Moving to Bahrain

You would be able to live an "upper" middle class life with that budget

Certainly is workable. If anything, you have over budgeted on the monthly living expenses, which is not a bad thing. Any surplus will flow to your savings pool, I would assume.

I am certain you will like Bahrain. Much less crowded than Dubai.

Best wishes.

Many thanks for the input!

Monthly living expenses will be far less than what you put in there, even if you constantly eat outside and spend a lot of money on alcohol (not cheap here).

700BD for a two bed flat is certainly ideal. Hit me up when you are here and I will show you a few places around. You might want to up your budget on that if you want to live in posh tower blocks.

For a little bit more on your rent and less on your car you could get a lovely villa with private pool and garden. Apartment blocks are okay but what if the tennants above you like clog dancing at 3am or have 6 kids

My friend works in real estate and can show you around (free) and I also know a great guy in car hire who is much cheaper than the others (he doesn't advertise, it is word of mouth) all his cars are brand new and fully insured.

Halve your monthly living expense unless you plan to fly anywhere every month. We are a family of 3 (with 7 pets) and ours is less than that.

Thanks for the insights. Ill be in touch once were in town.

I'm a little confused.

I'm looking at the possibility of a new position based in Bahrain. I know Dubai much better though. From what I understand, the cost of living in Bahrain is slightly MORE than Dubai, with the exception of rent. Rent is much lower in Bahrain. So if you remove housing from the equation, monthly expenses would be more in Bahrain than Dubai.

As a family of 3 (husband, wife, small child) we budgeted the equivalent of roughly 1200 BHD per month for monthly expenses not covered by the employer. This excludes rent (but includes utilities) and car so it is what I think is equivalent to the original posters budget. 

Based on this, I am confused by comments that monthly expense could be half of the budgeted 1000 BHD.

I've not found any threads with a detailed monthly breakdown and it seems that I am still rather far from understanding just what our monthly expenses might really be.

Hello Stakan.
Did you get a chance to go through the "Definitive Guide to Bahrain for New Expats"? Link here: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=231960

It answers some of your questions.

Depending on your choice of lifestyle and expense levels, you may spend anything between BD200 and upwards as monthly living expenses.

Monthly instalment payment for a car could be around BD150 upwards depending on model of car and tenure. Average monthly maintenance cost for my vehicle (a Toyota RAV4) is around BD100 and I send it for comprehensive servicing every three months and do all the required repairs on time.

My monthly utility bills averages about BD50. Its higher in the summer months and lower in winter - but average is about BD50 per month)

Your estimate of BHD1,200 per month for all of these appears high.

Well said Farhaz ji 👍
i agree
"Your estimate of BHD1,200 per month for all of these appears high. " 😐

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"Definitive Guide to Bahrain for New Expats" Need to be update( modify)
data too old in this table '  please call Brightonguy to report here 😜 , i lost his number 😐

Example " 20 BHD/month  for mobile subscription " ?
Satellite subscription 25 BHD ?
broadband 30 BHD/ month ? 
Gym ?

I have read a number of posts on this and other forums, but I clearly do not have a good grasp on costs yet then.

I'll try to refine my estimates and perhaps ask more specific questions.

Thanks.