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How I Live Well On $1,200 a month

February 1, 2017

This is about how I live well on $1200 per month. It doesn’t have to be super difficult. Although it does help to be in a good area and have a frugal can-do mindset.

I get a lot questions every now and then from people about how I’m able to live on such a small income. Short answer? Location matters a lot. You want to be in a location that has a low cost of living. Although you don’t want to choose someplace solely for its ultra-low cost of living. Doing that is a recipe for disaster in the form of being bored out of your mind in a place where there is nothing to do.

Nobody wants that! I don’t want it either.

Right now I live in an area near Bangkok, Thailand. Two common things come to people’s minds when they think of Thailand: gorgeous beaches with huge limestone rocks in the background (those are Thailand’s southern islands) or they think of the crazy Thailand scenes they saw in The Hangover 2.

Well, my living situation doesn’t involve either of those things. Bummer, since I really did want to meet Zach Galifianakis! My living area does suffice, though!

I ended up in Thailand back almost a year ago when I moved abroad to teach English here. I’ve been teaching at a private school in an area near Bangkok and have been loving it. I’m the only male Kindergarten teacher in the whole school and one of the few in the entire school’s history!

My salary for the job is 43,000 baht per month. Per current exchange rates as of this writing, that comes out to about $1,223 USD per month. Crap. Poor right? Not really.

Thailand is known for having a low cost of living. The Bangkok area and South can get pricey since they are where hoards of tourists go but places up North like the popular digital nomad city of Chiang Mai has a really nice low cost of living.

Let’s break down where my monthly salary goes.

Rent (5,500 baht)

I don’t need something super upscale for living. As long as the place doesn’t have a bug problem or crazy people, then I’m good. The apartment complex I live in is kind of dated. The walls are bland and a little dirty. There is no pool or gym or any fully staffed office. I live in a 400 square foot one bedroom apartment. The rent is 5,500 baht ($156.43 USD) per month.

There are definitely higher end options. Several other teachers at the school live in a more modern apartment complex with a pool, gym, and rooms with modern looks and appliances. However, it does come with a cost. They pay between 9000 to 12000 ($256-341 USD) baht for their apartments.

Utilities (1,350 baht)

My electric bill costs around 650 baht per month, give or take. Internet (15 mbps download/1.5 mbps upload) costs 650 per month. The speed is enough to stream things like YouTube and Netflix with ease. My water bill, and this is the one I really love, is only about 50 baht per month! Some months it’s higher, like one time when it was 80 baht, but most of the time it’s lower. I can’t believe the water bill is so cheap!

Food (8,500 baht)

If you’re ever keen on visiting Thailand, you’ll probably hear how it’s best to avoid western food and focus having most of your meals be local food. It’s because the local food is way cheaper. You can get street cart dishes for around 40-60 baht. The area I live in doesn’t have an abundance of street cart food as Bangkok does so many of my meals come from the mall or a nearby market. Every now and then I do like to buy some Subway or other western food. I like Pad Thai and other Thai dishes but sometimes I just need something familiar and more filling (since the Thai dish servings are small).

A minor problem I have is that there is no kitchen in my apartment. There is a kitchen sink off in one corner of the living room. That’s it. There is no stove, no microwave, and no dishwasher. Not even a countertop. Just a kitchen sink with a small part next to it to put sponges and stuff.

This isn’t too big of a deal since I, and many Thai people eat out for many of their meals. Since I’m a single person, it’s cheaper to eat out than try to cook myself. I can usually get breakfast stuff for under 40 baht ($1.14 USD) and lunch and dinner stuff for under 100 baht ($2.84 USD). I don’t even have my refrigerator plugged in! If I ever need a cold drink all I have to do is run down to the first floor outside where the Family Mart is.

Cell phone (420 baht)

It’s common to get data only cell phone packages. Since many of the people here communicate via the Line App for text messages and calling, all you really need is a good size data package. I pay 420 baht per month for 4.5 GB of 4G data. Way cheaper than the average American cell phone bill. I love it!

Gym (1,500 baht)

Gyms are pricey here! Not sure why. My $20 former Planet Fitness membership is small compared to what I’m paying now, which is around $43 USD. Eh, it’s not ideal but I’m okay with it. I’m one of those people who does use their membership. So at least I’m not wasting the membership away!

