What are your monthly expenses?

Nath21 · Post by **Nath21** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:24 pm

Is the company paying for your medical insurance as well. If nopt check out sites like Axa, Aviva, Bupa ect to ascertain some costs.

Saint · Post by **Saint** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 1:09 pm

Just my thoughts and this is for 2 of us in 2 bed apartment, Mrs S works from home and I own a car

fuel $400.00 - This would equate to about 2,200 km a month which is a lot of mileage for here. My car costs me about $800 a month which includes Ins, tax petrol etc
Grocery $2,000.00 - $600 at most and we cook at home about 4 times a week and eat a coffee shops.
parking $75.00 - With the amount of mileage you'll be doing you wont have time to park I top up about $30 a month
Cable TV $100.00 - About right
Internet $100.00 - About right
Mobile Phone $300.00 - Mrs S bill comes to about $40 and she's a heavy user!
Restaurants $800.00 - That would be a few nice meals a month
Taxis $700.00 - I either bus it, walk or drive mostly but I would say that's quite excessive
Electricity $800.00 - One air-con unit on for 10hrs a day and total PUB bill comes to about $150. Having a single unit on for 10hrs a day costs about $40 a month
School Bus $500.00 - No Dustbin Lids so can't comment
Maid $350.00 - $40 for 4 hrs min is going rate, not that we use
Babysitter $200.00 - No Dustbin Lids so can't comment
Air Cond Service I pay $100 a quarter
TV License $112 a year
Leisure ?
Clothing ?

Zeenit · Post by **Zeenit** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 1:48 pm

Saint wrote:Just my thoughts and this is for 2 of us in 3 bed apartment, Mr works and I am at home

fuel $400.00 - No car
Grocery $2,000.00 - $600 - $1000 at most and we cook at home about 5 times a week and eat out 1 or twice a week Our groceries include beer and wine.
parking - No car
Cable TV $100.00 - About right
Internet $100.00 - About right
Mobile Phone $300.00 - Mrs S bill comes to about $40 and she's a heavy user! - $70 for 2 handphones and I use mine alot
Restaurants $800.00 - That would be a few nice meals a month Agreed
Taxis $700.00 - I either bus it, walk or drive mostly but I would say that's quite excessive - $200 as we use the Mrt alot
Electricity $800.00 - One air-con unit on for 10hrs a day and total PUB bill comes to about $150. Having a single unit on for 10hrs a day costs about $40 a month - Agree
School Bus $500.00 - No Dustbin Lids so can't comment No kids
Maid $350.00 - $40 for 4 hrs min is going rate, not that we use - $250 for a weekly helper
Babysitter $200.00 - No Dustbin Lids so can't comment
Air Cond Service I pay $100 a quarter - Agree
TV License $112 a year - Landlord picks up our bill
Leisure ?
Clothing ?

I added my bit last. Hope I did not confuse it too much.

road.not.taken · Post by **road.not.taken** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 3:39 pm

Saint wrote:Just my thoughts and this is for 2 of us in 2 bed apartment, Mrs S works from home and I own a car

fuel $400.00 - This would equate to about 2,200 km a month which is a lot of mileage for here. My car costs me about $800 a month which includes Ins, tax petrol etc
Grocery $2,000.00 - $600 at most and we cook at home about 4 times a week and eat a coffee shops.
parking $75.00 - With the amount of mileage you'll be doing you wont have time to park I top up about $30 a month
Cable TV $100.00 - About right
Internet $100.00 - About right
Mobile Phone $300.00 - Mrs S bill comes to about $40 and she's a heavy user!
Restaurants $800.00 - That would be a few nice meals a month
Taxis $700.00 - I either bus it, walk or drive mostly but I would say that's quite excessive
Electricity $800.00 - One air-con unit on for 10hrs a day and total PUB bill comes to about $150. Having a single unit on for 10hrs a day costs about $40 a month
School Bus $500.00 - No Dustbin Lids so can't comment
Maid $350.00 - $40 for 4 hrs min is going rate, not that we use
Babysitter $200.00 - No Dustbin Lids so can't comment
Air Cond Service I pay $100 a quarter
TV License $112 a year
Leisure ?
Clothing ?

But Saint, Starline is talking about a bigger apartment with 3 'dustbin lids' so everything would be different. The amount of petrol used, the amount of air/con, groceries, etc...

My air/con servicing bill is $1700/year. Point is, I didn't mention it because it doesn't really apply here. That's for 15 units

There is such a wide range of circumstances, it's very hard to generalize. Starline, I'm not sure what to tell you, except that there is a huge, gigantic, enormous spread here between the haves and have-nots.

