The 200 Baht a Day Challenge

[manupete]

I saw this today,a guy is going to live on 200 baht a day for a month,



Living Like a Thai Day 1: The 200 Baht a Day Challenge

All daily and monthly totals can be found at the end of each days post.

All prices will be in Thai baht and U.S Dollars to give a frame of reference

As of today June 1, 2011 the currency exchange rate of Thai baht to the Dollar is 29.37 which means 200 Thai baht roughly = $6.80 and that is exactly what I will have to live on per day for the entire month of June. That is exactly $204 for the entire month! All of my expenses for the month have to be paid out of this little bit of money Including rent ( read below for explanation ).

As I wrote yesterday I am starting the 200 baht challenge today and as you can see in the above photo I already have my daily stipend in hand. I want to be very clear that I have no intentions of cheating as I really want to see if this can be done and I want to see if I can change some of my lazy practices that have crept up lately.

In the past 2 months I have gotten very lazy when it comes to eating, I’m not going to Burger king or other chain stores but I’m not being as financially smart with my food dollars either. While I do enjoy a tuna sub from subway on occasion or a pizza from Pizza Hut they are very far and few between…and expensive. For the most part I eat Thai but I don’t eat as Thai as I should. Living in an expat town like Pattaya affords me many choices when it comes to eating Thai food and unfortunately I have fallen into the rut of convenience and usually eat at expat type restaurants.

While the Thai food is great at the expat type places I am paying a premium for a nice table to sit at while I eat. Consider one of my favorite meals Gang Kiow Wan Gai ( Thai green curry with chicken ) for example. At one of my favorite expat restaurants, the Green Bottle Pub, a bowl of green curry and a dish of rice will cost me 85 baht ( $2.89 ) which isn’t a bad deal at all. The same meal in an American restaurant would cost me $6.00 or more. But, the same meal at a Thai sidewalk restaurant or roadside stand would only cost me 30 baht ($ 1.02 ) That’s a pretty big difference for the same exact meal and in the long run eats up money for no reason.

So, not only am I trying to see if an expat like myself can constrain himself into a more Thai lifestyle for the sake of an experiment I also want to see if I can change some of my own habits while still enjoying Thai life.

Living Like  a Thai Day 1

Day one started out with me opening the fridge and seeing what you are seeing above…not much, and a perfect way to start the challenge clean. Seeing as it was 9am I was hungry but I decided to think a little before I just wandered out and foraged for food. I tried to think as Thai as I could and then it came to me, noodles! Americans love their potato chips and when you go to the supermarket or 7/11 their are aisles dedicated to them. Well in Thailand the Thai’s love noodles and when you go to the store here there are aisles dedicated to that awesome ramen goodness…I’m going shopping
I decided to head to Carrefour ( soon to be Big C ) and purchase a ramen pack or two, it certainly wouldn’t break the budget and would give me several meals cheaply and no one can say that eating ramen isn’t Thai. Once at Carrefour I found the noodle aisle and started looking at the various packs of noodle cups for my favorite ( spicy pork noodles ) I found a 3 pack of noodle cups for the princely sum of 37 baht ( $1.25 ) so I bought 2 packs which would give me 6 meals all for a whopping 74 baht ( $2.50 ). I also reasoned it would be good to have some food around the house instead of going out all the time. By the way these noodle cups are really good.
As I was heading to the cash register I walked through the meat section and I noticed some pre cooked packaged meals that they make there in the supermarket. Being breakfast time and being hungry the first meal appealed to me. A very simple plate of fried rice, egg, small hot dog, small drumstick and some cucumber all for 20 baht ( $.68 )…SOLD! Next to that were some small individual portions of noodles for 10 baht ( $.34 ) each, I find these very tasty and picked up 2 of these as well for 20 baht ( $.68 ).
Armed with my small cache of food I headed back to the Condo but made a pit stop by 7/11 along the way to pick up some water. A large bottle of water which cost me 37 baht ( $1.25 ). Once I got home and put my food away I ate my pre packaged breakfast from Carrefour and I was surprised at how good it was and filling. I think I will be heading back there again for more.
Later in the day I ventured down the street from my condo where there are a row of Thai roadside restaurants that look more like shacks made out of shipping pallets and corrugated metal roofing. They serve breakfast and lunch every day and usually close by 4pm. I perused the goods and picked up a nice bowl of Guay Tiaw Mu Nam Sie ( pork noodle soup with cabbage and mushrooms ) for dinner. At 20 baht ( $.68 ) the price couldn’t be beat and as I have eaten this woman’s soups before I know it will be amazing.

