EU Family coming on their own to Singapore (not expats)

[pochari]

Found a place. Got it relatively cheap for the location so I'm happy. Moving in in a couple weeks.

[imogenben]

Found a place. Got it relatively cheap for the location so I'm happy. Moving in in a couple weeks.

pochari, how is your family doing so far ?

[pochari]

Thank you imogenben. We are doing fine. Job and accommodations going alright. We are now trying to find a kindergarten for our daughter that won't charge exorbitant Ang Mo prices, since they are too high for us. Lots of bargaining going on.

Besides that we are well. Cheers.

[kindred]

What was your finally salary/month if you don't mind me asking? Is it enough to live to the standard you had hoped? Anything stand out as a major issue?

Thanks!

[pochari]

kindred, the salary is way less than I had hoped for in the first post, that's for sure. We are able to live Ok thought. Rent and food are taken care of and we just sorted the kindergarten for our kid. So the necessities are taken care of.

There's the rare pub outing for me (only during happy hour!) and my wife might take some class at some point. But we don't do more than that... for now. Hopefully the salary will go up so we can think about other stuff.

The major issue is that I'm constantly bargaining to get the price of things down since people assume we have lots of money, thinking we're expats. So I had to bargain aggressively for the rent, salary, kindergarten, family insurance and eventually I'll have to fight for when my wife chooses a course she wants to take.

In shops, if the price isn't on the product, I tend to avoid it as the store owner will raise the price just for me (at least that's what I always think). Maybe it's paranoia. haha.

[kindred]

Good info, thanks for sharing. Your comment about prices reminds me of when I travelled to Thailand so I can imagine how annoying it must be!

I'll be in a similar situation I imagine, so good to know what to expect

[beppi]

We until recently rented a 3BR place for S$2400 and as far as I know its on the market now (probably taken) for S$2700. It's one of the rare "neither condo nor HDB" category, which contains mostly older and often run-down buildings without any facilities. Ours was a walkup (means fifth floor without lift) 15min bus ride from the nearest MRT station, and it had no aircon in most rooms. If you're fine with this (we were, very much: Like most older places in Singapore, it was pretty spacious!) or able to make other compromises, it is possible!

[zzm9980]

kindred, the salary is way less than I had hoped for in the first post, that's for sure. We are able to live Ok thought. Rent and food are taken care of and we just sorted the kindergarten for our kid. So the necessities are taken care of..

Less than what you wanted, or less than what you said they were initially coming back with?