Cost of Living in the Netherlands For Family (2 +3 )

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

At the top of this page is a link to our Handy Tools section; in there you will find links to articles written by various people that will help you plan your journey.

To answer your specific questions:

Tax - this link will take you to an online tax calculator for Holland.

Family needs - this link will take you to the Numbeo website; they provide information regarding costs of living.  You've not said where in Tunisia,  so I've made some assumptions, but you can play with it yourself to reflect actual places.  The costs reflect the previous 12-months, so will be a bit behind the curve.

Family Integration - this is really important and I can't emphasise enough the importance of learning the local language.  My advice is to send your kids to the local Dutch schools (they are all generally pretty good).  They will pick up Dutch pretty quickly, your wife will get to meet local Dutch mums (which will help her make friends and also pick up the language).

If you have any further specific questions, please come back to us.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi Cynic and Big Thanks for your reply -really appreciated

Thanks for the Links they are helpful especially for online tax calculator, That's mean with 65K/year it will be about 4200 net/month which seems good, No ???
I think but I got # results comparing to this site (https://www.blueumbrella.nl/dutch-incom … alculator/) could you please confirm

I have another questions please, Finding school,
Is it easy to find place in school for children, If I will commit to this position I will come on January 2018,  The ideal for me is to find school with English language, I did some research But International school are very expensive.

Thanks !
gafsos

Hi Gafsos.

The salary is certainly livable on; you won't go hungry.

I can't see your link yet (Forum restriction I'm afraid for new members); I'll check it again in a few days and respond then.

With regards to finding schools.  This link will take you to a Wikki page that sums up the Dutch education system.

To try and summarise what it says into bite-size chunks.  Generally, all teaching in Dutch state schools is in Dutch up to age 12 (Elementary level); this is important because, at that age, all kids are tested (in Dutch) and then streamed based on ability into one of 3 streams (VMBO, HAVO and VWO).  VMBO and HAVO streams are in Dutch, VWO offers English tuition in some technical subjects.  If your child's Dutch is not up to the standard of HAVO/VWO, then they will be streamed into VMBO/MBO.  That said, all the streams teach English as a subject, so all your kids will be taught to speak it.

If you have no intention of remaining in Holland (i.e. moving back home, or to another English speaking country), then you should seriously consider the International schools as an incomplete Dutch education will not help them.

If Holland is likely to be your future home for life, then you should seriously consider how your family integrates into Dutch society and opting for the Dutch public school system, because getting this wrong, will (in my opinion) detrimentally affect your child's options later in life.

Hope this helps.

Hi Cynic,

Thanks for your reply

the link is 3w  blueumbrella nl

Reagdrs

Hi Gafsos,

Everybody in Holland has to complete an annual tax return; for the first year that we lived there, we used a local tax advisor to help us with the form.  Blue Umbrella seems to be a similar organisation.  I've never heard of them, but that's not to say they aren't reputable - perhaps you should ask your work colleagues when you get there?

Best of luck in your journey; if you think of anything else, please come back and ask.

Hope this helps.

Hi Cynic,

Thanks for your quick reply

It will be great if you check the correct net income of the 65K

Regards

Hi Gafsos,

I've just compared the two; the only difference between them is that the link I provided has rounded down the annual net salary; so, from your €65k gross salary, you can expect to receive approx €45k.  You should also be aware that many Dutch companies pay their employees 13 times in the year; it can vary how they do this; some that I've heard of are:

Paid every 4 weeks, or
Paid monthly, then an extra 4 weeks salary (called vakantiegeld - holiday money), once a year, or
Paid every 4 weeks, then 2 weeks vakantiegeld in the summer and another 2 weeks at Christmas; I'd advise you to speak to your new employer's HR department to check.

You also have to consider your compulsory Healthcare charges; this link will take you to the Dutch Government website that explains this.

Other charges - Gemeente Belasting (Council tax) - pays for your waste collections and other local services.  How much depends on where you live, just use Google to find out.

The above are all compulsory, you can't opt out of any of them.

Then there are bank, gas, electricity, phone, television/radio and internet charges; how much you pay will vary with the services you take up and how much you use.

