Hey Everyone,
I am trying to create a ball park budget before I make the move and wanted to know what you felt was a reasonably amount for monthly expenses, including rent.
I would like to live on HK Island or Kowloon preferably with roommates, I would like to have internet, and go out occasionally, but nothing over the top extravagant....
Anyone want to attempt to give me an estimate?
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well it depends on what you define as reasonible. If you want to live in my view a decent sized flat with flat mates, a little over 1000 sq ft
expect to pay
10 K rent minimum in reality you could pay anything you wanted
2.5 K for bills lets say including internet and mobile a little more perhaps in the summer for electricty
5 K if you ate at a nice restaurant once a week
5K food
3K sundry expenses
2K travel
If you are going to go out on the lash once a week, I couldnt tell you how much women spend, they get drinks bought for them, but for us lesser mortals who have to pay well if you are not caning it you can easily drop 1K on a few bevvies.
I am not sure what that works out to, I have quoted in Hong Kong currency but basically you could do Hong Kong reasonably not starving or living in a hovel for about 5K US, you couldn't save very much, you couldn't eat out at a top restaurant every night but you could easily survive, people earn a lot less then that and seem to do OK, but that's what I think.
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I will concur with DBs assessment.
The restaurant is of course widely variable. It is easy to spend over 1000/person at a restaurant, but by the same token you can 200 and still get decent food.
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what are you on about a char siu faan can be had for under 30 bucks, a fabulous quintessentially Hong Kong meal. You can eat very cheaply in Hong Kong and the food is great actually if you ask me after low taxes, that is probably the best thing about Hong Kong, but when the poster said that they wanted to go out I took this to mean either dinner at a relatively fancy place or a night out on the lash, so I quoted both.
But yeah if you want to eat at a decent restaurant, in the city you could do it for as little as 200, I said 1200 to be on the safe side assuming there is going to be some booze involved with dinner as well, the reality is its probably somewhere in between.
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"what are you on about a char siu faan can be had for under 30 bucks, a fabulous quintessentially Hong Kong meal. "
Fair enough. ;)
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check out the online restaurant delivery services like dial a dinner and soho delivery to give you an idea of food prices of restaurants
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Hi everyone! Thanks so much for the responses! Yeah I don't plan on going out too fancy...I meant going out to be going out to the bars! I dont really drink all that much, but wanted to factor it in. I am really looking forward to the local food and don't plan on doing too much Western dining! Do you think it will possible to get a decent room in a share for 4-6k?
Thanks again for the responses, I am sure I will have a lot of questions coming up!
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"I am really looking forward to the local food and don't plan on doing too much Western dining! "
Well, that's fair I suppose, but I find that as I live here I do like a good steak from time to time. ;) And sushi, and Indian or Thai curry, and Italian. The local cuisine doesn't really do it for me I'm afraid. But with so much choice there's never a problem.
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Well fair enough, I was in Chinatown today in New York with a friend from HK and she DID try to order the steamed chicken feet....I passed. I have my comfort zone to be sure.
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cd
17 yrs ago
Yes I think you could get a decent flat share for $4-6k. Internet is cheap, around $200 a month. Local calls are free on landlines, so I reckon your bills could be a bit lower than previously suggested on a flat share. Yes you can eat out for under $100 a head, but alcohol is expensive, even more so in Wan Chai, LKF etc. But there are ways round that, wed is ladies night in many places, so you can drink for free. Food in the shops has gone up quite a bit recently, but $5k still seems a bit high for 1 person. I average $12k a month for a family of 7 (plus lots of friends on sleepovers), that includes cleaning stuff, cat food etc. I've never been to a restaurant where we had to pay Over $1k a head, our favourite restaurant with alchohol would be about $500 a head, and thats for a really nice place with great service. If your salary was $30k or more a month you would manage and have a good standard of living.
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Im coming with a very low stipend, so thats why I am trying to figure out what will be possible. Thanks!
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It depends on what you view as being decent and where you want to live, my view is if you want to live on the island 4-6K is not going to get you anything close to being decent even if you share, there are areas of the island where perhaps it is possible Chai Wan for example, South Horizons may be a possibility, but I doubt there are 3 bedroom flats available for less than 20K certainly no where near the business centre is viable for that kind of cash unless you get luck, at least not what I would call decent. The further you get away from the city the cheaper it obviously becomes, so if you look at lamma, Lantau Sai Kung, then it becomes feasible.
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5k for food is a bit too high to - for one person for a month? I think we feed a family on just a bit over that...
