Cost of living in Maesai

gerald said...

hello fat boi
would you mind answering my questions
what the monthly costs(estimated) of living in maesai?
how much do you pay for your house?

thanks

Another reader Gerald asked about my monthly cost in Maesai. So for basic necessity like utility bills. Here's a breakdown of the latest charges (prices increased in Thailand :( ).

my rates are rounded up 100B = $4.5SGD so actually should be lesser.

Water bills average between 250B to 350B ($12 - $16)
Drinking Water 12B/Gallon House of 4 needs average 5 gallons/week 280B($13)
Electricity average between 1000B to 1500B ($45 - $68)
Phone and Internet(2MBps ADSL) 1200B ($54 We never use the phone for outgoing as its more expensive than mobile! But the incoming is free though...)
Petrol for my motorbikes 600B ($27 I don't go out often :P)
My Burmese maid 1500B per month ($68 really cheap labour but sometimes I give her more if she did a good job, and she gets to eat whatever we eat and has day off every week)

So if you take the maximum (do take note that I stay in a single story detached House.)
It will be $246. Make it safe, $300SGD for utilities and the pay my maid.

Food wise is subjective. Let's say you don't cook at all. 100B per head for each person per day is quite luxurious (A plate or bowl of noodle is 30B for large portion). So my household is Wife, baby, maid plus me(I not around at the moment though) So its 400B per day. 30 days is 12000B which converted is $540SGD
Of course, if you cook yourself, the cost will be even cheaper.....

So total is SGD$840.

I send at least SGD$1000 every month and of course my wife gets to save some money out of it.

That's the normal expenditure for a house of 4 in Maesai. Of course it can be more than that as there are diapers, sweets and shopping for clothes etc etc.... It really depends on how you spend. :P So I can safely say that SGD$1000 is quite comfortable and considered to be luxurious for Maesai's standard.

Cheap anot? Feel like going already liao right?? hehehe