I would guess that the top 30 % of western expats (not defining expatriate in the broad sense) have a housing allowance between 12 - 35K. All the rest sort of hinges off that...

Saint · Post by **Saint** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 3:55 pm

road.not.taken wrote:
Saint wrote:Just my thoughts and this is for 2 of us in 2 bed apartment, Mrs S works from home and I own a car

fuel $400.00 - This would equate to about 2,200 km a month which is a lot of mileage for here. My car costs me about $800 a month which includes Ins, tax petrol etc
Grocery $2,000.00 - $600 at most and we cook at home about 4 times a week and eat a coffee shops.
parking $75.00 - With the amount of mileage you'll be doing you wont have time to park I top up about $30 a month
Cable TV $100.00 - About right
Internet $100.00 - About right
Mobile Phone $300.00 - Mrs S bill comes to about $40 and she's a heavy user!
Restaurants $800.00 - That would be a few nice meals a month
Taxis $700.00 - I either bus it, walk or drive mostly but I would say that's quite excessive
Electricity $800.00 - One air-con unit on for 10hrs a day and total PUB bill comes to about $150. Having a single unit on for 10hrs a day costs about $40 a month
School Bus $500.00 - No Dustbin Lids so can't comment
Maid $350.00 - $40 for 4 hrs min is going rate, not that we use
Babysitter $200.00 - No Dustbin Lids so can't comment
Air Cond Service I pay $100 a quarter
TV License $112 a year
Leisure ?
Clothing ?
But Saint, Starline is talking about a bigger apartment with 3 'dustbin lids' so everything would be different. The amount of petrol used, the amount of air/con, groceries, etc...

My air/con servicing bill is $1700/year. Point is, I didn't mention it because it doesn't really apply here. That's for 15 units

There is such a wide range of circumstances, it's very hard to generalize. Starline, I'm not sure what to tell you, except that there is a huge, gigantic, enormous spread here between the haves and have-nots.

I would guess that the top 30 % of western expats (not defining expatriate in the broad sense) have a housing allowance between 12 - 35K. All the rest sort of hinges off that...

I did mention the cost per month per air con unit for 10 hrs a day. Did say food bill was for 2 people and your air-con servicing bill is roughly same as mine pro-rated, 4 units.

starline · Post by **starline** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 4:35 pm

Information submittet is valuable. And you extrapolate accodingly it fits.
Take for example Saint food budget for a family of two, apply some factor for a family of 5, and you will get to arround $1500. I guess the actual can be +/- 20% of that, which alighns with my assumptions and Nath comments as well (on the lower side).

As for the 12-35K range, that's the income. I was actually looking the the expenses. (You can't eat more even if you have 35K income or use your car more). So the basic expenes should be the same +/- 25%. This is why I exluded traveling budget, but if part of your weekend with kids you go on some activities (Zoo, water park, etc), this is normal standard activity that all expact with kids ususally have. (Unless you sit in your condo pool all the time)

would 12-35K relates to rent/exluding rent/ or combined?
BTW do you pay for water supply in Singapore?

Saint · Post by **Saint** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 4:45 pm

starline wrote:
BTW do you pay for water supply in Singapore?

It forms part of your PUB bill and I mean pints of Tiger!

Your SP services bill includes Gas, Electric, Water, refuse collection and tax

starline · Post by **starline** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 4:58 pm

Cheers!

Post by **jpatokal** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 5:23 pm

Saint wrote:Your SP services bill includes Gas, Electric, Water, refuse collection and tax

If you don't have gas piped in, you'll need to change LPG tanks every now and then at around $30 a pop. Not a big cost though: I cook a lot, and I need to do this around twice a year max.

road.not.taken · Post by **road.not.taken** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 5:42 pm