Miscellaneous (3,730 baht)

This is mainly reserved for any weekend travel but it’s used for other things. Every so often, I buy pencils, poster boards, and other office supplies when making educational materials for my class. This category also includes my laundry service which is around 400 baht per month.

A cool thing in Thailand is they have these laundromat services where you drop off your clothes in the early morning and pick them up in the afternoon. These laundry service places will wash, dry, and fold all your clothes for you. It only costs around 100 baht to get it done every week! No having to fold clothes and remembering to do laundry!

Wednesdays is discount movie day and movie showtimes are only 100 baht ($2.84 USD). When I go, I try not to get popcorn and a drink but I sometimes end up caving and getting it anyway.

Almost all of the foreign English teachers, myself included, don’t have cars. We usually use a mix of public transportation and taxis to get around. I can hop on the BTS Skytrain and take a 37-minute ride into downtown Bangkok for only 84 baht.

Grand total: 21,000 baht total expenses ($597 USD)

Savings: 22,000 baht ($626 USD)

Total salary: 43,000 baht ($1,223 USD)

This budget isn’t set in stone. Like all budgets, it fluctuates but I try to keep it tame. I’m able to save a good portion of my paycheck every month and I’m happy about that. Sometimes I do tutoring to make extra money (usually between $350-600 extra per month) but at the moment I’m not doing it. So this is how I live on a roughly $1,200 USD per month income. Let me know if you have any questions!

Grow The Gap

January 18, 2017

Or in other words, Why picking sides between spending less or earning more isn’t thinking of the full picture.

Gaps are important. Write that down and say it three times! Haha. It’s true, though. Gaps are important and they’re talked about all the time. Usually, it’s with emergency funds (growing the gap between bank account zero and a few months of expenses).

In terms of building actual wealth? It’s so important. When it comes to your unique money management, what is best? Spend less or earn more? How about neither? Let me explain.

There is a rifle debate in the personal finance world of whether to focus on cutting back and spending less or, on the flip side, earning more. In fact, when you get on the path to being better with your money, the first step mentioned by several financial blogs, podcasts, and people is to comb through your monthly expenses and see where to cut back.

Cut the cable subscription, cut down on eating out, stop getting lattes, and stop going out and spending so much on entertainment. There is even extreme tips about cutting out all junk food, cell phone service, TV, downsizing to just one car, foregoing all fun and letting your soul die…(<—maybe not that last one).

You might balk at the tips and think about how you don’t want to do without certain things because you want to enjoy life. But then you read crazy inspiring stories about people who have paid off mountains of debt. Ahhh, those “person paid off [insert crazy amount] of debt in [insert a super small amount of time]” stories everyone loves to read.

The people who have paid off the debt talk about how they cut out a lot of their expenses and lived minimally. They detail how doing without cable and kicking their latte habit were the big reasons they don’t have the debt monkey on their back anymore. You read the stories, while sipping with your *bomb-tastic* delicious Starbucks mocha, and think about how you need to give up monthly indulgences. The thought sounds blasphemous. You look down at your latte and whisper “I’ll never let you go” a la Titanic-style.

Switching between browser tabs, you stumble upon the other side of personal finance: earning more. The blogs tell you like some sort of fantasy fairy godmother that earning more is the more important side to focus. After all, there is only so much you can cut back on. Earning more is infinite!

As it turns out, earning more money doesn’t have to be something solely achieved through promotions at work or getting a higher-paying job. There are lots of different money making opportunities. Some of them require going on and getting extra part-time work. Others are about making money online.

So which one is better to focus on? Spending less or earning more? It’s neither and here’s why. Size matters.

When it comes to money management and reaching your financial goals, it’s all about growing the gap.

What is the gap?

The gap between what you earn and what you spend. You want to grow this area as much as possible. Pay attention to it, treat it like a precious little puppy and help it grow. Growing it will help you reach your financial goals faster.

And let’s be honest, most people, especially twenty-somethings, have lots of savings goals they want to hit. There are weddings to save up for, other people’s weddings to save up for, a three to six-month emergency fund, house downpayment, travel fund, personal development, and more.

It’s important to tend to both sides to increase the gap. There are always ways to cut back even if you’re frugal and there are always money-making opportunities to be done.