 

Some observations thus far:

Rent: I had said I wouldn’t be including rent as part of the experiment because I am already in a condo and paying way more than the average Thai ever would but that isn’t exactly fair to the challenge as a Thai living on 200 baht a day still has to pay rent and so should I. So, here is what I propose. The average Thai that I know lives in an apartment with at least 2 friends; these apartments run anywhere from 1800 baht ( $61.28 ) to 5000 baht ( $170.24 ) a month. I will be splitting the difference at 3000 baht ( $102.14 )and taking on 2 imaginary Thai friends as roommates which will make my share of rent 1000 baht ( $34.04 )this month. due at the end of June. I will still be covering electricity and water on my own.

I already have a leg up on most of my Thai counterparts as I live in central Pattaya which means I can walk everywhere easily. I don’t need to use motorcy taxi’s, baht buses or own my own transportation. These costs over the period of a month can and do add up.

My bad habits…Smoking is the worst habit I have and it only gets worse when I drink. If I am not out I might smoke a pack of cigarettes in 2-3 days but if I am out drinking ( which I won’t be on 200 baht a day ) I can smoke a pack or 2 a night. Obviously something will have to give. Either I will be quitting smoking or buying Thai brand cigarettes. Imported cigarettes such as Marlborro cost 78 baht a pack or $2.65 while the Thai brands are like 40 baht a pack I think, or $1.63.

Electricity…I would have to pick the hottest part of the year to do this experiment  I use a fan most of the time while I am at home but at night I can’t sleep without aircon. Unfortunately my bedroom window has no screen and I can’t just let the window hang open or I will wake up to thousands of bugs and a few rogue tokay lizards. I still have to be very careful with aircon usage as the average bill is 1400 baht a month just using aircon when sleeping.

Living Like a Thai Day 1 Totals

Purchase:                                         Cost             Total

2-3 pack ramen noodle cups   37  baht each    74 baht

2- pre cooked breakfast            20 baht each    40 baht

2- pre cooked noodle meals     10 baht each     20 baht

1- .6 litre bottle water                 37 baht each    37 baht

1 bowl soup                                   20 baht each   20 baht

 Total 191 Baht ( $6.50 )

June Total Expences to Date: 191 Baht ( $6.50 )

Woohoo! I have a whole 9 baht to carry over into tomorrow…and unfortunately I am going to need it!

P.S. I’ll be keeping up a regular posting schedule as well as the daily living like a Thai series so check back often.

[Admin]

It is possible to do for limited period only for my opinion.
I did it for awhile 7 years ago and it was fun to be in the village on low cost but after awhile you feel like its just not reach the standards of living you are used to live (food,goods,etc).
Also increasing Thai visa costs, house maintenance, funerals,parties, where are all these gone?

[rufusredtail]

It would great if you could tell us your weight  in kilos as from now, see how much you lose in the month , i dont know how you do it , on 200 thb , i added up my daily expenses, electricity, rates , water, food,petrol, gas,wine, etc and came up with PPROX $152 AUD = THB 4864, I THINK I WOULD BE DEAD ON 200 THB , ANYWAY good luck .

[Prakhonchai Nick]

If I had to live on 200 bt/day. I would not buy cup noodles, but the 5bt  packs and use my own bowls. Also a 20 litre bottle of water for 10bt. That's just for starters.

