What is Considered a Nice Wage In Eretz Yisroel?

mimivan

Wed, Aug 08 2007, 7:42 pm

Didn't post this in the Israel section because that is closed and wanted to keep the thread open for those who were curious about how we live (aliyah reasons or otherwise)

I'll start out by saying I know people who live here on 3,000 shekel a month (newly married with a baby, run down neighborhood) who seem to be making it and those with 10,000 and two kids and say it is hard to pay the mortgage and the bills..

Am sure there are those under and over that amount...I can say my husband and I have been all over the place financially for the last 5 years...job security is an issue... and desire to be in collel.

BTW does anyone else think babysitting is EXPENSIVE here in relation to wages? When we were at our poorest, it was because no job I could land made the childcare worth it! Many babysitters charge 20- 25 shekel an hour...I was offered jobs at 30 or 40 shekel an hour. Forget it!

I finally b'h found someone cheap and really fantastic b who has a mispachton..(and I work at home b'h.)

So? Anyone else?

amother

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 2:02 am

DH and I live comfortably BH. Though with a baby on the way I know our finances and lifestyle will change. DH makes about 10,000 NIS a month from kollel and other funding he finds. I make 5,500 NIS a month, though my job is only temporary till the baby arrives…and I have no idea what kind of money I'll make when I start to look for a new job when the baby is older. We pay $700 month for a 3.5 room (2.5 bedroom) apt. We spend about 800 NIS a month on food. We're not big shoppers and only buy things that we need, but when we buy we buy the best. About once every month we go out for dinner or rent a tzimmer for Shabbos. These are bigger costs (maybe $150 for Shabbos including the tzimmer and the food we buy), but we can afford to treat ourselves. BH, we're able to put a lot into savings each month.

creativemommyto3

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 2:24 am

Your dh makes 10,000 from Kollel????? Woah, that's more than my dh and I make together!!! why do you need to work at all??? My dh makes around 5-6 thousand a month while I make between 2000 and 2400. We are still working on a budget for ourselves.

Marion

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 2:50 am

I net about 6500 a month; DH nets about 1200 a month (working, not kollel). If he was female he'd be a SAHM because his salary does not justify the cost of daycare (1400 a month). I know that for my position I make good money...I wish DH would have a bit more "get up and go" because there ARE jobs out there (he's a certified librarian) that would give him more hours and/or better pay. We technically make enough to cover all our basic expenses (food, mortgage, , basic medical, utilities), it's the "extras" (clothes, unexpected medical stuff) that keep catching us unprepared.

catonmylap

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 7:38 am

10,000 a month from kollel??? That doesn't make sense. You said "plus other sources"? How much is from Kollel?

Marion--how many hours does your dh work? His salary sounds way off too.

My dh is currently staying at home with the baby. I make 6,000 before taxes.

We are pretty comfortable because we own our apartment (from savings that we got from our parents-mostly dh's money). We also don't own a car.

I'm still looking for affordable daycare(in the event dh finds a job). I've found that it varies tremendously by area. Those in some haredi areas can pay only 10 shekel an hour for someone watching a few kids in her home, while in my area the only reasonable ones are the gov't run ones with lots of kids, or for nighttime sitting, a teen gets 15 shekels an hour (not so bad now as the baby sleeps the whole time anyway, so the lack of experience doesn't bother me).

amother

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 7:55 am

To be honest I'm not sure how much of the 10,000 that DH makes is from Kollel and how much is from other places. Maybe 7,000 is from Kollel. But he's also a student and a real go-getter so he finds scholarships and small stipends to apply for. The little amounts of money really add up...hence 10,000 a month.

binah918

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 8:11 am

1) We always make a huge salad to go with our meals. (Tomatoes and cucumbers are cheap.)

2) For main meals, I often make "mush." What an attractive name, right?! I make all sorts of casserole type concoctions with rice, beans, lentils, tom paste, spices, etc. DH is always impressed how I make "something from nothing...like stone soup." Plus, the ingredients are healthy and cheap.

