Can you please give me a ballpark figure of your household expenses on grocery, utilities, rent, weekend outings, eating out, insurance, clothes in Bangalore? Do share please where you shop for grocery etc.. in big malls or at local shops. Thank you.
Nithya, The major variable here is "Lifestyle". Based on your personal lifestyle, your monthly expenses can vary. The bulk of your expense will be your house rent, that can vary from 8-10k in a simple complex to 30k for a 3bhk in a complex with amenities and even more if you are renting a villa somewhere in whitefield Grocery (for a family of hubby, wife and 1-2 kids): 5-8k Eating out: 1-1.5k (min) per lunch/dinner. (Will be Rs 500-600 if its Mac's with Kids) Movies: 1k Clothes: a. Men: Go for branded shirts. Each shirt will cost above 1-1.5k. Trousers can be stitched. Will cost about Rs 500 including cloth and stitching. T-shirts/cargos etc can vary - branded Ts will be Rs 600 and above, branded cargos are above 1k. b. Women: Nothing is cheap - branded/non branded, nothing below Rs 400-500 (you can get only plain kurtis starting from this range). c. Kids: Lilliput has Ts from 150 onwards and jeans/skirts from 400 onwards, mothercare is very expensive, non-branded can vary - you can get dresses in all price ranges, works for home use. Keep looking out for discounts etc. Shopping: Anywhere - malls, shops, etc. Most of the local shops close to an apartment generally have higher rates, but are convinient. Any mall close to home would provide home delivery. Water: YES, you need to BUY water in most areas in bangalore! Most of the apartment complexes have borewell, or buy tanker water. Most of the times, the cost is included in monthy maintenance you pay. Electricity: Again, a major pain point in Bangalore. Most big apartment complexes have generator backups. Smaller complexes may have it only for common areas. If you plan to rent, please check with owner about power back up. In some cases, owners get an invertor installed or some may ask you to get your own invertor. Monthly bill is around 1k(without AC). Internet: Many plans available. Rs 500-2k per month based on usage. Schools: Can be anywhere from 3k to 10k (international) per month. There will be a one time deposit/admission fee. This also varies and can be above 1 lac for mid term admissions/international schools. Doctors: Consultation charges vary from Rs 200 to 500 per visit (if you visit within a week, they may not charge anything) Medical/Insurance: Most companies provide 15k as yearly medical expenses, and Insurance for self and dependents (which may not include parents) Activities for kids: Skating, chess, swimming classes, summer camps etc - Rs 200 to 1k (per activity per week) Car expenses: 5k per month for petrol per car. Maintenance charges extra. If you keep a driver, add another 5k. Public transport: For a 10km trip, comes around Rs 100 in an Auto. In Volvo AC bus, its Rs 25. Maids: Most of the apartment complexes have standard rates for maids - can be 300-400 per chore. So if you are need help in dusting&moping, utensils, and washing clothes it will be around Rs 900-1200. If you want a full time help, you can also look at agency maids (tough to get a reliable/good one) that will be around 5k, or get someone from native. Also, the inital settling down expenses will be much more than projected here, such as broker charges, deposit for rent (10 months rent), you might be buying stuff incase something is broken/missing/not present (eg. buying a car, invertor, water purifier/RO, other appliances etc) All the best, and hope this helps!
Thanks Pamela for the detailed information. Excluding the rent/mortgage, do you think a family of two adults can manage all other expenses within Rs 30000 comfortably? I know initial cost of settling down could range somewhere from 2-5 Lacs. Bangalore seems very expensive :drowning Thanks .
Nithya, Yes - with 30k/month you can lead a pretty comfy life in Bangalore (for 2 adults). All the best!
Hi Nithya, Pamela has given you a wonderful detailed description of how much is required for each and everything we require in daily life. For us the monthly expense totals to around 7K including onemovie and one outing per month. A water can which lasts for about 4days is around 40-50Rs and the water bill which we use for other purpose comes around some 500 per quarter. Maid charges us 1k for sweeping,mopping&washing clothes. You can either get your gorcery from Star bazar,big bazar,hyper city etc or there are also small supermarkets.Most of these shops accept sodexho coupons too which are given along with salary in some companies.There are some dept stores which provide home delivery for grocery shopping.
Thanks Ami. Do you buy water cans in addition to using water filtration system like aquaguard? Thanks about the coupon tip. Are these discount coupons or gift vouchers that companies give? If discount coupons is there any where else I can get them, over on the internet?
Hi Nithya, The coupons I mentioned were the ones like sodexho given out by companies. I think discout coupons for some services are avaialble in snapdeal site. Yes,I used to buy water cans despite the aquaguard. We use the Kaveri water,filtered,for cooking. Where as can waters for dinking,after boiling it. But no am using filtered & boiled Kaveri water to drink. There is a distinct taste difference. It will take a few days to get adjusted to the filtered & boiled Kaveri water .
