Money, Money, Money

VERY TRUE! Mr. Husband is as you know, in Jakarta right now. He is pissed because EVERY SINGLE TIME he goes out the house, he has to spend money. He doesn’t get how it is so expensive there all the while, there are so many people who earn a fraction of what is needed to survive.

Here, we can go out of the apartment with 10 euros, go take the metro, 3 euros return journey, have a cuppa joe, 2.80 euros go window shopping, buy waffles or ice cream, 2.50 euro and still have some money left over when we get home..

And yet, people think that things are better now in Indonesia? Come on! People are so consumptive and materialistic nowadays, it’s all about the money.
Scary…

Indeed, it was the conversation I had with your hubby when I picked up the chocolates, in which he told me about this and it struck me as an odd thing that I never realised it before

I think the world in general have turned consumptive and materialistic as well, but because most of Indonesians don’t have the privilege of education to develop their minds, they swallow any false advertising and hypes that are created by the media in whole without using their common sense.

Like mobile phones, for example. When an ad says 3G is ‘in’ and practically everyone’s using it, all of a sudden 3G mobile phones are the hype of technology. All of a sudden people need to browse through their mobiles. All of a sudden a Blackberry has become a much-needed accessory.

Profitable for the mobile phones manufacturer company, of course, because their mobiles are selling well, because the people who buy them have been fooled to think that carrying a hi-tech mobile phones will make them look and feel better when all they use out of it is to make calls and send text-messages.

I agree life in Jakarta is getting more expensive which is why it is an advantage to have a cooking skill so you do not always have to go outside for dining.

But having said that, there are ways to cut down the costs by taking public transport for example … even though it is inconvenience, knowing where to dine and relaxing. In Kelapa Gading area for example … a Vietnamese coffee in Bengawan Solo cafe merely costs 10,000 and cappucino costs only 17,000 Rupiahs per cup. The price is one third of that in Starbucks or Coffee Beans. Food court food prices normally ranging from 15,000 to 30,000 per portion unless you eat in Chatter Box or Tamani Cafe where the price sometimes does not justify the taste of the food. If you go and eat soto mie, swike purwodadi, gado-gado boplo, mie tarik, empek-empek, bakso Afung, or nasi campur … I think 50,000 is more than enough include water drinking and a cup of coffee after that.

Another alternative is going to Bogor which is only an hour drive from Jakarta. Every weekend I normally go with my bro, sis in law and their son to nursery plant where I could bring my book, watches my nephew or playing with him in the open air, and eating of course! There are many eating places you can find in Bogor, along Jalan Surya Kencana where you can buy jajanan khas Bogor, or the foods in Jalan Pajajaran.

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We should go together Els Before you leave me here all alone

I agree, one must know their ways around the area to save money and have a good time. Sometimes I take public transports too, because getting the car out and drive as well as parking is too much of a hassle already, besides walking is healthier. But I do regret the fact that Bekasi has become too crowded now – there are simply too many people everywhere (that, or I just live right in the centre of its shopping triangles), I get dizzy just by being apart of them.

Kelapa Gading is full with good eating places, whereas Bekasi is more challenging because it’s an industrious city with lots of factories.

I do wish for a good park just to walk my dog in though…

Bali downk!

why? because I’m only 10 minutes walk from Kuta, and it’s free

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Adopt me!! Adopt me!! LOL

One of my trick to cut down dine in expenses is to buy bottled water at supermarket before I hang out with my friends at Coffee Club, because they charge you Rp 12.000 for 1 small bottled water and you can get twice size of that with cost of Rp 1.200. Crazy eh..

I notice most restos charge you 200% to 300% more for their beverages.

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You’re right babe, water is ridiculously expensive in restaurants, and it’s the liquid we should be drinking the most. I think in Melbourne there is a law against restaurants that charge for tap water. But because we can’t drink for the taps here, bottled water it is… sigh.

Yup for that kind of dough you should be getting laid everytime you leave the house . Sarcasm aside its really difficult right now for the little guy just to survive – its heartbreaking to imagine what happens when someone in the family gets sick or the motorbike gets stolen, or lose KTP etc etc..
Hang in there kiddo.

Well, I normally don’t need to leave the house for it LOL
Yes, the little people get affected the most by it. It’s even harder to enjoy the simple things in life that should’ve been free here, like the air (polluted), the trees (dried and polluted or demolished for another development of some malls), the beach (dirty and full of rubbish, and you actually have to pay to actually get to it).

