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Hi Cheryl,
   Before I ever came to Thailand 7 years ago I had subscribed to a newsletter from a guy and his wife that wrote a book called "How to retire on $50 a day" They recommended Thailand and Mexico as possible choices. Since my wife is Thai and because of that we were able to buy some property and build a house, I can verify that the cost of living here is easily managed on less than $50 per day or $1500 per month. Especially if you are willing to forego eating out all the time and can do some home cooking. Ohh and you might want to replace beef in your diet with more chicken and pork.

I spend for a single person buying only foreign food, veggies and fruit, per week about  3000 baht .
Electricity for two air cons , two bedrooms, lounge Large kitchen, large bathroom 1100 baht per month.
Water 120 baht
Rent 7500 baht though admittedly I live 8 k out of Bangkok. Still though Bangkok has become more expensive since I arrived 10 years ago it’s stilll relatively cheap.  Within Bangkok u can find nice studios for 7000 baht a month.
Transport such as MRT  And Sky train are as cheap as chips especially when you compare them to other countries.  example if I were to go from Nonthaburi where I live to Ladproa Bangkok it cost me about 60 cents Australian. That’s about 8 stops.  My phone and home WiFi are combined and I pay 550 baht a month all up.
I go to a private hospital where I pay my dr 650 baht per visit. Specialist 800 baht.
I can live extremely well on around  $1500  a month which includes everything, from rent to food to bills. Including Netflix and Spotify.

Yep that what I said. $1500 easy and for me , I buy only foreign food Lolol

550/month is a lot less than I pay. Do you mind telling the company? Cheers.

sorry  who were u referring too

Hi,
  This is not meant to be a complete list of expenses. But here goes. First off recognize that although it changes on a daily basis, for stability let us assume that the Thai baht is comparable to the US dollar in this way. 30 baht equals 1 US dollar. Our monthly water bill is around 20 baht. Our electric bill used to power A/C in every room of our 3 bedroom house as well as our clothes washing machine and electric oven, runs between 1200 and 5300 hundred baht depending on the time of year. Now if I used fans more and didn't hate the heat and high humidity so much the cost would be considerably less. The cost of diesel fuel for our Mitsubishi pickup truck right now is running around 25.34 baht per liter. In the recent past it has been as low as 23.93 and as high as 26.29. Where it is at right now is a bit above average. Since we are not the partying type, we eat at home most days. The Covid hasn't affected us in any way other than to aggravate me because I have to wear the darn mask whenever I enter a store. Don't get me started on that whole issue. We own a house we built on a little more than 2 Rai. (About 1 acre) I can't tell y'all how much renting a house or condo would cost since we have never done that. We currently are trying to sell our house and the asking price is 7 million baht completely furnished. Not exactly cheap but the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. Many Thai houses are much less expensive. My wife's cellphone  plus a portable wifi costs 350 baht per month. The TV costs 320 per month and the high speed internet cost us 850 per month.
   On the occasional time when we go out to eat  for lunch the cost for both of us will be about 600 baht. I don't spend any money on chasing girls or bar hopping but when we eat out, I don't even consider the cost. The local market provides us with all the veggies and that cost is so low I refuse to try to grow a veggie garden. I can walk away from the market with more than I can comfortably carry for less than 300 baht. Cost of good quality beef can be high so we tend to eat mostly pork and chicken which is also ridiculously low. Typically you can buy a cup of espresso or cappuccino at a coffee shop for about 50-55 baht. I don't know what the price is in Starbucks since I refuse to enter their establishments. Undoubtedly more. We do most of our food shopping in a big box store called Macro. It is a lot like Costco. Sometimes their packaging requires you to buy more than you normally would want. But they have a good selection. If you intend to come to Thailand and eat, all western type foods, you will have to go to specialty stores and that can get expensive. But if you stick to only a few western things and eat mostly Thai foods, the cost of groceries is about half or less than what you would normally pay in the USA. Wine is taxed highly and I enjoy a nice evening glass of wine but I have had to give that up because I can't justify in my own head paying so much for even the cheap mass produced wines. Beer is cheap. Most restaurants and bars charge less than 80 baht for Heinekens. Local beers run about 50 baht for a bottle.
   Clothing is quite inexpensive provided you aren't buying it at the local mall. Small shops along the road is the way to go. I just bought a really nice super soft and comfy hooded jacket for 290 baht. My wife bought herself 3 pairs of pants for 80 baht. But....I splurged and bought her a blouse in the mall at Christmas time and it cost me 1500 baht. That was reduced down from 3400 baht. So like everywhere you have to get used to what is available around you. My health costs involved me getting 4 tooth implants. That cost me approximately 1/3 of what it would in the USA. My wife suffers from Lupus and needs to see one of her 5 doctors almost on a weekly basis. She goes to a teaching hospital in Chiang Mai city and has to take several pills a day. Most of her Doctor visits end up costing about 1000 baht including some medicines. It scares the poop out of me what it would cost in America. The last time I was there, just to see a Dr. would cost $50 or 1500 baht.
   If you have any other questions, you can E-mail me at ***
I hope I have helped.

