$7.42 a day

A survey conducted by Royal Government of Cambodia, UNDP, UNICEF and the International Monetary Fund in 2000 found that 77% of Cambodians lived on less than US $2.00 a day at that time. WOW that's not much.

I had been feeling sorry for myself because I receive money to pay for my housing and $7.42 a day to live on. That $7.42 is after taking out fixed expenses for, water, electric and gas for the moto.

On $7.42 a day, I can go to the expatriate restaurant once a week, other than that I do my standard breakfasts that cost about $0.50 and my normal lunch which costs $1.75. When I go to Phnom Penh and stock up on things that I cannot find here, I go over budget but as I use the items, it evens out.

So far this month, I am ahead $38.00. I am sure I will spend that when I go to Phnom Penh.

You may wonder how I know that I am $38.00 ahead. As a professed geek, I keep a spreadsheet of everything I spend so I know if I am over spending. When I arrived in Kampong Cham I had no idea what the cost of living would be. The only way to find out was to track everything I spent. I have done this for three months and find that in Kampong Cham I spend about $40 less than I am reimbursed. Since my purchases in Phnom Penh usually level this out, I am just living on what I receive.

I guess I'm quite lucky.