Is a monthly salary of SGD7,000 good enough to live for a family of 5?

hello there,

A monthly salary of SGD7, 000 is more than enough.  You just have to be practical and live like locals.  Instead of staying in a 3BD condo, you can rent HDB instead.  Actually, you still can find a condo in cheaper rates but it depends on the area where you are going to live in SG.  Of course, downtown is way too expensive.  Send your kids to the local school but you just need them to focus on their studies since local schools here has a very high standard of education.  S$400/week for groceries is quite a lot for a family of 5 if you buy it in the wet market and just stick to your budget.  Take the bus as well, it's even cheaper than leasing a car.  I hope this helps for you.  Goodluck!

Can foreigners send their children to Government schools?

yes, foreigners can send their kids to the local school but I think there's alot of paperworks to do.  I have a friend of mine who were actually an expat in SG did send their 2 children in the local school.  I was actually quite surprise coz I thought foreigners are oblige to send their kids to the international school. But she told me that you really have to push your kids to the studies.

Yes, it's a decent amount so long as your expenses are planned well and kept under control.
Renting an hdb for your stay and sending kids to the local schools would be good options. Get a good insurance plan for your medical needs as well as for your family. Get your groceries from the wet market and NTUC supermarket and travelling by trains or buses is cheaper than owning a car.
I'm a teacher in a local school and would recommend that you send the kids to a mission school where the discipline is better rather than a neighbourhood school.

Hope this helps.

Foreigners CAN send their kids to local (government) schools - IF they get places. In fact the place allocation system is geared towards locals first, PRs second, and other foreigners a far third, so you may only get places in faraway and/or unpopular schools (and certainly not all of them at the same school). In addition, contrary to locals, for whom local schools are almost free of charge, foreign kids have to pay approx. S$500/month to attend - this is still a bargain compared to private or international schools at S$1500-3000/month per kid!
So, if the OP budgets S$2500/month for a 4-room HDB flat in an o.k. (but not too central) location, S$1500/month for local school for three kids and S$3000/month (=S$600 per person) for food, transport and daily expenses, he can just get by with S$7000/month salary - but this is the minimum needed for a very basic lifestyle and does not allow luxuries (like savings or vacations) - or contingencies for if one child does not get into local school ...
I do not at all think this is a good salary for a family of 5 - in fact the average Singapore household (which has just one kid) earns around S$10000/month.