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Household budget - please comment :)

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2362

Posts

EW EXPERT

Latest post on 12 May 2015 - 10:37

very detailed budget, well done! i should show this to my husband, he will think i am the queen of saving :) our budget is nowhere near this big. we pay everything ourselves with no support from employers. some thoughts below: School fees 75,000 per child - this is very high for primary. 30-40k will get a you a good primary school. Telephone, TV, broadband: 2,000 - don't bother connecting the TV! it's dire here. you just need internet. Mobile phone: 500 i've never spent more than 200 a month on my mobile. Gardener - allow 300-400 for this.

8

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 10 May 2015 - 23:40

Hi Frazzled (hopefully less frazzled after the weekend!) Thanks for the comments. I'm preferring to get a place without a pool, honestly I think it would be more nerve-wracking than anything with the kids. Maybe in a few years when I am less worried. The garden is a good point though! How much do people usually spend on a gardener? I'm hoping not to get anything too high maintenance. Is it possible to keep grass green through the year without spending a fortune on water ? We don't have any pets at the moment, my husband wants a dog but I don't! Hi rawla, thank you for your reply. I'll take another look at those things. We tend to entertain guests often if it helps to understand my situation! So many things to think about, my checklist is becoming a check book :D Thanks to all of you for your advice. You are all really most kind to spend time helping an unknown person on the internet!

260

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 10 May 2015 - 19:21

A few extras to think about: If you have a pool with your villa, you should at least double your water & electricity estimate, and include pool maintenance fees. Garden - are you doing this yourself? Most people don't, so have to factor in garden maintenance as well. Will you be getting any pets? Good luck with your move.

15

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 10 May 2015 - 16:37

Hello everyone! We're moving soon and I am preparing a household budget for when we arrive in Dubai. The hope is a 4-5 bedroom place in either The Lakes or Arabian Ranches (depending on which school the kids are finally confirmed at). We have 3 children ages 4, 6 and 8. Here's the numbers we've put together for the first year. Comments much appreciated if these seem reasonable and realistic? Please let me know if you see something I've forgotten! [u'>[b'>Yearly costs:[/b'>[/u'> Rent 260,000 + 5% agent commission + 5% security deposit + 5% tax School fees 75,000 per child Home insurance 1,000 Car insurance 5,000 per car (plan is to buy 2 cars when we arrive) Flights home to Europe: 3500 per person per visit [u'>[b'>Monthly costs:[/b'>[/u'> Groceries 5,000 Cleaning services (visiting, not live-in): 3,500 Petrol: 1,000 Water & electricity: 3,000 Random household purchases: 1,000 Telephone, TV, broadband: 2,000 Mobile phone: 500 (for me, my husband gets his provided) Clothing: 500 per person Gym membership: 400 x 2 Entertainment (going out / staying in, including alcohol): 5500 Misc. cash: 2000 Many thanks in advance for any comments... Hi,I think your budget is pretty good, depending on your lifestyle you could even spent less. We live in a large 3br with a live in maid and 2 kids (6&2) and our spending is a lot less then what you budgeted for (on most things). If anyone told me I was to pay 75K/year for 4year old I'd consider home schooling :), Groceries are about right (generally a bit less but then you have party/Christmas/visitors and you go over easily so it balances out), cleaning services - a lot less there unless you want someone daily for xy hours (most companies are 35Dhs/h so even if you go 5 days/week/4h you are under 1000 with some tips. Petrol would really depend on what cars you'd drive and what distances (both me and my hubby drive big cars and we spent wee less then that (but don't drive far often so it will all come to that) Water and electricity- you might need to up that budget,especially during summer months Telephone,TV,internet- we have cable,house line and ok internet for some 350/month, I'd say 500 is more than enough in this category. Mobile-I ménage with under 200/month easy but don't work,we use Skype for most international and Whatsapp for most messages ... Clothing-500/month per person - are you planning to model the kids :biggrin: ? This really depends what brands are you used to wearing and how much you are used to spending on clothes but we are nowhere close to that amount (some months more but most months 100-200/month/person (mainly the kids,I go clothes shopping max 4 times a year including shoes...). Entertaining- you budgeted a lot but tht ll depends on your lifestyle... <em>edited by Visnakova on 10/05/2015</em>

405

Posts

EW EXPLORER

Latest post on 10 May 2015 - 08:02

I would second the petrol being a bit too low, especially if you end up living in AR. I would double that amount, but will depend on the cars you buy. Japanese cars with a small engine are very petrol efficient, while most 4x4s and bigger engine cars aren't. I would also factor in Salik, as that can really add up if you're doing school runs, your DH traveling to work, etc. You can use some of the cleaning budget towards this, because Dhs 3,500 is quite high unless you have a cleaner coming every day. Most places charge Dhs 40-45 per hour for 4 hours min, Clothes are also quite expensive in Dubai. Dis 500 won't go very far these days, unfortunately. One way around it is to shop online and use Shop & Ship to have things delivered. Other initial expenses (one offs) when you move here are deposits for DEWA (now Dhs 4,000), du (Dhs 1,000 I think!), bank fees (annual credit card fees, minimum bank balances, etc) depending on who you bank with, etc. Finally, house maintenance... In theory, your Landlord shoul pay this, however, in practice, often they do not so I would budget that as an unexpected expense that will crop up. You can always try an re-coup the costs from the LL, if they don't pay initially. Good luck with your move. Your preparations and planning will hold you in good stead :)

