Saving money in Korea

One of the things that I'm asked a lot is
-How much money can you save in Korea whilst working as an English teacher?

So I thought that I would do a breakdown of how much I spend and how much I have saved in Korea so far.

One of the main reasons that I came  to Korea was to be able to live in another country and save money at the same time!! Unlike in Switzerland.............

The costs of getting out here were quite high (I needed a new laptop, TEFL, sending documents and blah blah blah)..... sooooo has it been worth it?

Money In

A standard month

I'm on the Level 2 payscale, living in Daegu so I get
2.1 million a month.
After my outgoings (School lunches, tax, pension, medical insurance etc) I come out with around
1.8 million a month.
I'm going to make things simple with the conversion rate and say that 10,000 won is around 5 pound. (That way I can just ignore the ten thousand and half it - which is how I convert things in real life in Korea.)
So that works out at around
£900 a month

Special months so far

Month 1 and 2 
I had to pay a deposit for my house out of my first two months pay which brought my pay down to
1.6 million a month - £800
Month 1 
The flight allowance came in at the end of month one
1.3 million - £650

Money Out (Monthly)

The things I have to pay for

Gas

20,000 won - £10

Electricity

15,000 won- £7.50

Broadband

40,000 won - £20

Phone Bill (Ok, I guess I don't haveeee to have the newest phone....but where would I be without my S3 - total phone love - and it makes my students think that I'm cool)

70,000 - £35

Total- 145,000 won - 72.50

As you can see my actual outgoings are a LOT less than if I was back in England.

The main reason for this is obviously no rent to pay. My gas and electricity have been around 5000 won less than this, but I've added a little bit as it might go up soon with winter coming. 

When I compare this to my bills in England - and back then I was sharing the costs - well, it makes me happy.

When I wanted to get the S3 - my coteachers were telling me to get an older phone as it was too much to be paying for a phone - but 35 quid - I am also yet to go over my data or minutes etc - or have any random additional costs added to my bill - which seemed to happen to me every month back home!!

Food (Eating at home)

I guess this is also a 'must buy' - but to be honest - I don't really eat at home - I mainly snack.

I get up too late to eat breakfast.

I eat lunch at school Monday - Friday.

There is also a snack cupboard at school that I help myself to.....far too often.

For dinner Mon - Fri - I usually just have some snacks or Ramen (Cheap noodles)

And then for the other times I usually eat out.

This whole cooking for one just seems too much of an effort - I probably should put more of an effort in - this would help with the healthy eating -but meh.

I personally spend around 50,000 a month on eating in.....max....this includes my bottles of water and late night visits to the shop to buy peppero sticks etc haha.

Large bottle of water -
1000 won 50p

Ramen
1000 won for one or (multipacks are cheaper) 50p

Peppero pack
1000 won - 50p

Eggs
5000 won £2.50

Cereal
5000 won £2.50 

Milk

1000 won 50p

Total- 50,000 won - £25

 Obviously this would be a lot higher if I actually ate at home.

Vegetables and fruit are expensive compared to the price of other things - so I try and eat as many vegetables as I can at school. There's also a market near my house on a Wednesday where I can pick up some cheaper vegetables.

Food (Eating out)

It is a LOT cheaper to eat at a restaurant here than in England.

But it also does depend on what food you're eating.

Standard price for a Korean Bbq (Including one or two bottles of beer to share) 

10,000 won - £5

A more expensive restaurant (like my fave Indian and Western places)

20,000 won, £10

Takeaway pizza

12,000 £6

Chicken Burger Meal from Farmers (The chicken place near my house)

4000 - £2

KFC - Fillet tower meal

7000 - £3.50

I would say that the general rule is that you will probably spend around 10,000 won every time you go out - of course you can go to cheaper places and more expensive places.

This is just a sample of some prices to give you an idea - this is not what I eat every weekend! 

I probably eat out around 8 times a month (Saturday and Sunday nights) - I will round this up to give a total of - 

Total- 100,000 won - £50

 Sometimes a little part of me thinks that I should stop eating out so much to save money - but when I think that I eat out eight times a month for 50 pound - then it's not really worth missing out on the social occasions and the nice food to save that small amount!

Other bits and bobs that I pay for every month

Transport Card (This card allows me to travel on the bus and metro around Daegu and Chilgok - a standard journey is around 1200 each way 60p - no matter where you are going - so even when I have to catch the bus from my end - to the opposite end of Daegu to see Laura/Cat - then it still costs me the same -I use this card quite a lot so I top this up every month)

30,000 won - £15

School Club (I pay into our 'English Zone' fund - which buys us snacks for the office - I def eat my fair share - and we also use the money to go out for dinner around once a month)

20,000 won- £10

Taxis (I am getting a lot better than when I first got here - I used to take taxis downtown all the time - it costs me about 10k to get downtown - which is only £5.....but if I get the bus it's 60p..... haha. However of course I can't get the bus home from a night out and if I'm not sleeping at a friends house - then I have to take a taxi home - it also costs a little bit more at night time)

50,000 won - £25

Total- 100,000 won - £50

Running total - 395,000 won -£200

The rest

I try to send home 800,000 won - £400 a month, so this leaves me with around 600,000 won - £300 left to play with for all my other activities - socialising, travelling, clothes shopping and of course drinking.

Here's a few things that I have bought so far to get an idea of the prices

Return Train ticket to Busan 

30,000 won - £15

A dress - or a bag - or a pair of shoes (If bargain hunting)

10,000 - £5

Cocktail in a bag

5,000 - £2.50
Night in a hostel
10,000 - 20,000 - £5 - £10

Pint of beer 

3,000 - 6000- £1.50 - £3

Winter coat

80,000 - £40
Socks
1,000 - 50p

Organised Trips (Transport, Accomodation, Food, drinks, skiing, ski wear etc)

170,000 - £85

So far I have always spent 'the rest' and generally have around 20,000 - £10 left in my bank by the end of the month.

But that's AFTER I have taken my savings out.

Savings (Monthly)

As I mentioned earlier I give myself 1 million to spend and then send home the rest of my pay - 800,000

So in total I send home £400 a month

Which is definitely a lot better that I've managed to do for the past couple of years......and I'm still managing to do things. 
We went on a five day holiday to Namhae.... I'm going to the Philippines for winter vacation.
I still get to buy clothes, I can go out for food, I can go on skiing trips...... ok there might be the odd occasion that I have to say no to - I couldn't go on holiday to Thailand as I couldn't afford the flights - I couldn't come home for Christmas as I would spend too much when I went home - but well, I would be turning into a spoilt little so and so if I started complaining about that.

I feel I might slowly be getting control over my money again.
Of course - this money that I'm sending home isn't going into some magical savings account just yet - it was expensive to get here - and luckily my parents lent me some money. So my first few payments home have gone towards paying that off....... and then there's the student overdraft that has now started charging interest.......

So yeah, I will be happy when I finally have 'no' money - instead of minus - but I am getting there and I'm getting to have a good time whilst doing a job I enjoy at the same time.

Hopefully in a few more months - this will be me!

Special months coming up

Of course I should also mention that there will also be some special months as I come to the end of my contract and when I renew

Renewal Bonus
When I renew my contract at the end of the year - I will get a nice 2 million won bonus 
£1000

  Exit Allowance
When I leave Korea they will give me the flight allowance again - 1.3 million won
£650

Severance Pay
When I leave Korea I will get 'Severance Pay' equal to 1 months pay for each year that I've worked here for. So if I stay for two years - that will be (1.8x2 = 3.6 million - £1800) - but yeah that's a long way off......and who knows what I will want to do by then