It's all about the money, money, money
Remember, about all the most important things of our lives here in Spain we write, right?
So here we are - talking about the euroz, dollaz, yeniz!
When it comes to one ESC (European Solidarity Corps) project, one of the hot topics is always the money. We get it asked pretty often for sure - you are a volunteer, does it mean you get any money or not at all?
To calm everybody - we do get money!
But how does the financial part of one ESC project work?
The whole budget of the project consists, of course, of a lot and a lot of things. Starting with the insurance, organisational support, trainings, etc. There is a budget for the travels from home to voluntary project destination, our case from Estonia and Finland to Spain and back home after the project and this amount is 360€ per person. So 180€ for trip to here in autumn and 180€ for trip to home in July.
Here it’s very important to point out that not with all countries are amounts the same, the travel budget always depends where are you coming from and where are you going and also the food money and pocket money we are going to talk about below, depends on the country, but it’s more or less the same everywhere. For that we have the Erasmus+ distance calculator.
Sometimes there are cases when the volunteer can get a lunch at school where he/she works for example, then the food money for her to use personally can be less.
So when applying for a project, keep in mind to which area are you going - is it a village or a city, can your costs of living be there higher than the costs that you are used to etc.
Our case, as an example is pretty classical. Each month we get the rent money for the place we are, we pay to the owner of the apartment.
And now about the money which we can use for ourselves - there is money for food and pocket money to discover the country and have some entertainments in the life. The amount all together is a bit more than 300€.
To some of you this money may look big, for some a small amount or just enough to have a good life. To be honest, both of us who we have been working for many years and are used to have money to spend ourselves, we see this is little money but at the same time - with good managing it’s very possible to live with this amount.
Local transport - if you can't walk to your workplace or use the bike for example, the coordinating organisation is in charge of also giving the money to volunteers for local public transport.
How, you ask?
We think through our buyings. If you go to the store and just let your mood decide whatever you want, it can get tricky to have money until the end of the month. Planning the buyings is the key.
Both of us have savings. While working in home country, we kept in mind that if we want to take as much as possible from our experience here and also discover the country and countries around, we need to have some money apart from the pocket money. For both of us it’s important to have some weekends with cinema, a trip, dinner out or possibility to get a manicure for example to bring some more colours to the life. With savings these things are so much easier!
Angela personally has almost totally cut out meat from her menu while cooking at home and as fresh things and fish here are much cheaper than back home, it’s easier to cook quality food without spending a lot. Also better for the health, wink wink.
As we both are living with someone who already has furnished the apartment and bought everything (from kitchen things to bedsheetings, towels etc) we don’t need to spend money on things which back home we had to get ourselves. We are lucky with that.
Comparing prices to home - eating out here is cheaper. For example in our home town in Majadahonda we can get menu del dia which means two (almost always huge) meals, dessert and/or cafe for nine or ten euros. Of course you can not do it every day with the budget we have, but from time to time it’s great to have this opportunity. Also when going out for wine or beer, it is not as expensive as back home so we can say it is easier to enjoy life here with the budget that we have.
As we came here with a luggage which can’t find all the beautiful things in the world, there is no need to buy a lot of things while being here. Some new clothes, shoes and maybe even one bag, yes. But to make these decisions what to buy and what not to buy is of course, so much easier, than back home. And money saving as well.
This was shortly about how we manage with the money here. If you have a question for us about this topic or any other, feel free to contact us here on through our Instagram: blondieslostinspain
Stay home and stay safe, dears!
Abrazos,
Fiia & Angela
So here we are - talking about the euroz, dollaz, yeniz!
When it comes to one ESC (European Solidarity Corps) project, one of the hot topics is always the money. We get it asked pretty often for sure - you are a volunteer, does it mean you get any money or not at all?
To calm everybody - we do get money!
But how does the financial part of one ESC project work?
The whole budget of the project consists, of course, of a lot and a lot of things. Starting with the insurance, organisational support, trainings, etc. There is a budget for the travels from home to voluntary project destination, our case from Estonia and Finland to Spain and back home after the project and this amount is 360€ per person. So 180€ for trip to here in autumn and 180€ for trip to home in July.
Here it’s very important to point out that not with all countries are amounts the same, the travel budget always depends where are you coming from and where are you going and also the food money and pocket money we are going to talk about below, depends on the country, but it’s more or less the same everywhere. For that we have the Erasmus+ distance calculator.
Sometimes there are cases when the volunteer can get a lunch at school where he/she works for example, then the food money for her to use personally can be less.
So when applying for a project, keep in mind to which area are you going - is it a village or a city, can your costs of living be there higher than the costs that you are used to etc.
Our case, as an example is pretty classical. Each month we get the rent money for the place we are, we pay to the owner of the apartment.
And now about the money which we can use for ourselves - there is money for food and pocket money to discover the country and have some entertainments in the life. The amount all together is a bit more than 300€.
To some of you this money may look big, for some a small amount or just enough to have a good life. To be honest, both of us who we have been working for many years and are used to have money to spend ourselves, we see this is little money but at the same time - with good managing it’s very possible to live with this amount.
Local transport - if you can't walk to your workplace or use the bike for example, the coordinating organisation is in charge of also giving the money to volunteers for local public transport.
How, you ask?
We think through our buyings. If you go to the store and just let your mood decide whatever you want, it can get tricky to have money until the end of the month. Planning the buyings is the key.
Both of us have savings. While working in home country, we kept in mind that if we want to take as much as possible from our experience here and also discover the country and countries around, we need to have some money apart from the pocket money. For both of us it’s important to have some weekends with cinema, a trip, dinner out or possibility to get a manicure for example to bring some more colours to the life. With savings these things are so much easier!
Angela personally has almost totally cut out meat from her menu while cooking at home and as fresh things and fish here are much cheaper than back home, it’s easier to cook quality food without spending a lot. Also better for the health, wink wink.
As we both are living with someone who already has furnished the apartment and bought everything (from kitchen things to bedsheetings, towels etc) we don’t need to spend money on things which back home we had to get ourselves. We are lucky with that.
Comparing prices to home - eating out here is cheaper. For example in our home town in Majadahonda we can get menu del dia which means two (almost always huge) meals, dessert and/or cafe for nine or ten euros. Of course you can not do it every day with the budget we have, but from time to time it’s great to have this opportunity. Also when going out for wine or beer, it is not as expensive as back home so we can say it is easier to enjoy life here with the budget that we have.
As we came here with a luggage which can’t find all the beautiful things in the world, there is no need to buy a lot of things while being here. Some new clothes, shoes and maybe even one bag, yes. But to make these decisions what to buy and what not to buy is of course, so much easier, than back home. And money saving as well.
This was shortly about how we manage with the money here. If you have a question for us about this topic or any other, feel free to contact us here on through our Instagram: blondieslostinspain
Stay home and stay safe, dears!
Abrazos,
Fiia & Angela
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