Salary in Dubai

We set ourselves a budget of 3000AED a week, which is 13,000 a month. Accommodation is paid for but we pay all other bills. There are only 2 of us but our budget is sufficient for all our groceries, meals out and general socialising. I don't work so have plenty of time to meet friends for coffee, lunch and shopping all within budget. Your husband's tax free salary is way above the average U.K. salary, and your housing here is paid for which it wouldn't be back there.

Hi there DaisyDuke - The short answer is yes and no...It's all relative to what you make and what you can afford, just like any other place in the world: make more spend more; make less spend less. For us, (just my hubby and me) we are American so no matter what we "make" we must pay 45% back to the US in taxes. Others here keep what they make 100%. So that's a bonus for most expats. That said, we are compensated very well working here because cost of living/housing is much higher. Our housing including all utilies and his work vehicle/gas is paid for. But I can say this with all honesty (and not to sound snotty because I am far from that) but rather to make a point about spending. We don't budget at all. We eat out when and where we want, I take Pilates classes and shop the malls whenever I feel like it. We shop at all the local groceries, usually whatever store happens to be convenient at the time we are out. We go on movie dates, coffee dates, Girls/Boys night out and take mini vacations to RAK or do staycations every once in awhile. And I don't work. Adding up all of those things, when I looked at our monthly average spending here, it equated to roughly 5k USD per month (18,000 aed). That may be a lot to some people but not a lot to others. Again, it's all relative. But since you are asking "is 6k aed too much or alot to spend on food" with such a varied group of expats on the site, you are no doubt going to get a bunch of varied responses, depending on their own circumstances. So my response goes like this: I personally don't see why you cannot live off of 19k aed per month, when your housing is also covered. Unless you have high monthly vehicle expenses and high utilities and other expenses, then perhaps it could be a stretch. And yes, throw in school fees down the road like others mentioned and its gonna be very tight. But again, my response comes strictly from using our spending as a comparison, knowing we live a very comfortable life on 18k aed per month. Maybe you just need to track your overall spending for a few months to see where it all goes and what is important to keep and what can be cut back. Nobody but you and your hubby can figure that out. In the end, it may not be worth it financially to stay in Dubai if you are counting dihrams at each months' end. . Good luck to your family.

Hi Daisyduke If you are looking for an admin position and it’s lowly paid, you might as well economise on child care and food. Do you go to Mothers and Toddlers at the nearest Coffee Mornings organised by ExpatWoman? How about experimenting with different ways of cooking and trying out sauces and herbs? Cook a large meal, divide it up for say two or three meals. Then freeze it. That way, it not only saves you money, it saves you time as well. Start small and see how you get on. You never know, after a while, you will be in the kitchen cooking up a storm! For two of us, we spend around 1000 AED a week, excluding wine. Sometimes a wee bit less. We don’t go out to eat, unless it is for a special occasion. We head to two supermarkets weekly: Carrefour and Spinneys. Carrefour is within our building here so that’s easy. There is no delicatessen for fresh mixed salad or a pork section but there is some good stuff there. Very small section on organic vegetables. I don’t buy all things organic though. Regular foods we get from Spinneys are Innocent, green vegetable and mixed berries juices, large punnets of blueberries and multigrain bread. Just fussy, I guess.

19K is more than enough, even with a child. One child is not so expensive. I feel bad busgeting will force you back to work. It is fine to spend 10K on groeries... 20K... 30K... IF that is your budget. Setting slightly over half your income on geoceries tells me that you are setting whatever you want and not budgeting at all. There are many mum budget sites with helful tips, including using water and face washers rather than the more expensive, less earth friendly wipes. If you buy pampers from Life Pharmacy they are cheaper and there are often deals on. Shop at coop and get a tamaywz card for more aavings. Recwption work these days is more like 6k a month or 10k if you have BBA. You can save as much as youf make allowing you to sray home with your child.

If it's 6,000 dhs a month on groceries and stuff like diapers and whatever you buy in the grocery shop, I think it's a bit high, that's 200 dhs a day - the Friday lunch.

We are family of 4 and a dog and we spend around 5000. Mostly I'm shopping in spinneys and geant, ones a month in organic shop. I'm buying mostly organic, no hormones, local (vegetables) australian, NL, European food. We are very picky about buying food. But on the other hand I'm cooking every day from scratch and we rarely eat outside- here we spend a lot. 6000 or even 9000 WOW realy don't know what are you buying?

Hello, Would like some information I don't want to know salary but do you think a family of 3 ( mum, dad and a 1 year old) and a dog. Do you think a salary of 19,000 dhs is liveable in Dubai? Company provides house but we need to pay for all bills etc. My husband and I have been talking and I we really don't think we can afford to be in Dubai anymore I'm a stay at home mum, we don't have any part time help I do all the cleaning etc myself. We are British expat I'm just wondering if this salary is low, average in Dubai. tia Daisyduke, i agree with the other posters about the 6000 on grocery being high. I think that money could cover both nursery fees as well as grocery. The below are a few tips that i follow: - Nappies: i buy them in bulk (2 megapacks at a time) from Souq.com, that way they are much cheaper than supermarkets. - Wipes: sometimes they have 50% off for a pack of 6 at carrefour or coop, whenever i see that offer i buy like 2 or 3 packs, which should be enough till they go on sale again. - Baby formula: i buy the biggest tins from carrefour as you get more for your money. - Detergents: i am not loyal to any brand, i buy in bulk whenever i find a 50% off or buy 1 get one free offer, same goes for the washing machine gel. I don't save on food, however i buy what i am sure we will consume so that we don't end up wasting some. Also buy more meat from carrefour, their family packs are convenient and cheaper than other places.

I would look at what you are buying for 6000! My weekly food shop is 600 max so less than 2400 although that is for two of us. Co-op, Lulu and Geant are great for bulk buying every now and then. I don't go to Spinneys or Waitrose as they are too expensive.

It is do-able until school hits then going to be tight. However by then you could likely get a job and pay for the schooling. 6000 for food does seem a lot- honestly I now do 90%of shopping at Co=op and the savings over Spinneys is ridiculous- the same Australian sweet potatoes are around 9 dhs/kg at Co-op and between 19 -23 dhs /kg at Spinneys, depending on the day/how greedy they are feeling.

Yes of course you can survive on 19,000 Aed/month. You don't even need to pay rent. However it will get more difficult when you child starts school. The school fees are quite high.

Thank you. He is in sales yes we have been here for 3 years but now we are finding that we are not saving, most of his salary goes on food our grocery shopping is 6,000 aed do you think this is normal I think it's way to high but my friend says her is 9,000 so I think we are doing good 6000 WOW what do you buy? I would write down a weekly list of what you spend your money on. Little things like buying coffees during the day or lunches can add up.

I guess you can manage if the house is paid for. Once your child starts school, I think it too tough. You can't say if it's low or not as it doesn't state what job your husband does.