[uaodnabnjz]

You should find it very east to live well on 40,000 baht per month, rent and food included.

I know you are not saying this, but there are a lot of foreigners earning half that as their basic salary. And they still manage to survive. It depends a lot on your location. It is true people working inside Bangkok earn more - but the temptations to do things often are greater there, they can easily spend upwards of 40,000 a month. Out in the sticks, there isn't much you can spend your money on and as long as you live like a Thai (eat their food, use their transport etc.) then you can get by on only 10,000 baht a month. Maybe less.

To rent a house, the cheapest place would be 3,000 baht and upwards. Depending on how much space and comfort you want. If you don't have air-conditioning then the electricity bill won't be much more than 500 baht. However, we have "air" and the computers are turned on all day working on these web sites so our bill is on average 3000 baht. Sometimes more. If you are staying in a condo it can be quite expensive as they charge you more per unit. Make sure you get a house where you can pay the real bill yourself.

Water is quite cheap. For us it is about 150 baht per month. Garbage collection is about 30 baht I think. If you are not around when they come to collect it looks like you don't have to pay for that month. I don't know about yearly property tax as no-one has asked me to pay.

Food is a difficult one to put a price on. Depends what kind of food you like. Buying Western type food will certainly cost you a lot more. But, if you go and eat out at a local noodle shop then it will be quite cheap. A dish will cost on average 25 baht. Call it 40 baht for arguments sake as you will want a drink. Times that by three meals a day and 31 days a month and that will cost you at least 3,720 baht. Of course, some meals will be cheaper and some more expensive. If I go to a restaurant, it coss on average 250 baht each plus beer.

If you want any specific costs please let us know.