Hi new to this just wondering what thailand is like is it safe in places like phuket? few more questions?

Is it better to pay for rooms when you arrive there?
how much money you reccomend for a month?
how much excursions and that?
basically what do i need to know?

Thank you

I can get you started. First visit a library and borrow a couple travel guides on Thailand or purchase one. Those TG's are helpful for planning your trip. These travel guides go into visa requirements and currency information.

Most of Thailand is safe unless you routinely get falling down drunk and in that case even a fellow tourist would rob you! Millions and millions of tourists visit Thailand, many of them old women traveling alone! You do have to take normal precautions like you would traveling in a big city in your own country. Google check will give you some idea of scams to watch out for.

If you need a visa or not depends on the passport you plan on traveling with. From US, UK, Oz, NZ and many European countries you can enter visa exempt. This means you get 30 days free at the airport when you fly in. Other countries lesser amounts and perhaps even pay for a short visa. (If your airline is on the ball they even hand out the applications on the plane ride over.)
Thailand Visa Exemption : Passport Holder update

Start your holiday in Bangkok. Plan a few days in that city. Then head out to other areas like beaches. But try not to waste all of your holiday only at a beach. See if you can fit Chiang Mai/Northern Thailand into your schedule. End your holiday in Bangkok again. Some hotels located near the city rail service makes it easy to get around the city.
UrbanRail.Net > Asia > Thailand > Bangkok Metro

Kids often stay in the Khao San Road area of Bangkok (no rail service) with other young travelers. Other areas of Bangkok have cheap hotels too plus access to Skytrain. Sukhumvit Road is popular because of hotels in all price ranges, malls, street vendors, nightlife and Skytrain. Skytrain connects with the Airport Rail Service and with the subway. Also connects with Ekamai bus terminal.

Phuket, by the way is the most expensive place to visit in Thailand for hotels and local transportation. Bangkok and Chiang Mai are even cheaper. If you had an idea of traveling during the Christmas-New Years holidays - so do do many millions of other tourists. December and January get the most tourists of the entire year. But tourists do show up every month of the year. Even during the rainy season tourists still show up because the rain does not fall all over Thailand at the same time or same duration.
Rainy Season in Thailand

Wait until you get to Thailand to change any currency over to Thai baht. Money exchanges run by banks are available at the airport 24 hours a day. Many of the major cities in Thailand have banks that can change money 7 days a week, even late into the evening in Bangkok and Pattaya.

Paying for rooms when you arrive depends on high season or low season. If you arrive during the middle of the night have at least one room available. Then go hotel hunting in the morning. Arriving during Christmas/New Years holidays book ahead. Low season you can get a hotel with a walk in but you should ask for hotel recommendations in your price range.

How much money you bring depends on how you spend money. There are backpacker kids that get by sleeping in crappy places and eating cheap food off the street and there are more wealthy travelers that only stay in good places and eat in pricey restaurants. Up to you!

Plan a budget out, figure out how much you can afford per day for hotels and entertainment and travel after you pay for your plane ticket. Booking round trip to Bangkok is usually cheaper than 2 one way flights. Local connecting flights in Thailand are cheap.

Christmas and New Years holidays are also the most expensive for hotels and plane tickets. Off season hotel prices are pretty good. Plan your budget out and see how much you can afford and then plan that trip for what you can pay for. Visit a local travel agency and ask when the best time of year for cheap travel to Asia is from your country (whatever it is.) Christmas travel and hotels in Thailand are often at peak prices unless you are coming in from Laos or Singapore.

In Thailand you can sign up for tours through local travel agencies. They will have a list of available tours that you pay for. Tour company picks you up at your hotel and returns you there at the end of the ride. The turn-around for tours is pretty fast. Sometimes get the tour in the morning and leave the same afternoon or evening. Usually find a tour one day and leave following morning.

Doing a quick Google check will give you some answers quickly.

Good luck.