I used to dismiss the whole “spend less, cut expenses” advice of personal finance. I thought I was good with money. Back when I was working my first job entry-level job out of college, I thought I was a pretty frugal person. I didn’t have a car payment, I didn’t buy lots of clothes and go out a lot. With my entry-level wage, I thought I was saving all I needed to save. It wasn’t until I started more closely tracking my spending and doing no-spend challenges, did I realize that there was usually room to cut back.

Being more conscious with grocery shopping, I was able to cut my food budget further. For my cellphone, I got a slightly cheaper provider. Even on an entry-level wage, not making a lot of money, there were still areas I was able to cut back in.

Since I’ve gone through the cutting expenses part, my focus lately has been on giving some TLC to the other side: earning more. Because, as mentioned earlier, there is unlimited potential when it comes to earning more. I like that and I’m sure you do too.

It’s all about growing the gap. Stretch each side as much as you can! It’s a journey that requires tenacity. I’ll be keeping you updated on how it progresses for me.

How do you go about growing the gap between what you spend and what you earn?

How To Make Your Money Motivation Easier to Follow

January 4, 2017

One of the first things towards mastering your money is to understand your ‘why’. Why do you want to get better with your money? What do you want to put your savings towards? Maybe it’s to travel more or to have enough for a down payment on a house. Whatever it is, sometimes we can slip up on following our money why.

Having a money motivation. It’s so simple yet so complex. People often don’t scratch more than the surface when it comes to understanding their money motivation. Person: I need to save more money! …Oh…uh, I don’t know, cause saving more money will be better?

Knowing your money motivation is important. It’s arguably more important than even getting on a budget. Whereas getting on a budget would be step one to becoming more money savvy, knowing your money motivation/your money ‘why’ is step one’s prerequisite.

Your money motivation is the guiding light to keep you on track towards your goals, even when they are far off. You want to buy that new game console? How is your house downpayment fund feel about that? Those shiny shoes at the mall calling your name? How will your vacation fund feel about you giving more attention to shoes than it?

So…you get it. A money motivation, the underlying ‘why’ behind your financial self, is important to cultivate. The problem? Sometimes it can be really freaking hard to follow.

Lets use an example. Monica Gellar wants to save up for a house downpayment. Her time in New York City is coming to and end and she wants to move out of her unrealistically massive Greenwich Village apartment. A big audacious goal of saving up a big amount of money within three years is set. The goal? Use the money for a down payment on a house.

For the first few months, the habit of saving money is easy. She is diligent in putting money aside every month and the goal reminds in clear view. The house is going to be hers!

But then things start to slide. Saving fatigue sets in (yep, it’s a real thing) and the habit starts to slide. It’s innocent at first, just a few lattes at Central Perk with Monica. Soon, she starts buying things she doesn’t need. That pasta maker just had to be bought. It was on sale!

A few of her friends, Phoebe and Chandler, say their going on a weekend getaway somewhere upstate. Monica isn’t sure if she wants to go and knows the money is better reserved for her house fund. Temptation sets in, she wants to spend quality time with her friends, so she drops all her monthly savings towards the trip and decides to go.

Due to her spending more money in different areas of her life, she hasn’t contributed as much to her house fund anymore. The goal is even farther off now. The goal starts to feel pointless and way too far off so she slumps down, watches Netflix and spends an embarrassingly high amount on ice cream and pretzels for the night.

You don’t have to be like Monica. Remaining focused and committed on your money motivations can be challenging at times, but it’s so rewarding to stay on track. Achieving your money goals, even if they are far off, is one of the best feelings in the world. You feel like a superhero!

Below are a few ways to stay on track with your money motivations.

Automate savings (and utilize financial tech)

Set up automatic transfers to deposit money into your savings account every time you get paid. To take it a step further, open up a savings account at a different bank, preferably one at an online bank since they offer higher interest rates on savings accounts. Online banks like Ally Bank offer a 1% APY on savings accounts. This is a lot higher than what brick and mortar banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, Woodforest, CitiBank and others offer.

Have the money transferred over into the savings account and it’s out of sight and out of mind until you need it.

Don’t forget about financial tech apps like Digit, which rounds up your purchases and withdraws a few dollars at a time and puts them into your Digit savings account.

Name your accounts

Holy moly, this is so awesome to do! Saving money towards a goal feels a lot more real when you’re contributing to an account that says ‘house fund’ or ‘F**k off fund’ than when you’re contributing to ‘account: 0002233’.

