Imamothers in israel please tell me how you stay in budget!

Gold Member Joined: Sep 04 2007 Posts: 1301

we moved to israel, and I'll tell you how we do it. we live in the golan where salaries are lower, and a car is almost a necessity.
only my husband works, I am a stay at home mom.
we budget to stay exactly inside the salary. and it's hard, becasue unexpected things still do come up, (headlight needs changing, kvi 6 charged exorbitant 1 day late fees, school is asking 100 nis class fee etc..)

but basically, we follow certain rules.
no credit card.
the paycheck comes out of the bank, and into envelopes categorized for all the bills (arnona, water,school, electric)
I know how much I need to put in each month so when the bill comes I have enough to pay it.
when the bill comes we take it to the post office to pay it.

after bills envelopes are filled, we have food, and gas, etc.
food and gas money get divided per week,
we try to use only what is alloted for that week.
if there's no more money in the envelope for food or gas, it means quite literally, we don't go shopping, or don't drive the car.

it's hard, but necessary.
we try to be as strict as we can.
we avoid buying expensive food like meat, cereal, yogurt, cheese, juice. we eat mostly fruits and vegetables from the shuck, and whole grains. we drink water.

we don't go on trips that require a lot of gas. (like to the center of israel)

we find free fun, like local hikes, or the pinat chai.
we never go out to eat. but we sometimes go to the park for a picnic.
we go for family bike rides.
we buy 1 sheckel ice pops instead of ice cream.

it's very important to see what you have coming in, and make a plan to stay within that budget

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 12 2007 Posts: 20496

Beginning doctors make notoriously low salaries. Just saying. It's not like in the U.S. (I don't know how it is in the UK).
I liked Gigi's post. A lot. Totally makes sense.
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Executive Member Joined: Apr 09 2008 Posts: 288

I agree with the PPs, but I would stress- dont come with a set idea of what you have to do or not do for work. DH and I are both teachers, a notoriously low paying field here. We both work two part time jobs, and make a great salary (and also live in an out of town area). Neither of us work for misrad hahinuch, which has its pluses and minuses, but works for us for now.

As far as cost of living, it depends on where you come from in the UK. I came from Northern California, which is a very HCOL. here, out of town israel, is cheaper in a lot of ways than what I am used to. we struggled for a year or so to get things under our belts, but things evened out, we found connections, and figured out a style and price of living that worked for us. good luck!
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gigi I LOVE your financial plan. Its really great.
I have always wanted to try it and now seeing ti written out, I see that such a thing is very doable.
No credit card is hard but the no horaat keva is even harder. What happens with this that are only taken out of the bank account that way ? What do you do then?

Gold Member Joined: Sep 04 2007 Posts: 1301

to shabbatiscoming ( I've forgotten how to quote a post)
we leave enough money in the bank from the paycheck to cover the automatic deduction for rent, which is given at the beginning of the year in 12 checks.

until recently that was our only automatic bank deduction (that's what horat keva is right?)

we had a lot of problems paying our phone bill outside the bank (they don't send the bills on time, then they cut our service cuz we pay late .. etc)
so we recently switched companies, and that is also an automatic deduction, which we leave in the bank at the beginning of the month.

we try the best we can. it's harder here, to do it exactly like in the US. the language barrier, etc.

we try to have the very least automatic bank deductions possible. and we do not use the bank at all for anything other than taking out my husband's paycheck, and the above mentioned haorat keva.

every other transaction we make anywhere is cash based. no credit card, debit card, or checks.
I have checks , but only use them for the rent.

this way our bank statement is simple, and should be the same monthly, and thus easier to understand and deal with.

More or less what previous posters said.

It's like anywhere, you choose what's important. If it's important to someone to live in a heavily english-speaking area, and to have a big apartment, and to own a car, and to send their kids to the best schools, and ... etc, that won't work without a very good income.

So you pick the least important things and give them up. Me personally, we moved out of the Jerusalem area, live in a not so great neighborhood, send our kids to mamad schools (public religious), and I can cook rice with beans (or lentils) about 20 different ways Smile

. What we kept: being able to afford several young children, cutting hours in order to pursue more higher education, part-time work for me.

But we don't have good salaries, iy"H you won't need to make so many trade-offs.

You have to also take into account tax

For instance if your husband is making 160 K a year that's 13K a month. Of that you'll only be getting around 8.5 K a month after Mas Hachnasa, Bituach Leumi, and Bituach Briut is deducted.

On average for every extra K a month he'll be making - half is deducted for tax

There's a big difference between "bruto" (pre tax) and "neto" (after tax) salaries in Israel

Your husband won't be receiving tax credits for your kids either, unless they are under 5.

In general, I think 2 nice salaries is manageable, but there will still have to be some sacrifices just because salaries are lower and expenses are higher.

My husband and I both get paid well, I believe that altogether it comes out to more then what you quoted (albeit with many more work hours then a regular job) but we still sacrifice. We don't have a car, I try to avoid the local makolet, I definitely weigh in all purchases beforehand. I'll shlep to a farther store I know is cheaper, etc. That's just something that has to get done here. No one is saying you need to eat lentils and forage, especially not with 2 nice salaries. But what comes naturally to you in the UK, something you may not have to think twice about, you get used to thinking about it twice here.

There are also personal toss ups. For example, we chose to live in a big busy city that's very expensive, but we don't have a car. Others would rather living in a cheap yishuv so that they can afford a car. Each family has different decisions where they'll weigh their expenses and decisions. Your decision to work or be a SAHM is another example.

OP feel free to PM if you want more details, my husband is a doctor and also made aliyah from the UK. His salary is very specific to the stage in his career - when you say 'junior doctor', what stage exactly is he at? Is he pre-residency?