The common mistake most Filipino think when someone is working abroad is the OFWs got plenty of money or savings. Little do they know that most of the OFWs struggle for the budget for their daily lives.
I will give you a little idea of how the OFWs budget their salary.
SALARY DAY - First or last week of the month. We are only paid once a month - NOT the kinsenas (every 15 days or twice a month) that we are used to getting back in the Philippines.
SEND MONEY TO THE PHILIPPINES - Well, mostly people here works to be able to send money to their loved one. It is already a common practice for us Filipinos that right after we get our salary, part of it will be sent to the the Philippines.
DAILY EXPENSES ABROAD - We need to eat you know. Buy our own personal things, food, transportation.
SAVINGS - If we are lucky, we have money to save.
I have read many ideas and tips when it comes to budgeting and saving money. Salary>Save>Spend what is left
BUT......
How the OFWs can do that if this is the situation.
Example
2,000.00 AED Salary
1000 - goes to the Philippines.
500 - bed space. If the OFWs are lucky, they get to share the room with a maximum of 4 bedspacers.
500 - daily expenses. food, personal hygiene, transportation.
So what's left? If we save money before spending, what is there to send to the Philippines?
Last week, I got an idea on how to budget mine. I put everything in my extra wallet. A free wallet from the gold shop where my sister bought her bracelet and made it my budget wallet. Last night, while paying for the items, (wet wipes and canned foods) the cashier asked me what is the purpose of labels in my wallet. Since no costumer in the grocery store, I explained to her everything.
*Note: This is not my salary alone. I got a part of this budget from my husband too. His salary is for the kids in the Philippines and also for the house we are paying monthly.
Food allowance - 1,200.00 - food, condiments, personal hygiene. The 3 of us, my husband @ardapyan, sister @marieeugene and I share 400 AED monthly for these. My husband's cousin sometimes shares for the rice and other foods.
Arjei's Allowance - 500.00 - For this 500, we buy promo of diapers and milks. I will adjust this for 600 next month because his milk is almost finished and we bought an extra diaper and milk last week.
Arjei's Fees for Manang - 800.00 - My husband's cousin takes care of our son when we go to work. It is a"drop and pick up" everyday. We send our son every morning to his Aunt and get him after our work.
House Allowance - 1,100.00 - Water, Electricity, Internet and the house rent - This is our budget for these bills. The water and electricity bill depends on our usage. The water costs more compared to the electricity so in order to save water, I don't flush the toilet bowl, I use a dipper instead of the flush because it consumes 5 galons per flush. sometimes when washing our laundry, I manually rinse in to save water even I wash laundry for the 4 of us. (My husband, sister, our son and I)
My monthly allowance - 200.00 - I never got the chance to spend it for myself since I used this to buy my son's diapers and milk because his 500 budget is already finished. LOL
So this is how I budget. So where is the savings? Nothing. If we want to save, we must eat once a day. Haha! Kidding! It is hard to save especially with all the expenses you got daily. Thats why most OFWs go back to the Philipines without savings because even how we budget our money, it is still not enough. Lucky are the OFWs who got 10,000.00 AED salary but for us, we need to work hard, do part time to have an extra money and thankfully, I got steemit too that will help me with the health insurance fee of my son.
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