reasons why I feel broke ALL THE TIME.
5. Our joke of a salary is about $6 per day after you take out money each month for rent.* Have I mentioned that before honestly I can’t remember…
4. Teaching materials and craft supplies for working in the schools comes out of my pocket. The Directora keeps telling me over and over again that they don’t have the funds to give me money for copies and such so I have to front that one my own.**
3. I seem to be hemorrhaging money on saldo (phone minutes) because I am constantly on the phone. Calling other volunteers, my boyfriend, my family, my friends in the states. It never ends…
[3.5. Along those same lines - my internet modem/lifeline is $19 per month and my subscription to New York Times.com is $17 per month. I don't need to tell you that those are some expensive fixed costs on my salary. Plus keeping up all the features for my blog, domain name and flickr account come out to about $64 per year.]
2. Recently I have broken down and started buying various food products generally out of my price range: Honey Nut Cheerios, Campbells Soups, Pepperjack cheese, nectarines, italian salad dressing and, of course, Chardonnay. It also doesn’t help that I have to pay for the 45-minute bus ride to get to the La Colonia that carries all these things.
And finally, the number one reason why I feel broke all the time:
…
I am constantly getting whisked away on all these amazing trips…
.
<3
-Sarita
.
*For the record, my now-employed-on-Capitol-Hill Brother keeps reminding me that the cost of living here is really, absurdly low and my purchasing power is really high – whatever that means. And yes, I admit that my spending habits are not perfect. So I think it’s safe to say most other PCVs probably don’t have the same trouble making ends meet. Whatev.
** Shout-out to my friends Mackenzie and Sara who, months ago, sent me a huge package full of pencils, craft paper, glue sticks, markers and crayons. I appreciated it so much and I use that stuff all the time and it has saved me a lot of money!! Thanks you guys!
