Originally Posted by
Airdancer
Ok let's be honest:
I live in company accommodation. So this is what I pay:
625 AED for internet/tv/tel from etisalat(This is the cheapest option with internet boost)
I shop once a month at carrefour and buy most of my stuff on offer. Roughly 800 AED per trip.
I eat out once a week or visit a cinema to keep the missus happy. Let's say around 500 AED.
We both have a phone bill which comes roughly at a 1000 AED for both. She has a simple one, I got the expensive one.
I have no maid, I don't hire cleaners.
I have a car but did not take a loan from EK. Very simple ford fiesta and pay 1625 per year so let's say 135 AED per month.
I don't drive it only that once a month as I'm situated very nicely close to the metro. Make it 200 AED per month for fuel which is very drastic.
My wife uses the metro a lot (gold card) but doesn't go over 200 AED per month.
Most of my shopping is done overseas with EK money. I do freighter a lot so that means we get nice allowances (zaragoza, hmmmmm).
I have never gone over my elec/ac usage. We have the AC on in all rooms 24/7 but do turn off the lights of course.
So that's 3525 per month spending on necessities. I put in my 5% each month meaning I end up with (80h per month) 28000 AED. Take 3500 away, 24500 AED.
Guess what. I send 20k home easily and keep around 2-5k AED in my bank for emergencies.
It's really not hard if you act like you were acting before coming to dubai. Unfortunately people take loans to buy big fancy cars, Do up the house or garden and take several maids. Yes I don't have kids and not planning to. I'm here to make money, not to build a family.
With a wife and a 6yo, we spend 1603aed on "necessities", so we save 51312aed and 12 fils every month . We live under the tree next to Airdancer's.