Originally Posted by Ilovegregggs

Interesting on the grocery front, it was a stab in the dark. Currently paying 10 quid for a tube of toothpaste in KSA, guess it's not that different in the UAE. Derived the number from a fairly basic weekly shop..anemic seemingly. Thanks for the input.

Good to get some updates related to the UAE and not just Saudi.

Originally Posted by Ilovegregggs

I've crunched some numbers this evening as I was approached for a job in AD also, and I keep on coming to the princely sum of just about 40k monthly expenditure (family of 4) with kids in primary school. Al Raha looks a bit rundown, but the houses seemed quite spacious and I came across some chatter about the place - close to where I'd possibly be working also. If a package includes housing, car allowance, and school fees this would be a lot lower. Numbers are what I managed to deduce from previous posts on here and what I found elsewhere on the internet. Perhaps someone in AD might be able to verify how realistic the figures are.

That figure consists of the following monthly outgoings:
2 cars (a Hyundai kona & VW tiguan) - 6000
4 bed villa with a pool in Al Raha - 17500
utility bills - 3500
internet/tv package - 500
mobile phone - 500
School (BSAK/RIS) - 9200
Groceries - 3500

Originally Posted by csdf

To be fair we'd probably reduce our groceries bill by 30% if my other half stopped using Spinneys and Waitrose.

Originally Posted by Discovery Bullet

All seems reasonable, but you need to budget for fun, kids expenses, beers and whores....then savings.
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Originally Posted by Ilovegregggs

of course, just needed to look at the basics first. Quite a bizarre time with salaries in my field atm.

Originally Posted by Discovery Bullet

What's your field?
Bizarre good or bad?

The race to the bottom in the UAE is insane at the moment. People posting jobs for buttons and getting so much interest. The desire to be here seems to outweigh sense for a lot of folks.

Originally Posted by Ilovegregggs

urban planning/design.
This is what I'm seeing also. Currently I've got a pretty good package, but in the UAE it seems to be about a 50% reduction for a horizontal move, needing to find a director level position to come close. Though some hope on client side to not quite match, but not as serious a reduction as a consultancy role. One I'm ok with given the improvement to quality of life from rural Saudi Arabia..