I have different savings accounts set up at Ally Bank for my: emergency fund, personal development fund, and Australia fund (yep, I wanna go to Australia!).

Whiteboards and memes save the day

I promise this one is a solid tip, haha. Go to your nearest superstore and buy a big whiteboard. Stick it up somewhere in your apartment or house and write down your money motivation and different savings goals on it. It being a white board, you can erase and adjust your goals as need be. It’s great!

Now let’s talk about memes. I know what you’re thinking, how are memes going to help me stay on track financially?!? Well I’ll give a personal example. I used to watch the show Everybody Hates Chris. On the show, the dad of the family, Julius (played by Terry Crews), is characterized as being hilariously cheap and frugal. Chris spills milk on a table and Julius says how Chris wasted “70 cents worth of milk!”.

Since I loved the show a lot, I decided to put a picture of Julius on my apartment door, so that every time I leave, I’m reminded to not spend excessively. It’s ridiculous but it works!

How do you combat savings fatigue and maintain focus with your money motivations?

(also heads up, no stock photo in this post, I took this photo while visiting temples in Bagan, Myanmar!)

We’re All Time Travelers

December 8, 2016

Yesterday while fiddling with my phone, I hit the music player and started playing Imagine Dragon’s It’s Time. For a few brief seconds, I felt like I had been transported back to another time.

The transient period went in an out as I listened to the song. Imagine Dragons has been one of my favorites for the last several years. They’re a rock band that rose to fame in 2012 with the hit single “It’s Time”. Some would describe their sound as a variety of indie rock. Just in case you were interested in knowing!

As I listened to the song over and over, memories rushed back to me. Memories from my first year of college when I had blasted the song on repeat. It was a getup type anthem I used for motivation whenever I needed to study or do a shift at work I wasn’t all that excited about.

I continued listening to it throughout the rest of my freshman year. It stuck with me and even when I stopped playing it for awhile when it come on again, the music would instantly take me back.

Listening to it felt like time travel.

Usually, the only time you hear about time travel with the personal finance world is when it comes to compound interest. A young twenty-something gets advice from someone who’s older, wiser, and somewhat regretful about not putting enough money away while they were young.

Or you hear about it when it comes to the apocalyptic outlook the media throws on the social security system.

It’s going to fade away in 2034! BOO!

Those things deal with it but there are additional things time travel touches.

When not all purchases are bad

When you’re money conscious, focused on simple living or even have a frugal mindset, contemplating purchases can be daunting. There’s all this talk about avoiding lifestyle inflation, only buying things you need and value, and decluttering to just the essentials.

Well, what exactly counts as “essential”? Does your iPhone count as non-essential even though you love taking photos with it? Do your book purchases look like an unnecessary luxury even though you’re a dedicated bookaholic?

Simple lesson: purchases aren’t always bad. When you’re buying something because you know it will help you in some way, it can actually be a good thing. And yes, even when that certain something is a big ticket item.

It’s all about investing in yourself. The purchases/investments you make today could set you up towards success.

The idea of decluttering and paring down to just essentials involves going through your possessions. Possessions you’ve accumulated over the years. Possessions that, when you touch them, take you back to the time and mindset when you bought it.

Let’s say you want to learn photography. You’re probably going to want to buy a professional grade DSLR or mirrorless down the line as you develop your skills.

A few years down the line, when that camera is sitting on your table, you’re going to look at it and be taken back to the time when you decided to invest in something and purchase it. It’s a feel good kind of time travel. Except, in this case, you bought something you used to enhance your personal development, rather than something like shoes or a few $12 cocktails.

Habit building

One of my favorite movies of all time is the 1999 film Superstar! starring Saturday Night Live alumni Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell. It’s hilarious in lots of aspects, not the least being the fact that the “high schoolers” were real-life thirty-somethings.

In the film, the main character Mary Catherine Gallager decides to enroll in the school’s talent show. Against some (hilarious) adversity, she perseveres and ends up winning the show.

I know this is a fictional comedic example but it’s refreshing nonetheless. And it shows (in a funny way) how if you start small and keep at something, remaining consistent, you will get where you want to be.

Daily actions are a flavor of compound interest. The actual compound interest is the gold standard that will help you build wealth. Daily actions are the things that help you build personal development wealth. Instead of investing growth, we’re talking about building a habit around something you want to do in life.