Kurt

The Thai government request that ,to obtain a retirement visa,it is necessary to have 800.000 bahts in any given year.This is pretty much the minimum that a foreigner will spend in a year,living modestly.

Christian Dunkel wrote:

The Thai government request that ,to obtain a retirement visa,it is necessary to have 800.000 bahts in any given year.This is pretty much the minimum that a foreigner will spend in a year,living modestly.

As one need the 800.000, 2 month before Applied for a 1 year retirement extension, Some office want it for 3 month, And 90 days after.
And after the 90 days, One NEED to keep it over 400.000 at all time.

So for 2 month before and 90 days after, Nearly 5 month, Some office 6 month, You cant use any.
This money is not count on for living day by day.

There is a reason some Immigration office have start to ask for proof of what money people use to live by, If they use the 800.000 in the bank.


Back to Cost of Living.

We use 52.000-55.000 Baht per month.
It have going up since we get the car.
But 3 more years and it drop again, And the money for the car go to saving again.

We can still get 30 eggs, size 0 (Big size) at the local marked for 97-103 baht.
Toast bread same price. (i have stop eating this) 40 baht for big pack.
1 kg slice meat to put on Toast bread same price (i have stop eating this) 159 baht
1.45L Pepsi Max around 27 baht.

We can still eat at the street (when open) 2 people with 1 water, 1 cola for around 93 -100 baht.
Many place we eat for 120-140 baht for 2 people. (with water+cola)
Power is 2.200 and up.
Water 110 -140

Not much have change.

Kindly.

Hi and hope I can help for Chiang Mai

> What is the price of a property rental in Thailand? What about buying a property?  Price is falling due corona but still depending on what you looking for!?!!  Rent one bedroom nothing special building between THB1500-2000 a month for luxery rooms around TBH10000-18000 a month, two bedroom simle house ore condo THB 5000-12000 for Luxery house or condo 18000-40000.

Buying property is also depending on area, sice on so on, but still prices are falling and you can safe around 20000-60000THB per sqm.

> How much does petrol cost or how much does it cost to use the various public transport services?
petro still very cheap around 14-16 bath per liter. Sorry no idea what cost public transport, no forrang use public transport in Chiang Mai.

> How much do you spend on average on your weekly groceries in Thailand? Have you noticed a change in the price of staple foodstuff? I spend for two people around 6500TBH per week but use Rimping market. No idea what the local market price are but definetly cheaper?

> What is the price of your health insurance? How much does seeing a general practitioner or specialist cost?  I pay for two people 110 Euro each month for a very high insurance policy (unlimited cover). It toke me a very long time to find this Europeen health insurance company!!!! There very professional and no problems at all with payments and treetments! (all covered)
I wouldend recomend Thai health insurance, as there too exspensive and not covering all things you may need!!!!!

> How much are your children's school fees? What about the cost of childcare?  Sorry no idea but is not cheap!!!!

> How much do you spend on your regular bills (water, electricity, mobile phone package, internet subscription etc.) on a monthly basis?  For Water around 60THB, electricity around 1500-2000THB a month, phone for two people 1500THB a month, internet 5G 700THB a month

> What budget do you set aside for your leisure activities in Thailand? What is the price of a cinema or concert ticket? How much does a subscription to a gym cost? I travel every weekend with my partner around Thailand for between 25000-35000THB, chinem between 100-500THB, gym depending what kind of gym (simple 900THB a month Luxury Gym 2500THB a day.

best regards Thomas

Can u please give me the name of your health insurance...

Sure it`s April there based in France

I own and manage a restaurant, Cafe de Fishermans in the Fishermans Village on Koh Samui. Because of this I have no idea what my personal grocery bill is on a weekly or monthly basis. Obviously I know how much I spend monthly for the restaurant and I have noticed that some products have increased in value but not dramatically. We have managed to offset some of these increases by importing fresh produce directly from northern Thailand rather than purchasing locally sold imports. Unfortunately avocados don’t fall into this category as the imports despite being double the price are so superior in quality and taste. We by choice purchase free range eggs from the mainland at an additional cost and we are happy to know we have a more healthy option despite the increase in cost. Pork and chicken also fall into the same category, a healthier option at a greater cost but despite Covid these producers have not increased their prices. 
Property rentals traditionally high on Samui have fallen due to the obvious lack of demand, local landlords have mostly accepted this given the option of reduce or no tenant. Those that chose the latter now have FOR RENT signs displayed. Sadly I feel by mid 2021 there will be a host more of these signs so we are hoping to avoid being a statistic! Time will tell.
Given that I have no children I have no idea if school fees have increased but Samui does have a reputation for expensive International schooling, however I am told that schools here are of a very good standard. Samui’s known preferable life style attracts a high standard of teachers so at the end of the day you get what you pay for.
Fuel prices have always been slightly higher here due to the additional shipping costs but seem to have maintained the same in line with the rest of the country.
My opinion is that overall for someone in my position the reduction in rents offsets the small increase in produce and food stuffs.  The real problem is due to Samui being 95% tourism reliant and there being only a very small number of domestic tourists the hospitality industry is slowly collapsing, Phuket and Pattaya experiencing similar but fortunately for them they are both directly accessible by road. Samui is a real island and in my view probably the most desirable place to live in Thailand so the reality is that comes at a price!