685

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 10 May 2015 - 02:23

If you are buying a new car most dealers offer free insurance for the first year. Otherwise, if you shop around for car insurance you can find full coverage for less than 5000 per car (unless you are planning to get a 2-door sports car, even if the engine isn't that big, the insurance will be high no matter where you purchase it from) I drive around a lot and fill my car with petrol every 2-3 days. I spend around 2000 dhs / month on petrol. You can also reduce your petrol bills by purchasing a car that uses special instead of super. You can also use skype for calling someone else's skype account, but it won't work for calling any telephone numbers. My tv/net/phone bill is a quarter of your estimate. But my mobile bill is more than your estimate. You can either use prepaid to monitor your spending, or get postpaid with a limit if you dont want to go way over that amount. For a 5 bedroom, a 3000 electricity/ water bill is possible if you are careful about not wasting water and you conserve electricity. Also the bills will be higher in the summer when all the acs are on.

553

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 09 May 2015 - 22:07

Skype is available here. I use whatsapp a lot as do many of my friends... Just make sure you factor in annual increases in school fees and rent. Our school will rise 7% this year and was the same last year. Seems like fairly realistic...food might be higher if you buy a lot of imported stuff and depending where you shop. If you don't buy a lot of imported food then will be fine. Kids activities are costly..most things are upwards of AED60 a session. Other activites have a yearly fee which can easily be AED1500 or higher. In some schools the year 6 trips for example are "compulsory" these can be over AED1000. Uniforms tend to be costly. <em>edited by Buddha on 09/05/2015</em>

8

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 09 May 2015 - 21:14

Thank you so much for your comments! And thank you Lolacat for your kind compliment :) I have made a note to add in something for uniforms and after school activities, I had forgotten about those. Apparently medical and dental will be fully covered for us without any payment from our side, or at least that's what the company says. Hi Silvstet - I made it a bit high because of all the family back home that we will want to stay in touch with every week, and I heard that Skype is banned over there. So I'm assuming we'll have to pay for lots of overseas phone charges - or is there a better way? Thanks Ilovechoos for your comments! We're expecting to go home twice a year (summer and xmas). I didn't say it in the first message but we have also budgeted 35,000 a year for a vacation. But another 100K on housing would really eat into our savings plan - we'll have to make sure to look into AR2!

277

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 09 May 2015 - 20:52

It looks good! I would add another 50-100k if you want a 4-5 bedroom in the Lakes or AR. Flights are usually a little more, and because your kids are in school you will be traveling in high season. So thats around 5000Dhs per person direct (or perhaps 4k on Qatar or Lufthansa etc) I would also add more to your travel fund, your in such a brilliant part of the world to travel, it would seem such a shame to just fly home once a year. Also the kids will have loads of holidays so your going to have to entertain them somehow. Good luck with your move! Edited to Add: AR2 is much cheaper than the original AR so you might get a great house in your budget! <em>edited by Ilovechoos on 09/05/2015</em>

2738

Posts

EW EXPERT

Latest post on 09 May 2015 - 20:35

Do you know you are the first poster I have ever seen put a pretty realistic family budget up. Yep that’s about right. After school activities would be one to add, membership/classes for you or DH as well. Electric could be more as Housing fee monthly is 5% of rent added in. Food will go up and down from that depending here you shop and how you eat. Uniforms for school is quite expensive at first and school shoes best to get from UK. Don’t forget medical and life insurance. Medical you quite often have to pay a certain amount (50dh eg) per visit and some dental as well is often not covered.

8

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 09 May 2015 - 20:15

Hello everyone! We're moving soon and I am preparing a household budget for when we arrive in Dubai. The hope is a 4-5 bedroom place in either The Lakes or Arabian Ranches (depending on which school the kids are finally confirmed at). We have 3 children ages 4, 6 and 8. Here's the numbers we've put together for the first year. Comments much appreciated if these seem reasonable and realistic? Please let me know if you see something I've forgotten! [u'>[b'>Yearly costs:[/b'>[/u'> Rent 260,000 + 5% agent commission + 5% security deposit + 5% tax School fees 75,000 per child Home insurance 1,000 Car insurance 5,000 per car (plan is to buy 2 cars when we arrive) Flights home to Europe: 3500 per person per visit [u'>[b'>Monthly costs:[/b'>[/u'> Groceries 5,000 Cleaning services (visiting, not live-in): 3,500 Petrol: 1,000 Water & electricity: 3,000 Random household purchases: 1,000 Telephone, TV, broadband: 2,000 Mobile phone: 500 (for me, my husband gets his provided) Clothing: 500 per person Gym membership: 400 x 2 Entertainment (going out / staying in, including alcohol): 5500 Misc. cash: 2000 Many thanks in advance for any comments...

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