Let’s pray that things will get better… no matter how bleak the future seems to be.

My father used to tell me “Life is expensive”. I have focused so much of my life on making money I have not taken the time to do things that are free for a while. Last Sunday I went for a hike up a mountain with my kids. We stopped at a waterfall and had so much fun blazing a trail through the insects in the woods to get home. The hike anyway was free. And glorious.

Your father was a wise man. Thanks for visiting my blog!

nyanyi,

“it’s all about the money… it’s all about damdamdaradamdam”
“I don’t think it’s funny…. endebreyendebreyandthebrey…”

iya, hidup dijakarta gak ada yg lepas dari uang say. apa boleh buat.

Begiculah…. he3x… apalagi di sini, semuanya kalo bisa dijadikan celah untuk nyari duit. Belum lagi di Jombang yah, rumahnya Ryan aja dijadiin tempat cari duit buat pedagang yang ngejualin fotonya dia *sick*

err….I’m type O….why??

Hmm.. strange. We’ve the same blood type LOL. Usually only people with AB blood type say stuff like “watch sun sets and rain falls”

Therry…

I guess how expensive your day out is depends on the things other commentators have said here.

How far do you want to go from home? What do you want to do? Can you forego the coffee or eating out?

As Kata said walking to the park with the dog is free.

Everything costs something and the medium we use at the moment is money.

That’s life.

If the post is more focused on the little people and their daily struggles to survive, then yes things are tough for the poor (and they perhaps are becoming tougher). I disagree with Rima that Indonesia is worse than it was before (she knows this though). Are there examples that would sustain an argument that Indonesia is worse off, there are. If we believe the statistics which say that there are less people living in poverty than before does this mean or diminish the suffering of those still living below the poverty line, no.

The government certainly needs to address the poverty issue and others that are more fundamental to improving the lot of all Indonesians and not just the few. This means that things like a pornography bill or amending the criminal code to prohibit kissing are not only not a priority but they are an obscene waste of time when the government could be focusing on more important issues that have a more direct impact on people’s welfare.

Just my two Rupiah on the subject…

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Your 2 Rupiahs are much appreciated, Rob
Such is the day-to-day activity of Indonesian government – taking care of petty unimportant things such as porn and religious docos on the internet, when there are much more urgent matters to be solved, such as the Lapindo mud (I heard they will try to throw the mud into the sea now, which is preposterous), malnutritioned children, price increase, corruption (cape deh) etc.

Out of all the problems I listed above, the goverment (after ALL THESE YEARS) are still not capable to solve one of them. Very sad.

That’s why I refuse to come back to Jakarta, now that I live in Bali…

My morning starts with taking my dogs to Sanur beach or Renon city park for early morning walk, where I spend Rp 1,000 for parking (flat rate). Fresh air, sunrise, beach or grass all free of charge. On my way home I pick up nasi kuning in tiny portions for breakfast, Rp 3,000 per bungkus. Then at 9AM I ride my automatic motorbike to go to my temporary job, spend Rp 4,000 for nasi jinggo (nasi campur). The gasoline costs me Rp 15,000 for five days. At 3PM I’m already home again, play with my dogs at our rented pavillion with huge garden, lots of space and clean air. The art institue is just behind us so we hear lovely gamelan music every afternoon. Hubby or I take turns cooking dinner, our maid buys the ingredients from the market – we eat mostly veggies at home so one meal would cost less than Rp 10,000 for both of us. The only thing we splurge on is beer or wine.

A few weeks ago I was in Jakarta, just for three days, and I was shocked at how fast the cash in my wallet would go. Seriously, I was leaking money! In Bali I only have about Rp 50,000 in my wallet at any one time, and normally it can last for about a week, sometimes more.

Yuk yak yukkkkkk… pindah ke Bali

Do pray for me that it will happen to me sooner than later! We definitely must meet when I visit Bali!

Thanks for the post, it is very informative.

Thanks for visiting my blog, Senol Glad you liked it!

actually you don’t have to spend more than Rp200,000; Therry… That Starbucks visit is unnecessary, you could’ve visited a Warung Kopi and spend much less than Rp 50,000

and you don’t need to pay up to 100,000 for food… if you are good enough in picking your menu, you could spend less than 20,000 for your lunch

but i’m not against your theory though. we still need to spend money everytime we look for leisure, albeit not to a large extent as the Rp200,000 you suggested