I revisited my Drafts and found this saved from Q2 of 2006

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The title is supposed to be a literal translation of the Pinoy proverb “isang kahig, isang tuka“. Mostly associated with the working class struggling to make ends meet.

But does it still apply to OFWs across the globe when they’re earning more than their counterparts back home? Of course!

Hubby & I live and work in London. Yes, if we convert our income to peso (php), we’re mucho dinero but since we have a mortgage, a car, childcare costs, household bills & taxes (there are so many in the UK!) to pay, we have no spare cash after every pay day. Our wallets are as thin as Kate Moss, if not thinner.

I’d like to think we’re not destitute but we can’t save a penny - yet. Right now our earnings’ just enough. We’re gritting our teeth but our situation will ease in a year’s time. By then, hopefully we should have completed our payment in our Tagaytay property & we’ll have that spare dime we can then stash in our starving savings account.

Another year & the car would be paid, which would mean we can upgrade if want to. Or even decide to get another property in Pinas or even here. We could opt to work on that extension on our house… So… yes, we’re tightening our belts so we can live it out in comfort & we can secure our future back home. We’re not greedy, we’re realistic. I tell hubby the reason for all the “struggle” is because we can do this while we’re still young & can handle the “stress”. But can we?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 30th, 2006 at 1:45 pm and is filed under buhay OFW, money matters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.