Cost of Living with Budget Planning in Malaysia for Expat Indians

Hi friends, welcome back

Planning is very important. It is not only applicable in work or tasks but much important in finance. Because, earning is hard and spending is easy.  In this post I want to share completely my personal thoughts about budget planning to live best in Malaysia. My post completely related to middle class people who occupy major percent of our society.

In general any expat from India comes to overseas to make some extra money than from his/her native country.  It might not be case with everyone but it is true with most of the people. So, one should able to save some amount which is more than what one saves in his/her home country. Then only there is a meaning to live in other country leaving all your relations far. So I strongly feel having a good plan for our spending over earning is very important. By implementing this plan you can save more than expected.

Okey! Now I go into the detailed picture. I want to discuss the living scenario for three categories of people.

Budget

• 1.       Bachelors
• 2.      Married couple with no kids and wife not working
• 3.      Married couple with 1 or 2 kids and wife not working. 

Accommodation:  

House rent is the major part in monthly expenses. In Malaysia house rents are a bit high compared to India. But it is completely subjective. As the table shows in my previous post, a single bed room apartment will comes around RM 1500/- fully furnished with extra monthly bills. Below is the budget plan J

Options for Bachelors:

Sharing a house. Yes. For bachelor person, one bed room flat, I feel it is waste. There are many condominiums which offer shared rooms. These rooms are fully furnished and the rental is included with utilities. If you opt to stay in Brickfields, Palmcourt Condominium is the famous apartment with lot of Indians. You can get small room with other facilities for RM 550/- per month. This is if you want to stay alone. You also get middle rooms which are shared with another bachelor. If you have any friend then you can share with him/her. In that case rent comes around RM 450/- per month. So option is yours.  Not only Palm Court Apartments, you can find many more cheap rooms in brickfields area.

 Options for Married Couple:  

 If you are married and want to stay with your wife then you can also go for shared house if you feel house rental is a burden. For a couple, master bed room is much convenient. So the other rooms like middle room and small room are shared with others. This type of master rooms are available RM 1100/- per month with utilities.  If you are newly married and don’t want others to be shared in your house, the you can find some apartments which are cheaper around RM 1000/- per month but you have to bare other expenses like utilities etc separately.

Married couple with 2 kids and wife not working:

For families sharing might not be convenient.  If the children are school going then it is good to take two bed room apartments. If you really don’t expect a lot luxury house then you can easily get a furnished house for RM 1800/- per month. If you want to plan a bit then semi furnished apartment also available for RM 1400/-. Again option is yours.

Summary of budget accommodation goes here:

Category of people	House Type	Rent (RM) per month
Bachelor	Small Room	550/- (Including utilities)
Bachelor	Middle room shred with friend	450/- (Including utilities)
Married Couple	Shared house with Master Bed Room	1100/- (Including utilities)
Married Couple	Semi furnished one bed room flat	1200/- (Utilities extra)
Married Couple with Children	Semi furnished two bed room flat	1400/- (Utilities extra)
Married Couple with Children	Fully furnished two bed room flat	1800/- (Utilities extra)

I will continue about the budget food planning in my next post.. Hope the information helpful. If you have any comments or queries please post here.

Cost of Living in Malaysia for Expats

Hi Friends... Hope you are doing fine.

I have come across many blogs and forums which discuss about cost of living. So here I want to share cost of living in Malaysia for Indians. Don’t feel bad if I mention for Indians.  Most of my friends are from India, so I take inputs from them so that I can give the accurate information for you.

If you are really looking for the cost of different items/housing etc., then below is a brief idea. This post contains the information taken from other sites. Most of the forums and sites say that you need to have minimum of RM 15,000/- per month to lead a good life. Mmm true. Just have a look on the below table. For more information you can visit the below sites too.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=Malaysia&city=Kuala+Lumpur

http://www.joy-stay.com/CostofLiving.html#anchor_1996

I want to tell budget planning stay in Malaysia. Don’t forget to read Budget Planning post to know exact situation on Cost of Living in Malaysia.

Rent Per Month
Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre	2,100.00 RM
Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre	1,300.00 RM
Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre	4,000.00 RM
Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre	2,000.00 RM
Restaurants
Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant	8.00 RM
Meal for 2, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course	50.00 RM
Combo Meal at McDonalds or Similar	11.12 RM
Domestic Beer (0.5 liter draught)	10.00 RM
Imported Beer (0.33 liter bottle)	12.00 RM
Cappuccino (regular)	8.50 RM
Coke/Pepsi (0.33 liter bottle)	2.00 RM
Water (0.33 liter bottle)	1.50 RM
Markets
Milk (regular), 1 liter	5.50 RM
Loaf of Fresh White Bread (500g)	3.00 RM
Rice (1kg)	4.00 RM
Eggs (12)	4.75 RM
Local Cheese (1kg)	35.00 RM
Chicken Breasts (Boneless, Skinless), (1kg)	12.00 RM
Apples (1kg)	8.00 RM
Oranges (1kg)	9.00 RM
Tomato (1kg)	3.82 RM
Potato (1kg)	3.00 RM
Lettuce (1 head)	3.00 RM
Water (1.5 liter bottle)	2.50 RM
Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range)	50.00 RM
Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle)	8.00 RM
Imported Beer (0.33 liter bottle)	12.00 RM
Pack of Cigarettes (Marlboro)	10.00 RM
Transportation
One-way Ticket (Local Transport)	2.00 RM
Monthly Pass (Regular Price)	100.00 RM
Taxi Start (Normal Tariff)	3.00 RM
Taxi 1km (Normal Tariff)	1.00 RM
Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff)	25.00 RM
Gasoline (1 liter)	1.90 RM
Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car)	148,888.00 RM
Utilities (Monthly)
Basic (Electricity, Heating, Water, Garbage) for 85m2 Apartment	150.00 RM
1 min. of Prepaid Mobile Tariff Local (No Discounts or Plans)	0.30 RM
Internet (6 Mbps, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL)	150.00 RM
Sports And Leisure
Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult	170.00 RM
Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend)	25.00 RM
Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat	12.00 RM
Clothing And Shoes
1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar)	250.00 RM
1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M, ...)	200.00 RM
1 Pair of Nike Shoes	300.00 RM
1 Pair of Men Leather Shoes	250.00 RM
Buy Apartment Price
Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment in City Centre	8,611.13 RM
Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre	4,305.56 RM
Salaries And Financing
Median Monthly Disposable Salary (After Tax)	4,000.00 RM
Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly	5.00

By the above detailed list, you can find how much salary you should get to survive happily in Malaysia. This is not my main post actually.