MrsMonkey

Hi all
Loads of info about costs etc in Doha on here but not quite relevant to me so thought I'd ask again.

I will have a small salary of merely 9060Qrs per month, but accommodation, flights, bills, household furniture/equipment is all provided. My husband will be on about 11000 Qrs (so groceries, eating out, taxis etc will be shared costs).

I'm not a very expensive person - my interests are more a glass of wine in front of the TV at home than clubbing, shopping, partying or organised activities - but will I be struggling in Doha? And more importantly, will I be able to save anything each month? I'd like to put aside at least £300 a month for 2years.

Thanks for any me-specific info you can suggest. I'm bowled over by some of the salaries fellow Qatar-bound Brits are being offered; guess I should have been a banker not a teacher

mikeyboosh

You're not going to struggle to save money.

Much like the UK the biggest cost is accomodation/travel/furniture etc. I've been here just two weeks so I'm probably yet to find the bargains and smarter places to shop but so far I'm not too worried. Cars can be quite expensive if you plan to buy one, but I hear you can often pick up a bargain by getting one at the right timing as expats are looking to leave the country and offloading all of their things.

Food costs are about the same here, some things are more expensive (like vegetables and western brand groceries) but you can get things like fresh meat, tinned stuff, dairy products, household goods like cleaning products and toiletries - all pretty much the same price or cheaper than your average tesco shop. Eating out is also about the same price, possibly more expensive depending where you go.

Clearly you won't be able to buy a bottle of wine on your regular trip but you can get a alcohol permit and travel to the single place that sells alcohol (and pork!) for home consumption where you will pay about 50-75% extra what you'd be used to paying in the UK, sometimes more. Going out to drink is indeed very expensive, I paid 60qr (about £9-10) for a pint of guinness last week, admittedly in one of the more expensive places.

If you eat out maybe 1-2x a week, get a few taxi's a week, buy yourself a few comforts (clothes, decorations, housing stuff etc) and do a decent food/grocery shop, you won't be spending even £1k a month.

MrsMonkey

Thank you; very helpful

co durham boy

Your main costs are covered so you'll do fine as long as you just watch the budget .

Don't worry about too much about what other people get because it's only relative to your situation and plus there's an awful lot of bullshiters here with a champagne lifestyle and lemonade money .

MrsMonkey

Thank you!

I suppose you might say I've got a Vimto lifestyle and tea money...

co durham boy

You'll be fine , you'll actually be surprised at how many people are here in the same boat .

Forget about the big villas , maids and boys toys , that is actually a minority here but when you first come you see it as a majority because it's in your face , plus it usually means nowt , the real object of being here is what you walk away with because we all walk away eventually .

Only a very few people have money thrown at them here . The rest of us have to go out and earn it 6 days a week 12 hrs a day ...

Now where's that maid of mine with the Champagne....

mikeyboosh

It is definitely true that some expats get sucked into living the life, although all that often means is spending the money on overpriced cars, housing and drinking - which is what often gets them into debt in the UK!

co durham boy

Correctos , ive been doing this 20 years and stick to the basics and it's served me well and even then ive had some proper shit on blanket moments .

Venezuelan007

ID say with housing provided and those salaries, probably you'll save about 5kQR easy.

OriginalSunshine

Kids are expensive

You'll save money if you don't have kids

It's easy to get sucked in to a more expensive lifestyle than you intended, so get a direct debit set up at the bank so that each month, after pay day, you siphon off how much you want to save.

britexpat76

Russ_Sarah

I have been here for just over 3 weeks now and am beginning to find my feet..
So you say that between you and your hubby you would have 20k qar coming in and all your household bills are covered...
I would say that you could have a very comfortable lifestyle out here on that sort of money and you could probably saves lot more than 300 pounds per month...
There are loads of cheap and cheerful places where you can eat like a king here..Turkish, Indian, Lebanese etc etc...just today I had lunch with a friend in a Turkish restaurant and we had a feasts , kebabs bread salad and 2 cokes each and the bill for both of us was 60 qar, that's less than 10 pounds...and it's so hot here at the moment that later on I will probably not even have another dinner..
I usually by a sand which and a coke each evening from the local supermarket for my lunch at work the next day and you can get a chicken sand which and come for 9 qar, that's 1.50 uk money.
Of course you can go to a much more expensive place and spend a shamal fortune but even say a burger and chips in the Hilton beach side bar is only about 10 pounds.
Booze though is pricey..a bottle of beer will set you back about 6 pounds but them again the only places that sell it are the big hotels and I guess if you were in London in say the four seasons hotel bar you probably wouldn't get much change out of 6 pounds a bottle anyway...you can get into the beer shop once you get qatar Id sorted...
20k a month over here for just the 2 of you and having all bills etc paid for would give you a very comfortable lifestyle..i would go for it.

MrsMonkey

Thank you for all the details and the answers folks, most reassuring