My parents in law are going to pakistan, they will be there for few years and we have a dilema to buy things from here and pay for extra bagage or buy from pakistan. We have not been in pakistan for a while, 17 years. How are the prices for things there? how is the quality? They will be going to lahore. Anyone know if we can buy splinda or artificial sweetner there? What about cost of living there? How are the prices for other things like clothes and food? We want to set a budget to send them money every month would $1000 a month be good for them? They will be living in a joint family system with one son and 4 kids and a daughter and 3 kids. I have a feeling we will end up paying for the entire family and their every need. Would a $1000 be suffiecient for them or is cost of living too high?. They own their house and car. Please help me I need to talk to my husband and let him know how things are there, I dont want to be taken advantage of.
Living costs obviously depend upon various factors like life style, products used etc. If the money is only to support your mother-in-law and father-in-law then I'd say something like 500$ would be generous. I know families who live quite well on far less. But then again it all depends on many things.
Sounds like you probably don't wanna upset your hubby but at the sametime don't wanna end up paying way too much. In any case, keeping in view current conditions in PK, 1000$ would be very generous. You can start with 500$ but tell them that they can ask for more if an occassional need arises.
My parents in law are going to pakistan, they will be there for few years and we have a dilema to buy things from here and pay for extra bagage or buy from pakistan. We have not been in pakistan for a while, 17 years. How are the prices for things there? how is the quality?
I assume you live in North America.That depends on the kind of items you want to send. If you're sending the already-in-use household items (electronics, kicthen stuff, furniture etc), it would be better to book a container and send them, as you won't get even a half decent price for selling them here and additionally, the same quality stuff in Pakistan would be expensive. Sending their clothes/accessories with them is a good idea, but sending too much of it would cost you an arm and leg.
They will be going to lahore. Anyone know if we can buy splinda or artificial sweetner there? What about cost of living there? How are the prices for other things like clothes and food? We want to set a budget to send them money every month would $1000 a month be good for them? They will be living in a joint family system with one son and 4 kids and a daughter and 3 kids. I have a feeling we will end up paying for the entire family and their every need. Would a $1000 be suffiecient for them or is cost of living too high?. They own their house and car. Please help me I need to talk to my husband and let him know how things are there, I dont want to be taken advantage of.
All such items are available there. There are specialty stores that cater to the affluent and carry most of imported grocery brands/items. There is no upper limit in the pursuit of luxury, so I can't say if $1000 would be enough, but for most, it is a decent amount. If they have a house and car, then they could be paying roughly $300 on utilities and car and another $300 on groceries (factoring in the cost of * some * imported items). Rest assured, the expenses could vary depending upon the kind of living you want to maintain.
We want to set a budget to send them money every month would $1000 a month be good for them?
They would be living like Kings and Queens with that budget. :)
Lahore has everything in my opinion, esp' artificial sweetner which everyone loves using there! Lol.
Just out of interest why do you have to pay for everything if they are going to live with their son? Of course it is important to take care of your family but to expect one to give them a whole new life in another country for a few years could be quite costly and from what you said it sounds like you are quite worried.
Marshallah, you are a very generous couple for what you are doing but it if it not in your budget and causing concerns, then discuss this with your Husband.
Like Snow Winter said a budget of $500 to start off with is a good idea.
A quick point - the value of the dollar has been in flux over the last few years - 3-4 years ago the US dollar was worth 60 rps for one USD and now its closer to 78 rps for one USD. Make sure they realize that you are sending them a budget in dollars and they need to account for ups and downs in the exchange rate.
At the moment the exchange rate is favourable for conversion to PKR, but assuming you have a fixed budget, your ability to adjust the money you are sending may be limited and they need to be aware of your fixed budget in USD.
BTW, $1000 is very generous and they should have no problems livng on that kind of a budget. I would reduce it a bit on a monthly basis (maybe $750) and keep back some money (for them) so that in case they have some large ticket purchases or need greater sums, you can send that to them on as needed basis.
Thank all for replying. it would help me emensly if you can tell me how much is cost of living with 4 servernts, food cost, car gas, electric generator cost, cost of other utilities and cost of buying lavishly things like clothes, books etc. I want to be fair to them but we have a tight budget as well and I am also a bit concerned beacuse once we start sending they will keep asking for more, and this is the max we can send. I want to explain to my husband with detail of cost of living instead of fighting beacuse I love him too much for that.
Were you paying for all of the expenses on the house before they moved in? If not, then perhaps you can offer to pay 1/3 of the cost, or something similar. Why do you have to foot the bill for the entire khandaan? I was in this situation before, where we were supporting a brother, wife and kids, and a sister and her kids as well because no one could be bothered to work. We finally made it clear that we are on a "limited" budget, and would never send more than an amount that we set. We set this amount on the lower side and do keep an emergency fund for major expenses.
My in-laws are with us right now, so we are not sending what we normally do. We do not have money trees in the backyard, and have four children of our own to be concerned with. Do you have any children yet? If so, have you made provisions for them? There is no need to buy things lavishly, set up a budget and stick with it.
Thank all for replying. it would help me emensly if you can tell me how much is cost of living with 4 servernts, food cost, car gas, electric generator cost, cost of other utilities and cost of buying lavishly things like clothes, books etc. I want to be fair to them but we have a tight budget as well and I am also a bit concerned beacuse once we start sending they will keep asking for more, and this is the max we can send. I want to explain to my husband with detail of cost of living instead of fighting beacuse I love him too much for that.
Cost of living with 4 servants is very high when you are on a tight budget.
I am trying to say is that why even bother with 4 servants ( I rather call helper or nanny). Why not settle with one nanny especially when you are talking about a tight budget. I have just returned from Pakistan and was amazed how expensive cost of living can be if you don't have limits. A family can easily spend $3000 a month with a luxury life or it will be $1000 for an average quality of life. Good thing that they won't have to pay for housing else that alone can be $500-$1000 per month.
In summary, I would say, the cost of living is in one's own hands. As a rule of thumb, $1000 should be sufficient. When I first came to US I could live a month for $150 and today $150 doesn't even last me for 8 hours.
Wouldn’t two servants be more than enough for two people? One driver and one helper, perhaps. Assuming they pay for their and their utilities only, a rough breakdown could be as
Food (including some imported/selected items) ~ $300
One driver and one helper, perhaps. Assuming they pay for their and their utilities only, a rough breakdown could be as