Shanghai Expat Salary, the most global city in China; houses thousands of English instructors. Working and residing in China as an English instructor is a beneficial experience. You’ll be able to earn money, take a trip to the world, and if planned correctly, you’ll have the ability to conserve money too.
Understanding the Shanghai Expat Salary
If you have gotten a placement to teach English in Shanghai, your wage as a teacher in China will go a long way due to the low cost of living in the nation. Furthermore, as a foreign instructor, you’ll have a variety of advantages used to you by the company such as free airfare, paid holidays, and professional advancement opportunities.
If you have been thinking about teaching English in China, especially as a fresh university graduate, ideally these pointers on conserving money and living on a spending plan throughout your remaining in China will go a long way!
Consume Local Chinese Foods
Investing sensibly with a moderate lifestyle in Shanghai (and China in general) will leave you a generous bank account as the months roll in and out. Your expense in food can be reduced by restricting the rate at which you buy western foods as compared to the local Chinese food. For example, you’re looking to spend anywhere from 100-200RMB per person at a western dining establishment in Shanghai (which’s for one night)! Take that 100-200RMB (about 15-30 USD) and invest it at your local fresh foods market. Oats, veggies, and fruits are low-cost– and not to mention, healthy too! A 500g bag of quick-cooking oats (40RMB), carrots/celery/peppers (25RMB), strawberries/bananas/oranges (55RMB) will amount to 120RMB (17 USD). This will last you the whole week and is more affordable than the one western meal you had at Papa John’s.
If you do not like to bring in your food and eat at work, don’t stress, as the local Chinese dining establishments are not expensive and will not break the bank. You can select family design meals and get them shared amongst good friends with an equal share of the expense. 6 dishes of meat, veggies, and noodles can come to about 300RMB (44USD). Divide that between you and your 3 friends from work, and you’ll leave with a complete belly and full wallet; at 75RMB (11USD) per person!
Take Advantage Of Bike Share And Public Transportation
The amount of money invested in transport can be significantly cut per day when you quit the high-end of taking a Didi taxi to your workplace and back every day. An option for taxis is the bike share you’ll see on the side of the road. Popular business in Shanghai is MoBike and OFO. Take out your phone, scan the QR code on the bike, and you can be off in your rent-a-bike in under a minute. Every 30 minutes you invest in the bike, this will cost you 1RMB (about 0.15 USD). These bikes are all over– so there’s no reason for choosing a MoBike versus entering into a Didi.
The Shanghai train system is a dream– especially for those coming from other large cities like London or New York City. The Shanghai train is clean, simple to navigate with the color-coded lines, and best of all, it’s inexpensive! My commute was 30-minutes door-to-door and the metro was 20-minutes long. This one-way commute cost me 4RMB (0.50 USD). If you think of just how much I invest in one month for travelling expenses– it comes to about 160RMB (or 23.50 USD)! How much cash do you invest in auto gas in one month alone? Not to mention; insurance and cars and truck upkeep fees.
Go with Roommates in Your First Year
Rent costs are constantly increasing, and just like most huge cities, Shanghai is not to be left out of this phenomenon. If you have 2 other roommates, you’ll have the ability to live conveniently; without breaking the bank.
You can also get household essentials from pre-owned WeChat groups to significantly decrease your housing expenditure instead of investing your life savings on buying sets of brand-new glasses, plates, and utensils. Oftentimes, other expats will remain in these groups and will be leaving town, so they’ll give upwards of 50-70% off of original list price for quality products.
Invest Minimally On Entertainment
If you want to take a trip beyond Shanghai, you can do so on a budget! Travel off-season to make the most of cheap train tickets to close-by cities in China.
Although Shanghai has actually been known to have a higher expense of living than most cities in China because it’s the most urbane city, it is still possible to invest minimally and save cash with these pointers on how to cut expenses residing in Shanghai.