Carefully calculate each item
During the September 2nd holiday, many workers near Thang Long Industrial Park (Hanoi) returned to their hometowns, while Ms. Lo Thi Hong Chien's family remained in their rented rooms.
The family of 4 lives in 2 rooms, each room about 12m2. One room is used for cooking, living, storage; the other room is a resting and studying place for two daughters, one preparing to enter grade 1, and one studying grade 2.
After each break, Ms. Chien returns to her rented room to take care of her children, prepare dinner and tutor them. Although the space is cramped, she still sets aside a small corner as a study table, prioritizing the children's studies.
She does administrative work, earning more than 6 million VND/month; her husband repairs cars, earning about 10-12 million VND/month.
The total income of the couple is not too low, but to maintain life in Hanoi and raise two young children, the family always has to carefully calculate each item.
Any money must be calculated. At the beginning of the school year, there is also money for books, insurance, and semi-boarding meals for the children. During the children's summer vacation, I also try to save a sum to prepare for the new school year" - Ms. Chien shared.
Since the beginning of summer, she has actively saved money. In the 2 summer months, she saved about 2 million VND each month. This amount is not large, but for a worker's family, it is a necessary preparation before the new school year begins.
If you don't save in advance, it's very difficult. Every month's salary earned has expenses to spend on. By the beginning of the school year, accumulating many expenses at the same time is very stressful," she said.
Up to this point, she has bought books and paid health insurance for her two children, and the insurance money for both of them is more than 1 million VND. Uniforms are the remaining expenses she is preparing.
For Ms. Chien, each new notebook, each uniform is not simply the amount of money to spend. That is the effort of both husband and wife so that their children can enter the new school year like their peers.
Prioritize investing in children's education
Also in Hanoi, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan, a worker at an electronics company in Thang Long Industrial Park, these days is reviewing each household expense item before her child enters the new school year.
Ms. Lan and her husband rented a rented room near their workplace. Her husband works as a freelancer, with unstable income, and her worker's salary is about 8 million VND/month if there are not many overtime shifts. The family has one child in elementary school.
From July, Ms. Lan started keeping a small amount of money separately every time she received her salary. Some months she only kept 1 million VND, some months a little more. After 2 months, the nearly 3 million VND she saved was prioritized by her for buying books, clothes and paying beginning-of-year expenses for her children.
“We workers do not have much surplus money. If we want to have money for our children to go to school, we must save it in advance. Each month, we save a little money for shopping, limit eating out, and save whatever extra money we have,” Ms. Lan shared.
Sometimes Ms. Lan also wants to buy her child a beautiful new briefcase or new clothes as she wishes. But after considering, she often chooses items that suit the family's ability.
For workers like Ms. Chien and Ms. Lan, this month's salary may quickly be divided into rent, food, electricity, water and tuition fees. But the investment in their children's education is always the item they prioritize first.
