One of the questions we asked ourselves before becoming digital nomads was financial. Will we able to keep our standard of living while traveling full-time? How expensive will life be in different parts of the world – will we be able to afford childcare, medical costs, and our long-haul flights?
This is why I created the Complete Cost-of-Living series. This is a series of blog articles that detail our expenses everywhere we’ve lived.
Our spending in Thailand was all over the place. We had months where we had two mopeds, one moped, no moped. Months where we had our water delivered or our laundry washed, pressed, and folded for us. February was our first month as parents, and it was one of our most expensive months – my breastfeeding appetite was through the roof and I often ate four or five meals a day.
When we reflect on the months we spent in Thailand, this is the month we’d most like to recreate. It was, by far, the hardest month of our lives, but Thailand made it so much easier.
This article showcases our cost-of-living in Koh Samui, Thailand, during February.
Monthly Cost of Living in Koh Samui, Thailand
| Expense | Euro | Dollar | Explanation |
| 🏠 Housing | 500 | 540 | 2 Bedroom House with shared pool |
| 💻 Additional Costs | 150 | 165 | This is from our last month, we used AC all day |
| ❤️ House Cleaner | 30 | 35 | Laundry Service. |
| 🥗 Groceries | 100 | 110 | Mainly fruit from the market and snacks |
| ☕️ Coffee | 90 | 100 | Fruit shakes + Frappucinos |
| 🍔 Restaurants | 800 | 870 | All meals |
| 🚴🏼 Transportation | 80 | 90 | 1 Moped + gas |
| 📱 Cell Phone | 40 | 45 | Unlimited 5G |
| 🏋️♀️ Fitness Studio | 25 | 30 | Just my husband |
| 💆♀️ Miscellaneous | 80 | 90 | weekly massages |
| 🥳 Fun & Activities | 150 | 160 | Beach days with friends, random purchases |
| 🧳 Insurances | 160 | 175 | Health Insurance |
| Total | 2105 | 2410 |
In January and February, I had extreme hip dysplasia and was unable to stand for longer than 10 minutes – meaning we stopped cooking. Yes, you heard that correctly. We only used our kitchen for slicing fruit and keeping water cold.
Another major budgetary change to our last months in Koh Samui is the Additional Costs section. Thailand experienced a massive heat wave that lasted the entire month of February. Our newborn baby broke out in a heat rash, and doctors advised us to keep him indoors and to turn the AC on. Before that month, we had used the air conditioning sparingly – only in the office while working. After that, we started to cool down our entire home. This raised our electricity bill from 8 Euros a month to 100.
I’ve left a few things out of this budget that don’t apply to everyone. Things like medical bills, cost of giving birth, and one-time purchases (car seat, baby carrier, baby clothes, mattress topper). I also keep our universal costs out of the cost of living posts for specific countries. This means that our software and video streaming services aren’t included here.
Conclusion
We lived very well and easily in Koh Samui. There were places we could have cut back and places we could have spent far, far more. Overall, our standard of living was far higher than in Germany. My husband was able to cut back his hours, and I stopped working completely in 2024, but we didn’t have to make any drastic lifestyle changes.
Leave a Reply