Money? What's That?
When I worked in Boston, I got paid every two weeks. Which was out of the ordinary at the time, because most people were paid every week on Thursday or Friday. Since I was living with my parents and had no special expenses, there was no problem. I remember my mother every Saturday, putting aside money to pay bills if there were any that week, go shopping, and to deposit in the savings account. It was a simple matter to make the money last to the next paycheck, perhaps a little worried on the last day, searching for a lost coin for the bus, but the accounting was pretty straightforward.
In Spain practically everyone is paid monthly. Accounting becomes imaginative. At the beginning of the month you are paid one lump sum. It's beautiful to see all that money at once. You start thinking of all you want to buy. It only lasts a half second before you stop. Because now you can pay off the bills that aren't automatically paid through the bank. And what you owe from the end of the month before. You count, your face goes white, and you put aside what you need to pay around. The lump sum is now much smaller.
You get the calendar, check off how many weeks in the month, plan to spend so much at the supermarket, so much at the gas station, so much in new clothes, so much at coffee stops, so much for those books you were pining after, so much for sundries. Adding up all the totals, you come to the conclusion you need another job because you will have finished off the money by the middle of the month. And God help you if the car develops a cold and wants to visit the mechanic.
So you cross off the sundries, forget about the books for another month, decide you only need one new sweater because you can put on layers of summer clothes to keep warm, and cut down on the coffee stops. That might leave you with only one week scrounging for coins before the next paycheck. You decide you and the other family members have gained weight and cut down on the budget for the supermarket. Now you'll make it to the next paycheck.
Two weeks later you realize there must be a hole in your bank account. Your carefully laid monetary plans have not panned out. Then you realize about those extra expenses that showed up. There was no way you weren't going to take your dear cat to the vet when it was sick. And when the Teflon coating of the frying pan disintegrated, you had to buy another pan or stop making anything that would require unsticking from the pan's bottom with a steel spatula made for scraping paint off walls. And, after driving a couple of kilometers with a flat tire without realizing it, there was no way a simple patch would fix it; you had to buy two new front tires. The cheapest, yes, but TWO tires. And the coffee pot you had to replace because, after two years of good work, it decided to only make strange noises and spew hot water all over the counter top. There was no way you were going to go till next month without your morning coffee; murder would be committed. If your salary were to come in weekly, these extra expenses would only have left a dent of one or two days searching pockets in old coats and jackets for coins before the next payday. This way, they feel like a punch in the stomach.
You sigh and find yourself humming, If I were a rich man.... If only!
In Spain practically everyone is paid monthly. Accounting becomes imaginative. At the beginning of the month you are paid one lump sum. It's beautiful to see all that money at once. You start thinking of all you want to buy. It only lasts a half second before you stop. Because now you can pay off the bills that aren't automatically paid through the bank. And what you owe from the end of the month before. You count, your face goes white, and you put aside what you need to pay around. The lump sum is now much smaller.
You get the calendar, check off how many weeks in the month, plan to spend so much at the supermarket, so much at the gas station, so much in new clothes, so much at coffee stops, so much for those books you were pining after, so much for sundries. Adding up all the totals, you come to the conclusion you need another job because you will have finished off the money by the middle of the month. And God help you if the car develops a cold and wants to visit the mechanic.
So you cross off the sundries, forget about the books for another month, decide you only need one new sweater because you can put on layers of summer clothes to keep warm, and cut down on the coffee stops. That might leave you with only one week scrounging for coins before the next paycheck. You decide you and the other family members have gained weight and cut down on the budget for the supermarket. Now you'll make it to the next paycheck.
Two weeks later you realize there must be a hole in your bank account. Your carefully laid monetary plans have not panned out. Then you realize about those extra expenses that showed up. There was no way you weren't going to take your dear cat to the vet when it was sick. And when the Teflon coating of the frying pan disintegrated, you had to buy another pan or stop making anything that would require unsticking from the pan's bottom with a steel spatula made for scraping paint off walls. And, after driving a couple of kilometers with a flat tire without realizing it, there was no way a simple patch would fix it; you had to buy two new front tires. The cheapest, yes, but TWO tires. And the coffee pot you had to replace because, after two years of good work, it decided to only make strange noises and spew hot water all over the counter top. There was no way you were going to go till next month without your morning coffee; murder would be committed. If your salary were to come in weekly, these extra expenses would only have left a dent of one or two days searching pockets in old coats and jackets for coins before the next payday. This way, they feel like a punch in the stomach.
You sigh and find yourself humming, If I were a rich man.... If only!
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