Saturday, October 23, 2010
Money matters
Before I came to Torun, I thought I'd struggle to make ends meet on my 1600zl (£350) a month wage. I had previously been offered 2500zl pm by a school in a small town in Southern Poland, so even though I opted for Torun for the location, I thought things would be tight. How wrong I turned out to be. Poles earn an average wage of around 1000zl pm, and rent and bills could come to half of that amount or more, leaving them just £100 a month to spend. An unemployed person in the UK gets £280 a month in benefit and doesn't even have rent to worry about. Of course some things are cheaper here, but some things are the same price making them effectively 5 times more expensive in proportion to wages. Out of my 1600zl wage, I only have to pay for the internet and my phone bill, and the school covers the rest of my bills and pays my rent too. Turns out I'm rich in Poland, but only because I'm English, which doesn't exactly feel like an achievement. Anyway, please excuse me while I throw my money in the air.
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So if you're rich how come you're on toast?
ReplyDeleteI'm rich as soon as I get paid, last month I only worked a few days, I probably had to live on the same as a Pole and I failed miserably.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thenews.pl/business/artykul117027_average_salary_on_the_rise.html
ReplyDeleteI read the article but I'm not sure how true it is. I get the impression that the official average wage in Poland is much higher than the actual average wage. It would be good to get some input from the Poles on this as all I have to go off is a couple of conversations I've had and the internet. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteRich is relative ........... can I have my money back then?
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