So, how can you afford to live on $12 per day?

Yes, *GASP* I earn $12 a day---$2.10 per hour---and I live off that.  So, how do I do it.....?

Well, it's actually relatively easy considering many different factors.  Firstly, let's look at my expenses.....I don't pay rent, utilities, for breakfast...  I don't have a car or cell phone, so there's no insurance, no gas, no repairs, no monthly charges.  I don't have to buy toilet paper or cleaning supplies.  I don't have to buy expensive clothes to work in.  I live in a town of 6,000 people so there's no movie theater, no Starbucks, no McDonalds, no sushi restaurant, no museums, and a taxi ride anywhere in town costs $1.  So, there's not a whole lot that would tempt you into dropping cash that you don't have, especially when the beach is FREE and amazing!  If you have a phone, you really only need it to make a call or to send a text message and it will be pay-as-you-go....so internet access isn't an option and fancy isn't really necessary or wise when you're trying not to draw attention to yourself as an obvious target for crime.  In my case, I've opted out of having a phone altogether.  Again, I live in a town of 6,000 people and I work/live within a 1-10 minute walk of my friends and with email, skype, and chatting for my loved ones back home----it really is quite pointless for me to waste the money.  (On a personal level, I LOVE not having a phone to worry about and being able to full disconnect).

Secondly, when abroad, it is common to have little to no desire or need for luxuries like fancy gadgets or possessions.  You realize that ANYTHING you buy is either going to be left behind or you are going have to try to find a way to transport it back to the USA.  So, spending money on something that is pointless----well, you know---it just doesn't make sense.  Plus, I could careless about having the latest gadget, partially because I live in places where electronics aren't a huge deal and also aren't that accessible (or affordable if they are), and partially because being outside the commercial mentality of the USA....you don't feel compelled to have the biggest or the best anything.  (Plus, if someone is going to get robbed, it's probably easier to target the blonde haired blue eyed folk who are out of their element so it's generally not a good idea to have anything expensive at all).  Most people don't have iPODs (actually I've never seen a local with one) rather cheap MP3 players, iPHONES don't function here, and not everyone has a computer much less internet access at home.  So, dropping an exorbitant amount of money (I consider exorbitant anything over $10 these days) on something tangible seems ridiculous.  I'd prefer to spend any substantial amount of money on a valuable experience like snorkeling with sharks, for example, or an occasional luxury like a bottle of $10 champagne or over-priced syrup for a special pancake/going-away brunch with your amigas. 

Finally, $12 a day in a Latin American, in Ecuador specifically where the minimum wage is literally $240 per month (plus mandated monthly bonuses), well let's just say it's not exactly as though I'm being exploited.  In fact, I guess I'd consider myself a high roller compared to many people who live here and do things much less appetizing than teaching at the richest institution in the country.  When you're dropping $500 - $1000 a month on rent alone, $12 a day seems just impossible and insane.  But, when you're living out of necessity in a country where their monthly salary is what you formerly earned in two days of work---well, as I mentioned, $12/day isn't THAT hard.

It's not to say, of course, that I don't have to keep a budget.  I limit myself to $65 a week on food/social expenses and then use my other $19 for necessities such as medicine, bug spray, etc.  I do a relatively good job of sticking to it.  Yes, at time is frustrating that for your big Friday night out, you're literally buying a bottle of booze in the states you probably wouldn't have even touched at the age of 19 in even the drunkest of states at a college house party.  It would seem there is really no justifiable reason to drink liquid petrol, but when everyone around you is dropping their $2 on the cheapest drink of choice and boozing on the Malecon (the commercial waterfront) on Friday and Saturday night, well you don't feel that bad doing the same and you'd probably feel left out if you didn't.  Plus, about five drinks in, you quickly not only forget that horrible burning feeling in your throat and the reality that after a 40 hour work week....you banked all of $84.  I mean, come on, you live in paradise.  Money is just a piece of paper that keeps food on the table and clothes on your back.  Things are just things and luxuries are a far cry from necessities, even though we often blur the lines of what is necessary and what isn't.  The bottom line---simplicity is key. The result---well quite literally, something out of this world.