Buzz
I agree with Los. The things that caught us short were the food costs and schooling. Food bill went up 4x what it cost us in US. We eat lots of fresh fruit and veg which is UBER expensive here. If your family can get by on frozen you will save a bundle. It depends how many kids you have 1-3 kids are covered by EK after that it's outta pocket. Most schools have a waiting list (some for years) so if you join mid term it may be hard to find them a spot in a school close to Meydan. I would start another thread once you are hired asking for school ideas. You can easily spend more than a months salary on schooling costs, uniforms and extra curricular activities (ECA's). Set aside 2000 dhs. per child per term for ECA's. I would budget 1000 dhs for uniforms per child. If you have very young ones, their first year of schooling is not covered. That cost is usually between 24,000 and 36,000 dhs. There is a cap on what EK will pay for schooling and you may find you are paying several thousand pounds outta pocket. Cars are cheap and the gas was. The pay check does dwindle a lot faster than you think it will. And gets smaller every year. Make a budget and stick to it. I think a lot of people here fall into the trap of buying a flash car and going to brunches and dinners every week. FO pay WILL NOT support that. If as los said you are looking for comfortable with no frills then it works. Good luck.