Spare every penny
Mr. Bui Van Huyen and his wife (from Cao Phong commune, Phu Tho province) are working as workers at a garment company in Hoai Duc industrial cluster. For the past week, Mr. Huyen and his wife have only eaten vegetables for lunch - when working overtime at the company. In the afternoon, the couple almost only ate rice with 1 salty dish, occasionally adding tofu or using boiled water to make soup.
"The price is too expensive, my wife is pregnant with her first child, we have to save every penny to have children, so there are almost no vegetables at home in the evening. At lunch, the company usually has 1 salty dish, 1 stir-fried vegetable dish and soup, I usually only eat soup, giving my wife more vegetables. In the evening, we eat simply. With the ability to eat of the couple, the current price of vegetables is expensive, each meal can cost 40,000 VND for vegetables, Mr. Huyen shared.
Mr. Huyen said that this weekend, his mother-in-law came from her hometown to Hanoi for a medical examination and had arranged to bring a lot of vegetables from her hometown. In particular, long-lasting vegetables such as pumpkin, squash, potatoes, Brazil Brazil... will be prioritized.
Ms. Le Thi Bich - a worker at a garment company in Bo De ward (Hanoi) also has a headache every time she goes to the market to cook rice. "The price of vegetables for each meal is almost equal to the price of meat," said Ms. Bich.
Ms. Bich said that she went to the market to buy 4 strings of pork leg for 48,000 VND, 2 tofu packages for 10,000 VND, 1 bunch of water spinach for 22,000 VND, 3 tomatoes for 16,000 VND. Nearly 100,000 VND for a meal, according to Ms. Bich's calculations, previously it only cost about more than 60,000 VND.
"I was stunned after asking the price because the vegetables were so expensive, even a bunch of herbs cost about 8,000 VND. The salary does not increase, the children's education is expensive, and Tet is coming, I have to balance each dish, tens of thousands of dong to avoid spending too much, otherwise it will be very difficult," Ms. Bich said sadly.
Cut spending
The price of vegetables is expensive, so to eat vegetables for each meal, many workers and laborers think of ways to cut down on unnecessary expenses. Ms. Le Thi Bich decided not to give her children 20,000 VND for breakfast every morning as before, but to wake up to cook instant noodles, instant noodles, and fried rice for the whole family to eat together, saving costs.
The habit of sometimes taking her children to parks, supermarkets, and watching movies was also completely cut by Ms. Bich to save money. Although she felt sorry for her children who just hang around in a rented room after school, Ms. Bich said "there is no other way".
Mr. Dam Van Thanh - a worker renting a room in Phuong Liet ward decided to skip the weekend drinking party that he and his colleagues have been supporting for the whole year. "Every Friday afternoon drinking party, we divide the payment to about 200,000 VND/person. At this time, that amount of money is enough to eat a few meals of vegetables. We have agreed not to drink for the past 3 weeks, said Mr. Thanh.
According to Mr. Thanh, before with this income, he and his wife saved a little money every month. Recently, everything prices have increased, especially vegetable prices have increased 2-3 times, even though they have "tagged" each meal and cut down on unnecessary expenses, Mr. Thanh's family still has almost no money to save.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - former Director of the Institute of Social Labor Science commented that with an average salary of more than 6 million VND/month, workers are only able to cover themselves, very few people have savings, or if they do, it is not worth it. Meanwhile, expenses such as rent, food prices, electricity and water... have all increased in recent times.
"The lives of workers and laborers are already poor in material and spiritual aspects, now the price, especially the price of green vegetables, has increased, making them even more disadvantaged. Designing a more comprehensive and practical support policy for workers and laborers is very necessary, said Ms. Lan Huong.
