Various

[mothwing]

• Bionic legs! So cool!


• We can all live real healthily on €160/month (German), for those of you who don't know yet. Oh, we're also all male, so forget money for tampons or cosmetics (we do shave, so we get the razors), and we don't have sex, so no contraceptives (or do we use free condoms? Not sure...). Go us! I kinda want to try this next month to see if I can really pull it off (a visit to the hairdresser apparently costs €7, so does the membership fee for the library, should we get bored. We could also go to the zoo for €2,50 (lawl) or to the swimming pool for €1,50. Should we get hungry, we can always fill up on fresh grapefruits that are available for purchase at a price of €0,99/kg, or on apples for €0,76/kg. Why work if all these luxuries are so readily available?)

Comments

[lordhellebore]

The cheapest hairdresser I know costs € 10,- and the zoo? Um, are they insane? Last time I checked, Hagenbeck was € 14 something for adults (not that that is a good example for a cheap zoo, but...gah, ridiculous). And € 1,50 for the public pool? Show me that pool, please.

Srsly, I want tobe childless for one month just to try this. MAybe I'll be closer to my goal weight afterwards...

[lordhellebore]

Obwohl ich sagen muss - soltlen Hannah und ich von Hartz VI, Kindergeld und ihrem Unterhaltsvorschuss leben, so hätten wir grad mal € 63,- weniger als jetzt im Monat zur Verfühung, wenn ich das richtig berechnet habe. Verhungern oder bettelarm sein würden wir nicht. Hm... Ich frage mich ernsthaft, wieso ich da nicht hintersteige.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

MAybe I'll be closer to my goal weight afterwards...
My thoughts exactly, just look at all the exercise we'd be getting, seeing as how prices of public transport are not included (well, they are, but only up to €23). And the pool - maybe they're thinking of a pond somewhere? That might even be free. Hairdresser - they seem to be rather generous in their estimate of the price of wear and tear on bowl and kitchen shears there.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Na, also bei mir ist es so, dass ich, wenn ich mir meine beiden Jobs einfach mal sparen würde, monatlich ganze €100 weniger hätte (also, wenn ich mir meine 20h Stunden Arbeit einfach mal sparen würde). Aber ich brauche meine Jobs als Auslastung für den ganzen Terz beim Amt. -_-

[lordhellebore]

Yeah, walking everywhereor riding a (cheap, rusty) bike = win. They just need to force us to exercise like that!

Hey, so now we know the best way of losing weight: being poor. Or wait, wasn't there soemthing about how unhealthy processed foods are much ceaper than healthy fresh food? Damn, and here I thought I'd found the solution.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Actually, they do cover that (on p.19), and they only list non-processed foods in their ideal shopping list - though they do point out that it's possible for people to pay more than their €68,09-89,33, but they think that'd be mostly due to people being idiots and not being able to store their veggies properly:

«Die Höhe der sozialen Mindestsicherung - Eine Neuberechnung „bottom up“ - p.19f»

Ein über das „rechnerische“ Minimum erhöhter Bedarf an Ausgaben für Lebensmittel könnte sich dadurch rechtfertigen22, dass es bei nicht völlig sachgerechter Handhabung derselben zum Verderb kommen kann. Darüber hinaus ist denkbar, dass die optimale Zusammenstellung des Warenkorbes nicht bekannt ist und insofern mehr ausgegeben werden muss, soll es nicht zu Mangel bei einzelnen Kategorien kommen. Außerdem könnte es bei frischen Sachen zu Preisschwankungen im Jahresverlauf kommen, die wir in unserer Stichtagsbetrachtung nicht berücksichtigten. Ebenfalls könnten weniger rational handelnde Wirtschaftssubjekte die systematische Suche nach dem günstigsten Preis unterlassen. Grundsätzlich ist mit all diesen Phänomenen zu rechnen. Es wäre zu fragen, ob derartige Probleme durch eine pauschale Anhebung der Sätze über das Minimum hinaus gelöst werden sollen, oder ob alternative Maßnahmen, wie Beratungsleistungen oder bessere individuelle Betreuung (welche auch das Ziel verfolgen könnte, die Personen aus der Abhängigkeit von staatlichen Zuschüssen zu befreien, was auch ein formuliertes Ziel der sozialen Mindestsicherung ist) sachgerechter wären. Wenn der Regelsatz, wie derzeit der Fall, bei Lebensmitteln das Existenzminimum um 100% übersteigt, wird deutlich, dass die Methode der pauschalen Anhebung der Zahlungen zur Lösung der genannten Probleme hier offenbar die vernünftige Grenze überschritten hat.

Friedrich Thießen, Christian Fischer.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Ich frage mich gerade, wie diese Betreuung aussehen sollte - gehen da Leute mit Einkaufen, oder lassen sie sich beim Amt einfach alle Kassenzettel eines Monats vorlegen?

[moonystone.livejournal.com]

From what I gathered, the prices they took as basis for their calculations are from Chemnitz. As far as I know, most prices in the eastern parts of Germany are lower than in the West (because most incomes are lower, too). They still seem somehow ridiculous. Their idea of rent made me lol.

Reminds me of those calculations based on industrial-sized packages of food, i.e. if you buy 5kg cheese then one slice costs, dunno, 3 cents. Therefore, a household of two etc. blabla unrealistic blabla.

I'm fine with the money I get from them, but then the bf does pay a lot for the both of us...

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

That's what floored me - they say that their data is statistically totally relevant and transferable to the rest of Germany.

Yeah, I don't get anything yet. I'm also kinda hoping that I'll have a job before they do, I'm so sick of the red tape.

[moonystone.livejournal.com]

I linked the paper in another forum - they're reactions equalled ours. No one, from wherever in Germany they were, had ever heard of such prices, or believed them to be real.

I'm trying my best to get out again, but damn that's hard. I just don't want to grab the first opprtunity, disregarding what I studied again. The part-time job I still have truly sucks.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd almost like to print it and take it shopping, pencil in the cheapest prices I can find and mail that thing back to them.

In my job the pay is atrocious, but it's fun, otherwise, and any better-paying job I can find is horrible. I'm so torn. On the one hand, I'd like both my degree and my experience to count for something, so I'd like to wait for a job that fits at least somewhat, on the other most language schools won't take me because I might leave in November and every other job there is anyone could do and isn't very challenging. Since I can feel my brain shrinking as I type I'd really like a job in which that isn't the case. =/