah I know it’s all about your expectations and lifestyle. Thai food is so great that I’m sure I could make do with those 35 baht meals, but there are other things I’m sure I’d miss on a 20k budget. Beer and travel come immediately to mind.
Yes, we were spending BIG, however that was on holiday. And that would have put us around the 100k/month mark, but let’s be realistic, we certainly don’t expect to live like that if Thailand is home. While I’m sure we could easily go through 100k a month (especially in Bkk), I’m also sure we could be quite comfortable on 50k. Heck, if we moved to Krabi I doubt we could spend 100k per month consistently even if we tried
Thanks for being the first to respond and getting the ball rolling here, hopefully I’ll get lots more great responses!
–Steve
Hi Steve – great topic. It is very possible to live in Thailand for one person on just 8000b per month and two people for 12,000b. We did it for about a year to save money.
The major issue is… can you live on 30-35 baht meals each time you eat? Another issue – can you go without drowning yourself in alcohol day after day? Do you need to be driving a Range Rover or other gas guzzler or does a 110cc motorbike work for you?
and of course another…. can you live in a 3,000b per month flat or do you need something that resembles the house you had back in your country?
I’ve lived like a Thai here for over 2 yrs and saved some cash doing so. We no longer live on 12,000b per month but we’re not much above that (18k now).
I think it’s funny that you chose this topic… because when you were here you were blowing BIG money! I’m going to guess you and your lovely wife can’t stay in Thailand on less than 100g’s/month. 50? no way. lol…