Monday, July 30, 2007

Monopoly Money

Adjusting to a new country means, among other things, adjusting to a new financial system. This involves new currency, watching exchange rates, and comparing prices to the U.S. When we first moved here I joked with some of the other missionaries that Polish money looked very similar to monopoly money and was thus easier to spend. Then when reality hit I realized that passing go was not going to give me another $200. We have found some things in Poland to be a real steal compared to the states and some things are quite expensive. Many of you have asked about this very thing so I thought I would give you an idea by listing the prices of certain commodities and services here in Poland

Cheap:
1.) Labor---$3 to $4 an hour
2.) Groceries---weeks worth is roughly $70 (and thats for a family of Stovers)
3.) Pizza delivery---$10 for two large pizzas and it comes in less than 20 minutes (much faster than Dominos and without the Botchulism)
4.) Restaraunts---family of four can eat at a mid range place for roughly $30
5.) taxi--picked up my car from the shop today and the fare was $3
6.) hotel---outside of Warsaw $50 can give you a very nice room
7.) Rent---$500 a month can get you your choice of any apartment
8.) dentistry---Ginger had two root canals done at a state of the art place for around $100

Similar:
1.) Utility bills
2.) cell phones
3.) internet

Expensive:
1.) pair of average jeans $80-100
2.) electronics---probably a 20% markup from the states
3.) Simple oil change---$100+ (oil is ridiculously expensive here)
4.) gasoline---roughly $5.50 per gallon (please stop sniveling about $3 gas-when you get over $5 then call me--but I'm not bitter)

3 comments:

Carrie said...

Mike is curious how the gas can be so expensive and the taxi so cheap?!

The Stover Family said...

Almost all the taxis run on liquid propane which is around $2 a gallon. Actually, we just had our car switched to run on Liquid propane too which should save us tons of money.

Annette said...

Two state of the art Root Canals for $100.00? I had a state of the art one and it was $895.00 NOT including the crown!

$5.00 a gallon for gas and $100.00 oil changes, WOW! But I bet those apple pies taste good! :)