IndieOz | ExpatWoman.com
 

IndieOz

12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 30 April 2019 - 03:15
Sorry, hadn't logged in a long time. Sorry, have no idea about movers in Melbourne. @doublestar, you're probably already in Melbourne, wish there was a way to message privately.. I think PM's are disabled on this site?
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 29 February 2016 - 00:33
You can find all the information that you need about this collapsed fund here: http://www.kordamentha.com/creditor-information/australia/109
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 20 February 2016 - 13:52
We've always had part time maids. 6 over 13 years. Here's what I did: 1. I used to advertise in the free classifieds for a part time maid on their husband's visa, not maids on what used to be called "free visa" (that is sponsored by an ar$eh01e 1oca1 who was then paid a fat fee by the poor maid to "release" them to work wherever they wished). Make sure you verify this by checking their original passport. 2. I paid around AED 1300 for very light work - it was mainly light household work - dishes, dusting, mopping cleaning (a large 2 bedroom apartment), laundry etc. They lived close by. But if you're living in one of those gated communities then you'd probably have to pay for their transport as well. 3. I hired a cook (on my neighbour's visa who allowed him to work in a couple of other houses to make some extra money) who worked for an hour and I paid him AED 500 per month. 4. Remember, most maids will NEVER do the work to your satisfaction. So you have to lower your expectations, if not, consider doing it yourself. Which is the reason I am so happy doing all this work myself now. I feel liberated....ha ha. This was not an option when I was working full time. I am so much better at this than all maids every employed by me!!
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 20 February 2016 - 13:04
Hi Everyone. Wondering what the going rate is now for a gardener coming every day to water pots. I don't have any grass,so it's front and back areas quite small. With thanks! You don't need a gardener just to water pots :) Any house/domestic helper can do the job?
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 February 2016 - 11:59
dxb2oz at yahoo dot com
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 14 February 2016 - 23:52
Hi Comp99, Of course, happy to help. I have also posted a thread on the Aussie forum on this site: http://www.expatwoman.com/forum/topic240777-advice-for-expats-contemplating-on-moving-to-melbourne-.aspx So please feel free to ask me any thing at all.
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 14 February 2016 - 02:11
I'll be very honest about what we felt about living in Dubai and share my thoughts. These are my personal views and perhaps not many would agree with them, which is fine. To each his own. Our ideas of a good lifestyle could be very different. If by lifestyle you mean being able to achieve purely materialistic pleasures - frequenting gazillion malls and buying designer stuff or whatever you want because you can afford paying silly prices, brunches in fancy restaurants, driving 4x4s/Mercs/BMWs, travelling and staying in 5 star hotels on holidays, being a social butterfly etc etc then by all means Dubai is the place for you. This lifestyle is fickle and is to be enjoyed as long as you have that income to support it. But don't live under the delusion that Dubai is your permanent home. There is nothing remotely permanent about Dubai. You're there as long as you have a visa (through employment or the 2 year renewable property visa) and can afford to live there. Lose one of them and you have to move on. Dubai could never ever be home (in the true sense) to us as expatriates whatever you may like to think. So if you're living in Dubai on a high income and solely to live the above lifestyle with no focus on saving money to secure a comfortable future then you're doing wrong imho. Pure and simple. For us Dubai was just a place to save a ton of money and get the **** out thereafter. It took us 15 years to achieve our dreams when we finally left Dubai (for Melbourne). Our income now is a fraction (and I mean a tiny one at that as I stopped working at 42!) of what it used to be in Dubai. But our lifestyle now is unimaginably better in every respect than it ever was in Dubai. We are SAHP (parents), hubby works from home. We would need an income of over a million dirhams just to live in a similar type of house/suburb and pay for my children's education. So if I were you, I would continue living in Dubai/AD (you're both young and earning a high income) and SAVE like crazy, at least 50-60% of your income. Save enough to be able to buy a nice house and live mortgage free with a modest income to supplement your employment income and having done that move to UK/Australia/NZ/Canada or wherever you can get a permanent visa and a passport.
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 13 February 2016 - 15:14
No idea how it is now. Use the search function, am sure there must be several threads on this topic :) PS: Congratulations :)
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 13 February 2016 - 13:40
I have no maid problems at all cause I do everything myself here in Melbourne. Cooking, cleaning, sweeping, mopping, gardening and what have you... :-D No more than 2 hours a day. You should try it ;-) And I love gardening, so can spend up to 3 hours somteimes, pottering in my garden.
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 13 February 2016 - 11:05
Would your employer cover you for maternity (and more importantly are they aware that you are pregnant?). Without private health cover for pregnancy, it can get very expensive if you decide to go the private route. My youngest was born in American Hospital in 2003. It was a normal delivery with epidural and from memory it cost me around AED 12k for a 2 night stay. Guess it will cost 4x times as much now? Check hospital websites to get an idea of what your costs might be. Or else you could go to Dubai Hospital/other Govt. hospitals (they would be less expensive, I guess)
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 13 February 2016 - 10:59
Speaking of bad dentists - I would avoid Dr Joy's dental clinic (can't believe he has 4 clinics now, business must be roaring). My daughter had to have braces fitted in Australia again, 3 years after completing her orthodontic treatment by Dr Joy. The retainers provided by him were useless and her bottom teeth started to jut out a bit again. And every bridge and veneer work done on my husband by Dr Joy and his team has either fallen off or given my husband a lot of pain and grief.
12
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 13 February 2016 - 10:47
Hope this helps. http://bettereducation.com.au/school/secondary/nsw/sydney_top_government_secondary_schools.aspx