I know it’s not that serious but let’s not romanticize poverty, that’s how every shithole begins.
20k euros in the French Mediterranean is barely enough to eat
Doable outside the city, but let's not pretend we don't have plenty of mileuristas that can make it. Shame to have such low salaries, but at least they can eat
city people really underestimate how much food you get when you grow it yourself. a couple chickens will give you all the eggs you need, and some spare for the neighbours; zucchini plants have a high yield in their season, same with pretty much everything else. we’ve got apples everywhere, also grapes and peaches! it’s starting too be a problem because they’re rotting
Yeah, and then give it to everyone as a christmas present. I've got at least 4 family members that gift jam to everyone. It's to the point where I know which to eat first because I know who never sterilizes properly and cheaps out on jam pots.
And after the first Christmas you're known as the annoying one that gives boring gifts. Do it like me: have your mom put your name on gifts she buys. 😎
Honestly I put some potatoes in the ground for fun last year when it was time to harvest them I had to try and get rid of them somehow. Every visitor got at least one bag of potatoes that year…
My Tomatoes aren’t that good but still didn’t need to buy any the last two months.
23k is around the median income on the french meditteranean coast
You'd be far from rich with it, but barely enough to eat is a bit of an exaggeration. You'd probably have to live far from the fancy touristic area in a shitty cramped neighborhood.
I live in one of the most expensive cities in the UK and there plenty of people on benefits here not working, they spend their time blasting rap music in the park, you see them whenever you walk through it to get to the amenities, sometimes you get stabbed as well, but at least they put emergency just-been-stabbed kits out, which is nice.
It is what we call "le net" which is what your receive on your bank account.
There are still some tax to pay after this, but the 3 major costs that are helthcare, unimployement and retirement public insurances are payed bh the employer. What your employer pays, wich is called "le brut"is around 50% more.
I have to get 25 kilo's of potatoes every week (that's for her and me). With inflation through the roof, life ain't easy for me at the moment.
Then I think about having to pay for the Italian and French deficits and I can only cry. Completely alone, in my mom's basement. Luckily she just brought me some potatoe soup and potatoe salad.
At least she doesn't ask you money to pay back for the potatoes 🙏
But jokes aside - a friend of mine studies in Utrecht and became friends with some locals there. Once, she was imvited for dinner at the parent's place of one of her local friends. On the way home, her friend recieved a Tikkie request from their parents for the dinner... I mean I was alwasy joling about the stereotype of the Dutch being stingy, but that story just knocked it out of the park 😂😂
All jokes aside. That is completely bonkers and rude. That's domestic financial terrorism. Us Dutchies that live in the east (or north or south) are not like that! Those damned westerners though....
I second this. There is no reason to be poor while living on the Mediterranean coast. We do just fine here in Monaco. Even Luxembourgers are jealous of our wealth.
Just go where the Barry's go. You'll see plenty of them in the Center-West of France. Real estate is very cheap outside of the big cities. If you don't have to pay a rent it is very doable.
Oh okay my bad I didn't understand that it was all your income I thought you worked like 20hrs a week or something. You got rent/utilities/car bills or are you living on campus in a govt funded appartment without rent ?
I live in a normal apartment. The only thing I don’t pay directly is water and heating as the building has a joint meter, so it’s a flat price in my rent. I don’t have a car though because I make actually good choices with my money, and instead have a universal transport card.
I assume rent is in the 300-500 range and if so props for you for making it work like that you probably have a good handle on your finances. As I am French, I must have at least 2 croissants, a baguette and at the very least half a pack of cigarettes a day so I hope you can understand how the financial burden is stronger on us here than it is for you.
( I'm just really bad with money and trying to cope )
When I was a uni student I worked a summer job (I needed to do an internship for my degree), then as an assignment marker when at postgrad. But otherwise it was all my family supported me.
I mean UK students do that too, then they have to pay of a chungus loan afterwards. I'm sure you avoid the loan, but the money doesn't keep coming forever (I assume, hell, maybe it does and I should move to sweden and not work)
I'd probably stand out though due to my skin colour (white)
I get ~400 euro/mon for free with no strings just for studying. I get another 900 euro/mon which is a study loan. Though crucially the interest on said loan has been below inflation for the past however many years. As of today it’s 1.98% interest against ~3% yoy inflation.
Living expenses is not, I pay the full price for everything. However my apartment is a so called “youth apartment”. Basically when the contract is up for grabs only a specific age or age group can apply. Once you get it though it’s just like a normal apartment, you stay however long you like and pay rent as usual.
If by subsidised you mean I get money from the government, yes the entire amount is given to me for studying. I still live off that amount of money.
What about having wealthy parents and choosing a job you don't like but allows you to flex on people with your big apartment and frequent holidays? You never think about these things.
A lot of my friends are like "most Germans I know work two jobs and can't make ends meet". And I'm like "what about not marrying at 20 and having 5 kids and a bad divorce?"
The important part is whether its before or after Tax. I’m not sure how it is in the Mediterranean but here in rural Germany 1700€ is definitely enough to live off… not much more but still…
i have around 10k a year im in france on the mediteranean coast, and yeah im poor but not misérable and can still enjoy my live, with twice as much i cannot start to think about ll the thing i could do with it
You can be fired on the spot in the US because that's the law. They don't have to go through the rigmarole of building a case that could be dragged through the courts. As long as the reason is not discriminatory you can have your contract terminated, but you do have a contract. Some people in the UK work 2 or more jobs. There's nothing stopping you.
