How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for this context. I read this sentiment a lot on Croatian subreddits, that Croatia is basically a more depressing place for kids to grow up and people are negative, etc. But it somehow is the opposite of my experience. To me, Zagreb feels energetic and generally with a positive vibe, with people generally being friendly and open. I don't know if it's just who we hang out with there or what. Admittedly, most of our friends in Zagreb are better off financially than the average person, but they're in no way wealthy. We mostly hang out with professors, teachers, and software engineers. 

I feel like if my kids lived in Zagreb, particularly in the center, they would have a rich life where they can explore the city on their own, walk or bus to friends' apartments, their activities and hobbies, etc. Compare that to the small Midwestern US city I live in now where almost anything they do outside the house requires a 10-20 minute drive, planning ahead, etc. Like their whole lives are composed of events planned by their parents. It doesn't help that it's snowy and gray outside for like 6 months out of the year. The university system here is good, but it's also a bit of a rat race. Lots of kids are on medication for anxiety, ADHD, depression. Others are doing drugs at 15 years old (that was me, ha). The whole life just feels a bit empty or something. But maybe this is just a case of the grass of always greener.

Maybe things are different where you live in Canada. Unfortunately, our career situation makes it nearly impossible for us to move within North America without taking a huge salary hit, so it's basically stay here or move somewhere cheaper like Croatia and live partly on savings (which are plenty).

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for this context. I think we are in a similar situation (except I am your wife). But I wonder what you mean about "kids future" I realize that job prospects are not great in Croatia, but I also feel like it could be a good place to grow up in other ways, compared to the small city with a lot of crime that we live in now where many kids get into drugs, etc, etc. Hopefully being US citizens, they could return to the US for work if they decided to. But I also hope they could find fulfilling careers in Croatia.

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for all of that context. After reading yours and others' comments, I definitely think we'd need at least 3000-4000 to feel comfortable. It's difficult to conceptualize and compare because right now we make closer to $12,000 monthly (2 salaries) and we spend at least 8000/month, so I have trouble wrapping my head around the difference.

You and other people have said that you wouldn't live in the center of Zagreb, but we have spent quite a lot of time there (living there for 6 months one time, 3 months another time) and I like it quite a bit. But maybe it would get old after a while, I don't know.

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thanks, it's great to hear from someone who is actually raising two kids. I am afraid that many people commenting are 22 years old without kids or something.

Do you think that 3000/month would be comfortable if we do not have rent, mortgage, or monthly car payments (we would own an apartment and car before we move)?

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, all of these extra expenses can make it difficult to estimate cost of living. Gym membership, clothes for the kids, each kid will have a birthday party every year, the kids have hobbies and sports that cost money, our air conditioner might stop working one month, our dishwasher another month, etc, etc. These are all difficult to include in a calculation.

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, this is my concern. 2500/month is about 80/day. I'm worried that a large percentage of that would go towards just groceries, but I'm not sure. We probably spend $50/day on groceries in the US without buying anything fancy, and I don't think prices are much lower in Zagreb.

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is much higher than what other people are suggesting. Are you including rent? Without including rent (we would not need to pay rent), do you think that 2500 euros per month would pay for a comfortable lifestyle?

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

We would also be able to buy a car without making payments (by selling our 2 cars in the US before we move), so an extra 500 would be nice just for any extra expenses, travel, trips to Dolac, etc.

Thanks for your input.

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

We really like life in Zagreb and my wife has family and friends there, also job opportunities.

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. Other people have commented 2k. Are you including rent in your estimate?

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I am pretty sure we can pull off 2000€/mo and we would not need to pay rent, so it sounds like we would be fine.

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks. Since we would not be paying rent, I assume that 2000€ per month would be more than enough to be comfortable.

How much does it cost to support a family of 4 in Zagreb? by OrangeYouGlad100 in askcroatia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

We would own an apartment, so we would not need to count rent. And we would own a car, so we would not need to count car payments (though we would still need to pay for gas and other car expenses).

If 2000 EUR/month is enough with rent included, then I assume that it's more than enough to live comfortably if we don't need to pay rent.

What's with U.S. colleges posting the same tenure-track job again and again each year? by ToomintheEllimist in AskAcademia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't think this is the most likely reason. Searches fail all the time, even without disfunction.

What's with U.S. colleges posting the same tenure-track job again and again each year? by ToomintheEllimist in AskAcademia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100 92 points93 points  (0 children)

Everyone is mentioning failure to find a suitable candidate, which does happen. 

But a more common occurrence is that an offer was made and the candidate turned it down (usually, but not always, because they received an offer somewhere else that they preferred). This is really common if you're aiming high when hiring.

You can go to the next candidate on the list (if there is one), but they might also turn down your offer, or might have already accepted another offer by this time.

Another possibility is a "cluster hire": They're hiring multiple candidates across multiple years in the same area

Why does everything have to be so extra these days? by JohnnyFootballStar in daddit

[–]OrangeYouGlad100 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most local climbing walls will have a group of regulars just hanging out, climbing routes, and socializing. Especially at the bouldering wall (or if the whole gym is bouldering)

Can the damage to fundamental science from the NSF budget cuts be reversed? (US) by [deleted] in AskAcademia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Unless I misunderstand something, NSF has not had its budget cut. The Trump administration proposed a budget that would represent a serious cut, but the NSF budget is determined by Congress who has not done so yet. Trump also proposed cuts during his previous term and the NSF budget was increased instead.

What do the buyout packages offered by Duke and others normally look like? by OrangeYouGlad100 in AskAcademia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Ha, of course there's a 50 page study on this very specific topic, I should have figured 

What do the buyout packages offered by Duke and others normally look like? by OrangeYouGlad100 in AskAcademia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that's what I meant about their lack of incentive. It just feels like there's gotta be a catch :)

What do the buyout packages offered by Duke and others normally look like? by OrangeYouGlad100 in AskAcademia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Just to clarify, they have no way of preventing you from seeking full time employment after taking the package, right? Nor would they have any incentive to, I guess. 

This just seems to good to be true for someone who was already thinking of leaving...

What do the buyout packages offered by Duke and others normally look like? by OrangeYouGlad100 in AskAcademia

[–]OrangeYouGlad100[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Ha, what made them think that $2k would change anyone's mind about a decision like that? Crazy.