Music

With music, aside from my love for Imagine Dragons, there are other songs that when I listen to them, bring me back to remembering a different time.

Listening to American Author’s Best Day of My Life helps me remember my second year of college, when I first started learning web design. In the hours before I walked across stage to accept my college diploma, I replayed One Republic’s Something I Need several times.

We’re all time travelers. We have the ability to look back and see what worked and what didn’t (anybody still sporting frosted tips? No? Okay…). Whether it be through song, building a habit, or making an investment through a purchase, we have the ability to shape ourselves toward something.

I’d like to think my 18-year-old self, the one who jammed out to Imagine Dragons, would be proud that I finally started to be more strategic about investing in myself. Not just from getting better with my money, but learning the importance of investing in myself.

Putting money aside every month for retirement no longer feels like throwing it towards some mysterious time period 40 years from now. Listening to Imagine Dragon’s It’s Time, and thinking of my 18-year-old broke college self, I remember I don’t really want that life anymore. Not contributing to retirement and being at the mercy of social security would give me that similar lifestyle I know I no longer want. It’s a gentle nudge from me…to me, to keep put money aside every month for my older self.

Retirement contributions and investing for personal development are just two of the ways I think of in terms of time travel. What’s yours?

Finding Balance In Financial Goals

September 15, 2016

“There’s more to life than just________”

…Working long hours, obsessing over things, staying in a job you hate because of the health insurance. Can you fill in the blank?

Finding balance in financial goals. It’s tricky. Present day commands a lot of our attention. In work, there are always emails to tend to, deadlines to hit, and making sure that certain someone doesn’t steal your lunch from the office frig…again (I’m looking at you Bob from HR). In our personal lives, the present day pulls us in with household up keep; TV shows that need viewing (what happened on Stranger Things?) and the “hate to admit it but so addictive” social media.

It’s easy to get stuck in the day-to-day. Laying model to the elusive “I’m so busy” saying. We crave the outcome but don’t talk about the process. Think about it in terms of cooking, most people dread the “making” part but love the “eating” part.

Delayed gratification. When is it okay and when should you just go ahead and enjoy the right now?

Take student loans for example. They suck. This is a universally accepted truth (sort of). You want to live your life and roll around with the extra money you would have if you didn’t have the debt (what I imagine people without student loans do…).

They still need to be paid back. Unfortunately.

So you make a plan to pay them off within a certain amount of time. You’re amped up, paying more than the minimum, and determined to banish them from your existence.

But then daily life gets in the way. There’s a weekend getaway you want to go on, stuff you want to buy, and a fun night out that you want to do even though it’s not in your budget.

My brother, while in the midst of student loan repayment, went on three vacations last year because he wanted to get out and see more. While the vacations were far from lavish (two budget cruises and a 4-day trip in LA & SF) and his student loan debt was small, it still creates a question. How much do you want to live in the now vs. keeping in mind your future self?

The job I’m in right now, I don’t make a lot of money. But even with a low salary, I still make it a priority to put extra towards my student loans and into my retirement account. I want my future self to be taken care of and well adjusted. My present day self shouldn’t be selfish and hog everything.

Many of my co-workers, most in their early to late twenties, don’t really share this view. For them, they prefer to travel and see as much as they can. Retirement planning is a non-priority afterthought.

Being in Thailand, all of us have a desire to explore. We go out on weekend trips and holiday’s together, events in Bangkok, and fly to other nearby countries. The wanderlust “eat, pray, love” kind of thing. Living it up.

Trying to strike a balance between being adventurous and staying committed to my financial goals, I make a point to lessen the number of times I go out. I work a second job on the weekends to make extra money.

Some of my co-workers tell me I need to relax more and “live in the moment” but I feel fine. Working the two jobs and sacrificing the occasional weekend trip don’t faze me because I know what my goals are and when I want to reach them. I’m staying committed, even if it is hard every now and then.

Because it’s important to me. It important that I pay off my student loans in a timely fashion, saving for the future, and build up things (like this website!) that I’m proud of. I’m not letting go of my wanderlust, just keeping it balanced.

Often times we focus on what we want now over what we want most.

We want to be debt-free but we also really want to take that dream vacation. We want to earn more money but don’t like giving up our free time. It’s a push and pull and I’m working on finding a balance.

How do you find balance in your financial goals?

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