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KWhitehead · Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:19 am Post subject: Cost of Living in Oman?

i just read that the monthy expenses for a single are about 2,500 USD and a couple 3,400 USD. is that true? sounds expensive.

what about if we (a couple) take jobs with the colleges of technology (which i assume are in the boonies)?

and how much money would we need to set up initially?

thanks!

KWhitehead · Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:20 am Post subject:

oh, and i got the numbers from
http://www.justlanded.com/english/Oman/Oman-Guide/Money/Cost-of-Living

StampLover · Joined: 14 Dec 2010 Posts: 83 Location: Salalah, Oman

Car: 150
Housing: 200 w/ utilities (furnished) not in MCT.
food: 150 (shopping at western chains)
internet: 20
phone: 15
Total: 550-600

If you are drinkers, getting a permit is extremely cheaper than buying at a bar.

going out in MCT for a weekend is 100 for food, hotel and light drinks.

Not sure why a couple would be that much more expensive. You would just add more to the food costs.

KWhitehead · Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:37 am Post subject:

are all those numbers in Rial?

StampLover · Joined: 14 Dec 2010 Posts: 83 Location: Salalah, Oman

yes, Omani Rials

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Most teaching couples live well on one salary and save the second. Of course, it depends on your lifestyle. Cool

Those that eat (and drink) at the hotels a couple (or 3 or 4) times a week and need to drive a new Mercedes 4WD or Hummer to go wadi bashing can run through all of it pretty quickly.

VS

Duffy · Joined: 29 Oct 2005 Posts: 449 Location: Oman

We have a Kia 4WD, We go Wadi Bashing and more. We eat very well, lots of Western foods and we still manage to bank more than one salary a month.

You don't have to have a Mercedes 4WD to enjoy yourself, neither do you have to go to the local Souq for your food. There are plenty of stores in Muscat where you can buy the kind of food you are used to.

Personally I have tried a lot of Omani foods and they are just not for me, but it is, as always, a matter of choice.

Duffy Laughing

urbanversion · Joined: 27 Jan 2011 Posts: 426

Oman is actually more expensive for food than the UAE, and most definitely for hotels. Beer is cheaper in hotels than Oman for example.

Omani food...not for me, but most like it.

Easy to save, but means cooking at home and living a boring life...

Duffy · Joined: 29 Oct 2005 Posts: 449 Location: Oman

UV wrote

urbanversion · Joined: 27 Jan 2011 Posts: 426

lizziebennet · Joined: 24 May 2009 Posts: 355

V.S do we know you Smile

We are a couple who live in a small rural town on the UAE/Oman border. We have a border pass (OR60 fo 6 months) which makes our situation very different from other teachers. But it is still useful in terms of the cost of living in this region.

We have a Hummer.
We have a club/gym membership at the Hilton (UAE side).
We eat out more than we eat at home (UAE side as there are few resturants in our town worth mentioning).
We go to the cinema at least once a week.
We do our western shopping at waitrose in Dubai Mall or Dubai Marina Mall so drive to Dubai a few times a month (it is an hour and 15 min away).
We do our basic shopping at Carrefour.
We don't drink a lot and if we do we drink at home not at hotels!

Even with all this we send home at least $2000 at month minimum. This is after our car payments...

If you live in a small town and pop into Muscat twice a month you should easily be able to save $3000 a month!

I would suggest buying a car as opposed to renting. We paid OR220 per month to rent from a reputable agent in Muscat before buying our car. We now pay OR250 a month (over two years) which works out to OR30 more a month and we own the car. It is still under warrenty and came with insurance and roadside assistance in the gulf.

If you rent from one of the cheaper car rental agencies you may find yourself paying huge repair bills for a car that they never got serviced!
Someone we know got ripped off royaly after the car they rented broke down. They found out that they had to pay for everything to be repaired even though the company has done nothing to maintain the car. It was written in Arabic in the contract she signed! These companies don't usually have English contracts!

Tip: We bought a book called 'The Entertainer'. It is filled with 1 for 1 vouchers for resturants, coffee shops, ice cream shops, cruises, bowling alleys, theme parks, tours etc. We get to go to restaurants and pay for 1 meal instead of 2. They have an entertainer Oman book so if you do plan on going out in Muscat I suggest you buy it as it will save you a lot of money if you like to go out often.

lizziebennet · Joined: 24 May 2009 Posts: 355

Sorry I just read the internet post!

If you get a the USB modem from Omantel you pay OR1 for 24 hours of internet. I think it is the same for Nawras! The internet is not capped! We download everything we need with our USB modem. We don't use it everyday as we have internet at the university but if we did it would work out to about OR30 a month.

You can buy a modem that can be used on multiple computers and still pay OR1 a day!

Of course it all depends on whether you have signal! We have a very good signal at our house but a crappy one at the university.

urbanversion · Joined: 27 Jan 2011 Posts: 426

Oman is still more expensive than Dubai, no matter how it's dressed up.

Turbster · Joined: 09 May 2009 Posts: 67 Location: UK

Middle East Beast · Joined: 05 Mar 2008 Posts: 836 Location: Up a tree