The UAE has a very high population of expatriates, most of who left their countries to benefit from the financial prosperity of the Gulf region. Expats are a key support for the advancement of the UAE, which in return -thanks to its leaders- proved to be hospitable & generous. But still [an expat is an expat], whether he stays in the UAE for a year or for 50 because he can’t get the citizenship. This I think is one major reason which prevents expats from investing much of their money locally. They in stead send it back to their home countries, for example the UK, where sites like lovemoney.com or their banks can advise them on saving, in a place, where they are entitled to buy a land, own a house, etc.. without the fear of losing it or whatever, due to changeable laws.
Background
In the recent years, and after the economic recession, life has become more difficult for expats in the UAE. Fuels price, taxes, administrative fees, and other sort of “money sucking” techniques were imposed on them. In addition, lack of policies which govern competition has lead business firms to raise their prices in different ways. For instance, the government has banned a 10% service fee added by restaurants on all receipts. But restaurants aren’t shallow here. They now make you pay 15 or 20 Dirhams for a bottle of water which costs 1.5 Dirhams in the grocery shop nearby! That’s one of a thousand example.
What I said above doesn’t negate the fact that the UAE is -currently- one of the best choices and destinations for expats to live and work.
Let’s Save Money
Below, I’ll provide you with ways on how to save money in the UAE without affecting your lifestyle. Most of the information is based on daily occasions I pass through, friends, newspapers, etc.. Please feel free to add your own ideas. Sharing is caring.
Hidden Fees
Rule no.1 : Open your eyes. Many banks have turned to impose extra charges on their services without the knowledge of the customers. Here’s a story of on the victims.
Ever since that fateful day, the credit card has turned out to be a hydra-headed monster, with the figures multiplying mysteriously. All my Himalayan efforts to get rid of this Damocles’ sword have ended in failure. The outstanding balance, conniving with finance charges, late fees and sundry other ‘hidden charges’, must has surely swelled the annual bonus package of some fortunate bank CEO, but it has wrought havoc with my health status. Source: Khaleej Times.
Lately I noticed some new (am not sure if new, but at least I wasn’t informed about them) fees on my bank statement. A 15 Dirhams per month titled as “Cash Cover Charge” (click the image above). Then I noticed another fee similar to it on my credit card bank statement which was around 65 Dirhams per month. I immediately called the bank call center and inquired about those fees. To make a long story short, it turned out that those fees were more or less like sucking money from me under different titles and namings. I ordered to cancel them.
So, always open your eyes for hidden fees. Sometimes you can’t avoid being a victim of such fees, but at least don’t get fooled for a long time. Little loss is better than big one.
Go Cheaper
1- Men/Women Wear: On many occasions, you hear about promotions and sales going on, but they are fake. Yeah! I still remember seeing a posh coat in a mall which costed 750 AED. Six months later, the Dubai Shopping Festival started. I went to that shop just to check things out, and I found it offering a 20% sale. That same coat was still there and included in the sale. Guess how much was the tag price after 20% discount? It was 750 AED! Actually, that shop wasn’t the only one offering misleading promotions. If that’s hard to believe, just go and look at another shop which offers 75% discount round the year. Come on, you all know it!
Trust me, in many cases you can buy the same item or the same quality from suburban areas at no exaggerative prices.
2- Perfume: Prices in malls are much more expensive than outside. A short visit to the Central Souq in Sharjah will show you a huge difference. I personally prefer buying testers for personal use. I get them from souq.com at a very reasonable price. Search the website for “tester” and see for yourself. In my own opinion, testers bought online are more trusted than perfumes labeled as “genuine”.
3- The Entertainer: This book is a REAL treasure. It’s filled up with “buy one get one free” vouchers. All well known restaurants, coffee shops, and entertainment outlets are there. Around 500 listings are included, each offering 3 vouchers (500×3= 1500 voucher). This allows you to literally save up to 10,000 AED a year. Even if you only use two vouchers out of 1500, say for Wild Wadi and Ski Dubai, in each case you’ll get a free ticket for your wife or friend (270 for Wild Wadi + 120 for Ski Dubai = 380 AED). The 2011 version of the book costs 350 AED, which is even less than what you saved using only two vouchers, that is 380 AED!
You can order the book from here or any local bookstore. There are different versions of the book, each addressing different audience.
Update April 19 2011: If you believe in vouchers, I’d also like to recommend a couple of websites which provide discounted prices on different things. In many cases they beat the Entertainer, and you’ll always find good offers. Here they are: Gonabit, Groupon, Cobone, and Souq DOT com [google them!]