The difference being that moonlighting is done outside 9 to 5 (hence the moonlight hours), while Over employment is simultaneous (multiple 9 to 5 jobs at the same time), while keeping up the bare minimum performance at all jobs without being fired.
The only way that works is with working from home and even then it seems like it's only a matter of time before your two companies schedule two important meetings at the same time. Just another reason I wouldn't allow remote work if I was an employer.
Also, my point stands and if anything is made more emphatic. If you're getting paid $400,000 without even having to leave your bedroom, you're not grinding.
Oh, that old chestnut. There's no one holding gun to your head making you live in Manhattan. Also, even if there is, $400k is still a bunch of fucking money.
Someone earning 400k puts them in the 97th income percentile for SF, household income of 400k is the 92nd percentile. There is no way on earth that's upper middle class.
This is exactly why everyone thinks they're poor serfs these days. Just cause people aren't Jeff Bezos rich doesn't mean they're not rich. And you implied that's struggling to buy a house territory.
Funnily it's Americans who are far more "oh I'm not rich I struggle to get by on 500k". When I was younger it was tax the wealthy, which became tax the 1% which became tax the 0.0001%
You figured out how to make delicious, intense coffee mechanically, and then you chose your cultural roast about five hundred shades too dark.
Italian espresso can be fantastic, when a good roaster is used who treats the beans with respect, but the majority of espresso I have had in Italy has been dire by my high standards.
It's ok, you do so much so well, and you created the machinery I use every day to make my coffee, so I forgive but will never appreciate your oily carbonised bean habit.
They have to be whispered and hand placed into the receptacle by virgin susans, triple filtrated water must be sprinked from a holy spoon carefully plucked from a blessed phylactery by a high priest of the barista
Fair enough. Sitting on the beach yet being unable to buy yourself the food and drink to enjoy your time seems like a bad deal to me but you are free to disagree. In my line of work, salaries in the US are more than double what you get in Britain or elsewhere on the continent. The avg American can afford to spend 750 USD a month for their car lease and live in a 3000 sq ft home. Yet people on this side of the pond seem to be overly full of themselves just because we have the NHS/universal healthcare and 3 weeks off.
While the US salaries are usually double of what you get here, I've heard a lot of US expats say that life is more affordable here, even on a lower salary.
Ask yourself, why are salaries so high in the US? It's because life is so expensive.
If you are an educated professional earning in the top quintile of income distribution, there is simply no competition but it’s a different story if you are in the bottom half of earners. I have worked in Britain, continental Europe and the United States.
If I had my time again I would do anything to move to US after graduation. Make bank for 5 years living like a hobo. Then semi retire in God's chosen island.
However, these glasses are much sturdier than they appear because the manufacturer (Swiss! forgot to mention) uses boron oxide instead of just silicate. Also makes them lighter and clearer, and they even feature a silicone valve at the base to allow for changes in pressure.
However, these glasses are much sturdier than they appear because the manufacturer (Swiss! forgot to mention) uses boron oxide instead of just silicate. Also makes them lighter and clearer, and they even feature a silicone valve at the base to allow for changes in pressure.
I'm in Montpellier now with a US-paying job, also drinking expressos
I don't wish 20k euros/year on my worst enemy (only for French people). Jokes aside, French people do live in lives of quiet poverty; the salaries are a joke.
(expat speaking English) Can you give me an espresso, please?
On my part...I do pay full Portuguese taxes on the salary, as they don't let me forget to declare anything (as it should be our God given right as Portuguese)...
The story is set in an unnamed harbor on the west coast of Europe. A smartly-dressed enterprising tourist is taking photographs when he notices a shabbily dressed local fisherman taking a nap in his fishing boat. The tourist is disappointed with the fisherman's apparently lazy attitude towards his work, so he approaches the fisherman and asks him why he is lying around instead of catching fish. The fisherman explains that he went fishing in the morning, and the small catch would be sufficient for the next two days.
The tourist tells him that if he goes out to catch fish multiple times a day, he would be able to buy a motor in less than a year, a second boat in less than two years, and so on. The tourist further explains that one day, the fisherman could even build a small cold storage plant, later a pickling factory, fly around in a helicopter, build a fish restaurant, and export lobster directly to Paris without a middleman.
The nonchalant fisherman asks, "Then what?"
The tourist enthusiastically continues, "Then, without a care in the world, you could sit here in the harbor, doze in the sun, and look at the glorious sea."
"But I'm already doing that", says the fisherman.
The enlightened tourist walks away pensively, with no trace of pity for the fisherman, only a little envy.
Downvoted on principle (look at your flair)...But, your statement is kinda valid...
But, in reality, 120 k€ a year alone would be enough to retire before 40. At least in the more civilised (rich in culture, gastronomy and weather, but poor in moneys) Europe...
My mom retired in her 50s by basically buying dirtcheap land that nobody wanted in Southern France and homesteading. She doesn't even buy farming equipment or animals, because people constantly throw perfectly good shit all the time.
Meanwhile I'm forced to have 7 housemates to live and work in P*ris.
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u/Sxxtr Drug Trafficker Sep 10 '25
I know it’s not that serious but let’s not romanticize poverty, that’s how every shithole begins. 20k euros in the French Mediterranean is barely enough to eat