Saint wrote:
road.not.taken wrote:
Saint wrote:Just my thoughts and this is for 2 of us in 2 bed apartment, Mrs S works from home and I own a car

fuel $400.00 - This would equate to about 2,200 km a month which is a lot of mileage for here. My car costs me about $800 a month which includes Ins, tax petrol etc
Grocery $2,000.00 - $600 at most and we cook at home about 4 times a week and eat a coffee shops.
parking $75.00 - With the amount of mileage you'll be doing you wont have time to park I top up about $30 a month
Cable TV $100.00 - About right
Internet $100.00 - About right
Mobile Phone $300.00 - Mrs S bill comes to about $40 and she's a heavy user!
Restaurants $800.00 - That would be a few nice meals a month
Taxis $700.00 - I either bus it, walk or drive mostly but I would say that's quite excessive
Electricity $800.00 - One air-con unit on for 10hrs a day and total PUB bill comes to about $150. Having a single unit on for 10hrs a day costs about $40 a month
School Bus $500.00 - No Dustbin Lids so can't comment
Maid $350.00 - $40 for 4 hrs min is going rate, not that we use
Babysitter $200.00 - No Dustbin Lids so can't comment
Air Cond Service I pay $100 a quarter
TV License $112 a year
Leisure ?
Clothing ?
But Saint, Starline is talking about a bigger apartment with 3 'dustbin lids' so everything would be different. The amount of petrol used, the amount of air/con, groceries, etc...

My air/con servicing bill is $1700/year. Point is, I didn't mention it because it doesn't really apply here. That's for 15 units

There is such a wide range of circumstances, it's very hard to generalize. Starline, I'm not sure what to tell you, except that there is a huge, gigantic, enormous spread here between the haves and have-nots.

I would guess that the top 30 % of western expats (not defining expatriate in the broad sense) have a housing allowance between 12 - 35K. All the rest sort of hinges off that...
I did mention the cost per month per air con unit for 10 hrs a day. Did say food bill was for 2 people and your air-con servicing bill is roughly same as mine pro-rated, 4 units.

Yes, yes you are right. It's just that sometimes the details get lost. It's impossible to apply averages in this matter I think.

road.not.taken · Post by **road.not.taken** » Wed, 23 Sep 2009 5:44 pm

starline wrote: As for the 12-35K range, that's the income. I was actually looking the the expenses.

Not the income! The housing allowance. What the top 30% are paying for rent (or more accurately, their companies in some cases).

xtasy010 · Post by **xtasy010** » Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:43 pm

rachelgrr wrote:Hi everyone,

I am interested in Singapore as a possible place to live. I have lived all over the US, the Dominican Republic, and am now in Peru. I am looking for my next place and am curious about the cost of living there.

Currently in Peru my expenses are $400 USD a month - that includes everything - food, rent, transportation, utilities. We (my husband and 3 1/2 year old daughter) live in a 3 bed 1 bath apartment that is okay. We like to keep things as economical as possible. While we want to live in a good neighborhood (meaning parks for my daughter, things to do, etc) we also want to keep expenses down.

So what areas do you all live in and what are your monthly expenses?

Thank you so much,
Rachel

Rachel,

I think you should check out this post, it gives a good idea about how to survive on a 3000 - 4000 budget.

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Fri, 25 Sep 2009 5:21 am

xtast010,

As the link is to your blog (couldn't be anybody's elses as it was just started) you should not be advertising it in the forum. It is also pretty sad that you are trying to piggyback on our fame as well. Additionally, the data contained therein is way, way off. You have been here long enough to know the rules regarding the advertising or linking for personal reasons. Please refrain from any further advertising in the forums here.

Thanks
Moderator

mrshamilton · Post by **mrshamilton** » Fri, 23 Oct 2009 6:38 pm

did anyone put it all into Excel? I'm about to relocate from Melbourne with my 14MO baby and husband and am trying to do a cost-comparision. The work done here has been irreplaceable thanks!

With a baby we won't be eating out at fancy western restaurants and both love Hawker, but we feed baby organic in Australia. I've looked into home delivery of veges etc so I am hopeful this will suffice until he's a bit bigger. I'm thinking our costs will be more than what we spend now...

Anyone got a POV on the cost of childcare? I heard it's $3k a semester for Montessori - we're trying to weigh up Helper vs. Care as son goes to daycare here...

Zeenit · Post by **Zeenit** » Fri, 23 Oct 2009 7:54 pm

mrshamilton wrote:did anyone put it all into Excel? I'm about to relocate from Melbourne with my 14MO baby and husband and am trying to do a cost-comparision. The work done here has been irreplaceable thanks!

With a baby we won't be eating out at fancy western restaurants and both love Hawker, but we feed baby organic in Australia. I've looked into home delivery of veges etc so I am hopeful this will suffice until he's a bit bigger. I'm thinking our costs will be more than what we spend now...

Anyone got a POV on the cost of childcare? I heard it's $3k a semester for Montessori - we're trying to weigh up Helper vs. Care as son goes to daycare here...

Sadly, I did put it into a excel spreadsheet.......but then I am a Management Accountant/ VAT bod when I am in the real world.

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