# Young family living expenses and other questions



## expatinafrica (Jun 14, 2013)

Myself and fiance are considering taking up an opportunity to move to SA with my job. 

Considering the work is in the Energy industry, likely locations would be Joburg or area around Witbank. 

Our circumstances are such that we would be planning to move down for what will most likely be 3-4 years. We have no children yet but would be planning on starting a family after maybe a year of living in SA.

I have a few questions that I would like to ask specifically (having read a lot on different threads here, I probably know most of the answers but would like confirmation I suppose).

Location
1) Is Sandton the only place worth considering as a suitable location and safe location in Joburg?
2) Is Witbank safe and could anyone give an insight to general life there?
3) Are there any other areas to live in Witbank other than the Bankenveld Estate worth considering?
4) Is Midleburg safe and could anyone give an insight to life there also?
5) Areas in Midleburg that would be safe and nice to live? (Can't find anything on this!)
6) Which would be better - Witbank or Midleburg?

Life for fiance
7) How easy is it to get the Life Partner Visa? What exactly do the authorites request to show proof of relationship?
8) If we moved to Witbank or Midleburg, is it safe to assume that my fiance will have no chance of getting work? (She is involved in care work but has teaching experience too).
9) Are there much opportunities for volunteering in Witbank / Midleburg for her? If so, any recommendations?
10) If we moved to Joburg, what would her chances of getting work be? (Seems safe enough bet that there are several options for volunteering, yes?)
11) Any general comments on the experiences of a trailing spouse in SA? I would particularly be keen to see how you found settling in. Thanks.

General Living Expenses
Considering the length of my stay will probably end up being 3-4 years minimum, I want to budget for a young family of four. 

My expat package is still being put together but from the bits of information that I have got, I would guess it would be approx 45K GBP (before tax and paying British Taxes during my stay), medical insurance for myself only, car, living accomodation (most likely a 2 bed apartment in good safe location of my choice). So my budgetry expenses would be a car for my fiance, general sundries (food etc), possible creche expenses and say 2 trips home per year for fiance and two young children.
My question therefore is 45K enough to cover these costs?

From what I can see in the threads for a young family, assuming you pay for everything such as accomodation, car etc, you would need R60,000 per month cash to live safely. Is this correct?

Given that I will be able to cover one car, medical insurance for myself only and apartment, am I right to assume this figure would come down to approx 35000-40000 per month? Or does it come down further?

On the face of it my package does not seem good and it concerns me. All and any comments would be greatly appreciated. I want to match sure this is the right move for myself and my fiance.

Thank you.


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## bdg (Oct 1, 2012)

R60,000 per month? Wow, that most people would die for! If you can earn half of that a month you are still considered above an average earner in some parts of the country, even with a family of four. My o/h only took home R10,000p/m (did not have to pay housing, medical or utilities though, Cape Town) but we owned other property that we still had to pay and we survived. Had 2 kids in school, 1 in a private school and the other still in nursery school. Wife only earned R3000,00p/m and spent most of it on petrol expenses. As for safety, no matter where you go, there is always an element of crime. Depending on your current lifestyle, it seems as if you should be well off with a package of 45GBP considering the exchange as well. This is just my opion, maybe someone more local will be able to give you another idea.


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