[urleft]

I think I might be able to live on a 5000 a baht day challenge.  Difficult to get a beer for less than 25 baht.

[den Buut]

It would great if you could tell us your weight  in kilos as from now, see how much you lose in the month , i dont know how you do it , on 200 thb , i added up my daily expenses, electricity, rates , water, food,petrol, gas,wine, etc and came up with PPROX $152 AUD = THB 4864, I THINK I WOULD BE DEAD ON 200 THB , ANYWAY good luck .

Some of those expenses are monthly or maybe weekly but 5000 baht a day must be just enough to get by, it's just 200 times what a Thai makes a day.

[nurl raisur]

I could probably do B300 a day, but not B200.
Quite the challenge for Manupete.
Choke dee!

[Admin]

I think today it will be a challenge to live on 300b a month!
Anyone have input regarding the very low cost of living on this budget?
Is it possible even for a farang? I doubt it.
Sawadi

[Nobby]

I think today it will be a challenge to live on 300b a month!
Anyone have input regarding the very low cost of living on this budget?
Is it possible even for a farang? I doubt it.
Sawadi

300b a month is impossible. 300b a day is maybe possible if you live with absolutely no "western" comforts/ amenities like
Car
Motorcycle
Beer
Western food of any type
Children &/or partner.

Sounds to me like an existence rather than living. I don't think any sane person would CHOOSE to live like that. They would need to return to the comfort of their homeland and health benefits, etc.

[iammike]

I think it can easily be done, but it would be very boring if doing it days on end.

Eat Noodle Soup (Mama) or Rice with Canned Fish or get precooked mails from the market for 20-60 THB and they (can be) very delicious and you are spending a lot less then 300 THB (for Food only that is).

[toffo]

It would great if you could tell us your weight  in kilos as from now, see how much you lose in the month , i dont know how you do it , on 200 thb , i added up my daily expenses, electricity, rates , water, food,petrol, gas,wine, etc and came up with PPROX $152 AUD = THB 4864, I THINK I WOULD BE DEAD ON 200 THB , ANYWAY good luck .

I would like a break down of how you come to spend 5000 baht per Day.. You can easily live on 500 per Day.. Never heard anybody spending that insane amount per day unless you bar fining girls everyday ..

[CO-CO]

It would great if you could tell us your weight  in kilos as from now, see how much you lose in the month , i dont know how you do it , on 200 thb , i added up my daily expenses, electricity, rates , water, food,petrol, gas,wine, etc and came up with PPROX $152 AUD = THB 4864, I THINK I WOULD BE DEAD ON 200 THB , ANYWAY good luck .

I would like a break down of how you come to spend 5000 baht per Day.. You can easily live on 500 per Day.. Never heard anybody spending that insane amount per day unless you bar fining girls everyday ..

I met a guy in Pattaya (not a tourist) who says he spends 4,000 Baht a day.


He reckons that 85% is spent on alcohol and girls........ and the rest is wasted!

[toffo]

Yeah that is normal for bar fining girls and drinking everyday but 5000 baht per day not doing that How??

Gas 150
Water 20
Electric 150
Rent 500  that's 15000 per month
Beer 500 that's 8 bottles everyday..

Plus food still only adds upto 1600 per Day .. Were is he spunking the rest away at??

[CO-CO]

Yeah that is normal for bar fining girls and drinking everyday but 5000 baht per day not doing that How??

Gas 150
Water 20
Electric 150
Rent 500  that's 15000 per month
Beer 500 that's 8 bottles everyday..

Plus food still only adds upto 1600 per Day .. Were is he spunking the rest away at??

See above for answer - girls and alcohol.

He rarely bar fines and he drinks little beer. He likes to 'treat' his girls.

A meal for 2 in Pattaya with wine can easy exceed 3,000 Baht.

[urleft]

what happened to Smoooth2's picture?   I liked it.