entitlement??
 

I'm sorry i must have missed something.... u r complaining about paying a few direct fees in return for services in a country with NO INCOME TAX???? Do you believe that it's your right to be brought in from wherever you came from to live like a king in the Gulf without any burden on yourself? Who is the ENTITLED one, I wonder???

Specific costs
 

I'll be attending a first office interview soon and the cost of life is one of my concerning about moving. I' married with two kid on primary school.

Could any one be more specific regard the total basic costs?

Groceries
Gas
School
Internet/phone/skype
Dressing
Homemade
Car insurance

This will help a lot of guy like me that are looking to join Emirates!

Thanks a lot!!!

+20% school fees the past 2 years,
Big inflation, shopping cart cost increased, Activities out of price.
I couldn't imagine if the EPC was not there!

Salaries are not following Dubai inflation.
Today, for me, no more savings... we have to consider now other options!
But it is just my personal case...

Groceries: 4 people cost me an average of 5-7000 aed / months
Gas: None, paid by the company if company accommodation provided. If you chose the house allowance....
School: It depends of the school. EK participates widely to the cost, but the school fees are so expensive, it cost me an average of 1000 aed / month, salary deduction
Internet/phone: basic elife at 299 aed/month, +++ depends of your needs
Skype: needs a VPN
Dressing: depends of you and your family, I dress for a cheap price, but cheap quality, no choices!
Homemade: ? do you mean maid? = 1000 to 3000+/month
Car insurance: depends of your car... an average 4x4 = 3-5000 aed/year

Mobile phone: basic prepaid plan at 100 aed, no internet... an average plan is around 400 aed/month

+ UAE ID (370/soul) + Salik + Car renewal + multiple knowledge fees at 10aed ;-)

+ Does your wife want to work?
+ what are your kids' activities, this is the most costly part of life here, any single activity is! Soccer, 15-3000 aed /term, Swim - same, Music activities = 1000/month, private tuition is very costly too!!!

Seriously, the cost of life has increased a lot... Salaries didn't... I am not saving anymore money...
I would suggest you to go online and compare the price of your own groceries (Carrefour.ae is a good start)

Good luck!

Groceries

Monthly groceries around 5000 for three adults including maid and two kids


Gas

I guess you mean petrol. Costs me 100 dirhams to fill a 60 litre tank.


School

This one is influenced by where. My kids are at Dubai International Academy and we pay 8000/month for the two. If you were to pay at say Dubai American Academy it is more like 11000/ month for two.


Internet/phone/skype

Du premier plus as well as a pinoy plus box for the maid, home line and 8meg internet is about 650/month. It is more now. Tip for those who have not done so, call Du and tell them you want your old price. They will have someone call you back within 3 days and try and talk you out of it but you won't catch the price increase.

Mobile phone if you bring your own, blackberry, 200 minutes 500mb data 99 dirhams and iPhone the same but 1gig data

Don't use skype often but it is free for computer to computer. Install it and a VPN before you come. Put the files on a flash drive to reinstall. Set up your iTunes account in your home country too.

Dressing

All ends of the spectrum. LuLu hypermarket way cheap all the way to 4000! Dirham t shirts at the usual suspects. No more expensive than the US.


Homemade

Sounds like auto correct but if you do mean maid, anywhere from 600 if you hire from certain countries and up. An agency maid will be about 2800 a month. I have a Phillipino that we pay 2200 as well as her yearly flight and visa/medical costs. All up about 3000 per month plus food. You get good ones and bad ones. Ours is exceptional and have employed her for years. Hire one with family in the country. They are a little more motivated.

Car insurance

Doing that as we speak. A 3 year old Pajero is 1400/ month. All depends on what you buy. 4% of value is pretty close. Some cars are a different category and cost more.


The extras are up to you. EPC is a must if you use the gym and don't have one at your accommodation. Great for golf and bars/restaurants. It is easy to get into the bar and brunch money pit without realising. The local booze shops MMI have a discount for EPC too. The premiums are charged for anything 'western' like sports teams, personal anything or anything remotely exclusive. Whatever pastimes you have, you can do them here if you are prepared to seek out the right groups of people who have worked out how to do it cheaply.

Drive what ever you drove, wear what you used to wear and do what you used to do in your country and unless you are from somewhere buzz are, it won't cost you any more. The trap is getting involved with the hype.

Dubai top ranked lfestyle destination!
 

Dubai ranked top for quality of life in new study | GulfNews.com

"Still, Dubai beats Geneva (47), Miami (48), San Francisco (55), Barcelona (57), Rome (72) and Kuala Lampur (77).":ok:

New
 

Varmint. Keep whining please, it's very educational for "newbies" like myself.