4- International Calls: Calling your home country using Etisalat or Du can drain your pocket easily. A 30 minute call 3 times a week could cost you up to 500 Dirhams a month or even more.
Wizton is the best solution! It’s a free VoIP program which allows you to call your home country at low prices. All you need is a laptop, 256K internet connection or more, and a credit card. You’ll have to charge your Wizton account with 20$ and make your international call at around 50 fils a minute (check sample rates). Call quality is excellent. Go to wizton.com and download your copy now!
Update March 28 2011: Du offers a very interesting post paid plan which includes 100 international minutes, 100 local minutes, 50 local sms, and 50 international sms. All for 100 AED/month. I highly recommend this as an alternative to the wizton. More info: http://du.ae/en/mobile/plans/elite-super-plans/plans
Random Tips
- Buy a car. Don’t rely on taxis. Alternatively, use Dubai Metro.
- Buy second hand stuff like cars, furniture, and electronics from dubizzle.com .. Other people’s loss is your gain.
- Added on June 5th 2011: Buy your grocery items only from hypermarkets, not small shops. Hypermarkets like Carrefour are much cheaper and offer better deals. This applies on most hypermarkets except Spinneys. Don’t buy anything from there unless you’re obliged to. Spinneys can be more expensive than small shops.
- Ask the bank to deduct credit card payments 100% from your current account at the end of each month. NEVER allow yourself to pay interests because you’ll find yourself drowning in huge debt.
- Buy your air tickets at an early stage before travel date (at least 1 month) from Air Arabia & Fly Dubai. Update June 5th 2011: If you’re flying with your family to Europe, try checking flight costs through Oman — NOT Dubai or Abu Dhabi. In many cases, you’ll save up to 50% of the ticket price (worth the hassle). Reaching Oman by air or land is easy and cheap.
- Car dealers sell you auto parts at very high prices. If your car is in maintenance and the dealer asks you if it’s ok to change your car break bads for instance, say NO, unless they give you a good price. Otherwise, go buy auto parts (sometimes with warranty) from shops in industrial areas, change them there, and save up to 500 AED! Some shops are official dealers, so they only sell genuine parts.
- Electronics, especially DSLR cameras, inside malls are sold at crazy prices! Save around 700 Dirhams and get them from Souq Nayef shops in Dubai.
- Drive safely. Otherwise you’d be paying hefty tickets for violating traffic law (such as 400 Dirhams for speeding).
- Don’t invest your money in bubbles. Unless you understand very well how to trade with shares, you shouldn’t by any means be tempted to invest your money in the financial market.
- Keep a good track of your expenditures.
Now it’s your say. Please write your experience with money saving below so everybody would benefit from it. Enjoy your living!
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Thnk u for the tips bro..!! Much appreciated. God bless :) 
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really nice advices esp. the last part
and most of them apply too in canada
buying online
going used .. honestly others lose is your gain .. many people are desperate to sell their stuff or some people buy stuff and use them for a week or two and buy them at bargain prices
and online calls (here local calls costs same as international calls in dubai)
car dealers really sell stuff at high prices .. not only parts
but cars as well
and they always offer stupid stuff at high prices .. many people get fooled
one of my friends asked for a list for his honda on the parts that should be replaced, and he got a list that costs 13000 +
and toyota offer polishing for 7000 !
Abdo, thanks for sharing the information. It seems that car dealers are inherently evil, so it’s not solely an UAE issue -as I thought!
Same happened to me when I went to the Honda dealer last month. They said that I have to change the battery and the rear break pads. The offer for the battery was okay, so I thought that it’s safer to change it in order to avoid any hassle, though I know that the battery can still serve for like six more months.
As to the rear break pads, it was a shock to me. I thought “How on earth the rear break pads wore out before the front ones?” I did a research about the issue and it turned out that it is true that the new Honda Accord models have tiny rear break pads which wear out quickly. But the dealer asked to replace them far before the normal period of replacement, which is around 20K miles. They could also serve an extra six months. So, I ignored what they said & I decided to change them later.
Car dealers are very picky in general. They don’t bother to fix things; they tend to immediately replace them with new stuff. Like if the cigarette ash tray is stuck, they tell you that you need to change it (which happened to my friend & the dealer asked for 1000 Dirhams for that!) .. But when he then tried to fix it with his hand, it suddenly worked and there wasn’t any problem anymore! So, that’s why I don’t trust car dealers too much.
Thank you Aouni for your fabulouse advices and tips ,,, it will help middle and low class local UAE famillies as well ….. Wish you all the best ,,,,
Thnk u for the tips bro..!! Much appreciated. God bless :)