by now, it's probably completely trite to write a blog entry on bad economic times. and it's probably equally imprudent to write about such when i know there are others out there who had been more severely hurt by budget cuts and mass layoffs. now i don't mean to sound insensitive but hear me out on this one, ok?
as of press time, i only have $23 (minus $1.66 for my hazelnut coffee c/o dunkin donuts--hey, starbucks is overrated!) to last me until wednesday next week. that's seven days from now. meaning, if i wanted to live on til the next payday, i would have to subsist on $3 each day for the next seven days. if you have no idea how terrible that is just re-read the first line of this paragraph and see how much a small dunkin donut coffee is.
you know it wouldn't be so much of a big deal if i'm still living the life in the comforts of home. and when i say home, i still refer to our modest las pinas home in the philippines. despite the fact that money flows more fluidly in the hands of a freelancer, i remember being in the same situation quite a few times. i'm usually very frugal, meaning i only allow myself to splurge on three things: books, food, and travel ops. the splurging part could get intense though sometimes; it could terminate a bank account's lifespan in a jiffy. anyway.
a thousand bucks in the philippines can go a long way--especially if your mom mans the ref and you have unlimited access to the spare car at home. of course there may be a few belt-tightening measures involved, but if you know where to go--and the right connection to boot--you'll never starve in this side of the world.
location of course plays a critical part when doing things on a budget. this is where i miss bf the most. from shopping to bar-hopping, from casual to fine dining, from running errands to simply lounging about at your friend's house--"anywhere" is merely within one kilometer radius.
on days like this, when i find myself pressed for cash, you'll most definitely find me at au's carwash. the carwash has its own "bar and grill" where we spend most of our time either bashing each other face-to-face, laughing about something serious, or indulging ourselves in that i-want-to-make-a-difference kind of conversation over barbecue and beer, which you may or may not pay depending on au's mood.
now if you're lucky, which almost always happens, you'll find three to five of your friends show up at about the same time that you do. and if you're really lucky, which also happens kinda all the time, more and more of them will turn up as the night progresses--and you'll end up going home at about half past midnight--a bit drunk, a bit nauseous, and maybe a bit in trouble, but immensely happy about how great your day turned out even without shelling more than twenty precious bucks. those were the days.
obviously there had been a bit of miscalculation (or mismanagement) on my part where budget is concerned. back in the philippines i always knew how to manage these kinds of scenario (when all else fails, i cry out to mommy). but it's a completely different ballgame here, and i'm just beginning to learn the tricks of the trade.
oh well, hopefully the next pay cycle will be a lot brighter.
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Found you today by accident and thought I would say hello. I identified with this post, as I once had .50 cents to my name with 10 days to go until payday because I'd foolishly loaned money to a friend and trusted they would give it back on deadline. Never again.
ReplyDeleteThe other reason I identified with this post is because many often don't believe me when I tell them that Greece is not the cheap paradise it was about a decade ago. To prove my point, I did a price comparison between the USA and Greece in 2007, since many of the naysayers were Greek Americans, and that started a debate, got me some namecalling, and then a Greek newspaper plagiarized my article.
I try not to think about how much things cost somewhere else, even if it's half price. But that's a really hard thing to do when I'm earning significantly less salary and paying significantly less for the same services and goods, plus higher rent for a smaller shabbier apartment.
I'll stop in once and again to say hello. Until then, enjoy the weather...sunshine is free at least :)
.50 cents with 10 days to go? wow, and here i thought i've fallen into a crisis. well at least now i've learned a thing or two about saving 101. my trip to greece, which i hope will happen anytime soon, is just one of the many things i'm saving up for.
ReplyDeleteas for your friend, he/she's probably in a deeper shit than you are, that's one way to look at it.
thanks again for stopping by. i really appreciate your taking the time to read and say hello.=)