What would be more interesting than the result is to find out who have been participating to the survey ?
Don't forget that the big majority of the people in Dubai comes from India , Philippines etc...
So if you have asked these people , then I understand the result but if you have asked Europeans I doubt the result would be the same...

Are you being screwed or is it a typo? My 3 year old Patrol was 4800 for the year when I just renewed it...

Actually; apart from Salik (but I just use Al Khail now instead of SZ Rd) the motoring costs are about the lowest cost of the 'lifestyle basket' here in Dubai. BUT everything else is bl00dy expensive and EK has not maintained the salaries in line with inflation!!!

OzoneAddict: Not sure which stats you're looking at? but according to the Full 2012 REPORT, Dubai sits at number 73... and above it are: Geneva (8 ), San Francisco (29, equal with Paris & Adelaide), Barcelona (40), Rome (52), Miami (66).

So, no. Dubai is not a veritable paradise on earth for quality of living !

See also: Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living survey and from which you'll note that Dubai isn't even listed in the top 50... keep on drinking the Kool-aid mate !

White night, should have read 1400/year. 1480 to be more accurate. Axa are criminals. The renewal came out with 1700 on it. Checked online and 1480. They do it every year.

Thanks, I really appreciate the information provided!!!

Old King Coal & OzoneAddict....

Are you two lacking in your reading skills??? The first line says... Dubai ranks highest in the Middle East. Obviously, they survey clearly was not trying to compare Dubai with the rest of civilized society.

I'll have to admit..when the article made the comparison with the rest of the world, out-ranking such renown cities around the globe, I think the author was trying to be facetious.

Even the locals know the term, Location, Location, Location....and Dubai is not it!!!!:yuk: I'm quite sure, the people they surveyed were people from the middle east.

av8tordude: Yes indeed one can read, wherein I concur that (aside from a somewhat hype'd GulfNews headline) the actual GulfNews news article reports as much about Dubai's global ranking (i.e. as Dubai being #1 in the Middle East only); but that's not what OzoneA wrote (facetious or not), is it?

And, if it is facetious, then it is very subtly so, and therein could readily be misconstrued as putting Dubai in a higher place on the list than it actually is in reality (and you'll note that no mention of Dubai's actual position on the list was made within OzoneA's post... and therein I'd invite YOU to read his post again).

http://aero.kicks-ass.net/images/PPR...dict_wrote.png

Accordingly, to get the true picture (which is particularly important for our fellow aviators whom might be thinking of relocating to the sandpit), one must actually read and corroborate the original GulfNews article and / or actually read the original report by Mercer's.

For the avoidance of doubt (and as OzoneAddict didn't mention it), in the global ranking, for 'Quality of Living', Dubai is #73.... and for you specifically av8tordude, Qatar is #106. :E

For a family of four, household costs in a Dubai are about double for the same standard of living in the UK. Financially, it takes about 2 years to get on an even keel if you need two cars, furniture, etc and I am talking about modest but new Jap cars and Ikea! If one is resolute and doesn't get too carried away in the malls, on FZ FO pay there should be should be about 1 - 2k GBP to transfer back to the UK each month.

A Brit using the Kool-aid phrase! Proof positive there are too many yanks in FZ :E

Non EK, Married with 3 kids.

Housing: Mirdiff AED 11,000/month (4 Bedroom compound villa with pool)
Electric/water: Summer months AED 2500/month. Average around AED 1600
Phone: Elife and land line--Around AED 600/month
Cellphone: AED 300/month
Car Insurance: 10 year old car, AED 70/month
Grocery: AED 5000/month
School: AED 5000/month for each child IB School Mirdiff (company pays part of it).
School Unforms: Around AED 2000 each school year
Extra School activities--EXPENSIVE!! Depends on activity
Gas-- AED 100 to fill up. Average AED 400/month
Maid Service: Once a week AED 600/month
Eating out: Fast food for family around AED 60, anything higher around AED 300, while fine dining can be over AED 1000 per meal for 5.

So would you say someone starting with EK on FO pay, taking the company accommodation with a wife and two young kids would be comfortable or find it a squeeze to live month to month?

Thanks

IMHO don't go mad in the malls or at brunch and you will be able to save. At the same time don't live like a hermit otherwise you will hate the place and drag everybody else, including the people you fly with, down with you.

South Coast, I am married, with 3 kids, and it is easy to save and we are very happy. But we came from the states where I took a 60% pay cut, so we just about tripled our income overnight coming out to a Dubai. You can certainly do well out here, just set a budget and understand there are a bunch of hidden costs when you come out. That, and you might spend your first months salary on passport photos.

@nosewheelfirst

Well said..!:ok: