"Funny Money"

When we came here on our "look-see" trip, I spent an afternoon with Jason's boss's wife, Judy. She is a great lady and a wealth of information and really made me feel comfortable with the move. One of her tidbits of advice was to think of Swiss Francs (chf) as "funny money". She said this because of how inflated all the prices are here. She said it's too crazy to take seriously, which I've come to realize is totally true! (She also recommends taking a bunch of empty suitcases when we go back home to stock up on stuff at Costco, since you don't have to buy some things with "funny money".)

I now see why when companies send people to other countries they figure out the cost of living difference and give you a supplement to your salary if where you move has a higher cost of living rate. Someone here told me that even the basic labor jobs (painter, handyman, delivery driver) make over 80K a year starting out! That's minimum wage.

We've lived this month as though we are using "funny money". We've been buying things left and right for the apartment and at the grocery store and other things. We have had to pre-pay for a bunch of things that we'll be reimbursed for and are still waiting for our moving allowance. So, it's impossible to think of a budget for now.

The fact that I can't take the prices seriously really hit home when I had to search for a babysitter. I can't take Lainey with me to Aidan's K orientation on Monday, and I didn't want Jason to have to take a day off, so I found a baby-sitter thru an ex-pat group. She nannied last summer and just finished a Study Abroad program with Boston U. I also got a few names from Jason's friend Rob, who we can use in the future. They are all nice girls with lots of experience, but I cannot believe the going rate for sitters. $20-$25/hr! We went out Wednesday night, just for dinner. It cost us $120 just for the sitter! Our dinner was the cheap part-we went to a wine bar and just had wine and cheese (which in the US is usually expensive) but actually cost the same as when the four of us went to McDonalds! Prices are so backwards. Cheap things at home are expensive here, expensive things at home are more reasonable here. (Notice I didn't say cheap. Nothing is cheap here.)

Hopefully, once the settling-in phase is over we'll get a better grasp on understanding budgeting so we can start saving to take vacations. We are planning to go to the Italian part of Switzerland in Sept. and Paris and EuroDisney in either Oct. or Nov. so hopefully we can figure things out by then! Until then, it's just "funny money"!