Hi All,
I would like to gather information based on your experiences and knowledge. Please help me to get to know how life is there in Amsterdam. Recently I got offered a job to be a Designer and I will be moving there in the next 2 months and I have no idea what's the way of life here.
I have few questions to ask. If you find it too sensitive, please send me private message. Sorry, I just need to make use of the internet as a tool/reference.
* How you get paid? (In the Philippines, we get paid per 15days, Some countries like Singapore get paid per month. How about in Amsterdam?)
* What is the average and above average salary? (What is the desirable salary that gives you enough justice to live and save?)
* How do you pay taxes? (is it automatically deducted to your salary? or it's calculated per year?)
* Working hours? (Is it very strict that you have to be in the office at 9am sharp and leave at 6pm sharp?)
* Average costs everyday.
* Housing? (How much to rent a room per month?)
* Electricity/house bills
Thanks 
I hope you can help me. And again, sorry for the question.
Regards,
Cam
Cost of Living and what life is there in Amsterdam
Welcome on board Cam,
I will try answer your questions:
In the Netherlands you get paid at the end of the month on your bank account. So when you arrive here, you have to open one.
The average salary here depends on your skills, experiences, education, age et cetera.
Taxes will be paid in two ways: on your paychecks you will see two different amounts.
One of the amount is the "bruto" salary without taxes and the second one is the "netto" after taxes. This netto salary you will receive it on your bank account. But these taxes are not complete, once a year you'll receive the famous blue envelope where you have to pay the other taxes to the government. For now it goes to far to explain everything.
The working hours, dress code and how to behave depends all at the company culture.
The financial sector for example is more formal then working on a school. Its been appreciated that you be on time at your work, better five minutes earlier then to late.
If your boss is asking to work longer you cant refuse until you have a valid reason. Most of the companies are flexible in schedule and if you want to have different working hours, you can discuss this with your manager.
The average cost of daily life, electric bills, rent et cetera is also depending on your lifestyle and where you want to live.
Hope this information help you a bit.
Hey Cam,
In the hopes of informing you, there are a few standard setups in amsterdam.
The main 2 are:
1) Living alone
2) Sharing.
The second option is obviously cheaper but in many cases the landlord rents a fantastic place, but wont accept sharing.
The first option, say we place the central station in the center of a circle and trace it around the A10 on the map, you can expect prices to be around €1200 to €1500. Good deals are very hard to find, and it depends a lot on your luck and contacts. What Im telling you is not mandatory, depending on ur contacts, you can find great deals. If you havent got contacts, you'll need to focus on it as if it was ur new job. 
Best Regards!
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