It is difficult to save money.
Having worked as a worker for 6 years now, Ms. Doan Thi Thao's (born in 1995, from Tuyen Quang) total income is about 10 million VND/month.
“To have this income, I have to work 30-40 hours of overtime per month. If I don’t work overtime, my income will be much lower,” said Ms. Thao.
At the end of the year, female workers do not know if they will be able to work overtime regularly, because it depends on the production situation of the company. If the company has many orders and increases production, they will be able to work overtime and increase their income; otherwise, they will only be able to work 8 hours a day.
Living alone, although her income is not too low, but with the ever-increasing cost of living, this female worker has to "have a headache" calculating to make enough money for the month and save a small amount.
“I had to pay 1 million VND/month for rent alone, because this is a newly built boarding house. But the old boarding house, the rent is only 500,000-600,000 VND/month, but it is very cramped and degraded, I dare not rent it” - Ms. Thao said.
The 29-year-old female worker still has to spend money on food every day. She only cooks for herself, but according to her, each time she goes to the market, she has to spend at least 100,000 VND, which is enough for only 1-2 meals.
“It turns out that just my food and living expenses are not less than 6-7 million VND/month. Therefore, even though my income is not low, I still cannot save a “significant” amount of money after all these years,” said Ms. Thao.
Many times when there were weddings in her hometown, she did not dare to return because it was too expensive, and had to ask her parents to send her money. She did not dare to think about getting married for economic reasons.
"I have not secured my own life yet, when I get married I will face many difficulties" - she said.
At the end of the year, she has to spend even more frugally to be able to save some money to contribute to her bonus for Tet shopping.
“Although I don’t know the exact amount of the Tet bonus, the way the company I work for calculates it is the basic salary multiplied by a coefficient calculated based on the level of work completion of each worker. If there are many days off, the Tet bonus will be less,” said Ms. Thao.
Ms. Thao has no intention of staying in Hanoi for long. She will work as a factory worker for a few more years, try to save some money, then go to vocational school, then return to her hometown to do nails, spa...
"I can't keep working as a worker and renting a house like this forever," she confided.
Accept cheap room rental
Also living alone like Ms. Thao, Mr. Bui Van Chuong (from Thanh Hoa) rents a cramped room that was built a long time ago. The room is dark, rundown, and does not ensure living conditions, but because it is cheap, he accepts it. This room is just a place for him to sleep and rest after working hours in the factory.
Male workers working in Thang Long Industrial Park do not cook but eat outside.
“Food alone costs me a lot. Breakfast is 20,000 VND; lunch and dinner are 30,000 VND/meal. So, a day's food costs about 80,000-100,000 VND,” Mr. Chuong shared.
With so many expenses, from food, rent, and other living expenses, while earning 8 million VND/month, the male worker has to spend very frugally to cover expenses and save a small portion to send home to his family.
“Working far from home and renting a room, we all have to save money. At the end of the year, workers have to save even more to be able to take care of themselves and their families for a full Tet after a year of hard work away from home,” Mr. Chuong shared.
