probably a more interesting poll (and do-able) would be income solely through teaching salaries. i really won't give a shit what people are making selling motorcy parts on eBay (or owning a web forum) unless i plan on doing that...
Imodium can't stop me.
It's not my priority but need to be realistic about it, if it's not enough for me to live off I can do the job.If your priority is money I'm afraid you'll never be happy anywhere
But salaries are illusive. Logically if you earn X amount and the cost of living climbs, you're earning less at every increment. When I arrived gasoline was 17 Baht and my first gig paid 17K. What is it now, about 50 B and 30K per month? Rice is of course a price-controlled commodity. Does anyone of us want to beat inflation by eating rice four times a day? Simple formula, you learn to live on less or sell motorcycle parts on eBay, or do privates, or give head in the park, whatever it takes.Originally Posted by zeusbheld
I know not everyone has entrepreneurial instincts. What's more damaging to oneself is not to have survival instincts.
Don't know about the rest of you but the more disposable cash I have the more it's disposed. And a good portion of that cash goes for items I dispose of quickly: I saw it, I liked it, I bought it, I threw it away.
Since I like stuff and ownership of stuff I live by a simple rule I apply to luxuries: Never pay more than the price it'll bring on the market after you're through with it.
by that rule though you'd never own a car for more than a month or a computer... ever. both depreciate brutally. i think you have to figure in a 'rental' fee for the time you have had it and used it. i'm about to sell my 5 year old, non-working Macbook Pro. it should get me at least $300 in parts, and at US$2,000 initial investment and 5 years' constant use (and i do mean constant, the little bitch was left to download stuff when i went to bed) before it dropped dead, that's $1.10 a day. maybe twice what i'd have paid for a less capable computer, but well worth it (at least i think so as i sit here typing on a less capable computer).
on the other hand i suppose that wouldn't be considered a 'luxury' if i used every day and made more money from using it than i spent on it. so let's say, instead, i buy a cast-iron Dutch oven for 4k baht. it's unlikely i get 4k for it if i decide to sell. it means, i spend more at the supermarket rather than less. but it also means that i can deep-fry at will, and since around here deep-frying is rarely done correctly (too greasy, grease too old are the most common mortal sins) my quality of life will go up immensely (assuming i enjoy deep-fried food, and i do) for 4k. 4k spread over 1 years is about 11 baht a day. (no everyone collects guitars you know).
so i guess not being entrepreneurially-inclined my approach is simpler: choose your luxuries more carefully than your battles, and if you find things that provide you with a lot of satisfaction, go all-in.
oh, and never buy shit on the assumption that some mass-manufactured product expresses your fucking individuality. disappoint the advertising industry and buy things for the use and satisfaction you'll get out of them.
It starts like this: You learn about the value of certain things, like musical equipment. You buy an 8-track portable digital recorder at a yard sale for ten bucks. You need a computer so you post on craigslist ... WTT recorder for computer. A guy who builds computers likes your recorder and trades you a PC for it. So you have a PC worth about 3-400 for 10 bucks (I'm on it at the mo). Then you want a laptop. You have a guitar amp worth 300 that you traded something for that you got for 100. A guy on CL wants to trade you his brand new laptop, worth 3-4 hundred, for the amp his son wants more than the laptop his dad bought him for Christmas. You meet up and you trade. That lap is in the closet. That's how it works.
which all works very well, except that i don't want to run a fucking business. i just want a new computer. so i'm content to spend salary on it, and if the job i have doesn't give me enough salary for the new laptop (and the cast iron dutch oven) fuck 'em i'll find a better one. i get the idea it's just... i have no entrepreneurial spirit whatsoever.
Not many do. i like to think of the price of luxury divided by the number of man hours I had to toil to earn it. That usually sets me straight.
thats impossible
very few things appreciate in value. and the few that do only do if you do everything exactly right
that's pretty much what i do to decide if something's worth it, although i'd hardly count teachering as 'toil' (except for the paperwork). maybe some day i'll get a real job again ... nah.
Listen to these offers I have gotten lately, but first let me tell you about my background: I'm in my mid-twenties, I'm American, I'm male, I'm Caucasian, I have about 3 years of English teaching experience (all of which is in Asia), I have a bachelors degree (but no TEFL certificate), and I like to think that I dress pretty well (since appearance is everything here). So, here's the offers I've gotten for part-time English-teaching work in Bangkok over the last few weeks:
1. A nice and new "Asian language" training school in the Yannawa district area: 200 baht/hour.
2. A well-known language training school that often advertises on this website: 320 baht/hour (350 after some haggling).
3. Another well-known language training school that begins with an 'i': 300 baht/hour.
All three of these schools were in excellent business locations and had very nice facilities. I am certain that the students are paying high prices to study at these schools. I declined all three of these offers, and I felt very insulted by the first offer. I really wish I knew where to find the language schools in Bangkok that pay at least 600 baht/hour, because I have yet to find any over the last three months!
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