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"5k for food is a bit too high to - for one person for a month? I think we feed a family on just a bit over that..."
I agree it is at the high end of the range, but it all depends on how organic you want to go. Including wine and beer, our food is about 12-15k/month for 2 adults + 2 young kid.
If I were single I would probably spend about 3-4k.
"Local calls are free on landlines,"
You can also get a Skype phone, (or use a computer for Skype). Subscriptions for unlimited calls to 36 countries (including US, HK, Australia...) are USD 8.16/month if you prepay for a year. Incoming calls on an HK number are about USD 50/year.
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haha Im glad to hear it! I was starting to get a little worried over here! I was hoping to live on 15,000HK or less a month....
>>I average $12k a month for a family of 7 (plus lots of friends on sleepovers), that includes cleaning stuff, cat food etc. I've never been to a restaurant where we had to pay Over $1k a head, our favourite restaurant with alchohol would be about $500 a head, and thats for a really nice place with great service. If your salary was $30k or more a month you would manage and have a good standard of living.
So if a family is living on $12k, why would one person need $30k?
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erm you can do Hong Kong, or any city for that matter as cheaply as you want to. But you did ask for what was "reasonable" which is subjective.
There are many people that survive in Hong Kong with 10k a month, it depends what you view as acceptable or necessary some people do not have a choice in the matter. Personally I don't think 30K would provide a reasonable standard of living compared to what you could get for that kind of money in most places in the western world with the exception of Manhattan and Central London. My view is 5K US a month bear minimum which is 40K HK$ and you could argue that perhaps I was being elitist in terms of what I view as being acceptable and I would not disagree with that. It is each to their own as far as I am concerned. There are other cities that would give me a better standard of living for that amount of money then Hong Kong and allow me to save as well.
15K a month I think you are going to struggle on, it is doable, suppose you get a place for 5K, after bills you are spending about half your income, which leaves about 8k in spending money, 2k a week, you can do it, plenty of people do but its an expensive city and I don't think that is going to be a great quality of life, certainly do not expect to save. Take it from someone who has spent a couple of years in Hong Kong being skint. It must be one of the worst places in the world to struggle for dough on, there is conspicuous consumption all around, for that amount you will always be thinking twice and if you are hanging out with other expats though not everyone is loaded, chances are they wont be thinking twice.
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15K is certainly doable, myself and the wife lived on that for a while ourselves here and was one of the best times I ever had. Know a few single expats on that or less and doesn't seem to cramp their lifestyles at all. 15 - 20K nowadays though is probably my own entertainment costs!
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Goo
17 yrs ago
It depends on many factors. If you eat organic food or food imported from abroad it can add up. Will you bring lunch or eat out? Sometimes you might just need the familiar brand of cereal or some delicious cheese even if it costs a bit more. It really can vary quite a bit. As an example, my colleagues eat local lunch (noodles etc) for about HK$20 a day while I manage to spend HK$80 for a sandwich or pasta or something western. (That's take-away, a restaurant would be more). It just depends on you, and where you work and live.
I think 15,000 a month might be a little difficult. I have starving artist friends who survive on very little and I would guess they spend more than that a month. You certainly could do it but you have to decide if the sacrifices are worth it. Good luck!
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It is very doable I have lived on less, But I certainly don't look back on those days with any fondness myself, a night out for me back then was down the 7-11 with a few tins. 50 60 bucks for a pint was unthinkable, that is the cost of two meals. Ladies nights, for your nights out on the lash methinks.
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cd
17 yrs ago
To Ladyjournalist,
$12k is our food and supermarket bill for that many not all living costs.
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i spend,
$10k on rent, a 1000' sq ft 3 bedroom flat on NT side alone - divide by 2-3 if you are sharing flat. double that for hk side in general for the same quality of living, pretty much the same for kowloon side.
$600 on electricity/water/gas/internet/phone, as the flat has very good ventilation and we don't use much AC, which usually contribute most to electricity bill in the summer. i think i only pay $100 more in summer than in winter.
i think i spend about $15k for the rest of the things each month on average that i lost count.
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Hi!
12K is just fine for u! This place is for ur budget as wel! I mean for a start, just to make sure, u could manage urself with a small place and not a very high lifestyle to study and confirm ur ball park budget.
Yeah, u can find a place for 3-4 K and there are local places with good price range to eat out. Happy hours, where u don't need to spend a lot on drink. See for urself for 6 months, how much it costs u to survive here. But, im sure u won't suffer!
