In addition to covering daily expenses, this problem also has to take into account life events such as unemployment or illness, otherwise one would have to return home empty-handed.
Unexpected large expenses
At the age of 35, suddenly discovering a thyroid tumor, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hau and her husband had to recalculate all family expenses and reduce them to a minimum to save money for medical treatment as well as for future preparations.
Hau and Minh, a couple living in Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi, are living a relatively stable life with an average income. But when the wife was diagnosed with the disease and had to undergo long-term treatment, all family expenses changed completely.
Today, Ms. Hau had to line up from 5am to have a follow-up examination at Tan Trieu K Hospital. The examination is scheduled every three months, and there is no health insurance because she cannot be transferred. The cost of each follow-up examination is about 1 million VND, plus the cost of medicine, the total is more than 3 million VND.
Whenever her health is poor, her husband has to go with her. Today, Ms. Hau took the bus herself so that her husband could stay home to feed the children and take them to school. Her two children, a boy and a girl, are in 7th and 4th grade.
At the end of 2021, when getting the Covid-19 vaccine, Ms. Hau discovered that she had stage 3 thyroid cancer and needed urgent radiotherapy. The first year’s treatment cost a total of 200 million, the couple’s savings, and it was a psychological shock for the whole family.
“When I learned that the treatment was expensive and my two children were still young, I initially thought very negatively. Luckily, my husband encouraged me and put all his effort and money into the treatment, so I felt more comfortable,” Ms. Hau confided.
The 200 million VND that Hau and her husband had previously planned to spend during the pandemic. After the lockdown, the family would go on a trip, buy some furniture for the house, and put the rest into savings. In the end, the couple was stuck in a hospital bed, their jobs were stagnant, and their money was all gone.
Treating this disease with another disease, each month in the hospital costs about 10 million VND, lasting for a whole year. During radiation therapy, Ms. Hau can use normal chemicals, so the cost is lower than using high-dose chemicals. However, the cost of food and health care at home for her after radiation therapy increases.
Thanks to savings, the couple did not have to borrow money to go to the hospital like other families. But even if they had a lot of money, it would eventually run out. The couple had their own business, and their income fluctuated, so saving was their top priority.
In Hanoi, the average monthly spending of her family of four is about 30 million VND. Since the illness struck, their money has been running out, their income has decreased, and their family’s spending has had to be cut down…
Spend a lot on city life
The list of expenses of Ms. Hau’s family in Hanoi is both long and numerous, and if rural women looked at it, they would be shocked and not dare to live on the street.
Sitting quietly, she meticulously recalled the expenses for us, if she wrote them down in a notebook, it would take up several pages. “These are the named expenses, and the unnamed expenses can be grouped together,” she forced a smile, talking about her family’s finances before she became seriously ill.
Public school tuition for two children is 4 million/month, tutoring fee for each child is 2.4 million. Food for a family of four is 150,000 – 200,000 VND/day. Apartment installment payment is more than 12 million/month. Apartment service fee, parking fee, including electricity and water is 3.5 million VND/month.
If you are poor and live in a rented house, 3.5 million VND/month will not be enough. The money for minor illnesses of children and parents, who have to go to the hospital 3-4 times a year, is also a significant amount of disposable income. Earlier this year, my daughter had otitis media and had to spend 7 million VND on treatment. The couple’s gas and phone bills are at least 1 million VND/month.
Then the money they spend visiting their grandparents, weddings, and funerals is about 3 million VND per month. The total amount of money her family in Hanoi has to spend each month is at least 30 million VND.
When life was peaceful and income was stable, every summer the couple sent their two children to swimming lessons, English lessons and piano lessons. Each art and talent class cost from 5 to 20 million VND. Later, the family focused on medical expenses, so all such expenses had to be cut down.
No matter how difficult the situation is, the couple’s criteria is always to prioritize their children’s education and play with friends of the same age. She said that she is lucky to have a husband who loves her and earns the same income as her, so their lives are not out of sync like the friend she mentioned.
“My best friend in Cau Giay district, works all day, she is so skinny that she is unrecognizable, from the fat girl in the group of friends who weighed 52kg, she is now only 40kg. I feel sorry for her and tell her not to work too much, but if she doesn’t work, how will she feed the children? She is the main income earner, her husband only has an office salary of 10 million per month, no more, no less,” said Ms. Hau.
But the city also has plenty of jobs.
Talking about the family’s financial spending plan, Ms. Hau said that although she does not keep a record, she must always think about savings and reserves every day. And according to her, it is not true to say that there is no job in the city, if there is no job, then choose another job. In the age of technology and easy connection, if there is only one main source of income, life in the city will be very “suffocating”.
The couple’s goal is to spend one person’s salary and save the other’s, but now that they are sick and in trouble, they cannot maintain that level, so they have to try to save a little income to put in the bank.
After the radiation therapy, her body was still weak, but Ms. Hau threw herself into work. Her nature of being sad when sitting still and the idea that no matter how much money she doesn’t work, helped her and her husband maintain the family’s main source of income. “If I don’t work, I’ll be sad and think negatively,” she said with a laugh.
In addition to her main job, Ms. Hau also sells goods at the apartment building such as tea and durian. This work both relieves her stress and earns her some money.
“Little by little, think of something to do and most importantly, save. If you don’t save, you’ll still be empty-handed after five or ten years,” Ms. Hau boasted of having just successfully connected a group of businessmen to Hoa Binh for a vacation and hot mineral bath.
Ms. Hau shared that the cost of living in Hanoi is high but there is no shortage of jobs if you know how to work, are willing to work and save. Family life has ups and downs due to health and finances but if you know how to calculate the balance, you will have a stable life.
According to the General Statistics Office, living expenses account for nearly 94% of the average total household expenditure. Of which, food and beverage expenditure accounts for 46.5%; non-food and beverage expenditure accounts for 47.4% and other expenditures account for 6.1%.
In fact, for families in Hanoi, this trend is not too different. The priority in the list of expenses includes: the highest is essential needs (food, living, living, transportation…), followed by rent (for young families in Hanoi who have to rent), then the cost of studying and developing communication relationships. In addition, there are other arising costs such as entertainment, travel…
Of these, basic living expenses and rent typically account for about 60% of income.
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The city is crowded. The young people we met shared that whether or not they have enough income to live on depends mainly on themselves. A frugal salary of 10 million VND exists, but a monthly salary of several tens of millions of VND cannot avoid the pressure of spending.
Next time: 10 million is enough, many millions are not enough