June 27th, 2011 | Posted by acidicice

A little while ago I posted about money being tight. This past month it has only gotten worse! Our electricity suddenly DOUBLED! From R250.00 a month to R500.00! The only explanation we could find is that we bought an eleven fin oil heater for Babyice’s room to keep it warm since it gets terribly cold at night. We’ve noticed that the light on the electricity meter flashes really fast when we switch it on. So we’ve taken to switching it on full to heat the room initially and putting it on 1 and turning the heat down to half for the entire night. We are also switching the geyser off during the day, but this sometimes backfires. The geyser takes ages to heat up and on occasion we end up boiling the kettle in order to bath Babyice before he goes to bed. Complete fail.

The cost of living has gone up a great deal recently. Rudi and I have paid off some debt and still things are tougher. During the recession we were actually fine. I really didn’t feel like I was under much financial pressure back then, but I feel it now. Since that time we’ve paid off one of our credit cards, our plane tickets to fly to Johannesburg last December and still there is too much month at the end of the money. The only debt we have is our fridge and I have my car debt.

I worked out my budget (as I do every month) the other day and it was suddenly clear to me…I spend more in a month than I earn! This has never been the case. I certainly don’t live above my means. The only ‘luxury’ I have is the housekeeper we have once a week. We pay her R150 a day, which does add up. We really don’t cope well without a housekeeper. Neither of us iron well and the housework just keeps piling up. Cleaning while Babyice is under foot also poses a problem since he practically walks behind you and undoes everything you have just done. Having a housekeeper is a big relief to us and really helps us and it helps her too.

Leebeesa has suggested supplementing my income with a ‘second job’ like selling something like baked goods at work (or Avon or whatever). Although that is a possible solution, it will be eating into something I value far more than money and that is my family time. Time with my family has never been as important to me as it is now. At the moment things like gym are already eating into that time (and this is something that is also important!). I am loathe to do anything that would require me being away from or taking time away from Babyice and Rudi. I used to sell Tupperware and it was pretty easy selling it, but I had to drive all the way out to Maitland to collect goods, this took up time and petrol. I spend so little time with Babyice in the evenings now, even the evenings that we are not at gym the time with him is so short. I work some weekends too – more time away from him.

So now I’m in my own personal recession. After the recession is supposedly over, it has hit me. We just received our increase letters and they aren’t really anything to write home about. I always felt that we were very fortunate to be earning the money we are earning here…I can only imagine how people earning minimum wage are not coping right now. Our increases are way below inflation. I wonder what life would be like if I didn’t have to worry about money. That must be nice. I hope things look up before Christmas…it will Babyice’s first Christmas that he might get excited about and I’d like to get excited a long with him…if that makes sense.