If u'r not worried about organics, frequent and expensive dine and drinks, happy with local cuisine, then what's the worry!.Give it a shot!
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Thanks Sapphire26! Ive been getting a little anxious about some responses, so I appreciate the confidence!
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Good point Cara...hopefully Ill be in the position one day to forget what surviving on 20k is like!
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JinHK
17 yrs ago
From someone who is more than surviving on HK$30,000 a month I say you can do it. I flat share in a 'walk-up' in Central in the middle of all the action. Manage to save for my yearly tax, go for weekends in Thailand (or similar) about 5 times / year, home once yearly and in general have a good time.
Always waiting for my salary at month end but still manage to put a little 'away'.
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Cara, I make a good amount of money now, but I will never forget what it was like to be in Hong Kong on less than 10K a month, to be honest it gives me a sense of identity and there is not a day that goes by that I don't appreciate my lot. I was about a week away from leaving before things finally worked out, and that was back in the early 90's. There are some people who struggle their entire lives and I appreciate on that level I will never understand, but I think it would be wrong to say that all people who make a lot of money cannot imagine how those with less survive. It really depends on your personal experiences. If you have never had to struggle than you perhaps cannot truly appreciate it.
The other thing I would like to say to the poster is the things can change in Hong Kong and they do very quickly. Whether I think 15k is going to be a struggle in the grand scheme of things is largely irrelevant. What you need to decide is whether you yourself can manage, my view is meaningless. If you can stick it out I am more than certain there will be opportunities that arise which will allow you to increase your income significantly, I don't know a person in Hong Kong that has been here for any length of time that came over with little and hasn't managed to improve their lot. Good Luck
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Cara, admittedly there are spoilt expats, but if someone who is handling millions of $$$ settles for HK$10,000 a month, I'd be wary of hiring him, 'cos he won't stay long or will only give me that amount in value or effort. Let's not put down the well-paid, ok? It's as bad as putting down the poor.
LadyJournalist: if you are willing to share and commute, I think you will live comfortably on 20K a month. The thing you might want to mentally prepare for is how small your room in the shared apt will be.
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"i stand by the statement that the more you earn the more you spend...fact of life."
I agree with cara. From my own experience and that of others.
"Let's not put down the well-paid, ok? "
She did not say that. She complained about the whiners who have huge housing allowances and still whine about there not being any "nice places to live". She did not diss the simply well paid.
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maybe you do, but if you are poor and suddenly start earning lots of money a lot of people do not change their spending habits immediately. I didn't. When struggle is fresh in your mind its not something you do, there is always some paranoia. After sometime spending habits start to relax. And I assure you if someone loses their shirt after having being wealthy, and they were poor to begin with, or have been in the past, they will adapt like a fish to water, they may not like it, but there is no question of imagination if circumstances are unfavourable. Poverty if you have lived it is not something you forget no matter how much money you have.
Those people who moan about what seems like huge housing allowances, so probably do so in the larger context of their contract negotiation, perhaps they feel their employer is not adequately rewarding them in comparison to their productivity and profitability as an employee and compared to their colleagues. There are a few people that come to Hong Kong and say US$10,000 a month allowance simply isnt good enough for them. Spoilt brats, but I assure you their numbers are tiny and they are in the minority
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This is what I got from a mid level manager working in HK (he's from HK and based in HK, working for an HK company):
HKD$1,000 for electricity (summary => HKD$1400 per month and winter is => 600 per months)
HKD$200 for water
HKD$900 for management fee included waste management (trash)
HKD$138 for telephone
HKD$180 for internet
HKD$200 for cell phone
HKD$6,000 for groceries & dining out (food)
The above is for a normal family in Hong Kong, and does not included clothing, entertainment, toys, traveling, .... etc
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The phone, internet and cell phone figures quoted above sound pretty normal if you are a bit careful.
Our grocery and dining out figure is almost twice that with two young children.
Our electricity and water figures are twice as high, but that's also related to the size of the home.
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I am going to take my PhD from Chinese University of Hongkong.I will get a monthly stipend of 12800 to 13800HK$.I have to cover my tuition fee of 42100HK$ per annum from this stipend as well as hostel fee of 2300HK$ per month.Hostel fee include electricity and water bill.If I eat in CUHK campus it will not cost me more than 100 HK $ per day.Will it be possible for me to survive with this amount of stipend?And will it be possible to save some money to visit some places around(like parts of China) once or twice a year?If I visit than I have to carry half of the total cost.
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