That's about it; hope this helps.

Hi Cynic,

Thanks for your reply, Here below my calcul per month

Rent House                          1500
Car                                          350
Internet                                  30
Healthcare                          220
Gemeente Belasting         25 (280 Euro anual in eindhoven)
Electricty,Water                 150
Markets                               600
Transportation                   150

Total charge  : 2875 (without childacre)
Total income: 3800 salary + 300 vakantiegeld = 4100

Rest: 1075 per month without Childcare, clothing, sport and leisure (if any)

Reagards

Looks like it's good news then; congratulations and the best of luck in your journey.

But For me English school is mandatory, Hence with 1000 euro / month is not sufficient
having English cursus not dutch will help me to switch to another country or back Home at any time for any reason Who Khnow what can happen. That's why I'm seriously thinking to decline this Offer. Really ..........

I don't khnow....

Why don't you ask if your employer wants to pay a part or maybe the whole fees for the international school?

Oh - then not so good; I'm sorry that you won't get the chance to come and live in Holland.  The Dutch economy is really picking up (at least according to the Dutch TV news last week), perhaps you should go to the new employer and explain, perhaps he can up your salary; as they say in Dutch "You have no, you may get yes".  Anyway, again, best of luck wherever you end up working.

Hello One more question please what about daycare of my children ( 2 years and 3 years)  in public dutch system near Eindhoven 
Need to khnow approximatively the How much
thanks again for your help

sousou_jiji wrote:

Hello One more question please what about daycare of my children ( 2 years and 3 years)  in public dutch system near Eindhoven 
Need to khnow approximatively the How much
thanks again for your help

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

This link may help you to answer your question.  There are probably other day care organisations in the region, Google will help you to find them.

Hope this helps.

Cynic, I think 344 euro /month is very expensive Is it Public daycare ? Kinderstad is an international organisation, I'm looking to the Publlic one, I google it But I didn't find any usuful Link Help please

The target region is Eidhoven
Regards

Hi Gafsos,

I'm not aware of any public daycare that is cheap/free.  However, there is a system where you can claim some of the costs back; it's called Childcare benefit (kinderopvang toeslag); this link will take you to the Belastingdienst website that explains the process.

Dear Sir,

Cost of living in Netherlands. Your salary is a good average salary and as apparently you will pay less taxes, is quite good (http://www.payscale.com/research/NL/Cou … nds/Salary)
You can find a lot of information in French about children education and other issues  on http://www.expatis.com/fr/scolariser-se … s-ecoles/.
Wish you family and you a good stay in Netherland,
Kind regards,
Dennie

daycare of my children ( 2 years and 3 years)  in Eindhoven see:
https://www.kinderstadinternational.nl/

One advise: ask the company to pay the rental costs  at least for the first year.
and
concerning your salaris  you 've the profit of 30% expat.
see 30% facility for incoming employees - Belastingdienst
https://www.belastingdienst.nl/.../30_f … g_emplo...
Conditions. You need our permission to apply the facility. To obtain this, you and your employer should submit an application. You are eligible for this allowance ...

Big Thanks All ! You are Great.

Hi All,

Just to update you...
We Will move To the NL On January 2018 and We are very Happy... Kids are not yet informed

back to the 3rd point on my First message regarding the scholarship of my son who is 6 years old, I think it is not easy to enter to Public dutch school on January, Right ? What to do ? I think he can Join One of International school as start up or Learn Duch language somewhere.... What do you think

Thanks !

Good luck with your move in January and thanks for your update.
In fact, the first week of January it's vacation and it will be not a problem when your son enroll after the vacation.
If you know already which school you like your son goes to, contact the school and if possible to pay them a visit.

Great news; I agree with Primadonna, schools don't have absolute dates that you have to be there for, our kids joined mid-term with no problem.

Thanks for your reply, Another option is Dutch immersion programme (schakelklas or nieuwkomersklas) I think it is an opportunity for him to learn Dutch basic before joing public school the at september 2018 he can a  do transition to class of the same age group (7 years) is 7 months are suffisant on this Dutch immersion programme or It SHOULD passs entier 1 year ? Thanks