Insufficient Funds

[nephthys224]

As if I didn't have enough to worry about, I seem to have reached the end of the modest little savings I built up while working at Barnes and Noble. I tried to get some cash out from an ATM today and was unpleasantly surprised to find I didn't have enough in my account. As always, I grossly underestimated the cost of living here-- not only is

Comments

[ivo]

FYI, it's not the Netherlands that is so expensive, it's that damn dollar that is so weak. $1.30 for a Euro? That was 85 cents only 3 years ago....

My college loans have gone up 40% over the past 4 years, just because I'm paying them off with US dollars. And $1000 just gets your 400 euros less than it used to...

Hey, and surely you can get a maandnetkaart for less than $300?

[nephthys224]

FYI, it's not the Netherlands that is so expensive, it's that damn dollar that is so weak

Yeah, I am seriously unhappy about the dollar-- it makes me sick to think about how much buying power I've lost just by being here! But even when you take the crappy exchange rate into account, things are still just generally more expensive here. Well, all except for vegetables and flowers, half of which are literally grown in the next town over. The average trade paperback book costs around 18-20 euros here, as opposed to about 12 dollars in the US (though it used to cost me even less, since I worked at B&N), which means I have only bought one book since getting here. And actually, the English-language ones are often even more expensive. Clothes and shoes are horrendously expensive, and the price of gasoline is obscene. And when Rick wants electronics, he waits until he has a chance to go to the US so he can hit up Fry's.

Hey, and surely you can get a maandnetkaart for less than $300?Nope. It costs exactly 297 euros, plus a 25 cent service