3) We only have meat/fish on Shabbos (+ leftovers that last a day or two).

4) We never buy nosh, candy, bamba, etc. Even though it's cheap, it really can add up. (And we don't really like it anyway.)

5) We don't buy drinks. We only drink water. When it's orange season, we squeeze our own.

creativemommyto3

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 8:16 am

do you have good recipes for your mush? do you make your mush look like s/t? like breslov makes meatballs from from lentils. I want to try that when the kids go back to school.

shalhevet

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 11:59 am

amother wrote:

Well of all the weird things I've read on this site, this is just about the weirdest! (Sorry OP) Is this a normal kolel? Or has some philanthropist decided to fund people doing kiruv in Lapland? That figure is far above the average wage here. shock

amother

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 3:16 pm

Well, without giving away too much info about myself, yes. DH is part of a specific program in the Kollel that receives huge funding from an organization in Chul.

mimivan

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 4:26 pm

arita430 wrote:

do you have good recipes for your mush? do you make your mush look like s/t? like breslov makes meatballs from from lentils. I want to try that when the kids go back to school.

Wow, me too! I miss mush...

BTW, I find the recipe someone posted for gnocchi to be a real lifesaver...cheap and not hard to make.

mimivan

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 4:29 pm

arita430 wrote:

what kind of meals is normal to make here in israel when you are on a tight budget?

We always have some kind of soup, no matter how hot it is: split pea, mushroom barley, lentil, (legumes are super cheap) leftover chicken soup from Shabbos, minestrone... soup is really a food stretcher!

Alot of pasta...I make my sauce out of tomato paste, rice and beans, gnocchi (homemade) for a treat, I make Chinese at home, when there is nothing in the house, we have soup, subsidized bread (I love that subsidized bread) tehina, and baked potatoes or potato and egg salad, sometimes without mayo.

We maybe eat meat once a week when it isn't Shabbos. Personally, I think cheese is just as expensive and hard to find with a good hecksher.

amother

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 4:48 pm

arita430 wrote:

what kind of meals is normal to make here in israel when you are on a tight budget?

when we lived in Israel 4 years ago, after paying rent we were left with $750 for the month. bills, arnona, food and anything else.

we did not eat chicken or meat the whole week only on shabbos. I made for supper a lot of 'side dishes', and soup. the veggies in Israel are yummy and really to the cheap side, I made many types of vegtables soups, then we'd have a grain (rice, millet, kasha, couscous, quinoa, beans), a cooked vegtable, baked potato or pasta, plus salads.
on shabbos I kept to the traditional shabbos menu 'lekovod shabbos'.

thinking back, I don't know how I did it.

Marion

Fri, Aug 10 2007, 5:28 am

He's only working 1/3 time, so hypothetically around 15 hours a week. But they won't pay him for more than 13 hours a week, so it's really more like 1/4 time. That's why I say there's got to be other stuff out there if he would just consider it!

creativemommyto3

Fri, Aug 10 2007, 5:39 am

mimivan wrote:

arita430 wrote:

what kind of meals is normal to make here in israel when you are on a tight budget?

How do you make chinese at home? I love chinese food!

mimivan

Fri, Aug 10 2007, 6:25 am

1. cook white rice
(for fried rice, cook the white rice, add peas and carrots, soy sauce and egg white while frying the rice in a pan)

cut up whatever veggies you like celery, onion, peppers, broccoli (Nope! Just kidding! wanted to see if Motek is reading this LOL

), carrots, etc..Cabbage (checked, of course) mushrooms, bean sprouts etc...

cut up chicken (optional)

cut up fresh ginger and garlic

Fry the chicken and ginger and garlic in a wok (or very large saucepan). When brown add, veggies. Stir fry.

Mix tb soy sauce, tb wine, water, potato starch together with pepper and hot pepper if you want (to fill a drinking cup)

cover the mixture in the pan with the liquid . Stir over heat. Mixture should thicken. Serve with rice