What can Dh1,000 buy for you?

1.) Yara Ra’ed Abdul Fattah
20, Jordanian, student
Residence: University dorm in Sharjah
Q: How far does your Dh1,000 go?
A: One week.

A: My family lives in Abu Dhabi so I drive home every weekend. Sometimes, I bring home-cooked food to last me a few days so I don’t waste that much money on eating out. A person who doesn’t do this will probably spend Dh60 on food per day.

Q: What eats up a huge chunk of your monthly allowance?
A: As a student personally, my allowance is Dh2,000 for one month. It’s enough. Sometimes, I can save.

I’m a saver but if I have an outing, I’d make sure that I won’t overspend. A lot of people can’t make do with Dh1,000. Living within our campus is more expensive than living outside in terms of grocery items and services.

Q: What do you do to stretch your dirhams?
A: I cut unnecessary stuff from my budget. I look out for offers like two-for-ones and other bargains.

2.) Alia Al Shamsi
28, Emirati, senior executive for digital communications (public sector)
Residence: Married with two kids, living with extended family
Q: How far does your Dh1,000 go?
A: I can live on Dh1,000 to cover my basic necessities for one week—but if that’s just me.

Q: What eats up a huge chunk of your monthly income?
A: Food, groceries, and petrol are my recurring expense for the month.

Q: What do you do to stretch your dirhams?
A: I don’t eat out a lot, definitely. Everyone is moving now to eating clean and healthy so they eat at home. I go to work and come back home. I don’t run errands if they’re not necessary and I put it off for the weekend.

A: From my experience travelling to other countries, Dubai has become as expensive as in Europe. But we don’t feel how expensive it is because the salaries are higher now than it used to be before.

So if you will compare how the salary is based on living expenses, it’s fine. Especially government employees can save a lot if they want to. It’s not a problem. I started saving when I started working.

3.) Gautam Patel
Indian businessman, 65, married
Residence: Lives in a gated community in Dubai; 10-member household (four generations under one roof)
Q: How far does your Dh1,000 go?
A: For a big family like us, sometimes not even a day.

Q: What eats up a huge chunk of your monthly income?
A: My groceries cost Dh5,000 a month. That’s how expensive it is. School fees per child would be Dh4,000 per month and they’re in middle school. My monthly electricity bill here is Dh3500 on month on average during winter and Dh6,000 during summer months.

Q: What do you do to stretch your dirhams?
A: I think cost of living has gone up, there’s no question about it. It’s gone up substantially, it has gone up out of proportion in general whereas the means haven’t gone up. You have to earn more or spend less. Earning more is a more difficult proposition, spending less is more within our control. We are a big family so we are not necessarily a benchmark. Not many families here are as big as we are.

Q: How do you view cost of living in Dubai through the years of your stay here?
A: I moved to Dubai in 1978. I’m a chartered accountant. My first salary was very less then compared to what it is today but it was far easier to sustain my needs then for a full month compared to now.

4.) Jasmin Mae Sacillano
31, 5 years in the UAE, Filipino, nurse, single
Residence: Shared accommodation in Abu Dhabi
Q: How far does your Dh1,000 go?
A: Three weeks, tops.

Q: What eats up a huge chunk of your monthly income?
A: Housing takes up 25 per cent of my salary, followed by food, although I share my food expenses with my housemates. I travel to Dubai every weekend so transport fees could also add up since it’s much pricier in Dubai than in the capital.

Q: What do you do to stretch your dirhams?
A: I set aside my savings as soon as I get set my salary. I also allocate some allowance for work like Dh20 and Dh30 that I can use as a personal ‘Blow Money’ if I wanted to buy something. If I am eating out on a certain day, I make sure the budget for the whole week is as tight as I can make it. I also have a side business that boosts my income and acts as my automatic savings.

Q: How do you view cost of living in Dubai through the years of your stay here?
A: Cost of living has increased over the years. Housing is cheaper in Abu Dhabi although that’s for shared accommodations. Transportation is also cheaper. It is challenging but I’ve somehow managed to make it work through the years.

5.) Sherry Panganiban
Office Manager, Filipina, in the UAE for 13 years
Residence: Lives with husband and dog in JLT
Q: How far does your Dh1,000 go?
A: It will sustain the two of us for two weeks for our basic needs.

Q: What eats up a huge chunk of your monthly income?
A: Utilities, housing, food and groceries, and transportation. Our budget for food is Dh2,000 a month. As for our housing, we chose to live here ‘cause it’s walking distance from our office. Rent is much cheaper now than before but we’re paying for our comfort. It’s a choice.

Q: What do you do to stretch your dirhams?
A: Rents have gone down which give residents options. Most people prefer to stay in their comfort zones. They choose to live in areas that are known to have cheap rates but what I found is that you need to just be more persistent. Investigate, check and compare prices, and with the drop in rental rates now and you’ll be surprised.

A: When it comes it our food, we tend to eat out after work ‘cause we’re already dead tired. I value my time more so eating out gives us more value for our money. For lunch we stick to sandwiches that are Dh10 or less.

A: I look for offers when grocery shopping and save money for essentials so when they go on sale, I can buy in bulk.

Q: How do you view cost of living in Dubai through the years of your stay here?
A: Cost of living has definitely increased over the years but our salary also went up. So they just balanced each other out.

6.) Santhosh Prabhakar
45, Indian businessman
Residence: Lives with wife and two kids in a flat in Sharjah; plus mother-in-law
Q: How far does your Dh1,000 go?
A: Every day I need roughly Dh500, so two days.

Q: What eats up a huge chunk of your monthly income?
A: Housing, utilities, food/groceries are my top three biggest expense. Rent has gone down a bit in recent months. But it’s still comparatively high compared to five years ago. My expense for the whole month is Dh15,000 for everything. Calculate the VAT, that’s an additional Dh750.

Q: What do you do to stretch your dirhams?
A: We live in Sharjah and struggle in our daily commute to save on rent. If we don’t, we won’t be able to save. We’re also a double-income family. My wife works in a school and my kids study there. Their education is free. At present we are able to save, we’re also trying to save a little more to prepare for my son’s college education next year.

A: For grocery shopping, before I would just go to one hypermarket. Now we check out all hypermarkets and compare prices so we can save. Buying groceries from stores in our building is a last resort ‘cause they’re more expensive.