Don't pay for high speed Internet. You can only get what your line is putting out. You can go online and find tools to measure your incoming speed. Very seldom is the speed as high as what you're paying for.
The company salesperson always pushes for consumers to purchase faster Internet even though they can't deliver it!

When we are on the beach we pay about 15K per month (family with 3 members) and it include 2 bedrooms house rent (5K), electric/water 1K, internet 799, the rest goes for food and diesel/gasohol for bike and truck.
We always cook our food, because we mostly eat fresh organic veggies from our farm land or from local farms on the beach.
When we are back to the land, the cost of living goes near to 2k which is for diesel and internet. We plant our own food and we have a well for water and we have our own home, then no rents, electricity is powered by the sun.

Me and my family we can and we like to live simple and basic, it is our option, we have everything we need, we barely visit a hospital or a dentist, but when we do, it is anything from 500 baht to 1500 baht depending on the location and the health issue of course. We do not have a health insurance, my husband have one because it is mandatory for his VISA and he said it costed him around 6K from Bangkok bank but he never used it. For my husband there is an annual expense for his VISA, but manageable, VISA based on marriage is 400K in the bank and the fees paid to immigration to renew it each year, then 90 report is free and can be made online.

People are writing here about 50K or even higher than that, it obviously depends on your lifestyle, we lived for 3 months in a hotel in south and it costed around 65K per month with full service, before this one we checked another one in phucket and it was 100K in the same category, it even had a speed boat for guests only, to have day trips in the islands around.

City folks end up paying a way more, but beach life style can cost even more, life style, life style always.

> What is the price of a property rental in Thailand? What about buying a property?
Family of 4: BKK (outskirts) 6000 per month (min).
Condo purchase starts say around 1.99mil for 32sqm.

> How much does petrol cost or how much does it cost to use the various public transport services?
25thb per litre

> How much do you spend on average on your weekly groceries in Thailand? Have you noticed a change in the price of staple foodstuff?
Family of 4: groceries 3k-5k pm

> What is the price of your health insurance? How much does seeing a general practitioner or specialist cost?
For expat insurance around 20k per annum

> How much are your children's school fees? What about the cost of childcare?
Depends on type of school.. for my kids I pay 60k per term.

> How much do you spend on your regular bills (water, electricity, mobile phone package, internet subscription etc.) on a monthly basis?
Water: 150, Electricity: 2k, home internet: 800 pm, mobile: 1k pm.

> What budget do you set aside for your leisure activities in Thailand? What is the price of a cinema or concert ticket? How much does a subscription to a gym cost?
5k min.

These are as per my personal experience.

If you are not in the country and would like to do some desk research, here is a good website for your reference:

You must live like a Queen as I and my wife can live comfortably on 25,000baht a month.

What is the price of a property rental in Thailand? What about buying a property?
built my 2 bedrooms, 2bathroom home and fully furnished less than 2mil on 625sqm.

> How much does petrol cost or how much does it cost to use the various public transport services?
25thb per litre

> How much do you spend on average on your weekly groceries in Thailand? Have you noticed a change in the price of staple foodstuff?
Family of 2: groceries 5k pm

> What is the price of your health insurance? How much does seeing a general practitioner or specialist cost?
For ex-pat insurance around 11400 per annum

> How much are your children's school fees? What about the cost of childcare?
no children
> How much do you spend on your regular bills (water, electricity, mobile phone package, internet subscription etc.) on a monthly basis?
Water: 100baht, Electricity: 1000, home internet: 800 pm, mobile: 100 pm.

> What budget do you set aside for your leisure activities in Thailand? What is the price of a cinema or concert ticket? How much does a subscription to a gym cost?
0.

These are as per my personal experience.

At that price you are existing .  You are not living . :-)

Terrymedlicott wrote:

At that price you are existing .  You are not living . :-)

Unless you already own your own land, house, and car. Then you can live on that. We can live on 10k a month because we already own those things mentioned above.

I have a family of five.  I am retired here in Chiang Mai.  Cost of living depends on you completely.  All in how you want to live.  You can pay anything from 1000, to 1MM a month for rent.  Having a car is a luxury item in city.  No real need for it.  We have bikes. We have a Truck, only drive truck maybe once a month. 

I feed my family on about 2000 a month.  Give or take.  My electric for a 4br house is 1200 a month and water is 140. 

Living western will cost you here.  So again, your cost is completely on you.  A decent house around town now is about 9000 for a three or four room.  Condos are more.  If your on a budget you can stay out the city a little. Save a lot.  Markets are generally a little cheaper too. 

Food and Healtxare is cheap.  Beer and booze is more expensive.   Western food is very expensive.

You have money to burn- most don't come close to spending what you spend. There is no reason to spend this much money.