Thread: Tips to save money if you're 'in Thailand on a small budget'

Originally Posted by Plan B

Find an empty bottle of Bombay Sapphire. Fill it with Lao Khao and food colouring, impress your friends!

What if your friends prefer Lao Khao?

^ Then they'll be even more impressed to be drinking something that tastes like lao khao but comes from a hi-so expensive bottle.

The best thing is... It's refilable!

If you can stand it, drink nothing but water. Just about every other liquid is bad for you in one way or another so you'll save a packet and be very healthy ( providing you don't buy fancy water in expensive places.)

For a tasty midday snack, if you happen to be near the Mall, go to the homemade soup counter in the supermarket and sample a small beaker of every soup. Should hit the spot. Afterwards check out for free samples in the bakeries.

For traveling across the city use non air con buses with a door at each end. See where the conducter is and get on the opposite end. Get off the next stop as he starts getting near you.
On air con buses, get on with a tourist map and stare at it in a worried way. When asked for the fare , declare in English a destination where the bus is not going and the conducter will tell you you're on the wrong bus and let you get off for gratis. Time consuming but free.

I saw a sign outside a restaurant the other day saying " Our food is delicious. If you don't enjoy your meal, you don't have to pay " I was sorely tempted to put this to the test but decided to wait until I have guests visiting then we can really put the feedbag on.

Marc at the Eden club used to advertise that if you had any complaints the service was free. If you had the bottle you might have tried shagging two birds within an inch of their lives and then invent some plausible complaint.
" Terrible Marc, she couldn't change the t.v. channels with the remote up her fanny.......I won't be coming back !! "

Save money by living in Laos and commute into Thailand by swimming the river. Convince people you really live in Thailand by slagging off the Thais and moaning about doing another visa run to Laos, thereby encouraging sympathetic free lifts back to the border.

Try growing as much veg as you can. This won't save a lot, but you will notice a difference in your petrol bill.

Drink the rainwater, it's better than the stuff in bottles.

If anything breaks, try to mend it yourself. Most of the time you will do a better job than someone you have to pay.

Originally Posted by The Zapster

Originally Posted by hooter

Follow our Arab brethren's lead and barfine only one girl per group of 20 males out on the piss.

Then stand in line and wait your turn.

Grim!

Is that actually true?

Aye it is!

20 is maybe an over-statement, 3,4,5 for sure.

I believe Indians have made the Pattaya Daily for a crime involving one woman and four men. God knows how she robbed all four and got away. I think someone busted in on them.

Originally Posted by hooter

Originally Posted by The Zapster

Originally Posted by hooter

Follow our Arab brethren's lead and barfine only one girl per group of 20 males out on the piss.

Then stand in line and wait your turn.

Grim!

Is that actually true?

Aye it is!

20 is maybe an over-statement, 3,4,5 for sure.

Actually this will save more money than just the share of the shag..

I doubt that one of these 3,4, or 5 will be lining up to pay sinsot and buying her mum & dad a new house and pickup.

Originally Posted by November Rain

be asking 'Tao arai, ka?'

What Turtle? Mai Kao Jai.

A little sensitive don't you think?

^ Huh? What's sensitive? I'm saying, please carry on & pick apart my posts at your leisure. If you've got nowt better to do, I'm glad to provide entertainment.

Dont drink,dont fuck and live in a Temple

Hey ! - Just had a collision of the 2 remaining brain cells - remembered a really good and ever-so cheapskate way of making extra cash !

When I was running a site in Abu Dhabi we had about 40 vehicles - pickups to D8 dozers- and due to the heat and evaporation the batteries needed checking and topping up with distilled water every couple of days.
The workshop foreman used to get it in 5 gallon jerrycans from his 'brother' in Abu Dhabi town at half the price that the Cat Dealer sold it !
One evening I was strolling through the 'souk' and bumped into him - looking very guilty about something !
He had a 5 gall jerrycan in his hand !
The crafty bastard had a deal with all the air conditioned little shops in the souk whereby he would clip a 2 litre drinking water bottle to their A/C condensate pipes and fill the jerrycan every day or so !!
He was making about 25 GBP a month from it !
Good luck to him - I never mentioned it again and continued to buy from his 'brother' but I did gain a devoted 'gofer' for the remaining 6 months of the contract !!!

Instead of spending your money on expensive shaving cream by some poncy metrosexual company use a bar of soap, it does exactly the same thing.

Originally Posted by melvbot

now I don't say I've ever done this but *cough* someone was a bit heavy handed when picking up the expensive tinned tomatoes and having the grip of a grizzly bear crushed them a bit. I, err I mean the unnamed tin squasher went back a few days later and they were in the bargain section at 32 baht a tin. Im very grateful to said tin squasher and I will definitely keep a look out for other products that can be damaged on purpose to get a 50% discount.

Jesuuuus! How desperate is that?

Not desperate at all, I just dont like paying £1.20 for a tin of tomatoes.

Originally Posted by melvbot

I, err I mean the unnamed tin squasher

errrrrr Metal Member strikes again.

Rock on mate and if your ever in Pattaya can I be your shopping buddy?

Originally Posted by melvbot

Not desperate at all, I just dont like paying £1.20 for a tin of tomatoes.

don't think I've ever paid more than 19p (10 baht) in the UK

I buy them at about £2 sometimes, but they're the huge catering size ones. I put about a normal sized tin's worth into Ziploc bags & freeze them. Still fine for pasta sauce or chilli, in fact they're a bit better, as you just need to squoosh em (in sealed bag) when defrosted & they're like chopped tomatoes.

I was just thinking of growing some tomatoes on my balcony, the climate is perfect for it right?

Shampoo, its bastard hot so having a shower and washing hair four times a day is not out of the ordinary for me. 100 odd baht bottles of 400ml shampoo last about a week.
Better to go to the shops that supply Thailand's 4 billion salons and get a 5 litre bottle for 85 baht.

Simply refill your fancy branded small bottle with the cheap shit