Filipina in Germany: Not in panic mode

(Last week, I emailed Filipinos working all over the world to find out how the US global financial crunch is affecting one of the major sources of the country’s liquidity—the so called OFWs. Some are regular readers of MoneySmarts, while some are friends of another blogger Reyna Elena. They were very kind and replied and a short version of their emails (in the interest of space) were included in a feature I wrote for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. I am publishing this week in installments the full version of their emails. I hope the series will help us understand how Filipinos all over the world are affected and are responding to the crisis.)

By Raquel Erhard, Germany

I am a stay at home mom with two girls, ages 4 and 6. My husband works in a bank here in Germany, a country I’ve been calling my second home for more than seven years.

Whenever I think about the global crisis, I tend to focus on the positive side. The news here in Germany is that the financial fall in the US will not be felt greatly because we have enough reserves, etc. etc. I have a feeling these are all big talk simply to reassure the masses. Well, I am trying not to panic since I dont see my husband panicking. And I’m being very positive in saying this — but I am also hoping that prayers would help the Philippines. There might be other effective methods, but am sending more prayers.

As of now, am not panicking as I still get to keep my credit cards and my husband hasn’t restricted me into an allowance. The problem is that the prices of commodities in Germany, which have been rising before the crisis, just won’t stop going up. Butter, which used to be for 49 zents is now up to 89 zents and that’s just an example. We have also noticed that before, we could already have a cart full of groceries for 50 euro; now, we pay 80 euro and we only have a few pieces in our cart.

Even before the global crisis, we have already worked on some saving measures. We’re a creative and resourceful family so I am sure we would be able to work around it. We used to shop at specialty stores, now we visit more discount stores. I visit flea markets and garage sales, which used to be a taboo for my husband, who doesn’t care for secondhand clothes especially for the kids. Now he tolerates them.

I have also stopped visiting online stores like eBay and Amazon. I am trying to curb my buying impulses. You see, I know and I feel something is really changing. We have finally decided not to hire a weekly cleaner; we will keep the money for the cleaner on the side for whatever purpose in the future. I just know that there would be less weekend out of town trips and restaurant visits; and we might have to celebrate again at home instead of in theme parks.

Good thing we already saved a lot when it comes to some basic needs such as fruits and vegetables. We are lucky enough to have a big garden in our backyard and in the mountain, where we could harvest more than enough fruits and vegetables during the summer months–most of them we freeze for use in the winter.
Our Halloween decors are all homemade or they came from the garden, so no need to give out money. This might also be said for Christmas decors, too.

As for the kids, they have started to receive allowances per week. We want them to be responsible when it comes to money, thus we are starting them early. The kids had their own savings accounts since they were babies. What allowances they receive from the government and gift money are saved in there. That account would remain theirs and theirs alone.

Did the global crisis affect our priorities? I don’t really think so. We still have the same Christmas lists, the same Christmas budget for the whole family as before. We still are going on a planned winter holiday in Austria next year. We still plan for our 2010 visit to the Philippines. And we are enthusiastically working on our big, big dream. It would involve a lot of money.

Yet as a stay at home mom, I also have plans to help out. Since I have been giving free English course lessons, I am also planning to accept tutorial for English courses at home. English teachers are in demand here now; and the extra money would help. But really changing our priorities, we haven’t really talked about it.

What are our plans now? Hopefully, live happily ever after. And continue working on our dream; that dream that we won’t let die just because of this global crisis. I did tell you I am a positive thinker, right?

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